A Sense of Doubt blog post #4152 - SoD Reprint from 2019 - Ambient Music - Cloudmouth - Not Everyone Gets to Go Home
When in reprint mode, I don't usually reprint music posts on days other than Monday.
Today is an exception as this one deserves reprinting.
Thanks for tuning in.
Link to the original post I am reprinting below:
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1586 - Cloudmouth - Not Everyone Gets to Go Home - Ambient Excursions #1001
Warren Ellis has been quite active lately at http://warrenellis.ltd/
Posting music, movies, a few thoughts (like below) and so I raid his flailing to stay alive and not suffocate, last gasps of his possibly defunct (?) Spektrmodule podcast.
More randomly assembled ambient, drone, electronic, and oddly spiritual music via Warren Ellis and hosted on the tremendously wonderful Bandcamp site. I have vetted the music somewhat and will share some descriptions from the site.
Music has to be this way because I have not yet had time to complete the mixes I have under development.
But all this stuff is so good!! Starting here...
https://tuluumshimmering.bandcamp.com/
Here's a link to Tuluum Shimmering's "field notes":
https://tuluumshimmering.wordpress.com/
Basically podcasts of radio shows.
Tuluum Shimmering is from the UK and filed in Bandcamp under the tags experimental, drone, psychedelic, and the United Kingdom.
Here's some great endorsements:
Tuluum Shimmering has many albums for sale, this is just one.
Also, this:
https://tuluumshimmering.wixsite.com/tuluumshimmering/audio-archaeology
I am not sure what to make of this. I am not sure if they are saying that their "magnetaudiometer" captured the ancient sounds, "retrieved" them, or if by making music at the site, and using the device they were able to capture ancient sounds that became part of the recording. The description here is not abundantly clear, but retrieval of ancient sounds happened either way.
TSRARCH001 - Druid's Circle, Cefyn Coch, Penmaenmawr, N. Wales
http://warrenellis.ltd/score/not-everyone-gets-to-go-home-jkgc/
Experiments in ambient noise, I'm not sure what I even think about this album, but these tunes wanted to get out of my brain, so here they are!
credits
released June 9, 2019
I love this stuff here (above). Apparently, just a witch (see her web site selling spell packets) who is experimenting with sound and putting it on Bandcamp for sale. The stuff is good whether she identifies as a musician or not.
Also, this...
https://woundedknife.bandcamp.com/
This one builds to a crescendo and then sounds like vocals lightly over the peaks of music that may be solely electronic and not actual vocals at all. Pretty and soothing.
This one is definitely darker than the ones I have shared so far, but the vocals interrupt with some very atmospheric and dreamlike sounds.
GROUPER!!!
I have not bought any of this music... yet. Currently, I do not have as much disposable income as Warren Ellis does. But when I do have funds to buy, I am sure to start with this album as Nivhek is an offshoot of Grouper. I thought I had written about Grouper before on my blog, but a search yielded nothing.
Here's some data about the music above. Some great, haunting vocals to start the first track, known, as you can see as "cloudmouth," which I am adding to the name of this post.
Ellis posted his purchases the other day. Oh, actually tomorrow... :-) I like playing with time.
This stuff is incredible.
Descriptions from the Bandcamp page below. Now that I am listening, it will be a tough choice between this and Grouper's Nivhek unless I can afford both.
The first official full-length by Old Tower. Ancient and dusty dungeon synth in the traditions of the old masters.
“The Rise Of The Spectral Horizons” is a limited double CD release which combines two OLD TOWER releases (previously out of print) and sees them for the first time on the CD format, namely OLD TOWER’s “Spectral Horizons” and “The Rise Of The Specter” releases. Packaged exquisitely in a double CD digipack and limited to 500 units only, “The Rise Of The Spectral Horizons” gives us a further glimpse into the wondrous world of The Specter, a world where one longs to relive and dwell in that ancient long-forgotten realm within the lonely castle walls and moonlit forests.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1906.24 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1451 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Thanks for tuning in.
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
BLOG VACATION #1 - 2026 - Taking a blog vacation for a couple of weeks, until at least June 26th, 2026. But now that it's past June 26, I am not sure when I am resuming normal operations. Mostly reprints. A few simple shares (not that simple shares are out of the norm) and THAT ONE THING. Need time for other things.
