63 minutes, 8 seconds

Harold Budd
The Serpent (In Quicksilver) & Abandoned Cities

I'm not normally one for twangy guitars, but Harold Budd could probably play the kazoo and chances are I'd listen rapturously. There's a desolate, lonely, spaghetti-Western-on-Quaaludes quality to the first few tracks on this disc, and then it shifts into two longer pieces (the Abandoned Cities portion of the CD), both of which considerably amp up the foreboding, dark-ambient quotient. Probably some of the darkest material Budd ever recorded.

Which is noteworthy, because of all the serious ambient composers I've come across, he's typically the most romantic-sounding. His piano-based pieces are rich with sustained chords and fortified with violins, guitars, and other instruments you can actually pick out--unlike, say, the studio-effects-laden work of Brian Eno.

This CD is worth seeking out, along with the rest of Budd's back catalog. It's rare for ambient music to tell a good story (Budd is a master at song titles too), and his music speaks volumes.

Also today:

63:07 Terror Against Terror, Psychological Warfare Technology Systems
63:06 Current 93, Sleep Has His House
63:06 Hocico, Odio Bajo el Alma
63:05 Allied Vision, MMBO
63:05 Die Form, Archives & Documents (CD 1 of 2)
63:05 Nullvektor, Stromaufwärts
63:03 Die Form, Die Puppe
63:01 Accessory, Jukka2147.de
63:00 In Strict Confidence, Exile Paradise (CD 1 of 2)
62:59 Ah Cama-Sotz, Terra Infernalis