Lena and I will be out of town briefly, so we’ll extend the special $8.99 “week 1″ introductory deal on Urbs by Bruno Sanfilippo. Originally it was supposed to end the 18th but we’ll switch the price back to the usual $12.99 after the 21st of May instead. Many of you have already taken advantage of this deal, but if you haven’t yet, you’ve got an extra few days!
Every new CD release is exciting to us, and this is a great one! It the first release on Hypnos by Bruno Sanfilippo, ambient musician and co-founder of the ad21 label. We’re repeating our “week 1″ introductory special, as we’ve done with all Hypnos releases recently.
Follow the links below to get Bruno Sanfilippo’s Urbs for just $8.99. (The announcement says $12.99 because that’s the long-term price, but click through and you’ll find the deal available on the store through May 18.)
Artist: Bruno Sanfilippo
Title: Urbs
Label: Hypnos (digipak CD)
Bruno Sanfilippo is a classically trained musician and composer, resident of Barcelona, Spain, and cofounder of the ad21 label. He has collaborated with such notable artists as Mathias Grassow, Byron Metcalf, Max Corbacho and Alio Die.
Sanfilippo’s work ranges from more melodic and structured to ambient drones with more a subtle and subdued musical component. Urbs, Sanfilippo’s first project released with Hypnos Recordings, falls nicely in the middle ground among the artist’s previous work. It’s an intriguing combination of ambient textures with location sound recordings, along the lines of the classic Hypnos releases Sonic Continuum (Modell and Mantra) and Silence Speaks in Shadow (Paul Vnuk Jr.), but with more of an urban or cityscape flavor.
The title Urbs derives from the prominent incorporation urban sound environments, recorded by Sanfilippo in urban environments such as train stations, streets, bars and other public areas to explore the boundaries between the textural sounds which surround all of us day to day, and the nature of composed sound art such as music. These “real world” sound textures merge with more traditional electronics such as synthesizers and samplers, leaving no doubt as to the composed and “intentional” nature of these soundscapes.
Gentle and evocative, subtly textural and transporting, Urbs is something we genuinely expect to become a long-term favorite among Hypnos releases.
Track listing, with mp3 sample clips:
1 – Urban Flow – 14:41 
2 – The City Reflected – 20:20
3 – Chaotic Order – 25:29
4 – The Gray Umbrella – 06:58
Purchase for $12.99 on Hypnos Online Store
Purchase for $12.99 on Hypnos Online Store
A hint of what’s to come. Urbs by Bruno Sanfilippo, release date 5/11/2012.
We’ll have another “week 1″ special price offer, sample mp3 audio clips, and more.
Last of four new additions to the Hypnos Online Store from Dataobscura (though we have several other restocks as well) is Winter Gardens by The Winterhouse. Price is $13.99.
The Winterhouse – Winter Gardens
(Dataobscura category)
(Price: $13.99) Winter Gardens is an intriguing set of wintery landscapes crafted with an underlying blanket of sonic beauty, a flurry of ambient details, and an icy delicacy. Expect something a little more experimental than their previous outings … but every bit as magical.
Performed by Anthony Paul Kerby (canada) and Robert Davies (usa) using a variety of synthesisers, with occasional field recordings. Final compositions and mastering by APK.
