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Ran Kirlian – Formations [AOR0010]

Formations

Formations defines a journey to the core of Ran Kirlian’s tribal-ambient landscapes prevously visited on albums like Sleeper, Melting Point and Limbo. With a continuous flow of expansive and complex soundscapes accompanied by subtle melodies and tribal grooves, this album conforms an excellent immersive process in to the electro-acoustic tribal flavours of Ran Kirlian musical career. Most of the music of  Formations is based on live improvisations subjected to a large evolutionary process, including the high privilege of counting with the ambient master Max Corbacho on the final mastering process.

All music composed, performed, recorded and mixed by Ran Kirlian at The Blue_Room between 2009 and 2011. Mastered by Max Corbacho in Barcelona, 2012.

Sound sources includes analog and digital synthesizers, samplers, overtone voices, flutes, wind chimes, bells, percussion, rocks, sand and processed field recordings and found sounds.

Pictures, digital images and cover art design by Ran Kirlian.

Track list
1.-First Hours
4:13
2.-Aerthanna
10:10
3.-Crimson Trees
14:05
4.-Formations I
8:43
5.-Dark Territories
11:41
6.-Forgotten Survivor
6:11
7.-Quh Ong I
8:43
8.-Quh Ong II
6:52

 Complete set: 70:45

Available at Bandcamp

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Ran Kirlian – Selected Works I [AOR0004]

Selected-Works-ISelected Works Vol. I collects music from the most tribal-ambient side of Ran Kirlian music composed and recorded during the years 1999 to 2007.

The music included in this selection was remastered (when possible) and mixed to provide a continuous and organic flow to enhace the listening experience. It collects music from the albums Shore of Darkness ( 1999-2000, now discontinued), Limbo (2001), Melting Point (2001) and Sleeper (2004) as well as a rare live version of Fade Out movement 5 and two previously unreleased tracks, Densho Barshi Huo 2, a demo from a 2004 live performance and Viral Storm, an outtake from the album Limbo.

Sound sources includes synthesizers, samplers, voices, groove percussion, flutes bells and treated found sounds. All tracks composed, performed, arranged and produced by Ran Kirlian at The Blue_Room between 1999 and 2007. Cave of Forgotten Fires features Patrick van de Ven on groove percussion, ethnic flutes and rainstick.

Track list
1.-Suria2:55
2.-Sanctus9:24
3.-Pandemonium6:15
4.-Densho Barshi Huo 23:50
5.-Indocalia4:32
6.-Beyond the Void6:34
7.-Samadhi7:27
8.-Summoning Spell1:42
9.-Cave of Forgotten Fires6:39
10.-Other Place6:50
11.-Fade Out (live)5:02
12.-Virical Storm6:50
13.-Nepenthes5:19
Complete set: 73:26

Available at Bandcamp

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Steve Brand – Trust and Remember [AOREP006]

Steve Brand“Trust and Remember” is a 24 minute ambient soundscape woven from keyboard, voice and processed guitar sounds, created at The Treehouse by Steve Brand in May of 2013, exclusively for the AlterOrbe Woomh Series. Thanks to Ran Kilrian for his interest and support and to all the artists of the AlteraOrbe label.

The track “Trust and Remember” began as a phrase that I’ve heard in my mind over and over again for years. This phrase would come up in times of apparent uncertainty, change and upheaval. I would often ask this soundless voice…trust what? Remember what? Even though I could not rationally understand the words, I felt their power and relevance in my gut. I knew without question that they constituted a powerful answer to everything I am and was experiencing.

My current understanding of this mindful directive is this… For me, trusting in this sense means knowing that even though I may not be able to see what’s ahead, even if it seems unlikely or uncertain that a way or means is going to present itself, there always has been a path in the past, so why shouldn’t there be one waiting and forming for me at this time…and the next time and the next. It also means trusting my own creativity, integrity, sovereignty and native abilities, my own sense of timing and appropriateness. More simply, trusting that I will know what to do when it’s most needed in the most appropriate way.

