Geographic North US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Patient Sounds Intl. founder Matthew Sage describes himself as a "digital rustic" who explores "plunderphonics and sound collage, ambience and cyberpastoralia". While we imagine Sage had his tongue firmly pressed into his cheek when he wrote that, it's a fairly accurate description of new album "Catch A Blessing". The eight tracks blend music concrete, otherworldly ambient, snapshot electronics and noise, layering up disparate and often unusual elements - field recordings, brief snatches of instrumentation, fluid electronic sounds, effects-laden tones, and so on - to create pieces that are as intriguing as they are relaxed and entertaining. The whole album is pretty "out there" of course, but in the most melodious and atmospheric of ways.

Review: After being commissioned to produce several 'interlocking' ambient pieces for an art gallery piece in LA, Brian Foote and Sage Caswell decided to take the concept of 'audience crossfading' to the next level, creating an entire ambient album using a particular sonic technique. Over five long pieces from 'Waterwheel' to 'Smiley', their aim was to evoke the feeling of bodies moving in thoroughfares. The tracks are long-exposed movements captured in ambient space, blending rhythms and soundscapes for chillout rooms that exist only in memory now.