Artist: Six Organs of Admittance
Song: Eighth Cognition/All You’ve Left
From album: School of the Flower
Genre: Misty-river acoustic musing
[DL from itunes][Buy CD][Site]

I think Ben Chasny’s guitars must be madly in love with him. They never falter; they never question themselves or his gentle mastery of them. They just reach deep down inside, and come up with the most precious sounds they can give him. Somehow these sounds have little lives of their own; more than the note, and more than the resonance. There’s something I really can’t explain; something that makes even some of the simplest passages vibrant and, (I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but for lack of a better word…) magical.

This particular song is actually sort of two songs that blend together in the middle. The first part is something of a tumbling dream; not unpleasant but unfamiliar and strange. There are these big smoky black and silver bubbles rolling all around you, and ferrying you off to somewhere unknown, (to part 2 that is).

Part two is where you “wake up” from that dream, to find yourself lying in the bottom of a slowly drifting canoe. The river around you has a thick mist curling over it, and you can barely make out a wild green treeline on both sides. Soon airy sweet wisps of voices start singing from the mist. They are singing you into their world, both welcoming and warning.

Or so it would seem. The website has some cool stuff, including recipes… for food! I just found that to be rather nifty.

Artist: Hulk
Song: Elephant Memory
From album: Silver Thread of Ghosts
Genre: Gentle Twilight Atmosphere
[Buy this album][Site]

I was made aware of this artist by Osaka Records and I find it quite enjoyable. Hulk disassembles natural ambient sound settings, and recombines them with his own quiet strains to create pieces that are soundtracks of his recollections.

To me, “Elephant Memory” sounds like lying on your back in warm grasslands with eyes closed as dusk turns to dark. If you listen closely you can feel the sounds of the nighttime waking up; and later, faint drums from some distant village or dream. It’s peaceful, and as you sink more and more into the atmosphere, you feel like maybe you are learning something from this feeling.