Dean Richards, aka Disturbed Earth, is at it again; giving birth to twin releases here at AtmoWorks. Using a minimalist palette of tuned wind, chimes, guitar, pedal harmonium, and bowls, Richards works with a very organic set up, achieving results not only thoroughly organic, but also deeply resonant. There’s an alchemical process that goes on here as metallic sounds are looped into the magnetic circle of tape and are transformed on every pass into various sculptures. This kind of artistic labor is especially appreciated here at AtmoWorks.

This is rare and warm analog ambient music made by someone we feel gives an extraordinarily interesting perspective to creating music that has been nearly taken over by digital machines. The work with tape recording and looping is the actual mechanical process which digital samplers work hard to accurately emulate. This type of analog work, embodied very nicely in the 1970’s by Robert Fripp & Brian Eno, has a long tradition of creating new musical forms out of stale corporate music, and creating entire new genres of expression.

The first album of the two is Dreamswept, which consists of four individual tracks that were recorded live in one take. The second album is Watercolour, which is one long-form track that cross-fades these songs with an underlying bed of sections of the songs looped through the same 2 tape recorders.

6.98 (112 MB Download)