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The Slow Music Movement Blog

Mostly we put our daily recommendations here for the blog readers among you, although occasionally we go longform.
Reading about music is a bit like looking at pictures of food - not nearly half as much fun as getting involved, so we scribble a brief intro to hopefully whet your appetite but you're better off just hitting play. Not very "slow" I know but there's a lot of music to check these days & hopefully you'll find the recommendations a handy filter.
Trust your ears, not opinions.

29/6/2019 0 Comments

Slow Music Recommendations Round Up - 29/6/2019

Welcome to our weekly RSS feed friendly round up of the last seven day's music recommendations.

Mega Bog - Dophine (Paradise of Bachelors)

A whimsical & wonderful concept LP from Mega Bog as, with rock operatic swagger & a psychedelic swirl, she playfully & seemingly effortlessly fuses folk, art pop, cinematic notes, country & rock into a constantly surprising & charming listen for Paradise of Bachelors.

Brijean - Walkie Talkie (Native Cat)

If you're going to be sweltering this weekend then I'd recommend tuning into the sweet, soulful, sunshine optimised classic house vibes & finely tuned percussion that anchors the laid back, indie pop vocals and melodic dreaminess of Brijean's new LP for Native Cat Recordings.

Bells Atlas - The Mystic (Tender Loving Empire)

The "Kaleidosonic" vibrations of Bells Atlas have brightened up my morning no end. It's always nice to hear a genuinely fresh fusion & their psychedelic, multi-diminsional blend of future dream pop funkiness & supernatural soulfullness for Tender Loving Empire is tickling me all over.

Ferdi - All One (Claremont 56)

Sunshine optimised, summer soundtracking, easy listening eclecticism from one man band Ferdi for Claremont56 as he throws every easy breezy trick known to musical man into the mixer but never once sounds cluttered.

Léo Leobons - Ritual (Kafundó Records)

The just released remix album is a great set of electronically tuned versions but only because the original Léo Leobons LP for Kafundó Records is pure Afro Brazilian fire start to finish.

Forte - Intermissions (ØEN Records)

Give your Monday an otherworldly dimension & a quick charge by plugging into the dreamy electronica and ethereal interludes of up and coming Danish producer Forte for ØEN REC.

Richard Norris - Abstractions Volume Two (Group Mind)

Nice to see Richard Norris back so soon with another excellent LP of Sunday suitable ambient excursions. Dusted with sun blessed field recordings, the new age of New Age vibes intertwine with calming drones & finely distilled machine soul to wonderful soothing effect..

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22/6/2019 0 Comments

The Slow Music Recommendations Round Up - 22/6/2019

Welcome to our weekly RSS feed friendly round up of the last seven day's music recommendations.

SPAZA - SPAZA (MUSHROOM HOUR HALF HOUR)

Mind blown as jazz goes home to Africa and then hurtles off into otherworldly sonic realms. Spiritual, deeper than deep, improvised, avant-garde Afrofuturism rooted in the traditions of the continent where it all began for Mushroom Hour Half Hour. If I hear a fresher jazz album this year I'll be overjoyed.

LEIF - LOOM DREAM (WHITIES)

After cementing itself as one of the freshest club focussed electronic labels around it's great to see Whities move into more cerebral, sofa friendly territory with the inventively & impeccably produced, percussively propelled yet ambient inclined sounds of the new Leif EP.

43 ODES - 43 ODES (EIDERDOWN RECORDS)

With a nod to the spiritual Eastern horizon whilst gazing at the stars & their boundless possibilities 43 Odes shoulder their psychedelic folk packs & head into the desert for the longest journey of all, deep inside. An outstanding release from the ever impressive Eiderdown Records

PICAPICA - TOGETHER & APART (ROUGH TRADE RECORDS)

Almost hidden by the beguiling vocal interplay of the lead singers and their breezy, folk routed 60's harking, sunshine pop sounds, PicaPica insouciantly articulate lifes ups and downs in the most easy listening manner for Rough Trade Records.

TELLAVISION - ADD LAND (BUREAU B)

Check out the striking new Tellavision LP as she strips back to essentials her motorik anchored, synth saturated, post post punk imagining spaced out art pop for Bureau B. Quality quirkiness.

JOGGING HOUSE - LURE (SEIL)

Equipoise the Monday blues and ease your way into the week with the soothing new age of New Age vibes and comforting ambient tones of Jogging House. Another lovely release from Seil Records.

BILL CALLAHAN - SHEPHERD IN A SHEEPSKIN VEST (DRAG CITY)

If you're alone today I would suggest opening the door to Bill Callahan and let his earthy yet eloquent, Americana & folk grounded social observations & expression of his new found contentment in family & fatherhood for Drag City Records keep you company. He's one of the good ones.

