Every year I make both a conscious and sub-conscious effort to listen to as much music as possible, often ‘wasting’ crucial time that would have been better spent on study or work. I’ve realised that I define periods in my life by what records I obsess over at that time, and there always seems to be a slight lean towards particular genres each year – while a lot of people claim this to be a result of there being ‘no good such and such genre records released this year’, I think it’s more to do with one’s mood and the stage in which their life is in. As it stands, countless albums come out all the time, so for any genre to not actually have anything good released over a whole year is utter bullshit.
Last year I devoured entire discographies by bands like Low and The Magnetic Fields, and albums from those bands now take me back to older feelings, but at the same time create new ones. 2011 has been quite diverse in terms of what I’ve been listening to – while this is generally the case every year, 2011’s records are spread out across even more genres and sub-genres, perhaps signifying my own indecisiveness towards events in my life. But I digress. One particular genre, both in terms of 2011 released records and in my general listening, has definitely stuck out, and that is ambient. Bypassing any extended foray into what I think about the genre or what it means to me, the two most important names in the genre in 2011 (at least for me) are Tim Hecker and Aidan Baker.
Hecker, unlike Baker, releases LPs sparingly. His last record before Ravedeath, 1972 was 2009’s An Imaginary Country. What characterises Hecker’s work is that he is consistently brilliant at what he does. Each and every album he has put out is a masterpiece in its own way, although I would be the first to argue that Ravedeath is the pinnacle of his musical career so far. On the other hand we have Aidan Baker, who rather than constructing expansive records over a long period of time, puts out an album for every idea he gets. I’m avoiding bias as much as possible, because I believe that each artist approaches the genre differently, and excels in it in their own way. While many of Baker’s records are not quite as good as others, the sheer amount of material negates any criticism. Plus, when he does get it right (which is more often than not), there’s no denying the inherent quality.
Baker has thus far released 6 LPs in 2011. This article will only be covering 5 of them, as I have unfortunately not heard Pure Drone (Drone Compendium One). From what I can tell however, that record isn’t pivotal in articulating Baker’s output for the year. The other five vary remarkably in style, though they still retain that engaging element which characterises most of Baker’s work.
Lost in the Rat Maze was the first on Baker’s roster this year (after Pure Drone). To put it very simply, this is the sort of record that makes me revisit all the reasons why I love the genre. This record’s focus is on gradually evolving soundscapes, all very lush and organic. Parts of it remind of his Green & Cold album, not only in aesthetic but also in composition. While the overall atmosphere on the record is very warming, Lost in the Rat Maze is characterised by a cold tension, which I believe fits in very well with its concept. While I would not say this is as much an achievement as Green & Cold was, or even that it’s the best thing he’s put out this year, I simply love this record – it’s not to be missed. But on the point of his best output in 2011, the next record to be mentioned is Only Stories. Now this one is my pick of the five, but only for one simple reason: it sounds like Scalpel. Only Stories consists of four songs of sparse acoustics, each note gently echoing against every other. I find this to be even more minimal than Scalpel, as it eschews a lot of the background noise that Scalpel had. This might result in making the record somewhat harder to digest, but its languid nature doesn’t take long to become an addiction – listening to the endless soft acoustic passages simply for that short climax (which sometimes doesn’t come) is an excellent way to spend an evening.
Unfortunately for us, Only Stories is where Baker peaked this year. There may be more records to come before the year ends, but as it stands the three albums to follow were not as intriguing as the first two, at least not aesthetically. Conceptually speaking, Baker is always an intrigue. Still Life, the third record, takes a detour from the usual Baker ambience and provides an exploration of the ‘lounge’. This involves excluding any and all guitar work (normally a fundamental tool of manipulation in Baker’s music), focusing purely on a combination of piano, drums and bass. Generally speaking, the rhythm section provides a cushioned foundation upon which the piano directs the songs. Though of course Baker is not an artist to be pigeonholed, and his eccentricity shines through on several occasions – ‘Complex Iconographic Symbology’ juxtaposes rather eerily with the first two songs, conjuring an extremely dark mood that takes the record to its end. Another peculiar example is the midsection of ‘Refuge from Oblivion’, comprising of a frenetic and disorderly piano line, which, ironically, is no refuge from oblivion. While my personal preferences may downplay this record, I would not shy away from recommending this strongly to those who would be able to appreciate it.
To finish off, we have the remaining two albums, Tonstreifen and Plague of Fantasies. Tonstreifen is in my opinion more of an experiment than a record. It’s two tracks (‘Ton’ and ‘Streifen’) make a two part album that is both conceptually fascinating and aesthetically dull. While ambient music takes a certain kind of person and a certain kind of mood to be truly enjoyed, Tonstreifen manipulates the genre’s formula, retaining all of its repetitive elements but foregoing typical texturing and atmosphere. The style here can simply be categorised as ‘constant’ – it takes one particular melody, locks itself into a groove and just plays that melody over and over again. There exists a very subtle variation within either track, one in which the intensity is increased ever so slightly. While this may seem a ‘boring’ experience to some, there is something very hypnotic about this record. When the groove locks itself in, so does the listener. This then leaves Tonstreifen with two elements that define it: first, the forced repetition, or ‘constant’ if you will, of the melody, and second, the transition between the two songs. Said transition represents a lag in the first song, a slight hesitation which then transforms itself into the next calmative sequence. One comparison which I’ve used before that describes Tonstreifen from an outside perspective, is that the entire thing sounds like a New Order intro on repeat. I’ve gone on at length about this record, which may seem contradictory to my statement earlier about this being a ‘weaker’ record, but I’m a sucker for concepts and this has a great one. While it won’t be a regular listen, Tonstreifen is a record that I keep for those particular nights.
Plague of Fantasies, the last of the five records, is my least favourite of the lot. This is not to say it is not good, but I haven’t been able to connect with it as I have with the other records. It might have something to do with the amount of time I’ve had to absorb the album (or lack thereof), or also because of the glitch elements used here – I’ll go out on a limb and say that I find glitch in general very annoying, and only in very specific circumstances do I think it works well with the styles of ambient I generally enjoy. Plague of Fantasies does not do a bad job of combining glitch with Aidan’s usual approach to the genre, but certain sections, particularly on the first track, push me away rather than pull me in. Nonetheless, Plague… does not stray too far from excellence, and the way I see it is that Baker can be forgiven for already providing me with four other excellent records to absorb in 2011 alone. He has certainly had a good year, which means I’ve had a good year (at least in terms of my ambient binges). If the ideas and concepts surrounding Baker’s work entice you, do not waste any time in exploring these albums.
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