Link to the original post I am reprinting below:
Monday, June 24, 2019
 |
| https://grouper.bandcamp.com/album/after-its-own-death-walking-in-a-spiral-towards-the-house |
Warren Ellis has been quite active lately at http://warrenellis.ltd/
Posting music, movies, a few thoughts (like below) and so I raid his flailing to stay alive and not suffocate, last gasps of his possibly defunct (?) Spektrmodule podcast.
The Isles Of Blogging 25jun19
- RESISTANCE TO THE COLONISING PRESENT – Paul Raven quoting and discussing Deb Chachra: ” The notion that the present is colonising — or, in economic terms, externalising — the future is a powerful, if distinctly bleak metaphor. But I think it also contains some cause for hope regarding the ultimate result of this struggle, provided we lean into the metaphor a little further. “
- Jay Springett on notebooks and lists
- Sean Bonner’s personal uniform
- Adam Greenfield interviewed about “the undead rhetoric of the smart city”
- Marc Weidenbaum on sound design and the CHERNOBYL show
- At A Year In The Country: Looker and the Imagined Omnipotence of the 1980s Computer
More randomly assembled ambient, drone, electronic, and oddly spiritual music via Warren Ellis and hosted on the tremendously wonderful Bandcamp site. I have vetted the music somewhat and will share some descriptions from the site.
Music has to be this way because I have not yet had time to complete the mixes I have under development.
But all this stuff is so good!! Starting here...
https://tuluumshimmering.bandcamp.com/
Here's a link to Tuluum Shimmering's "field notes":
https://tuluumshimmering.wordpress.com/
Basically podcasts of radio shows.
Tuluum Shimmering is from the UK and filed in Bandcamp under the tags experimental, drone, psychedelic, and the United Kingdom.
Here's some great endorsements:
Harty Tuluum Shimmering is the best soundtrack to having your first coffee in the morning, practicing your Qigong, studying ancient literature, and driving into the mountains. I love everything that is put out by this artist. A heart-resonating treasure, a head-rub for the spirit.
Gavin Hellyer This record combines drone, experimentation and extreme beauty + @ 5 quid for over 3 and a half hours how can you beat it?Favorite track: The blossoms at dawn at Illusion-dwelling Cottage.
graeme keable This is a joy to listen to. If you need something to take you away from the stresses of this world then give this a try. This is really beautiful and a very welcome addition to my collection 😃
Tuluum Shimmering has many albums for sale, this is just one.
Also, this:
https://tuluumshimmering.wixsite.com/tuluumshimmering/audio-archaeology
I am not sure what to make of this. I am not sure if they are saying that their "magnetaudiometer" captured the ancient sounds, "retrieved" them, or if by making music at the site, and using the device they were able to capture ancient sounds that became part of the recording. The description here is not abundantly clear, but retrieval of ancient sounds happened either way.
Archaeology Series
Some time ago, whilst reading about Magnetometry, a technique used in archaeology to survey beneath the ground, we at TSR had an idea. The Magnetometer detects variations in the magnetism under the ground, and cassette tape heads work by detecting variations in the magnetism on tape to reproduce sound (probably, we didn't really check...). So, if a machine could be made which could work like a magnetometer, but with the sensitivity of tape heads, perhaps ancient sounds, whose waves caused micro-fluctuations in the magnetism of the soil, could be retrieved. Well, with a little tinkering, and trial and error, we succeeded in making that machine, and called it the magnetaudiometer. The results it achieves are a little unstable, regular readjustments of the equipment being required and a certain amount of distortion and feedback from the machine are unavoidable. However, we believe the recordings being made are of potentially great interest and significance, and so as work proceeds we will be presenting the results unedited and free for all to download in the TSR Audio Archaeology Series.
TSRARCH001 - Druid's Circle, Cefyn Coch, Penmaenmawr, N. Wales
National Grid Reference: SH72287464
Stone circle of some 30 stones, many still upright, some fallen, probable Bronze Age date.
Taper's notes: We laid out a grid of 1m squares, along the lines of which we slowly walked the magnetaudiometer. Occasional loss of signal, some machine feedback until able to engage new signal. Overall, a reasonably successful survey.
