December Nightskies – Rainbowdrone

rainbowdroneKendall-my Shadows on the Snow bandmate- has a solo adventure as December Nightskies. Prolific ambient musician that he is, he has numerous releases on various netlabels – Haze, Petroglyph, Zenapolae, etc.

His latest release, however, is a physical CD from This Winter Will Last Forever. Kendall’s CD is right at the edge of the label’s usual fare, which tends more toward the metal end of the music spectrum. I guess the dark-metal, dark-ambient collision makes for a good fit.

Anyway, after many years of collaborating with Kendall, and listening to numerous downloads of his, it was very cool to listen to a physical CD. Yes I do like CDs.

Rainbowdrone fits right there with my list of “music to write to”, or perhaps Eno’s “interesting enough to be engaging, discreet enough to be ignored” (I can’t find the exact quote). An hour of background drones, at times deep and dark, at other lighter. Perfect to put on to unwind, chill, relax. Or write to.

When I first began listening to ambient music it came from a love of that background soundscape that worked well with my writing. It’s cool to personally know someone who’s creating exactly that.

Rainbowdrone is available for €7 from This Winter Will Last Forever’s store.

Cheval Cheval – This Night Reflection on Zenapolae

In between writing furiously and developing some new Venus Vulture music, I’ve created another drone-ambient piece. Well, four tracks. The music is even less busy than the usual Venus Vulture fare, especially the direction VV is taking now, with more beats and melody, so this new work has been released under the name Cheval Cheval. The 30 minute EP titled This Night Reflection is out now on Zenapolae, as a free download. This is a quiet work, best listened to a low volume, perhaps even while going to sleep. One of my favourite cover pictures too. Enjoy.

My thanks to Arnd and Zenas of Zenapolae for the release.

Nice review of Signal Artifacts – in Portuguese

I came across this review of Signal Artifacts on the jazz e arredores site. I don’t speak Portuguese, but thanks to google translate, this is a rough English approximation:

The New Zealand photographer and sound artist Sean Monaghan invites us to a dive in the depths of the yawning abyss electronically, through Signal Artifacts. After gentle descent, began to settle the outlines of the moving image, in between which is worrying desvendam pathways of serenity. The vehicle’s dispatch, which links the different stations between the departure and arrival, the drone is bright, dotted with glitch, sounds of strings and pieces of occasional noise. Signal Artifacts from Venus Vulture, also known as Sean Monaghan, from the German netlabel Resting Bell. MP3 download with CD Edition limited to 25 copies.