MARKUS GUENTNER - BLACK DAHLIA


Markus Guentner is not only a well-known ambient music artist but also the designer creating the visual identity of (Joachim Spieth's) Affin label. Black Dahlia, his latest release and follow-up of September 2024's Kontrapunkt, combines both: the hand-crafted 4-panel CD comes with an extra cover insert card and a sticker.


On Black Dahlia, Guentner presents dark and immersive soundscapes, venturing into 'unexplored territories of experimental sound design while retaining his unmistakable sonic identity. Each track serves as a sonic vignette, weaving intricate layers of pulsating rhythms, haunting melodies and ethereal atmospheres."


The music on this 7-track/51-minute album has an exquisite cinematic 'Sci-Fi' feel, blending the vast sonic textures with all kinds of electronic elements to create a dark but exciting atmosphere.
Black Dahlia does not offer 'ambient' of the 'ignorable' kind, but it's a treat for the adventurous sonic traveler.


Black Dahlia by Markus Guentner








JACOB KIRKEGAARD - SNOWBLIND


For his sound art, Jacob Kirkegaard often chooses fascinating themes. The sound of four deserted rooms in Chernobyl (Four Rooms), the vibrations of the earth around a Geysir in Iceland (Eldfjall), shifting sands in the desert (Sabulation), the sound of the inner ear (Labyrinthitis), or a 'post-mortem' sound study (Opus Mors).


With Snowblind, Kirkegaard turns his attention to barren, icy territory again. The soundscapes on this album are highly programmatic: based on the history of 'a failed attempt for a team of Swedish explorers to reach the North Pole by balloon' in 1897. After two days in the air their balloon crashed. This did not end well for them: they did not survive the cold. Documentation of their journey was discovered thirty years after their death.
As Kirkegaard explains himself: "I wanted to create a cold and hostile album, where there is no escape, no warmth, and no happy ending. Yet, I wanted to leave out any immediate drama. It is the creeping shock, the icy feeling from realizing what has been lost and that there's no escape."


So before listening to this album, you'd better wear an extra sweater. |You'll relive the story in the eleven (all relatively short) sonic vignettes. Ascend, the first track, builds up to a raging storm and then suddenly drops in an unexpected fade (the moment the balloon crashes?). From there it's a bleak, isolationist journey "of cryptic tone, thrumming reverberation, arctic bluster, and a plethora of harrowing sonic proclamations", ending with the last track called Perish.
It's not exactly what we call 'Easy Listening,' but Jacob Kirkegaard never takes the easy way out. Which always results in remarkable sonic adventures.


snowblind by jacob kirkegaard

--- originally published on Ambientblog ---

Ver todos los episodios