*Download available from the following address:
http://warrenellis.ltd/score/not-everyone-gets-to-go-home-jkgc/
Not Everyone Gets To Go Home: JKGC
Definitely how today feels. A beautifully melancholy audio capture of 2019.
FULL ALBUM:Experiments in ambient noise, I'm not sure what I even think about this album, but these tunes wanted to get out of my brain, so here they are!
credits
released June 9, 2019
I love this stuff here (above). Apparently, just a witch (see her web site selling spell packets) who is experimenting with sound and putting it on Bandcamp for sale. The stuff is good whether she identifies as a musician or not.
Also, this...
https://woundedknife.bandcamp.com/
This one builds to a crescendo and then sounds like vocals lightly over the peaks of music that may be solely electronic and not actual vocals at all. Pretty and soothing.
I was stoked to get asked to be apart of the Wounded Knife family, and in knowing that they dealt mostly in improvised music,I figured I would stick somewhat to the format, which lead me to choosing, and finishing, these two tracks. Both based on improvisations with classical composer/pianist Eric Rich & the band Inner Oceans.
These songs to me, sound like waking up,and in these specific cases, waking up in the mountains of western Colorado or to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah
Typically I stick to the acoustic guitar, but for these songs I don’t think I even picked it up, banjo yes, but this is a rare treat.
please take the time to listen to Eric Rich & Inner Oceans as well, for they have changed my life in so many ways.
- Chaz Prymek
These songs to me, sound like waking up,and in these specific cases, waking up in the mountains of western Colorado or to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah
Typically I stick to the acoustic guitar, but for these songs I don’t think I even picked it up, banjo yes, but this is a rare treat.
please take the time to listen to Eric Rich & Inner Oceans as well, for they have changed my life in so many ways.
- Chaz Prymek
credits
released December 21, 2013
experimental ambient drone drone ambient drone folk folk Warsaw
G M Slater Dark free-flowing images from the deepest recesses of the mind. Dancing Deadlips creates some of the most evocative and dreamlike experimental genre-blending soundscapes I have heard in years, and this is no exception. If you loved Song Of The Flight, this is a must-have addition to your collection.
 |
| https://grouper.bandcamp.com/album/ruins |
I have not bought any of this music... yet. Currently, I do not have as much disposable income as Warren Ellis does. But when I do have funds to buy, I am sure to start with this album as Nivhek is an offshoot of Grouper. I thought I had written about Grouper before on my blog, but a search yielded nothing.
Here's some data about the music above. Some great, haunting vocals to start the first track, known, as you can see as "cloudmouth," which I am adding to the name of this post.
After its own death
0 - 7:48:544 Cloudmouth
7:48:544 - 8:19:489 blue room
8:17:503 - 11:27:011 Night-walking
11:27:011 -16:41:254 Funeral song
16:41:254 - 26:00:991 Thirteen (version)
26:00:991 - 28:39:125 Crying jar
28:39:125 - 29:29:394 Entry
29:29:394 - 37:33:056 Walking in a spiral towards the house
37:30:846 - end Weightless
Walking in a spiral towards the house
0 - 3:14:509 Night-walking
3:14:509 - 8:37:153 Funeral song
8:37:153 - 12:59:510 Thirteen
12:59:510 - end Walking in a spiral towards the house
“Crying Jar” features Michael Morley, Gabie Strong, and Christopher Reid Martin.
Thanks to Matt, Marcel, Sergio, Fridaymilk, Jefre, and to Kassian. Organizational support from ZDB/Tremor, Unsound, Barbican, and the Goethe institute.
For Aihna.
0 - 7:48:544 Cloudmouth
7:48:544 - 8:19:489 blue room
8:17:503 - 11:27:011 Night-walking
11:27:011 -16:41:254 Funeral song
16:41:254 - 26:00:991 Thirteen (version)
26:00:991 - 28:39:125 Crying jar
28:39:125 - 29:29:394 Entry
29:29:394 - 37:33:056 Walking in a spiral towards the house
37:30:846 - end Weightless
Walking in a spiral towards the house
0 - 3:14:509 Night-walking
3:14:509 - 8:37:153 Funeral song
8:37:153 - 12:59:510 Thirteen
12:59:510 - end Walking in a spiral towards the house
“Crying Jar” features Michael Morley, Gabie Strong, and Christopher Reid Martin.
