Maximus Music, welcomes LOSCIL to the Maximus Catalog this week, courtesy of Chicago’s KRANKY records.
Minimalist works of this magnitude are hard to find and FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. Loscil’s amazing catalog has finally been released to Maximus. From the people that brought us Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Loscil’s latest release is astonishingly refreshing and an amazing trip through minimalist sound.
“You could reasonably argue that all ambient music seeks in some way to lull its listener into a meditative haze, and some artists pursue this feeling more directly than others. Scott Morgan is one of those guys. Unlike Tim Hecker or Pantha du Prince, who draw from more intricate arrangements, Morgan lays his sounds bare and lets them go right to work. Recording as Loscil since the early 2000s, he’s built an impressive catalogue of pensive, minimal records that turn computerized sounds into something strangely soothing– the kind of music you want to listen to flat on your back, eyes fixed at the ceiling. While each of his records is at least good, it started to feel by 2006′s Plume like Morgan had reached a creative plateau.
His latest effort, Endless Falls, breathes some new life into the Loscil project. Not so much a departure but a natural progression of what he cooked up with early albums Triple Point and Submers, the record is again a concept piece. At its most basic, the idea here is that Endless Falls is a rainy-day album, overcast but cozy, and there’s an aquatic theme that extends to its cover art and the rain-droplet field recordings that bookend the record. Morgan plays with the idea of water-as-sound throughout and pulls it off in appealing ways. “Shallow Water Blackout” is kind of liquid headphone music that swooshes from ear to ear, and the very good “Dub for Cascadia” is, as you might expect, an exercise in deeply submerged, underwater dub.”
Excerpt taken from Pitchfork review by Joe Colly, March 31st 2010
Also under the Loscil umbrella is an album said to be the pinacle of Scott Morgan’s work: Plume.
“Somewhere between the fluttering echoes of sustained notes (on the vibraphone and ebow guitar), one can actually hear Scott Morgan’s improvised vision grow into its own little somatic monster-complete with disorienting panning and pounding heartbeats. On Loscil’s fourth album, Morgan transcends the archetypal Kranky sound as each track morphs into a grandiose sonic sphere, tranquil and cathartic without relying on a deep kick or synthy riff. Composed with perfect amounts of subtle delay, layer upon layer of blissful chimes, and plenty of space, Plume makes for a quintessential escape from life’s daily rushes.”
Taken From Loscil Review on XLR8R by Mike Miketa
