ambient

Fake Soundtrack Alert! There’s Something Wrong with Sarah

Who doesn’t love a little throwback exploitation realness?

My soundtrack to the totally fake film There’s Something Wrong with Sarah is a love letter to the godawful low-budget horror film soundtracks of the 70s and 80s.

This album has it all: dripping synths, ridiculous Tubular Bells ripoff piano themes, dadaist nonsense noise collages, and more.

Cut to a grainy 35-mm trailer with a low-voiced guy saying:

Sarah’s a normal, healthy 9 year-old girl — until recently. Her parents have started to think there might be something a bit off about their sweet little angel.

Where she used to joyously jump rope, now she just stares. Where she used to roller skate, now other kids avoid her strange aura. Where she used to solve puzzles, now she ponders the impenetrable mysteries of the human mind.

Hypnosis, telepathy, telekinesis; no one knows what she’s capable of next. One thing is for certain: there’s something wrong with Sarah.

Music Alert: Age of Distrust Remixes

I just finished two dark ambient / experimental remixes for the FREE album Age of Distrust by ambient masterminds The Creeping Man and Black Pill Machine.

Age of Distrust is upsetting as it is innovative, somehow confrontational without ever really taking any kind of discernible shape. It shifts and tumbles out of the darkness like it wants something from you. Sharp, unexpected textures bubble up from long, low rumbles and melt into pitched-down vocal samples from another era.

I’m really excited to be part of this release! Check out their individual Bandcamp pages for more mind-bending experimental / dark ambient explorations (The Creeping Man / Black Pill Machine).

Mixtape Alert: The Vanishing House

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I’m delighted to announce the release of The Vanishing House, a two-hour collection of dark ambient and experimental offerings.

This release marks a long-overdue revival of a beloved annual ritual: the Halloween mixtape. I’ve been too busy with original music projects these last few years to produce a mixtape as well, but this year I made sure to find the time. My first three Halloween mixtapes were Dead Punks (2007), a tribute to early goth; You’ve Been Sick (2009), a love letter to asylum horror; and Pray For Death (2010), dedicated to religious horror and possessions.

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Mixtape Alert: Class of ’93 – Artificial Skies

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So far the Class of ‘93 mixtape series has payed homage to those early rave genres we all know and love: hardcore breakbeat, techno, trance, jungle, acid. This time the focus shifts to ambient, a genre that enjoyed a brief spotlight in the early ’90s, both in and out of the rave scene, and easily deserves a mixtape of its own.

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