Conception to incubation (ff-2013-06-12) by Freefloating on Mixcloud

This episode of the Stillstream show focused on the music of Boris Lelong, specifically focused on his most recent release, the long-form piece Incubation.

Playlist:

1. Boris Lelong – Conception – Conception
2. Boris Lelong – Incubation – Incubation
3. Boris Lelong – Everyday Flower Movement I – Everyday Flower

 Cover photo by Tom Anderson

Complex Contemplation (FF-2013-06-05) by Freefloating on Mixcloud

Playlist:

1.  Scott Lawlor – Complex Silence 36 – Complex Silence 36
2. Michael Meara – Contemplation 1: Void in Form – Contemplation 1

Click on the links to download the music for free.

Look Deeply (FF-2013-05-29) by Freefloating on Mixcloud

Playlist:

1.  James Johnson – Disc 2 Track 3 – Minimum
2. Tange – Psylence III – Album in a Day Volume 3
3. Arciticology – Above Stars – Music for Daydreamers
4. Phillip Wilkerson – Still and Moving – Still Point
5. Oliphaunt – Built Around a Buddha Box Pt. 1 - Sketches of the Forest
6. Lucette Bourdin – Space – Oceanic Space
7. Nemertis – Trees Above the Seas – Reverberanta
8. Silvercord – The Lifted Veil – I Smiled Because I Knew Death Was But A Door

Click on the links to find the music for free download.

(I know that the James Johnson collection was available at one point as a free download, but I couldn’t find it when I searched.)

• Jack Hertz – Moments Between/Time – Free Floating
• Daniel Roberty Lahey – Twilight Tapestry/Tonalchemy – Free Floating
• C.paradisi – The Color of Spring – Self-released
• Phillip Wilkerson – Sweet Eva Lena/Highlands – Free Floating
• Lucette Bourdin – Look Up to Outer Vastness/Radiant Stars – Earth Mantra
• Daniel Robert Lahey – In Midair/Breathing May Surprise – Free Floating

Track List

1/     Red Veil     09/32
2/     Mystere     10/44
3/     Hidden Away     08:15
4/     Seekers of Truth     14/18
5/     Revelation     14:10

Notes

Red Veil        ffm•016
Gregg Plummer

Time is a precious commodity. In this hyper connected and information soaked world, a bit of time away from the buzz of the world can be just what the mind and soul need in order to recharge and find our way.

With “Red Veil” Gregg Plummer gives us the gift of time.

Oh, sure, you can listen to this music while tweeting, posting, commenting and sharing (truth be told, I did all of that while preparing this for release). But the gentle harmonious drones and luxuriating pads call you away from all that. They build a time machine that can take you to a time without the incessant rhythm that our yearning beats out upon our keyboards and into the world.

This is meditative music, music for being present, for being in time rather than watching rush past you.

This is something that is crucial to our mental and emotional health, and something which I’m grateful that Gregg has allowed Free Floating to share with you.

So I will ask you to take this music and at some point take some time out of your busy life and just listen to it. Not while working or reading or doing yoga. Or even meditating. Let the music itself and the time you spend with it be your meditation.

Like me, you will appreciate that time and be stronger for it.

Brad Ross-MacLeod
Vancouver, WA
November 2012

About The Artist

Gregg Plummer’s music crosses several genres, among them atmospheric, ambient soundscapes, eclectic experimental tracks, relaxation and easy listening offerings, and contemplative drones and space music.  “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been creating my own soundscapes, plinking out mysterious chords on the piano or strumming odd patterns of sound on the guitar or keyboard. Since childhood, I’ve dreamed of creating unusual  inviting symphonies, mixing harmony with cacophony, juxtaposing bright beautiful sound with dark haunting drones.

“Though I’ve learned much along the way regarding music theory and “right vs. wrong” techniques to creating music, I tend to ignore these basic principles and just allow my fingers to transcribe and decipher the thoughts and inspiration that comes to me as gifts from my muses.”

http://greggplummer.com

License

This music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

I have heard from a number of people asking me if Free Floating will be releasing another Christmas/Winter compilation this year and my answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

It is finally time to announce that I am currently accepting submissions for the 2nd annual Christmas compilation, all|is|calm2012.

