Heads up: I just got a box of copies of ABX2 - my split release with Coppice Halifax (A.K.A. Brian Grainger, Milieu) - in the mail. I’m asking $8, which includes shipping. I’ve only got eight of these puppies left to go around, so if you want one shoot me an email at CARitger [at] GMail [dot] com. Hit up Brian’s Milieu Music shop for sound clips. In the meantime, here’s what Brian had to say about the record on his blog: A double-dose of Analog Botany this month with special guest Radere (known elsewhere to some as Carl Ritger, hailing from camp Wood-Land in PA). Mr. Radere stepped in to do two exquisite and long remixes of the unreleased Coppice Halifax track “Inlets” and I constructed two rebuilds of his track “The Sunrise Ruby” to even it out. Carl’s tracks are deep and foresty, but cleaner and opened up, almost like a cross between Intrusion and On Land-era Eno. My pieces pick up where you’d expect them to, one being more in the vein of the AB series and the other inhabiting circa-2008 Halifaxland (see: EEDCD08).

These past couple weeks, I’ve been hard at work developing a new long-form composition. Dubbed Kobold, the piece represents the culmination of my experiments from the past few months…incorporating live guitar looping, fractured sine drones and ruptured snatches of music box melody, all set in motion atop a bed of quietly gurgling field recordings. It straddles the common ground between 12k, Tim Hecker and Mountains…and I have to say, I’m quite pleased with it. Embedded below is a Soundcloud player featuring an early mix for preview. Have a listen! EDIT: I’m pleased to announce that Install Sound has decided to include Kobold in their 2010 release schedule as part of their ongoing Installation Series. As a result, I’ve removed the full composition from Soundcloud. I will replace it with a short preview version in the near future. Thanks to everyone for their support, and I’ll be sure to update this space with more info once the release draws closer!

The photograph above is the intended artwork and was shot by Amanda Hernandez one crisp fall day in Phoenixville, PA.

A link to my recently published review of the excellent new long-player from Variant (A.K.A. Stephen Hitchell, one half of the lauded DeepChord/Echospace project and the man behind Intrusion), The Setting Sun. The album finds him operating in lush, drone-oriented territory…and excelling at it.

This is a link to my Big Shot Magazine review of the recently released And Suddenly It’s Morning compilation, featuring tracks from Lawrence, STL, Lowtec, Move D & Benjamin Brunn and others. Out now on Smallville Records.

Just came across this video for Vladislav Delay’s “Toive,” a track lifted from his excellent Tummaa LP, in which directors Carolina Melis and Lorenzo Sportiello document the watery decay of a crystalline imaginary landscape. It’s a beautifully conceived piece, made all the better thanks to some fantastic cinematography, but the music is the real focus here. Tummaa breaks into new territory, replacing the fractured electronics and burnt ambience that typified Delay’s earlier releases with acoustic textures and jazzy flourishes performed by real musicians. The focus this time out is on percussion and rhythm, relegating the laptop to the backline in favor of a tactile, hands on approach to music making, and “Toive” is an excellent example of the sort of visceral power the album captures in its grooves.

This year’s Philadelphia Laptop Battle is coming up fast, and I am pleased to announce that I have signed on as a judge alongside past Laptop Battle champs Jason Carr and Vytear. Hosted jointly by Inciting and Broketronica, this year’s competition promises to be one to remember, featuring a bevy of competitors that are sure to blow minds, melt faces and (hopefully) move some feet…so buy a ticket, won’t you? We’d love to see your smiling face.

Dear L.A. Dodgers,

We’re ending this tonight. Cool? Cool.

Sincerely,

Philadelphia

This Sunday, I’ll be doing a live performance as part of the closing party for the Aesop Collective’s (of which I am a member) 2009 Sound Fountain series. I’ve got some new tricks up my sleeve, so come out early to catch D. Elias Tinker, Fidget and myself deliver the blissed out goods!

Fourcolor, “Season” (from Letter Of Sounds)

Gorgeous processed guitar tones from one of 12k’s elder statesmen.