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15/6/2019 0 Comments

Slow Music Recommendations Round up - 15/6/2019

Welcome to our weekly RSS feed friendly round up of the last seven day's music recommendations.

Hymnambulae - Nausikaa (Hypnagoga Press)

I'm not sure why there aren't more ambient poetry fusion projects when they sound as good as the captivating oratory of Swedish mysticical poet Gunnar Ekelöf gliding above Hymnambulae's superbly crafted, melancholic Scandi-noir soundscapes for Hypnagoga Press.

Meernaa - Heart Hunger (Native Cat Recordings)

Great to see Meernaa building on last years excellent EP and now inhabiting their own unique cosmic synth supported, occasionally post rock assisted, blue eyed soul cloud with their excellent new LP for Native Cat Recordings

Ida Mae - Chasing Lights

A good old fashioned Rock 'n' Roll opener gives way to all sorts of blues rooted strains of Americana on the refreshingly unpolished, honest, familiar yet fresh Ida Mae LP. Not a bad tune on the album & I bet the live show kicks arse.

Mattson 2 - Paradise (Company REcords)

Summer has just started with LA's Mattson 2 firing the starting pistol with their great new LP of microdosed, easy & breezy, Balearic friendly, smooth jazz meets dreamy solar powered Yacht rock on Company Records. Lovely stuff start to finish.

Seabuckthorn - Crossing (Eilean Rec)

It's amazing what sounds one man & a strange guitar can make. Check out Seabuckthorn as he weaves his bowed resonator guitar into a subtle electro acoustic frame & evolves an experimental orchestral soundtrack to earth's primordial soup for Eilean Rec.

Meetsysteem - Geen Signall (Nous'klaer Audio)

Skip into the week with the languid, pleasingly lo-fi, Balearic courting, somewhat melancholic yet sluggishly optimistic, electro pop sounds of Amsterdam's Meetstysteem for Nous'klaer Audio

扎克 - Orchestral Tape Studies

Gracefully & respectfully "healing sound propagandist", 扎克 has sampled & looped the sounds of several orchestras' quieter passages then deftly adorned them with gentle drones & the faintest of field recordings to wonderfully soothing, minimal, neoclassical & ambient effect for Past Inside the Present. 100% of proceeds will go to help provide student scholarships.

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8/6/2019 0 Comments

Slow Music Recommendations Round Up - 8/6/2019

Welcome to our weekly RSS feed friendly round up of the last seven day's music recommendations.

The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love - Zota Yinne, Version (Philophon)

House band for the consistently excellent Philophon label, The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love (what a name!), drop two deadly live reggae versions of label classics in a psychedelic Afro Jazz style. On repeat - possibly forever.

Earthen Sea - Grass And Trees (Kranky)

As much as I love dub techno, most of it is stuck in a Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound aping infinity loop so it's great to see Earthen Sea's singular, minimally inspired, rhythmically varied, beauty with bass weight ambient twist on the genre for the every wonderful Kranky label.

Mandroid - SuperWaves (Self Release)

Dialling back the funk but turning the soul & atmosphere up to 11 with an 80's machine pop sheen, check out the stripped back, chilled out, perfectly balanced, soulful synth grooves of Mandroid. One for all you heart shaped bed owning playboys and playgirls out there.

Rajna Swaminathan - Of Agency and Abstraction (Biophilia)

Rajas is the Sanskrit word for an inner energy compelling us toward action, creation & change. It's also an apt name for Rajna Swaminathan's multi-cultural ensemble and their evocative, East meets West, Indian classical, jazz fusion. Big shout out to Biophilia Records & their forward thinking approach to plastic free music.

Sessa - Grandeza (Boiled Records)

Intimately recorded, the ritual percussion & Sessa's stand up bass form the bedrock for this excellent tropicalia nodding Samba rooted LP of laid back Brazilian folk for Boiled Records.

Dreems - Diamond Bay (Multi Culti)

Detach the space pod, make sure your purple tooth speaker is fully charged, disengage from reality & orbit around the week ahead instead with the warm, lazy & hazy, monoamine neurotransmitter promoting, electronic sounds of Dreems for Multi Culti.

Various Artists - Salmon Universe Vol. 1 (Salmon Universe)

Not content with being home for the excellent D E E P L E A R N I N G releases Salmon Universe has just swam up the compilation river & spawned this impeccably curated contemporary collection of multifarious ambient electronica. Sunday suitable & well recommended.