Submissions should conform to the following guidelines:

Works may be cover versions of (or include themes from) Christmas songs or carols, but only of compositions in the public domain (Deck the Halls, Silent Night, etc.);

Works should be ‘light’ ambient in nature, generally reflecting serene, meditative listening (beatless is also preferred, noise is not). Think of quiet nights of snow, chilly starlit skies, cozy fireplaces, visions of sugarplums, etc.;

Works should generally be between 8 and 12 minutes in length (though there is some flexibility here);

Works should be submitted by December 1, 2012 in wav format (I suggest WeTransfer for sending large files). Submissions can be sent to alliscalmATfreefloatingmusic.com.

I will notify you when I receive your submission and then once again when I have decided whether or not to include it in the compilation.

If you have any additional questions, requests or ideas please feel free to contact me.

Check out the 2010 and 2011 Compilations below:

• all|is|calm 2010
• all|is|calm 2011

Track List

1. Waking to Solace 06/11
2. I Smiled Because I Knew Death Was But A Door 18/56
3. The Lifted Veil 05/04
4. Far Journeys 08/42
5. Listening to Silence Speak 14/13
6. As Ash Rains 08/49

Notes

I Smiled Because I Knew Death Is But A Door        ffm•015
Silvercord

Beautiful.

The term has lost much of its meaning, being used so often in common speech and advertising hyperbole that it almost passes us by when we hear it. Yet beauty is really at the heart of Free Floating and is expressed consistently throughout this new work by Silvercord.

When something is beautiful it affects us on different levels. At the surface there is something pleasing to the senses, something that draws us in and holds us in a place of simple appreciation. These pieces do that. The subtle shifting chords and drones create a gentle echoing space that feels like a beautiful place to just be.

But more than just pleasing, beauty touches us more deeply and more profoundly. The pleasant sensations are the leaves and branches of a tree with deep roots that reach down to the deeper core of us and grow from those places of richer experience and meaning. The themes explored in this music dig deeply, posing questions of life and death that are at the center of being human.

And so I’m proud to be releasing I Smiled Because I Knew That Death Is But A Door on Free Floating and am happy to welcome Silvercord to the artist roster. This music represents another step in his maturing musical vision and expands the depth—and beauty—of the Free Floating oeuvre.

Brad Ross-MacLeod
Vancouver, WA
October 2012

From the Artist

I started the music project Silvercord back in 1999 with the first release ‘swan on a black sea’. As I was a music major in the university, I started to become very interested in recording music. It wasn’t long before I started listening to ambient music programs on public radio (Echos, Hearts of Space) and fell in love with the new world of sound that I hadn’t had knowledge of or access to in youth.

Recording music started to become to be a very therapeutic process and it remains as such today. In fact, recording (as well as editing and mixing/mastering) is not just my passion, it’s my mainstay of living. I started “Black Swan Audio” here in Seoul and have been helping artists both from Seoul and around the word produce, mix and master their music. It is my dream job and I am deeply thankful I have the chance to do what I love to pay the bills. These days, besides running Black Swan, I am at a University in Seoul studying Korean.

The theme for the new album came from a dream I had. In the dream I found myself in a situation in which my death was imminent. The mood of the dream was no doubt dark and hostile though something special had surfaced in both my dream consciousness and my waking consciousness. As I was still dreaming and about to die in my dream, I somehow was able to perceive death merely as a change in consciousness. I awoke the next morning feeling a greater sense of peace, more free from the noisy broken tape loop that always seems to be endlessly repeating in my mind.

http://www.thesixtyone.com/silvercord/

License

This music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Track List

1. Andromeda 54/50

Notes

The Sidereal Cycle 2        ffm•014
Altus

The plans for what would become The Sidereal Cycle took place without any input from me. I first found out about the concept from a post on the Altus blog. As soon as I read it I reached out to Mike (Carss, AKA Altus) with a resounding, “Yes, please! Fans of Free Floating and ambient I’m sure understand my enthusiasm.

Simply put, Mike Carss is a master of ambient music, there can be no doubt about that. Of the ambient artists that I listen to and love, I feel that Altus music is the most ‘composed’. While much of it is decidedly cinematic in structure, even the more minimal and abstract pieces seem to have deeper structures and themes that resonate throughout.