Thanks to Matt, Marcel, Sergio, Fridaymilk, Jefre, and to Kassian. Organizational support from ZDB/Tremor, Unsound, Barbican, and the Goethe institute.
For Aihna.
credits
released February 8, 2019
Ellis posted his purchases the other day. Oh, actually tomorrow... :-) I like playing with time.
This stuff is incredible.
Descriptions from the Bandcamp page below. Now that I am listening, it will be a tough choice between this and Grouper's Nivhek unless I can afford both.
Vinylization of the second cassette released by UK string player Alison Cotton. We first ran into Alison's work in its more overtly folky guise, as a member of Left Outsides (FTR342, FTR404). Then we caught the scent of an amazing tape she did with Michael Tanner (aka Plinth) that displayed her more avant garde leanings. All Is Quiet followed the same lines, albeit in solo fashion, blending long dark viola and harmonium lines with vocals drawn straight from the clouds.
The effect resembles Tony Conard in places and John Cale's work with Nico in others, while remaining trademark Alison Cotton throughout. And as nice as the tape was, it's even nicer to has this music on an LP, since it's an archival format and will outlive all of us if properly cared for. Just as the music of Alison Cotton feels as though it was designed to last through the ages.
Beautiful stuff.
(Byron Coley)
...................
Released - November 16 2018 by Cardinal Fuzz (UK) / Feeding Tube (USA)
Originally released as a cassette on Bloxham Tapesbloxhamtapes.bandcamp.com/album/all-is-quiet-at-the-ancient-theatre
All compositions by Alison Cotton, 2018
All songs recorded & mixed by Mark Nicholas except ‘36 Dramatic Situations’ which was recorded & mixed by Erik Lintunen.
Mastering by Chris Hardman
Tape Delay on '36 Dramatic Situations' by Simon Galloway
Sleeve Design by Luke Drozd
PRESS -
THE QUIETUS ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (NUMBER 49) -
Alison Cotton’s album is a highly memorable suite evoking other times and places with a deftness and a lightness of touch. She is an excellent and restrained songwriter, confidently combining instrumental and vocal music to create a recording that delivers much and promises more to come. TOM BOLTON
In THE GUARDIAN WRITER'S ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2018 (Selected by LUKE TURNER)
THE GUARDIAN FOLK ALBUMS OF THE MONTH -
"An eerie, lost folk horror soundtrack glinting in the sunshine, Cotton’s pure English voice rising mysteriously around the violas and recorders." JUDE ROGERS
“Forlorn, hypnotic drone hymns for an ancient haunted England” ANDREW MALE, MOJO 4*
"Although this is music feels irrevocably for the countryside, I'd really recommend listening to 'All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre' on your Walkman while standing in the middle of a busy city centre. The power of this music is simply awe-inspiring. When Alison Cotton plays, the world stands still… Magnificent work, and it must be said, beautifully presented by the fantastic Bloxham Tapes (their entire back catalogue comes highly recommended)…" TRISTAN BATH, THE QUIETUS
"Alison Cotton of avant folk duo The Left Outsides creates a psychedelic pagan folk ritual with her viola, recorder, percussion and ghostly voice on 'All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre'. Slowing things down to a droning pace, Cotton seems to summon up mystical powers through her eerie Clannad-ish chants on 'The Bells of St Agnes'. And like Laura Cannell, she finds similar tones of drone within her string music by allowing space for the dragged out notes to echo and buzz on 'The Last Sense To Leave Us'. Her choral vocal pipes in with a numbing effect, floating upfront and back into the shadows again on the five tracks, which were all improvised… Better than any mindfulness app for cleansing the brainwaves and stilling the souls of the godless for hald an hour or so…" CLAIRE SAWERS, THE WIRE
"The opening, title track is built around a repeated, six-note viola phrase that seems to echo around an amphitheatre of stone. Heat haze rises from empty seats, but the music is playing from a time when the theatre was packed. A drone builds and the falling phrase emerges haltingly, as though calling out for the first time in centuries. As the viola sings, a chorus of soft, layered voices, percussion and recorder swells in the background and soon a cast is on stage, performing a forgotten ritual. If any piece of music can awaken a lost time, this is surely it." TOM BOLTON, THE QUIETUS
“These five sombre meditations feel still and timeless; austerely melancholy, and haunted by ghosts that will linger long after the final note has faded” SHINDIG! MAGAZINE
“A haunting drone reverie set against stark backdrops of skeletal trees and ancient church ruins (even a deserted WW1 battlefield)” PROG MAGAZINE
"Perhaps it might be better to say that Cotton’s music finds the sacred in the pastoral, or that this roots the avant-garde in the traditional. It is, perhaps, apt that Cotton’s titles reference so many spaces: this is work that’s established its own ground on which to dwell, to expand, and to quietly inspire" TOBIAS CARROLL, DUSTED MAGAZINE.