Trusting that “making it up as I go along” is a legitimate way of being in the world, although we are often taught otherwise. Remembering, the second half of this phrase, has also become a powerful concept for me. Not so much remembering facts or past events, although those can also be powerful tools. Remembering, in this context, is less a mental process and more in the realm of feeling. Remembering how it felt to be innocent, trusting, seated in my own power, my own passion, and what it felt like to bring these into effect I my life, without worry or fear. How did that feel? What was the result? How can I create or access that feeling for myself now? I often “get” these sorts of phrases running through my mind like a leader at the bottom of a news screen. I have learned to trust and remember them…by heart.

All music composed, performed, recorded and mixed by Steve Brand, 2013. Mastered by Steve Brand.

Tools: analogic & digital synthesizers and electric guitar.

Cover art layout by Ran Kirlian, pictures by Steve Brand.
Released June 29, 2013

Thanks to Ran Kirlian at AlteraOrbe for his support and interest.

Track list
1. Trust And Remember 24:08
Total time: 24:08

Available at Bandcamp

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Joxan Ruiz – Nostromo Diaries [AOREP002]

NOSTROMO_DIARIESNostromo Diaries is a cinematic trip, a gothic nightmare to grip your subconscious, through a horror movie with experimental tones and humming voices
Overtones and space winds are mixed in equal amounts, in the southern constellation of Reticulum
Creaking noises are often heard in the spaceship…
¿How long is 35 Light Years?
…
(EOT)
-out.*

All music composed, performed, recorded and mixed by Joxan Ruiz between 2011 and 2012. Mixed The Blue_Room and mastered by Ran Kirlian in 2012. Sound sources includes analog and digital synthesizers.

Cover art design by Ran Kirlian, pictures by Joxan Ruiz.

Note: no astronauts were damaged during the recording of this album.

Track list
1.-Part I – Zeta I
7:05
2.-Part II – Zeta II
8:47
3.-Part III – 35LY
4:22

 Complete set: 20:14
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Joxan Ruiz – Blue Radiance [AOREP005]

BLUE_RADIANCEBlue Radiance is created specifically as a tone meditation, enhancing the living space as sonic incense

Over the course of the continuous 22-minute piece, the flowing soundscapes on the light field, propel the mood to a mesmerizing state

Spiraling melodic sequences, and floating majestic textures with thematic contributions, describe this living-breathing soundscape

An enveloping experience of vast beauty and mystery

Graceful and full of movement

What can Blue do for you ?

All music composed, performed, recorded and mixed by Joxan Ruiz between 2012 and 2013. Mastered by Ran Kirlian in 2013. Sound sources includes Anasazi flutes and digital synthesizers.

Cover art design by Ran Kirlian, pictures by Joxan Ruiz.

Track list
1.-Part I – Blue Radiance
22:53

 Complete set: 22:53
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Joxan Ruiz – Space Between [AOR0019]

Joxan Ruiz Space Between is a continuous kaleidoscope of visionary power. It sounds as if it emanates from deep desert places in a realm from the near future.

The pieces are built upon a blend of deep ambient characteristics, looping, textures and harmonics mixed with subtle and hovering. The tracks follow a zen-like flow, through exotic flutes, bringing the listener’s attention down to a distinct stillness.

Space Between is a heady mixture of sounds, alternating between hues both beautifully light and magnetically dark.

A trip to your mind…

All music composed, performed and produced by Joxan Ruiz, 2012-2013

Mixed & mastered by Ran Kirlian at The Blue_Room, 2013

Track list

1.- SeteBos
2.- 168 SiBylla
3.- 665 SaBine
4.- 964 SuBamara
5.- 995 SternBerga
6.- 1124 StrooBantia
7.- Space Between
12:25
5:34
7:20
21:13
7:53
10:13
10:25


 Total time: 75:03
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Joxan Ruiz – Gaze [AOR0011]

Joxan Ruiz GazeRecorded between 2011 and 2012, Gaze has the intention to transmit sound of colors, where the most important thing is linked to fantasy. The Gaze is a process where the object makes the subject look, keeping the breath in mind, joining the inner and outer realm as the invisible energy of spirit.