“Winter Gardens” is the 4th album of the collaborative project The Winterhouse, featuring the Canadian-US duo of Anthony Paul Kerby (London, Ontario) and Robert Davies (Ithaca, New York). Released at the beginning of March 2012 on the usual imprint via Anthony’s DataObscura. The album opens quietly with pastoral “Winter Hymn”, a serenely flowing organic ambience that precisely sets the stage for this deeply panoramic meandering through the serenity of a winter landscape wrapped in a heavy blanket of snow. Ice cold monotonous drones invade “The Depths Of Winter” and are precisely bridged with assorted cavernously echoed effects, gurgles and rumblings. Towards the end the texture moves into more experimental terrains. This must be the exciting soundtrack for your journey into the breathtaking “winter gardens” of underground ice cavern labyrinths with all their fascinating and mysterious ice figures and structures. Absolutely gorgeous!!! Deep, static, but massive drone magic enters the next composition, “This Land Drifts Into Silence”, and it’s nicely colored by miscellaneous distant winds, hisses and occasional heartbeats. It is gradually progressing and soaring above misty, snow capped trees. Delicate sonic disruptions fly along too. Stunningly immersive snowscapes, great work, guys!!! “We Walk Through Glass” keeps on the aerial, dreamy route, with a richly layered cascading structure offering drama and depth, and where icy drones are merged with diverse hazy sonic experiments, hisses and outbursts. “A Winter Symphony” is crossed with modern classical elements, which attractively interact with deeper drone wizardry created by some strongly absorbing voice magics. A really exciting cinematic-like composition filled with variety and intensity, and always gorgeously fascinating and strikingly picturesque!!! “Solitude” is the 13 minute closing composition and another perfectly fitting title with a richly textured, cavernous feel enhanced by various alien breathings, rumbling noises and water sounds. Another amazing trip into the magnificent subterranean domain. Anthony Paul Kerby and Robert Davies have unlocked for me truly beautiful scenic winter wonderland landscapes and underground chambers. Explore your “Winter Gardens” too!!!
–Reviewed by Richard Gürtler (Bratislava, Slovakia)
Audio sample clips, MP3 format:
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6….
(more/buy)
Another new addition to the Hypnos Online Store from Dataobscura: Standing Out Against the Sea/b> by Strom Noir. Price is $13.99.
Strom Noir – Standing Out Against the Sea
(Dataobscura category)
(Price: $13.99) On his first DataObscura release, Strom Noir (Emil Maťko) from Slovakia delivers a collection of mesmerizing transmuted guitar textures and noise drones that show a keen persistence of vision, with dark tensions that draw the listener into all-encompassing sonic depths. Emil has previously recorded on such labels as Hibernate, U-Cover, and Resting Bell.
“The album unfolds with motionlessly flowing looped drones on “Poppy Seeds”, presenting Strom Noir at its most serene!!! The title composition “Standing Out Against The Sea” moves towards more typical guitar-based soundscaping, with a stronger acoustic feel and a repetitive, slightly more melodic structure enriched later by harsher hissed soundwalls and natural sounds, but always keeping within the signature of Strom Noir. This composition showcases a precise synergy and balance between fragile, melancholic warmness and louder, more massive passages. “In All The Wrong Places” begins with deeper, slow-motion drones, which fleetly shift into gradually progressing, intense and interplaying cascades covered by misty hiss. This richly sculpted and deeply evocative masterpiece holds all the finest “Made by Strom Noir” essences!!! The monotonously spiraling, but shimmeringly exquisite drones of “The Passage Of Truth” move again through multi-dimensional passages, backed by catchy voice-like sounds. The next composition, “Rearviewmirror”, slips into a rather rawer, exotically sounding adventure, with distinctive sounds and intense, expressive strings. An all-inclusive piece with a deeply stirring and mesmerizing effect. Certainly another highlight on this highly challenging ride!!! “Digital Saturn” glides through more aerial, tranquilly soothing spaces with a slowly expanding structure, becoming more massive and profound, and always strongly imaginative. “Haanah” is dominated by heavier, repetitive drone, and colored by some distant rumblings at the back. The overall feel of this track is quite monumental, nearly mind-bending. By the way, “Haanah” also features the Fujara, a traditional folk flute of Slovak shepherds, but it’s hardly recognizable throughout the piece. “Kalimagdora” quickly brings the album back into a warmly inviting blend of tender acoustics and cheerful organics crossed with nostalgic glitches, and allows the listener to float smoothly in a state of being deeply relaxed. Beautifully captivating closer!!! “Standing Out Against The Sea” is filled with sensitivity, richness and poignancy, it must be experienced to be appreciated!!! I am so proud to know this wonderful and talented artist!!!”
–Review by Richard Gürtler (April 2012, Bratislava, Slovakia)
Audio sample clips, MP3 format:
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
Track 7
Track 8…..
(more/buy)