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3/6/2019 0 Comments

Slow Music Recommendations Round up - 1/6/2019

Welcome to our weekly RSS feed friendly round up of the last seven day's music recommendations.

Alphabets - breaks (Symbol Group)

If you need some lazy, hazy vibes today check out the West Coast originating, opiate optimized, lysergic laced, guitar injected, plugged in and spaced out lethargicana of Alphabets for Symbol Group Records. Should do the job nicely.

Tristan de Liég - Maisha

To get a lot of the LP inspiration from a big bad city like LA & still produce music this positive I'm guessing Tristan de Liège is a glass half full guy. Check out his soulful, Eastern veined, spiritual nodding nu-jazz fusion. It's a lovely listen.

Nicolas Stocker - SOLO (Ronin Rhythm)

It's rare to hear percussion standing alone, it's subtlety often lost in a group but after his recent amazing Areni Agbabian collaboration I checked out Nicolas Stocker's solo work on Ronin Rhythm Records & this LP perfectly highlights his percussive prowess, ability to create soft textures & immersive soundscapes as well as propel.

Ann Annie - Wander Into

Seemingly on a one woman mission to bring about world peace through musical endeavour, ann annie has produced another Arcadian gem, sitting at the intersection of the new age of New Age, ambient and the hippie dream. Hear the love.

Josephine Wiggs - We Fall (The Sound of Sinners)

Largely minimal, sometimes not, ambient leaning, classically inclined, indie-folk, electronic fusion from Josephine Wiggs as she slightly sombrely pairs her multi-instrumental talents with those of Jon Mattock of Spacemen 3 to reluctantly beautiful, introspection encouraging effect for The Sound of Sinners

HOERA - jaunu (Granvat)

Drift into the week with the laid back cinematic jazz & electro acoustic, ambient choral fusion of hoera. as they record Lithuanian choir, Jauna Muzika 2019 & respectfully reduce them to a sampled digital audio avatar to accompany their own minimal, live music endeavours for Belgium's granvat.

Areni Agbabian - Bloom (ECM)

Armenian singer Areni Agbabian's native folk referencing, crystal clear voice floats above her minimal piano lines and Nicolas Stocker's sparse textured rather than propulsive, global percussion for ECM Records. A lovely, less is most definitely more, Sunday listen.

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YOUR CART

Slow Music Recommendations Round Up - 29/6/2019

Mega Bog - Dophine (Paradise of Bachelors)

Brijean - Walkie Talkie (Native Cat)

Bells Atlas - The Mystic (Tender Loving Empire)

Ferdi - All One (Claremont 56)

Léo Leobons - Ritual (Kafundó Records)

Forte - Intermissions (ØEN Records)

Richard Norris - Abstractions Volume Two (Group Mind)

The Slow Music Recommendations Round Up - 22/6/2019

SPAZA - SPAZA (MUSHROOM HOUR HALF HOUR)

LEIF - LOOM DREAM (WHITIES)

43 ODES - 43 ODES (EIDERDOWN RECORDS)

PICAPICA - TOGETHER & APART (ROUGH TRADE RECORDS)

TELLAVISION - ADD LAND (BUREAU B)

JOGGING HOUSE - LURE (SEIL)

BILL CALLAHAN - SHEPHERD IN A SHEEPSKIN VEST (DRAG CITY)

Slow Music Recommendations Round up - 15/6/2019

Hymnambulae - Nausikaa (Hypnagoga Press)

Meernaa - Heart Hunger (Native Cat Recordings)

Ida Mae - Chasing Lights

Mattson 2 - Paradise (Company REcords)

Seabuckthorn - Crossing (Eilean Rec)

Meetsysteem - Geen Signall (Nous'klaer Audio)

扎克 - Orchestral Tape Studies

Slow Music Recommendations Round Up - 8/6/2019

The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love - Zota Yinne, Version (Philophon)

Earthen Sea - Grass And Trees (Kranky)

Mandroid - SuperWaves (Self Release)

Rajna Swaminathan - Of Agency and Abstraction (Biophilia)

Sessa - Grandeza (Boiled Records)

Dreems - Diamond Bay (Multi Culti)

Various Artists - Salmon Universe Vol. 1 (Salmon Universe)

Slow Music Recommendations Round up - 1/6/2019

Alphabets - breaks (Symbol Group)

Tristan de Liég - Maisha

Nicolas Stocker - SOLO (Ronin Rhythm)

Ann Annie - Wander Into

Josephine Wiggs - We Fall (The Sound of Sinners)

HOERA - jaunu (Granvat)

Areni Agbabian - Bloom (ECM)

OUR MISSION STATEMENT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS

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