58 minutes, 6 seconds

Klinik & Vidna Obmana
Gluttony

Two great tastes that go great together. At least that's probably what the plan was when these two got together to record this new series of recordings, based on the seven deadly sins. It's not the first time Klinik's Marc Verhaegen has collaborated with Vidna Obmana: Way back in 1991 Obmana contributed to "Lost Ambience," a track on Verhaegen's Semblance album (recorded under the alias X10). Plus, Belgium's a pretty small country. They were bound to run into each other at some point.

I gave up on Klinik after Dirk Ivens left and it became a Verhaegen solo project (although Contrast wasn't a terrible album). I suppose now I need to go back and listen to the material he's recorded since. (Great--another excuse to eventually spend a bunch of dough on eBay and GEMM.)

This disc bubbles along in a low-key sort of way--not necessarily reminiscent of either musician's golden era but not completely different-sounding either. And what it has to do with gluttony I can't really say. Also can't really say for sure whether they're truly planning to release seven CDs together, in order to fulfill all seven of the deadly sins. (The second in the series, Greed, was released in 2006.) If they do, more power to them. If they don't, more power to my poor wallet.

Also today:

58:04 Symbiont, Ology
58:03 Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, In Darkness Let Me Dwell
58:00 Seven Pines, The Garden of Fand
57:59 Attrition, Keepsakes and Reflections
57:59 Les Berrtas, Nekropolis
57:59 Massiv in Mensch, Die Rein
57:58 Brian Eno, Neroli
57:57 Flëur, Siyanie

61 minutes, 34 seconds

Vidna Obmana
Monument of Empty Colours

Early Vidna Obmana, a.k.a. Dirk Serries, Belgian ambient composer of some renown. (Um, at least among people who like ambient music from Belgium.) These particular pieces, assembled on the first disc of the Memories Compiled compilation for the Projekt label, were recorded with American expermentalist PBK.

They're quiet, floating pieces, to be sure, but they contain a bit of a burr. This isn't quite the soothing, almost medicinal ambient music Obmana would later create for his three-disc Trilogy release. In fact, you can hear the transition here from some of the more industrial, noisy work captured on his Anthology 1984-2004 compilation.

In any case, why am I telling you all this before 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning? (Yes, check the time stamp below.) I couldn't sleep, that's why. Ever since the stupid daylight saving time change, my sleeping habits have been off-kilter. But we moved the clocks ahead, so you'd think I'd sleep later, not wake up earlier. Weird. And the real bummer is that daylight itself (that phenomenon we're supposed to be saving) is still more than an hour away.

Also today:

61:33 Misericordia & Gaïta, Eschewynge of Ydlenesse
61:33 Mortiis, Crypt of the Wizard
61:31 Fin de Siècle, Présences
61:31 Suicide Commando, Chromdioxyde 1
61:31 Television Overdose, Terrestrial Broadcast
New arrival! 68:36 Skadi, Eliwagar
61:31 Various artists, Hopes Die in Winter
61:29 Project Pitchfork, Inferno

70 minutes, 28 seconds

Vidna Obmana
Near the Flogging Landscape

Can a landscape flog? Maybe in Belgium, where Dirk Serries (a.k.a. Vidna Obmana) is from. Good thing he doesn't write lyrics.

This is the first disc from the Memories Compiled 2 set, an archival release from Obmana's early days as a composer of floating ambient soundscapes. It's very soothing, but in a dark and melancholy way. Glumbient music, if you will. Blue Age. OK, I'll stop now.

Also today:

70:26 The Unquiet Void, Poisoned Dreams
70:22 Various artists, Letters from the Front
70:20 Death in June, Nada!
70:19 Negative Format, Result of a New Culture
70:19 Wiener Aktivisten, Chapter I & II
70:17 Allerseelen, Venezia
70:17 Controlled Fusion, Patient Zero

71 minutes, 19 seconds

Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana
Somewhere Else

Strikes me as funny that a lot of ambient CDs tend to cluster at the long end of the total-time spectrum. CDs max out at 80 minutes, and it's no stretch to say that upwards of 75% of the ambient discs I own are longer than 70 minutes. Steve Roach is a key culprit here.

And there's nothing wrong with giving people their money's worth on a CD. But if any genre might benefit from some editing, it's ambient music. I understand the sustained mood and texture they're going for, but does every album have to stretch tracks to the 10-minute mark and beyond? (In fact, several Roach CDs are one single, long-playing track, including this collaboration with fellow sound stretcher Vidna Obmana.)

Some ambient composers seem to understand this. And I don't feel like an asshole when I say that Harold Budd usually managed to communicate more in three minutes than Roach can in 20. Maybe that's unfair, considering how different their music is. But come on--70-minute CDs are OK once in a while, but all the time?

Also today:

71:18 Terence Fixmer, Muscle Collection
71:15 Dernière Volonté, Obeir et Mourir (CD 2 of 2)
71:03 Benestrophe, Auric Fires
71:03 Infekktion, Suffering Spirits
71:02 Die Form, Suspiria de Profundis
71:01 Eden, Gateway to the Mysteries
New arrival! 76:14 Displacer, Moon_Phase
New arrival! 74:00 Dither, Amek
New arrival! 73:16 Dither, Summit