Gaze is made of hypnotic drones and loops, melodies and memories, using digital synthesizers and processed riffs, in a sonic experience of meditation and stillness.

Gaze represents the first ambient album of Joxan Ruiz on Altera Orbe. A more than welcomed incursion into ambient genres that was mixed by Ran Kirlian at The Blue_Room and mastered by Max Corbacho in 2012.

Track list
1.-Blue Light
6:54
2.-Gaze
8:44
3.-Afterglow
 4:52
4.-Ocean Vibration
7:28
5.-Zero Point

6:47
6.-Virtual Darkness
4:30
7.-Finding the Way
3:48
8.-Painting Bubbles
2:48
9.-Hypnos
6:28
10.-Sirenis
10:34
11.-Alpha
9:59
12.-
Gone from Here.

2:00

 Complete set: 74:47

Review by Richard Gürtler

Spanish label Altera Orbe, run by Ran Kirlian and Landru, keeps on growing, with «Gaze» they introduce a brand new name on their roster, Joxan Ruiz from Madrid. «Gaze» is Joxan’s debut work, although he has already appeared in 2011 on Jamendo’s download release by Skaven entitled «Divine Intervention», where Joxan appears as guest on didgeridoo and singing bowls.

The album launches with «Blue Light», sublimely drifting and sorrowfully cascading primordial soundscape. «Gaze», the title track, meanders towards the sky high realms, with gradual expansions into more massive and intense dronewalls, and backed here and there by hazed cybernetic infusions. «Afterglow» moves in its orbit quite monotonously, along with few more dramatic, but vague intrusions. Beautifully tranquil waves of «Ocean Vibration» are masterfully bridged with gentle cyber grooves and soothing coastal recordings. In the second half distant gauzy tribal beats join this deeply mesmerizing sonic experience, magnífico!!! «Zero Point» enters into more meditative terrains with quietly minimal texture. «Virtual Darkness» unfolds straightly with mysterious drones, enriched by distinctive electro pulses. Both, the darker and the cyber-tech substances are perfectly synapsed into a whole new listening sensibility.

Certainly one of the highlights introducing Joxan Ruiz at the top of his artistry!!! The next piece, «Finding The Way», effectively merges the ancient and the modern in slightly discordant way. «Painting Bubbles», one of the shortest tracks on «Gaze», clocking to nearly 3 minutes, is sculpted with minimal warm washes and serenely tinkling sounds evoking upcoming Christmas season. «Hypnos» dives deeply into shadowy subterranean domains, where slow mind-bending drones are spiced by assorted spooky low resonating rumbles and swirls and high-pitched spiraling soars, accomplishing a genuinely trance-inducing atmosphere. Cavernous rumbles lead «Sirenis», the longest composition getting over 10 and half minutes, which flows on minimal, meditative waves coupled also with various crystalline tinkles. Another deeply primordial focused soundscape. «Alpha» immediately returns into monotonous and monstrous drone scenario, again blended with assorted distant noises and sharper cyber-electro-organics. The drones graciously glide throughout and expand into hugely immense panoramas, ranging from more intense and cinematic to more sublime and relieving. Another standout piece, a pure, 10-minute sonic bliss!!! 2 minute long outro «Gone From Here» is sculpted with expressive solo piano.

