Raga Ooty unearths three previously-unreleased works (each titled with reference to the area in south India where his mother was born) from Australian sound artist Oren Ambarchi’s archive, showcasing the rawer side of his solo work between 2006 and 2011. The side-long “Raga Ooty” unspools a twisting, skittering thread of gritty guitar harmonics over a bed of buzzing tambura drone, creating the same paradoxical impression of simultaneous stasis and forward propulsion achieved by minimalist masters such as Henry Flynt, to whom this work is dedicated. “The Nilgiri Plateau” generates an eight-minute wash of gleaming overtones from a 12 string acoustic guitar played with motors, continuing the experiments first made public on the 2007 Stacte Motors LP. The closing “Raga Ooty (Slight Return)” returns to the distorted guitar harmonic hysterics of the opening piece, this time elaborated over a wash of Ambarchi’s signature Leslie cabinet tones, building relentlessly over the course of 12 minutes, recorded live in Basel in late 2011.
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Audience of One
CD - Double Gatefold Vinyl - Download
Vinyl Track listing:
A: Salt
B: Knots pt. 1
C: Knots pt. 2
D1: Passage
D2: Fractured MirrorOn Audience of One, Oren Ambarchi presents a four-part suite which moves from throbbing minimalism to expansive song-craft to ecstatic free-rock. His previous solo albums for Touch exhibited a clear progression towards augmenting and embellishing his signature bass-heavy guitar tones with fragile acoustic instrumentation. Audience of One, while also existing in clear continuity with these recordings, opens the next chapter.
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In The Pendulum’s Embrace
CD - 3 Tracks
Track Listing:
1. Fever, A Warm Poison
2. Inamorata
3. Trailing Moss in Mystic GlowOren Ambarchi continues his otherworldly investigations with "In The Pendulum's Embrace", a dark twin to his landmark 2004 album "Grapes from the Estate" [Touch # TO:61]. Returning again to the hallowed halls of BJB Studios in Sydney, Ambarchi expands the scope and range of his unique musical language, incorporating an even broader pallette of instruments and sensibilities. Despite the use of glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, percussion and guitars, it's startling that the world created is still unmistakably his own, and that there is such a cohesion of vision throughout the albums's three lengthy pieces. With this record there's an even more tenuous coexistence of fragility and density; sounds as light as air mingling with wall shaking low-end. The converted already know the kind of trance-inducing euphoria of Ambarchi's music.
Newcomers will be scouting the back catalogue...
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Intermissions
CD - 5 tracks
Track listing:
1. Intimidator
2. Iron Waves
3. Moving Violation
4. The Strouhal Number
5. A Final Kiss On Poisoned CheeksIntermission brings together a range of material Oren Ambarchi has contributed to compilations and limited edition vinyl releases between the years 2000 and 2008. Highlights include two live recordings - an early, fragile solo guitar recording taken from a radio broadcast in 2000 and A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks, his powerful 12" recorded live in Vancouver in 2007 and originally released on Table Of The Elements. Additional tracks include Iron Waves an exclusive track in collaboration with vocalist Paul Duncan and Intimidator featuring Australian pianist/composer Anthony Pateras originally released on Southern Lord.
These are special anomalies in the Ambarchi canon but nonetheless feature the hallmarks of his unique soundworld, all underpinned by his trademark deep guitar tones and meticulous attention to detail. All tracks are newly remastered, many of which are available on CD for first time.
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Destinationless Desire
7" Vinyl - 2 tracks
Side A: Highway of Diamonds
Side B: Bleeding ShadowElectric guitars, organ, samples, bells, percussion and motorised cymbal recorded at BJB Studios, Sydney with additional overdubs made at home 2005-2007. Gratitude to Fairport Convention and Boris D Hegenbart.
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Grapes From The Estate
CD (deleted) - 4 tracks
Track listing:
1. Corkscrew
2. Girl With The Silver Eyes
3. Remedios The Beauty
4. Stars Aligned, Webs SpunOren Ambarchi's third solo project for Touch [after Suspension and Insulation] sees him reaching beyond the work for electric guitar that he's become recognised for, expanding his palette and taking his investigations into another sphere entirely. Grapes from the Estate features new instrumentation (strings, tuned bells, percussion and others that can only be guessed at), but the singular and unmistakable influence that Ambarchi exerts on these new materials is what makes it such an indelible work.
There is a reconciliation of his love of song-based music and his determination to deal in pure sound. The result is a work that truly eludes such arbitrary definitions. Grapes From The Estate is an all consuming experience that draws the listener out of an ordinary sense of time, into a world beyond it.
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Suspension
CD (deleted) - 6 tracks
Track Listing:
1. wednesday
2. vogler
3. this evening so soon
4. gene
5. suspension
6. as far as the eye can see -
Insulation
CD (deleted) - 11 tracks
Tracklist
1. Préambule (0:16)
2. Murmur (3:47)
3. Snork (14:26)
4. Lungs (3:47)
5. Simon (2:42)
6. Strategem (5:01)
7. Study N°1 (3:20)
8. Study N°3 (4:37)
9. Concurrents (2:54)
10. La Notte (4:06)
11. L'Eclisse (5:52)Insulation is a well-focused, neatly varied work that falls somewhere between the concrète constructions of Tod Dockstader and the abstract soundscaping of Pan Sonic or the Mego crew. Each track is a self-contained entity exploring fresh terrain - from chaotically layered clashes to eerie, isolationist incursions - even as it gets along with its neighbours. Most surprising is how Ambarchi avoids any form of computer processing or editing.
With plenty of low end activity, the album has a particularly visceral impact. Waves and smears of heavy bass wash against the body or burst outwards in sudden, shuddering jolts. Drones distort and spear outwards as irritants, while the layers of micro-activity bristle and barb against the skin.