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THE AMBiENT PiNG http://www.theambientping.com Tuesdays @ HACiENDA - 794 Bathurst Street at Bloor (directly across from the Bathurst subway station) - Toronto Doors open at 9pm - 1st set at 9:30 - PayWhatYouCan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This Tues. Sept. 13th - Wendy Atkinson with David Lester + Syntax Error A musical collaboration between guitarist David Lester of Mecca Normal and experimental solo bassist Wendy Atkinson. An instrumental bass and guitar duo playing music that varies from ambient to dreamy pop to lush film-like scores. They are in the final stages of recording their debut CD to be released next year. Wendy Atkinson's debut CD "Trim" was a bass-only album that included electric, acoustic and double bass. She created a recording that is atmospheric and vivid using only this one instrument, an instrument that is generally relegated to the rhythmic background of most music. http://www.tinforest.com/tinfr/wendyatkinson/ David Lester is the guitar player for the underground rock duo Mecca Normal. He is also an artist whose work has appeared in Bananafish, Broken Pencil and his cartoons appear regularly in the San Diego Reader. David's book "The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism" will be published this winter by Arbeiter. Like Wendy, David lives in Vancouver BC. http://mecca_normal.tripod.com/ Opening the night, Syntax Error plan an improvised set plus live versions of 2 of their released tracks using computers & controllers, mixers, a rack full of patchbays/fx and an electric toothbrush. Beginning abstract and ambient they'll evolve into a more rhythmic second half of their set - both 'pretty' and dark. 'Chilling'... but not quite 'chilled out'. www.thesyntaxerrorproject.com Between Sets CD - "Dreamtime Return - disc 2" by Steve Roach Ranging from deep ambient to ritualistic tribal rhythms and chant this classic album still sounds like a transmission from the near future and the very distant past." http://www.steveroach.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coming Tuesday September 20th - PiNG AMBiENCE 3 - LiVE featuring Paul Royes, Phil Ogison and Joe G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ||: IN THE LOOP :|| by Luna Tek It was a day for fresh beginnings: another school year for me and the kickoff of the Worthy Records fall concert series. Scheduled for the first Tuesday of every month, the September 6 Worthy showcase featured Weird State Inbetween (Anne Sulikowski and Scott Johnson) and The London Apartments from Windsor, ON. The show began with Weird State Inbetween. Enveloping the PiNG audience in their quirky world of luscious soundwalls, Anne and Scott were busy onstage ramping up the effects and maintaining a fever pitch of improvisational intensity. The London Apartments brought up the rear with a gorgeous set of songs. Wistful lyrics and pretty instrumentals lulled TAP crowd into a state of late night bliss. With General Chaos Visuals creating dreamy atmospherics on the screen behind them, The London Apartments secured a new fan base in TO. As Anne Sulikowski pointed out, it's impossible not to enjoy the "space lullabies" created by this talented duo. i POP PiNG magazine is in production and looking fabulous. A range of contributions from a diverse group of artists has made the editorial process a real delight. Look for a preview issue at Word on the Street later this month & check back here for more details about the official i POP PiNG launch this fall. Luna Tek - luna@theambientping.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rik maclean's *ping things* CD Reviews "Uncertain Futures and Fading Pasts" by Angelmark I like beautiful things, things that make me stop and appreciate the world around me, things that give me pause to think and wonder. "Uncertain Futures and Fading Pasts" is the second disc by Michael Turner's solo project Angelmark and it is undoubtedly a beautiful collection of music that inspires the stop, appreciate, pause, think and wonder response in me. "Equipoise" opens the disc with a repeated melody slowly gaining strength and volume, drifting into a more pronounced lead line that dances and floats around the same melodic ideal. A steady rhythm guitar plays underneath as lines blend and blur with each other leading into a gradual dissolve of sounds. It's a stunning opening, something wonderful. "Mam Tor" vibrates and oscillates with a beautiful intensity. A background drone provides accompaniment and a sense of movement that suggests displacement, relocation. It's a very evocative piece, surprisingly effective given it's minimalist nature. The third track "Fleeting Moment..." has a strong cinematic quality to it, suggesting rebirth and reawakening. I like this one, it has a serenity and grace that appeals to the optimist in me. Track four "Wintermute" is a stunningly beautiful piece, a delicate guitar melody that weaves in and out through a cascade of chiming bells and enveloping rhythm work. It's a truly wonderful piece that spirals and dances through the ether, and it's only fault is that it ends too soon. "Others Distant" follows a similar form, a minimal bass line anchoring a droning wall of guitar, a sense of oblique motion, drifting amongst stars. I wonder if this and "Wintermute" are flipsides of the same coin? They certainly complement each other well... "Unseen" has a sense of tension and displacement to it, nothing so harsh as to be unsettling, but definitely an anxious feeling about it. Guitar notes throughout the track feel choked and forced and background drones try to gain shape and form, but never quite succeed. It has a sense of claustrophobia to it, something uncomfortable. And yet despite all of that, it still has a feeling of beauty and charm about it. Lovely work. "Twilight World" offers some relief from the claustrophobia of "Unseen", soft shapes and forms growing underneath swirling backdrops and soothing lead lines. It's something beautiful and shoegazerish, something that a Slowdive or Cocteaus fan would adore, something that would be right at home in a film with Rose McGowan and Johnathan Schaech driving through the desert. Powerful. "Flowers Washed Down By the Rain" closes the disc, a minimal piece employing solemn piano and sweeping guitar playing overtop the steady sound of rain. A very nice environment is created in this one, something very lush and full, while maintaining a delicate quality, a sense of fragility. Very nice. Over the course of these nine songs, Turner creates a beautiful and magical environment for the listener to discover. His sense of space and production is impeccable and his ability to develop and expand on melody is outstanding. Certainly "Uncertain Futures and Fading Pasts" is a release by an artist at the top of his game, and certainly deserves repeated listening and further exploration. Michael Turner is one of many artists who have generously offered to donate all earnings from the sale of their CDs through ping things for the month of September to the American Red Cross (less taxes & shipping costs) in an effort to raise money for Hurricane relief efforts. Please visit http://www.pingthings.com to find out more. rik maclean - rik@pingthings.com http://www.pingthings.com = ambient + electronic + chill things Send an e-mail to pingthings-subscribe@yahoogroups.com for updates on *all* the latest releases on sale at ping things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE AMBiENT PiNG is a social sound/art event presenting live performances by Toronto's finest ambient, chillout, improv and experimental music artists plus performers from across the continent, every Tuesday evening at HACiENDA - 794 Bathurst Street at Bloor. http://www.theambientping.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Please forward this e-mail to any friends who may be interested in live ambient, chillout and experimental music performances or to any of your appropriate newsgroups. Thanks.