"Make no mistake this is a work of great depth and passion and one which reveals more of its irresistibly melancholic charm with each successive listen. From those chilly fields at dawn to the blasted heaths of existence and all points above and below ground this engulfs you like a creeping vine. Thankfully I’m still hopelessly lost in the dense and tangled thicket of sound and likely to be for quite a while. Rustle among yourselves." TERRASCOPE
"A sometimes distinctly mournful, often attractively melancholic aura of antiquary ritual pervades Alison’s music. It follows, therefore, that this disc is well named, for its sense of stillness and ancientry is both powerful and all-embracing – helped greatly by the mystical reverberance/s of the recording – and the listener is inspired and encouraged into a state of close attentiveness, for this is eternal, irresistible and stimulating music that provides ever-increasing reward on successive replay". DAVID KIDMAN, FOLK RADIO
"An astounding work, primarily strings and vocals in the service of British folk music, both abstracted and realized, across a series of mournful vignettes slow, deliberate, and resolute" DOUG MOSUROCK, HEATHEN DISCO
"Alison Cotton’s haunting and lovely All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre blends early music modalities with modern minimalism (a la Tony Conrad and the original Dream Syndicate), creating a thoroughly absorbing listening experience. Droning violas, minor key melodies, (mostly) wordless vocals … It’s definitely similar to the otherworldly sounds that Nico and John Cale made on The Marble Index and Desertshore – always a good thing in my book. Music made for flickering candlelight, shadowy cathedrals and esoteric rituals …"TYLER WILCOX, DOOM & GLOOM FROM THE TOMB
”This is a work that is surely destined to be an enduring, timeless classic”.
KENT WHIRLOW, TERRASCOPAEDIA
"The only thing that does a better job of crafting a vivid environment than the title of Alison Cotton’s new album is the music itself. 'All Is Quiet at the Ancient Theatre' is a mysterious, spacious album; one of the first things I noticed is the cavernous, reverb-filled production, which frames the sounds throughout in much the same way as I imagine a high-ceilinged, shadowy, dusty chapel would. Cotton’s drones, played on viola, recorder, and her own voice, ring out through the darkness, coexisting with the weighty silence as they materialize and dissipate… 'All Is Quiet at the Ancient Theatre' is a fantastic solo effort…" NOISE NOT MUSIC
"Something so beautiful and powerful that it took my breath away… With this solo outing via the veritable Bloxham Tapes, Alison Cotton has produced something that transcends any notions of genres and pigeonholing." RATS IN THE WALLS
"Cotton is an artist of profound talent and her mastery of her chosen instrument deeply impressive. All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre is consequently an album to stand proudly in any collection". [SIC] MAGAZINE
”This is a work that is surely destined to be an enduring, timeless classic”. TERRASCOPAEDIA
"An astounding work, primarily strings and vocals in the service of British folk music, both abstracted and realized, across a series of mournful vignettes slow, deliberate, and resolute". HEATHEN DISCO
"Alison Cotton’s haunting and lovely All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre blends early music modalities with modern minimalism (a la Tony Conrad and the original Dream Syndicate), creating a thoroughly absorbing listening experience. Music made for flickering candlelight, shadowy cathedrals and esoteric rituals …"DOOM & GLOOM FROM THE TOMB.
The effect resembles Tony Conard in places and John Cale's work with Nico in others, while remaining trademark Alison Cotton throughout. And as nice as the tape was, it's even nicer to has this music on an LP, since it's an archival format and will outlive all of us if properly cared for. Just as the music of Alison Cotton feels as though it was designed to last through the ages.
