Thinking The Sounds

Good!

When you ask accomplished teachers how they are, they always say, “Good, good, very good” — always good. Many people say that they feel dishonest saying they are good when in fact they have problems. But what we are talking about here is developing a fundamental sense of strength and well-being. Wouldn’t it be better to associate our mind with that rather than with all the fleeting emotions and physical sensations we experience throughout the say? What is the point of being honest about something so fleeting and impossible to pin down? If your well-being is so dependent upon emotions and physical sensations, you will have little opportunity to say, “I am well.” So when people ask how you are, say, “Good!”

— Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, from “Old Relationships, New Possibilities” (Tricycle Magazine, Winter 2008)

Well, I’ve now added DJ to the list of my skills and accomplishments.

Starting this Thursday (July 10th) I will be hosting a two-hour ambient music show on Stillstream.com.

It will consist primarily of music that is available for free legal download on the net.  Stillstream plays a variety of ambient electronic music, but my concentration is on gentle and quiet music without beats or percussion.

The show is called “Free Floating”.

Be sure to tune in and check it out on the relevant blog.

Let me know if you tune in.  (The chatroom at the site is usually pretty active during shows.  Lots of the performers themselves show up.)

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One of my favorite ambient artists of recent years is Altus (the alter ego of one Mike Carss). He has been putting out some amazingly arranged and produced ambient music–all of it free–for several years now.

Rapid Eye Movements is somewhat darker than many of his releases, but to my hearing it still has a very warm and inviting core. If it is an invitation to sleep and to dream, it contains in it the possibility of confronting the darkness of the psyche, of wandering down unknown pathways. But at the same time, it radiates a certain subtle sense of calm amidst the trepidation.

However, sleep is like that. One of my favorite quotes about sleep comes from former Bauhaus singer, Peter Murphy in his son, Shy:

Sleep is the daily end of life
A small exercise in death

When we go to sleep we enter into a void. A void, as the Buddhists say, is merely empty, a fact which is not good or bad. It is our approach to death that makes it bad, our inability to accept the unknown. So there is a sense of the ominous. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can feel warm and safe in the envelopment of the night.

This album seems to embody some of that for me. There is no doubt that there is something fearful and ominous in the music. Part II, especially begins with what could be footsteps, or the sound of our heart beating with fear, or Tolkien’s “drums in the deep”. But they can also be the simple rhythm of the clock, beating out time, measuring the simple passage of the present moment. The rhythm gives way to subtle shifting chords that hint at discord but offer warmth as well. It’s the path we all tread.

I’m not sure why I find more emotional resonance in this album than in some of Altus’ other works. Perhaps it’s that I am ever intrigued by themes of dichotomy and transcendence. But I have found myself really exploring this album more than previous releases, letting it work as more than background. And I believe it’s because Altus has crafted a piece of music that points to some deeper truths.

Listen to the album above and download it (FREE and legal) at the Rain netlabel.

Ms. Bourdin is a painter who also works in ambient sound. She has several albums worth of material available via her website. This particular album presents some warm ambient drift.

DOWNLOAD HERE.

The link will take you to the artist’s original site. While it is possible to link directly to the download I believe in supporting the artists by driving traffic to their sites.

Here are a pair of thematically related albums from that rotating collection of artists known as The Ambient Collective.

The Ambient Collective – Light

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The Ambient Collective – Dark