With his focus on thematic elements, the music of Altus is also somewhat painterly, in that the melodies and structures help to draw mental images, especially since each release usually contains a specific topical reference (time, sleep, fire, water, etc.).

And so it is fitting that Altus turns his hand once again to the grand theme of time and the seasons with The Sidereal Cycle.

In this collection, Mike reflects on the transformation of the verdant summer into the dormant browns, oranges, and golds of autumn. Andromeda is really a two-part suite, I would say. The first part explores the gradual changes in color while the second part reflects leaves falling to the ground and the eventually dormant landscape of the impending winter.

The music is at once placid and dramatic, a perfect reflection of the changing season of autumn itself.

Please enjoy this second installation in The Sidereal Cycle and come back in a few months to hibernate with part 3.

Brad Ross-MacLeod
Vancouver, WA
September 2012

All music by Mike Carss
Cover design by Brad Ross-MacLeod
Photograpy by Mike Carss

Download

Download in a number of formats:
MP3 320K, MP3 VBR, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, OGG. Images and liner notes included.

License

This music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Notes

Twilight Sessions Volume Eight        ffm•002
Bing Satellites
Recorded December 2010 to April 2011

I don’t know if there’s something in the water in Manchester or if his house is built above some sacred tomb of Arthurian knights,  but I know that Brin Coleman (aka Bing Satellites) possesses some incredible source of musical power that goes beyond what I’m accustomed to.

As I have been listening repeatedly to Twilight Sessions Volume Eight, I find it amazing that seven other volumes (totaling over 15 hours of music) have been released by Bing Satellites in little over a year.  And this doesn’t even take into account the other releases, compilations AND the netlabel that Brin runs, BFW Recordings.

I first discovered the Twilight Sessions series in May of 2010 and wrote on my blog of Volume One that I was “really taken by the serene beauty of these pieces.”  And I followed along with the series and dutifully downloaded each as I became aware of them.  They entered my vast collection and popped up frequently in the playlists for my Stillstream show.

Then a transformation took place….

I believe it was with Volume Four.  I don’t know if it was that mystical Mancunian water or Brin simply hitting his stride and letting himself really surrender to his process, but the depth and majesty of the Twilight Sessions leapt to a new level for me at that point.  The music was with me throughout the process of moving with my family to Canada.  It comforted me on planes and in hotel rooms.  It became essential to me.  And the trend continued with volumes five through seven.

Fast forward only a few months later and I am releasing Twilight Sessions Volume Eight on my new Free Floating Music netlabel.  I am especially grateful to Brin for this, most especially because he already has his own netlabel that has been the home for this series so far.  I feel almost as though I were adopting one of his children and am honored that he believes in me and the label enough to share this music with Free Floating.

So listen to these six tracks and follow along the paths that Bing Satellites has laid out for you.  They are traced with graceful, floating piano phrases that glide over top of gentle and simple chords.  There are some shadowy and melancholy sites along these paths, but there is always the guiding hand to hold you up and move you forward to places both deep and true.  Feel the pulsing heat of The Hottest Day of the Year as well as the gentle breezes amid The Colours of Autumn.

And don’t question whether Bing Satellites is tuned into some mystical or otherworldly source.  Just know that he is an incredibly talented and hard working artist whom we can all thank for his vision and generous spirit.

Brad Ross-MacLeod
Vancouver, BC
August 2011

From Bing Satellites:

“The eighth album in the Twilight Sessions series and the first to be released by Free Floating.

Like the first seven volumes, this is an album of completely improvised, live ambient music.

Each piece starts as a blank canvas. I have no preconceived idea of what the music will sound like.

The music is built around a long, slowly decaying loop.

I add notes from synths, guitar, clarinet and voice (usually heavily processed) to build sounds and textures that evolve slowly.

These loops are quite long (often around 90 seconds or more) and with very little rhythm to speak of, it is difficult to know precisely where I am in the loop, so I can add notes and sounds where I see fit, but can never know exactly what I am adding these notes to.

Therefore, it must be said that although I am the one making these sounds and creating this music, much of it is down to serendipity.”

http://bingsatellites.com

Download

Download in a number of formats:
MP3 320K, MP3 VBR, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, OGG. Images and liner notes included.

License

This music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.