Convergence is a minimalist "process music" composition; one continuous track that gradually drifts out of phase while building to the apex, then slowly subsides back to its starting point. This organic ur-drone is perfect for trancing out, meditative moments and continuous background play.
Reviews:
...a gorgeous example of droning ambient soundscape. Well-done ambient sounds, I might add. On this disc they achieve a cathedral-like vibe, building somber waves of sound like a dying pipe organ. The disc is just one long track, nearly 48 minutes, of drones that ebb and flow in regular waves. The ambient sound never really goes anywhere, and thus is the closest thing i've heard to a "true" ambient album in some time... A fine disc for background music... droning, soothing, even relaxing... Strongly recommended for those who think the entire ambient genre has drifted from its original intent and focus.
Dead Angel
... leads off with a repeated muffled ringing sound resembling that of someone playing a pipe organ deep inside a cave, far away. Slowly, the constituent parts of this sound start to appear and fall into their own distinctive patterns. Convergence is a very intriguing and interesting work from an artist who has drawn from diverse influences and started to develop his own unique voice.
Ujamaa's Ambient Experience
When I finally got around to playing this, I immediately recognized that this was not something in the vein of, say, the KLF's "Chill Out" or other such more rhythmically... and listening... oriented ambient works. Rather, this was the real deal, a work very much in the vein of "Discreet Music", etc. So... listening to it really defeated the purpose. Instead, over the past couple of months, I've been instead living with the work, dropping it in along with other 'classic ambient' works, putting it on long cycle-plays, and dealing with it at the 'ignore' level of volume. It functions very well, with the piece's process never getting to a level where you're really forced into listening to it actively, and this makes it very ideal for Eno's original intent of 'acoustic coloration'.
DAC Crowell
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Austere
A Biography
By Bill Binkleman (Wind & Wire magazine)
Austere is an enigmatic duo who record some of the more interesting ambient music I've heard in my six plus years of reviewing. From the swirling drones (I was gonna say "dark" drones, but...) and eerie melancholy of Monodia to the warmth and beauty amidst minimalism of Fade to the cool glitch beats and samples of one of Austere's side project's The Mystifying Oracle's Quintessence (see my review here:
http://www.windandwire.com/may/quintessence.htm)
Austere are less concerned with following the path and more concerned with breaking new ground. However, they are undoubtedly enigmatic, as one would glean from the above, and shun the spotlights of media and personality. However, in my many communiques with them, I have found few artists in this industry who are more polite, engaging, genuine or friendly. If only some of the more "exposed" artists in ambient music were as humble and humane.
Check them out at http://www.austere.org and read more reviews of their work by yours truly here at http://www.windandwire.com.
There, now you and others know as much about Austere as anyone!
Bill
Check out the artist's website:
http://austere.orgTrack List:
1. Convergence
Suggested CDs:
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