Beautiful stuff.
(Byron Coley)
...................
Released - November 16 2018 by Cardinal Fuzz (UK) / Feeding Tube (USA)
Originally released as a cassette on Bloxham Tapesbloxhamtapes.bandcamp.com/album/all-is-quiet-at-the-ancient-theatre
All compositions by Alison Cotton, 2018
All songs recorded & mixed by Mark Nicholas except ‘36 Dramatic Situations’ which was recorded & mixed by Erik Lintunen.
Mastering by Chris Hardman
Tape Delay on '36 Dramatic Situations' by Simon Galloway
Sleeve Design by Luke Drozd
PRESS -
THE QUIETUS ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (NUMBER 49) -
Alison Cotton’s album is a highly memorable suite evoking other times and places with a deftness and a lightness of touch. She is an excellent and restrained songwriter, confidently combining instrumental and vocal music to create a recording that delivers much and promises more to come. TOM BOLTON
In THE GUARDIAN WRITER'S ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2018 (Selected by LUKE TURNER)
THE GUARDIAN FOLK ALBUMS OF THE MONTH -
"An eerie, lost folk horror soundtrack glinting in the sunshine, Cotton’s pure English voice rising mysteriously around the violas and recorders." JUDE ROGERS
“Forlorn, hypnotic drone hymns for an ancient haunted England” ANDREW MALE, MOJO 4*
"Although this is music feels irrevocably for the countryside, I'd really recommend listening to 'All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre' on your Walkman while standing in the middle of a busy city centre. The power of this music is simply awe-inspiring. When Alison Cotton plays, the world stands still… Magnificent work, and it must be said, beautifully presented by the fantastic Bloxham Tapes (their entire back catalogue comes highly recommended)…" TRISTAN BATH, THE QUIETUS
"Alison Cotton of avant folk duo The Left Outsides creates a psychedelic pagan folk ritual with her viola, recorder, percussion and ghostly voice on 'All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre'. Slowing things down to a droning pace, Cotton seems to summon up mystical powers through her eerie Clannad-ish chants on 'The Bells of St Agnes'. And like Laura Cannell, she finds similar tones of drone within her string music by allowing space for the dragged out notes to echo and buzz on 'The Last Sense To Leave Us'. Her choral vocal pipes in with a numbing effect, floating upfront and back into the shadows again on the five tracks, which were all improvised… Better than any mindfulness app for cleansing the brainwaves and stilling the souls of the godless for hald an hour or so…" CLAIRE SAWERS, THE WIRE
"The opening, title track is built around a repeated, six-note viola phrase that seems to echo around an amphitheatre of stone. Heat haze rises from empty seats, but the music is playing from a time when the theatre was packed. A drone builds and the falling phrase emerges haltingly, as though calling out for the first time in centuries. As the viola sings, a chorus of soft, layered voices, percussion and recorder swells in the background and soon a cast is on stage, performing a forgotten ritual. If any piece of music can awaken a lost time, this is surely it." TOM BOLTON, THE QUIETUS
“These five sombre meditations feel still and timeless; austerely melancholy, and haunted by ghosts that will linger long after the final note has faded” SHINDIG! MAGAZINE
“A haunting drone reverie set against stark backdrops of skeletal trees and ancient church ruins (even a deserted WW1 battlefield)” PROG MAGAZINE
"Perhaps it might be better to say that Cotton’s music finds the sacred in the pastoral, or that this roots the avant-garde in the traditional. It is, perhaps, apt that Cotton’s titles reference so many spaces: this is work that’s established its own ground on which to dwell, to expand, and to quietly inspire" TOBIAS CARROLL, DUSTED MAGAZINE.
