http://smoothassailing.blogspot.com/2009/02/nicholas-szczepanik_23.html

nicholas szczepanik

a stillness rarely seen 3″
[2008, small doses]

a stillness rarely seen is an earlier recording from nicholas, which slightly predates the last disc i reviewed by him, iomcin, by a few months, if i have my facts straight, which is, eh, debatable. it’s also a follow-up to his first release, astilbe rubra, which small doses released as well.

true to its name, a stillness is concerned with serenity and quietude. the two main layers of drone are feather light, gently swaying back and forth like a lullaby. there’s a lovely layer of hollow ambient drone, that, secondary as it may be, gives stillness a good foothold. after five and a half minutes, most of the layers will assume lesser roles, or briefly disappear, for a sixty-second rain shower. once that passes, the droning will come back, but more minimally, with only the airier one back in place. it also takes the supporting ambiance awhile to catch up, but soon enough, all of the previous layers will reclaim their positions, with the ambient one becoming kind of restless as it will drift a little, up and down in the mix, as stillness floats onward. as it pushes past eleven minutes, the music will soften up in order to embrace field recordings of school children at recess. while the sound of kids, in general, could be annoying, it works perfectly here; playful kids, the simplicity of youthfulness, nostalgia, comfort, peacefulness… it’s all relative, and stays faithful to szczepanik’s theme. just like the other field recordings, these won’t wear out their welcome, but shortly after they’ll have faded out of memory, soft piano notes will take their place. during this phase of the track i can also pick up on vaguely human aspects to the layer of ambiance, which were not there before. the two will make for a very pleasant, but quickly ending stretch. for the last few minutes, nicholas will bring in a pair of newer light drones and then spend nearly the rest of the cd shifting them around into different combinations. it will finally conclude with more piano (same lilting notes as before) and thunder-like booms in the background, which gracefully fade away.
this is a very enchanting piece of music from nicholas. while i can’t say that i find it as gripping as aphasia (from iomcin) was, it is a joy to behold, nonetheless.

the arigato paks have landed at at war with false noise hq, so these should be available in the next couple days!

in the meantime the release page is up with info and four samples from the disc. take a look:

locrian: drenched lands

the first cd (not cdr) is nearly ready to be unleashed.  all of the parts are finally in from their respective manufacturers, and I couldn’t be more pleased.  small doses and at war with false noise are finally teaming up to release the first cd by chicago’s locrian.  this is brand new studio material from the amazing duo.  we need to coordinate the release between the two labels, but this will likley be available within the next week or two.  stay tuned for more details.  in the meantime, here are the first images of the finished project.