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Jamie Todd has been working hard and has brought the PiNG archives up-to-date with beautiful collages of the many photos he's captured from all the past PiNG performances. Have look at the Events pages, beginning here: http://www.theambientping.com/events.html Like a gallery, it's worth visiting many times to take it all in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE AMBiENT PiNG http://www.theambientping.com Tuesdays @ HACiENDA - 794 Bathurst Street at Bloor - Toronto (directly across from the Bathurst subway station) Doors open at 9pm - 1st set at 9:30 - PayWhatYouCan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This Tuesday December 6th - ARC and Aidan Baker/Neil Wiernik Improvisational trio ARC get together for a show of experimental, ambient music: Aidan Baker creates multi-layered, heavily-effect guitar/woodwind/tapeloop soundscapes all overlaid with tribal-esque rhythms created by Richard Baker & Christopher Kukiel. ARC is celebrating the release of their album, "The Circle is Not Round," on A Silent Place, a sub-label of Italy's Small Voices Records. http://www.smallvoices.it http://fade.to/arc Aidan Baker on guitar & Neil Wiernik (aka Naw) on laptop will be opening with a set of digital vs analog ambience with the occasional forays into post-rock, techno, noise, & whatever else they see fit to explore. Aidan celebrates the release of his album "Remixes" on Toronto's Arcolepsy Records. The album features eleven international artists -- including Naw, Vidna Obmana, Building Castles Out of Matchsticks -- reworking his music. http://www.aidanbaker.org http://naw.phoniq.net Between Sets CD - "The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid" disc 1 Stars Of The Lid (Adam Wlitzle, Brian McBride) released this double-CD in 2001 - adding various string sounds to their guitar-based core and created a deep, dreamy, droney current of sounds. http://www.brainwashed.com/sotl/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coming Tuesday December 13th - Gnostic Rocket and Paydirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rik maclean's *ping things* CD Reviews "Remixes" by Aidan Baker + V/A The idea of remix albums has always fascinated me, in that it's an opportunity to find out how other people hear the music that I enjoy. When I listen to music I tend to pick it apart and listen to different things individually, sometimes focussing on a phrase or a melody or a note progression or whatever it is that makes the song interesting to me. But the glory of the remix album is that other people have done the same thing, focussed on the phrases, melodies, note progressions or whatever that make the song interesting to them. And in doing so, they create a whole new experience, bringing to fore things that I might never have noticed or paid attention to previously. I find that it's a great way to rediscover music. Given that I'm such a fan of Aidan Baker's work, I'm thrilled to have the chance to rediscover his music with the release of "Remixes", an inspired collection of work by some incredibly talented artists who all have a similar appreciation for Aidan's music as I do. Seamlessly blending and bleeding into one another, the tracks on this disc offer a view into what others hear when they listen to Aidan's work. The disc opens with Andrea Marutti's take on "Metamorphose, 2nd stage", a lovely revision of Aidan's track from "Metamorphose en sept etages". Marutti focuses on the rising and falling drone of the track, allowing lovely melodic elements to ebb and flow throughout. Millimetrik's Jazzy Mix take on "Interweaver" follows, adding a muffled drum beat to the track, a new place to focus your attentions during the looping phrases that make up the track. Anne Sulikowski of Building Castles Out of Matchsticks sprinkles some of her magic on "The Cicada Sings Our Love Song", bringing out a previously unnoticed level of wonder that brings a smile to my face. This is the first time I've heard these two artists collaborate in any way, and I gotta say that I'd love to hear more from the two of them, I think they could do some wonderful stuff together... Cordell Klier blends elements from two tracks to create "I've Been Waiting For You", an inspired pairing of songs that fully captures Aidan's sound. A brilliant homage. The Blameshifter takes a distinctly abstract approach to "Hands Making Hands", combining tracks from two of my favorite discs by Baker "Letters" and "Element". Choosing to emphasize the more harsh elements of the tracks and looping them in a distorted and decidedly dark way, the resultant track becomes a dark and horrific journey through twisted metallic landscapes and dark post-apocalyptic ruins. Very, very impressive. Neil Wiernik of Naw creates a beat driven/pulse oriented melange of tracks, something decidedly in the flavor of his own electronic abstract vein, but still retaining the spirit and personality of Aidan's work. Perhaps the only time I've ever found myself bouncing in my chair and tapping my foot while listening to a track by Aidan. Some of you may also be interested to know that my cat particularly liked this track as well, so you know it's gotta be good... Gruntsplatter takes a wide variety of tracks from across Baker's catalogue (including some from the dark metal side project Nadia) to create "Predatory Sediment", an outstanding new vision of Aidan's work. A collection of tones and phrases that sound vaguely familiar, but folded in new shapes and guises to make them fresh & revitalized, "Predatory Sediment" is a truly brilliant work. "Breaking Point" from Wilt adds a number of new elements to the mix, stripping everything down to it's most basic parts to get to the heart of Baker's track before it erupts in a wall of sound and noise. Wonderful work. Fear Falls Burning does a harrowing reworking of "Gossamer", a haunted drone based track punctuated by occasional guitar chords that pierce through the gloom. Dark and beautiful in all the best ways. Troum emphasize the tension and claustrophobia of "When You Scream", a foreboding piece of music that kinda scares me. Ghostly vocals and muffled feedback combine to make a truly uncomfortable piece of music that while making me rather nervous, certainly appeals to my appreciation of artistry. "Disfigured" by Pilotram closes the disc, a lovely droning piece that pulses with an oscillating metallic tone. Beautifully spacey. "Remixes" is very much a disc about discovery and exploration. Hearing so many different approaches, listening to what so many different people find in Aidan's work, I'm reminded of the depth of his music, the sheer wonder there is to be found in his songs. I'm also reminded of how much pleasure there can be in rediscovering the work of a favorite artist. Listening to "Remixes", I expect you'll feel the same way. *** New ping things feature! *** Fans of Toronto ambient project Sylken will be very interested to read an exclusive interview with Eric Hopper of Sylken in the featured section of the ping things site! Eric talks about creativity, inspiration, and the PiNG community in a revealing and fascinating interview. Read it at http://www.pingthings.com/SYLKENfeature.htm 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.