Audio Drums

Ok, so Lovage (aka Dan the Automator  side project) released two version of this album, called Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By.  One which included a vocalist and was somewhat campy, which I didn’t care for and other being an all instrumental version of the album from which this track was taken from .    To listen to the vocal version of this album visit their myspace page.  This is probably one of the few times I strongly favor an instrument version over a vocal version of an album, being that l love vocals on just about anything.

Also, a side note the cover above was a tribute to the cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s album “No. 2″.

Lovage - Pit Stop (Instrumental)

Lovage - Anger Management (Instrumental)

Au4 are from Vancouver and made up three brothers (Ben, Aaron, and Nathan Wylie) and friend Jason Nickel.

They mix elements such as shoegaze, electronica, dreampop, and ambient. Their entire album is quite solid and at times remind me of early Duran Duran, well… at the least the mellow tunes from early Duran Duran.

Here’s a short bio from cdbaby:

Ben Wylie (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Aaron Wylie (keyboards, vocals), Nathan Wylie (drums, percussion) and Jason Nickel (bass, vocals, keyboards) grew up on music, each starting Royal Conservatory training at a young age. In high school, the boys formed the requisite alternative rock bands, while continuing their musical study and touring in jazz, choir and theatrical productions. Jason and Nathan attended Capilano College’s Jazz Studies program, while Ben and Aaron began experimenting with the electronic loops and beats which would later morph into Au4.

Inspired in part by the electronica explosion, and landmark albums by Underworld, Massive Attack, Bjork, and Nine Inch Nails, Ben and Aaron (who was also DJing in Vancouver clubs) started writing with new tools, layering and shaping sounds late into the night. In 2003, Jason Nickel heard their demos and brought them to producer/engineer Richard Dolmat. The group Au4 was officially formed along with Nathan Wylie, their brother.

On Audio was produced by Au4 and Richard Dolmat at Digital Sound Magic studios in Vancouver and is released on their own label, Torn Open Records. The nine tracks draw from trip-hop, ambient and dreampop styles, featuring the breathy, haunting vocals of Ben Wylie, who also scripted the fantastical stories of love and life.

A melancholic tone weaves throughout On Audio, but the mood is of contemplative optimism: The acoustic-guitar laced love song “Hit and Miss” undulates like a watery embrace. The bass-driven “A Mile From Here” is an up-tempo track ready for clubs. Even the epic “An Ocean’s Measure of Sorrow” rocks, a fresh take on the piano ballad. “Everything’s Always Moving” sums up the album’s hypnotic qualities and themes of hope.

“‘Everything Always Moving’ came in a state of amazement as one reflects upon one’s own existence, and how we are always affecting, always being affected, always changing each other’s lives,” says Ben. “There are moments when this truth becomes more apparent and it always seems to be on the heels of either great hurt or extreme joy, moments where life feels like some heavenly poem or surreal nightmare. Regardless, as we continue to pour into one another, there is a fruit that grows. Such is the beauty of life.”

The result of a lifetime of love and study of music, five years of songwriting and two years of studio refinement, On Audio represents the beginning of Au4’s journey. The group plans to perform live in 2006 and is working on second album of remixes from On Audio. They are also working on an innovative website, a collaboration between Ben Wylie’s visual FX background, Aaron Wylie’s DigiCoyote Software company and Juno Award-winning designer Vincent Marcone. The multi-media and live aspects of Au4 complement and reinforce the band’s musical message.

“We just want to connect with people,” says Aaron. “At the end of the day, there’s much more satisfaction of being when you realize that, yes, there is bad and good in life, but that is our common ground. We should all try to look beyond ourselves and share the time we have. That’s what, for us, music is about.”

[download]

[myspace]

Listen to the full album at www.au4-audio.com. Hit the “listen” link.

Sad, touching, inspired, intriguing, and fragile are just some the adjectives that come to mind when listening to Eluvium’s “Prelude for Time Feelers”. Ambient artist Eluvium (aka Matthew Cooper) from Portland, Organ blends such genres as Classical, electronic, and shoegaze.

“Eluvium” = Residual deposits of soil, dust, and rock particles produced by the action of the wind. From Latin eluere, to wash out

[download]

[myspace]

[band site]

Chris Zippel from Germany has just release his album entitled, “Genuine Horizon”.  Album is very chilled out and downtempo electronica.  Vocals on this track provided by Adel Tawil (one half of the german group, Ich + Ich.).

[download]

Buy Album: Genuine Horizon

Listen to Chris at his myspace page.

Ulrich Schnauss - Stars

This track is a massive wall of sound similar to shoegazing acts like Lush, Slowdive, and Cocteau Twins. Give this track a minute or two to be drawn in and drowned in a beautiful mix of electronic bliss and dreamy vocals.

Ulrich Schnauss - Medusa

Meduse has swelling vocals that ebb and flow to a soothing wall of sound and a climactic wash, that has a little harder hitting action to it compaired to “Stars”

Both tracks can be found on the Goodbye album by Ulrich Schnauss