Electronic Music, Writing, and Reviews

I've taken my time getting around to starting this particular Weblog, but since a large art project is just about done, I figure it's time to pay attention to the sound side of things. Welcome to "Altocumulus," my journal about ambient music, electronic music, and its culture and community. Yes, there really is a "culture" or perhaps more exactly a "subculture" of people all over the world devoted to this rather esoteric form of music.

Most people who are trained in "classical" music, especially academic and conservatory musicians and composers, either know nothing about ambient music or hold it in contempt. They think of it as devoid of content, soporific, stupidly simple and mindlessly repetitive, not even worthy of the name "music." Well, sometimes it is that way! But there is also ambient that is not only musical, but emotionally moving, intellectually interesting, and even mystically inspiring.

In this space I'll be writing about the history of ambient and electronic music as I have experienced it, and also will be presenting reviews of albums both older and newer. I may talk about electronic music equipment, but at the moment I am not a sophisticated sound gear user so anything I say would be more from the musical standpoint than the computer software or gadget point of view, at least for now.

Some of the writing I will be presenting has been previously published elsewhere, either on Websites, newsgroups, or even in a paper magazine. I have a long backlog of reviews and articles that it would be nice to revisit. They will most likely be new to you. I will also be directing you to websites set up by ambient artists and sites where you can hear samples of the music I am writing about. I will sometimes include some of my own compositions, which I create under the artist name "Altocumulus." I hope that you will enjoy what I have to say, and also enjoy at least some of what you hear.

I will start off with a series of articles I wrote for my old blog, "Electron Blue," which ran from 2004 to 2008. These articles were early on in the run so they are from 2004. Stay tuned for part 1.

Posted at 12:16 am | link