Gliding Through The Cosmos

Band: Uchu

Album: 1st

Origin: Japan (Osaka)

Genre: Ambient, Psychedelic, Drone

Year: 1998

Uchu is one of the many projects in which the legendary Kawabata Makoto (founding member and key figure in the Acid Mothers Temple 'Soul Collective') is involved. In Uchu he teams up with Higashi Hiroshi (also Acid Mothers Temple), both of them handling guitar and vocal duties. The last member is Ayano, who only does vocals and I can't find anything on her except that she also does some vocals on other Acid Mothers Temple records. It's blissful, repetitive psychedelic ambient music. I'm sorry for the crappy cover art, but it's the best I could find. Enjoy!

This is how they describe themselves:
"Virtual trip ambient unit consisting of Kawabata Makoto, Higashi Hiroshi, and Ayano. All the music is played on voice and electric guitar. Because the concept of the group is to create a kind of "human techno" from improvised cut-up lyrics (single words, actually) and repeating guitar patterns, we use no samplers, sequencers, or synthesizers whatsoever." (www.acidmothers.com)

Uchu - 1st

Christmas Gift #2: Hair Of The Dog

Band: Jesu

Album: Christmas EP

Origin: Great Britain (Birmingham)

Genre: Shoegaze, Ambient, Electronic, Drone

Year: 2010

By now you are probably nursing a hangover, and this 'gift' is a great companion to that. Although it's released as Jesu, the only artist on this release is the legendary Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Napalm Death, Techno Animal,...) himself. On it Justin Broadrick presents you a Christmas song as Jesu (his more shoegaze oriented project) which he than covers as Pale Sketcher (his electronic oriented project) and as Final (his more ambient oriented project). Enjoy!

Jesu - Christmas EP

Christmas Gift #1: The Darkness Ahead

Band: The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble

Album: Live - I Forsee The Dark Ahead, If I Stay

Origin: The Netherlands (Utrecht)

Genre: Jazz Noir, Experimental, Electronic, Ambient

Year: 2011

To make up for my absence (again), I'm going to do three days of Christmas gifts. Not that I really care much about the holidays, so regard these gifts as antidotes for the overdose of holiday happiness and everything that comes with it.

If you don't know The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, these are the basics. TDKE was founded by Jason Köhnen (Bong-Ra) and Gideon Kiers (Telcosystems) as a project to compose new music for existing silent movies (Nosferatu, Metropolis,...). It's a jazz band, but far from traditional, throwing in ambient and electronic music (calling it 'Mutant Jazz' themselves).

The band also has an alter ego in the form of The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, which focuses more on improvisation, darker drones and of course jazz.

They offer this live record for free on their bandcamp page, in different formats.You'll find this record to be the perfect counterpoint to the busy days ahead. Enjoy!

"I Forsee the Dark Ahead, If I Stay' is the first TKDE live album. A compilation of 9 live tracks recorded during the period of 2006 to 2011, from shows in The Netherlands, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain and Poland.
The download contains a little album/photo pdf cover for your archive. 

The album is available as free download (in exchange for your email) or a donation of your choice. 

Enjoy the album! x TKDE"

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Live - I Foresee The Dark Ahead, If I Stay