A fairly colorful and distinctive debut by this Spaniard and a perfect addition to Altera Orbe’s portfolio. Fellow countrymen Ran Kirlian and Max Corbacho are responsible for the mixing and mastering duties. If you like a wealthy mixture of mysterious dronescaping and few hypnotic cyber-tech escapades, you will enjoy «Gaze»!!! Joxan Ruiz has a quite big collection of flutes and as a member The International Native American and World Flute Association, I am sure he has a lot to offer within the fusion of ancient flutes and electronic sound design.

Richard Gürtler (Dec 09, 2012, Bratislava, Slovakia)

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Ran Kirlian & Landru – Waterfront [AOR0006]

WaterfrontWaterfront is the consolidation of the first acclaimed collaborative work between the ambient artists Ran Kirlian and Landru, co-owners of the online ambient label Altera Orbe.

Recorded as a real time performance during one whole session and later mastered at the artists’ recording studios, Waterfront reflects the interaction between the sublime drones and ethereal ambiences created by Ran Kirlian and the hypnotic and melodic sonic riffs and tribal percussion loops composed by Landru.

Using both digital and analog synthesizers as the main sound sources, Waterfront has a very unique organic mood, mainly thanks to those background ambience landscapes provided by real ethnic instruments and dedicated field recordings.

Track list
1.-Alkali 7:45
2.-Diffraction 14:58
3.-Interdimensional 6:26
4.-Pulsating Core 10:58
5.-Alluvium12:39
6.-Waterfront4:37
7.-Metamorphism 14:49
Complete set: 72:14

Available at Landru Bandcam

Available at Ran Kirlian Bandcamp

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Ran Kirlian

Born in Hannover (Germany) in 1972 and later moved to Valencia (Spain), Ran Kirlian began exploring his own musical pathways in the mid-nineties and recorded his first album Shore of Darkness in 2000. Since then nearly a dozen albums have followed, among which include Obscurity (2000), Melting Point (2001), Sleeper (2004) and his lastest work Dissolution (2009). Also, two albums entitled Selected Works I & Selected Works II were released in 2007 collecting music recorded and released between years 2000 and 2007 from tribal-ambient to dark and space ambient genres.

His music, mostly focussed on tribal and dark ambient genres, offers a personal and intense approach to textural landscaping and atmospheres inspiring ritualistic environments, cold spaces and desolate landscapes. Defined as a self-taught musician, he uses to start most of his projects from raw improvisations that later evolve in a continuous refinement process.

With synthesizers and samplers as his main tools, his music tries to combine different sound sources like field recordings, exotic flutes, percussions and ethnic instruments like bowls and didgeridoos. This mixture carries evident influences from artists like Steve Roach, Alio Die, Robert Rich, Mathias Grassow, Oöphoi, Lustmord, Thom Brennan and Jorge Reyes.

Ran Kirlian albums on Bandcamp
Ran Kirlian official website

Music released on Altera Orbe:

Other music

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Joxan Ruíz

Joxan Ruiz is an independent musician, born in San Sebastián (Spain, 1969). His music is based on synthesizers, guitars, aerophones and field recordings. His music is made from the breath, trying to paint a landscape of colors and textures, pointing to the essence of the vibration.

He uses to mix sounds of native and exotic flutes with ethereal drones and loops, searching the mystery of sunlight through a soap bubble.

The combination of atmospheres and tribal ambient music marks the core of his recordings, sometimes playing flutes in the forest and picking up the essence and texture of each sound wave. This means that improvisation is developed to build work lines for his compositions, creating and combining different sound sources.


Influences: Carlos Nakai, Jorge Reyes, Coyote Oldman, Harold Budd, Robert Fripp, Pablo Salcedo, Michael Stearns, Steve Roach, Jonn Serrie

Joxan Ruiz profile at relaxed Machinery Community
Joxan Ruiz at Soundcloud

Music released on Altera Orbe

  • Gaze (AOR0011, 2012)
  • Nostromo Diaries (Woomh EP – AOREP002, 2012)
  • Blue Radiance (Woomh EP – AOREP005, 2013)
  • Space Between ( AOR0019, 2013)