"Make no mistake this is a work of great depth and passion and one which reveals more of its irresistibly melancholic charm with each successive listen. From those chilly fields at dawn to the blasted heaths of existence and all points above and below ground this engulfs you like a creeping vine. Thankfully I’m still hopelessly lost in the dense and tangled thicket of sound and likely to be for quite a while. Rustle among yourselves." TERRASCOPE
"A sometimes distinctly mournful, often attractively melancholic aura of antiquary ritual pervades Alison’s music. It follows, therefore, that this disc is well named, for its sense of stillness and ancientry is both powerful and all-embracing – helped greatly by the mystical reverberance/s of the recording – and the listener is inspired and encouraged into a state of close attentiveness, for this is eternal, irresistible and stimulating music that provides ever-increasing reward on successive replay". DAVID KIDMAN, FOLK RADIO
"An astounding work, primarily strings and vocals in the service of British folk music, both abstracted and realized, across a series of mournful vignettes slow, deliberate, and resolute" DOUG MOSUROCK, HEATHEN DISCO
"Alison Cotton’s haunting and lovely All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre blends early music modalities with modern minimalism (a la Tony Conrad and the original Dream Syndicate), creating a thoroughly absorbing listening experience. Droning violas, minor key melodies, (mostly) wordless vocals … It’s definitely similar to the otherworldly sounds that Nico and John Cale made on The Marble Index and Desertshore – always a good thing in my book. Music made for flickering candlelight, shadowy cathedrals and esoteric rituals …"TYLER WILCOX, DOOM & GLOOM FROM THE TOMB
”This is a work that is surely destined to be an enduring, timeless classic”.
KENT WHIRLOW, TERRASCOPAEDIA
"The only thing that does a better job of crafting a vivid environment than the title of Alison Cotton’s new album is the music itself. 'All Is Quiet at the Ancient Theatre' is a mysterious, spacious album; one of the first things I noticed is the cavernous, reverb-filled production, which frames the sounds throughout in much the same way as I imagine a high-ceilinged, shadowy, dusty chapel would. Cotton’s drones, played on viola, recorder, and her own voice, ring out through the darkness, coexisting with the weighty silence as they materialize and dissipate… 'All Is Quiet at the Ancient Theatre' is a fantastic solo effort…" NOISE NOT MUSIC
"Something so beautiful and powerful that it took my breath away… With this solo outing via the veritable Bloxham Tapes, Alison Cotton has produced something that transcends any notions of genres and pigeonholing." RATS IN THE WALLS
"Cotton is an artist of profound talent and her mastery of her chosen instrument deeply impressive. All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre is consequently an album to stand proudly in any collection". [SIC] MAGAZINE
”This is a work that is surely destined to be an enduring, timeless classic”. TERRASCOPAEDIA
"An astounding work, primarily strings and vocals in the service of British folk music, both abstracted and realized, across a series of mournful vignettes slow, deliberate, and resolute". HEATHEN DISCO
"Alison Cotton’s haunting and lovely All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre blends early music modalities with modern minimalism (a la Tony Conrad and the original Dream Syndicate), creating a thoroughly absorbing listening experience. Music made for flickering candlelight, shadowy cathedrals and esoteric rituals …"DOOM & GLOOM FROM THE TOMB.
Tags
alternative experimental folk soundtrack music acid folk drone folk folk rock improvised pastoral psychedelic viola London
The first official full-length by Old Tower. Ancient and dusty dungeon synth in the traditions of the old masters.
“The Rise Of The Spectral Horizons” is a limited double CD release which combines two OLD TOWER releases (previously out of print) and sees them for the first time on the CD format, namely OLD TOWER’s “Spectral Horizons” and “The Rise Of The Specter” releases. Packaged exquisitely in a double CD digipack and limited to 500 units only, “The Rise Of The Spectral Horizons” gives us a further glimpse into the wondrous world of The Specter, a world where one longs to relive and dwell in that ancient long-forgotten realm within the lonely castle walls and moonlit forests.
hallowedhalls How best to describe OT? "Rise of Spectral Horizons" could be thought of as a collection of many self-contained tracks. Together they create visions of noble households, proud yet eroded by time and ill fortune. Ghosts of the past wander lonely halls while images of old wars are depicted on faded tapestries.
brooks "Let the sun shine upon this Lord of Cinder."
thedungeonsyntharchives Beautiful artwork, looking forward to check the whole product when it'll arrive. All songs are classics of Old Tower's incredible discography, a must have for the collectors.Favorite track: Spectral Horizons.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1906.24 - 10:10
- Days ago = 1451 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2606.30 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 4016 days ago & DAD = 670 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
- Days ago: MOM = 4016 days ago & DAD = 670 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
