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His entire discography is available here for free. Enjoy.

Skull Defekts with Daniel Higgs - April 8th 2011, Floristree , Baltimore Maryland [Full Show]

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Daniel Higgs: Sing A Song Pt.I from Windows Have Eyes on Vimeo.

Daniel Higgs: Sing A Song Pt.II from Windows Have Eyes on Vimeo.

I've added a new page feature to the left called "RSD 2011"...please click it and enjoy.

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"The raga, a musical form of ancient Hindustani prayer and poetry, has been the cornerstone of Indian music for centuries, evolving into a complex set of expressions inviting improvisation and varying according to purpose, mood, story, and ritual. Stately in their sounds, ragas are most often created with sitar, sarod, tabla, tamboura (or drone), and voice with each note functioning as an evocation of the world's sanctity. The Raga Guide offers five hours and 15 minutes of stunningly beautiful music, played by masters of the instrument and accompanied by informative description, music transcriptions, and (where applicable) texts with English translations. Lovingly recorded, carefully authored, simply laid out, this wonderful package is the essence of perfection, topped off by exquisite color plates of ragamalas, or paintings depicting the stories of the ragas. A sublime tribute to Indian classical music."

 

I "With so much music that is mislabeled as ambient, casual listeners suffer from misconceptions of what it actually is and from I can tell has completely sullied the genre as a result. This compilation is as much of what ambient music truly is about as much as compilations like "Ambient Lounge" completely misses the point. It captures not just the checklist of what makes ambient music what it is, but more importantly the ETHOS. What makes this compilation so fabulous is that it is amazing to listen to start to finish, but also that its contents are so remarkably diverse."

II "Most of the tracks possess a laid-back, atmospheric quality and use of traditional electronic instruments in non-traditional ways. For those unfamiliar with Ambient music, don't expect the drum to create the rythym and the rythym to emulate a drum beat. The dialog of Ambient speaks in a different language than any other modern form. Patience goes a long way when trying out Ambient. In time, patience and willingness to explore will cultivate a great harvest from the various samplings. As a fearless listener of "alternative music" in the 1980's and 90's, my interest in the Ambient albums evolved over 15 years. My first listening sessions weren't very fruitful. After a few years, many of the tracks became sublime and others much more accessible." 

III "This collection is an ideal introduction to ambient music, with a very wide range of styles included. There are one or two duff tracks but generally speaking all the tracks are very enjoyable, some very slow tempoed and relaxing, others a bit more dancy, there's even an excellent dub track included. Don't get this confused with all the naff ibiza ambient stuff that's being churned out, this cd pre-dates all that nonsense and is genuine ambient music."

IV "The multi-directional styles on these blacker-than-midnight ambient recordings, combined with the compiler's cryptic liner notes, not to mention the awesome sequencing of the successive tracks, make me feel like I've been let in on some kind of chthonic secret, the results of some imaginal archeological dig, illustrated musically to marvelous effect.

And I don't think that the term "isolationism" merely illustrates a marketing ploy on VRs' part (as if these recordings could ever be "big" commercially!), but rather seems a good, solid term for what is sonically going on here. That is, solo artists or duos digging down deep into the disturbing layers of the psyche, exploring ruins of dream cities, feeling dwarfed in the face of nature, numbed by the human-machine interface, hypnogogic states and confused reveries, etc.,--and this the soundtrack to it all."

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This is still available here. Go grab it before it sells out.

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ATTENTION

I'm wondering if any old readers of this blog have my Daniel Higgs live recording from the Empty Bottle...I lost it on an external a few years ago. If you have it PLEASE upload it for me!!! Thanks!!!

"[...]one of the greatest bands to ever play rock music. The band mixed the hard rock styles of Led Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, and Jimi Hendrix with the sometimes spacey feel of Pink Floyd and ethnic sounds of India. They were lead by the incredible talent of guitarist Petri Walli. Petri played the guitar like no one else on earth, with so much melody and feeling. His solos were so well constructed. He was backed by the great bass talents of Jukka Jylli and the incredible drums style of Sami Kuoppamäki. This guy can play the drums with such finesse, mixing rock and jazz styles so smoothly[...]"

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"these 32 mesmerizing, percussive, and darkish ambient tracks make perfect sense! Now I must find myself a copy of this book as soon as possible- that is in order to release the full potential of this sound magic!"

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"This is a flawless album which moves effortlessly from track to track with each song containing seamless transitions between light and shade. Karma To Burn remains a laid back journey with an underlying seediness and tension as you take in an array of sights from the criminal underworld and serial killers to wild sex parties, and then onto Ancient Indian Burial Grounds." 

"13 years on, Karma To Burn is still one of the coolest sounding records ever made. It doesn’t have the pace of 80’s thrash giants nor the heaviness and explosiveness of a lot of metal, but it isn’t overtly derivative and scientifically formulated like some breaching the periphery of copyright. This baby exudes ambience and breathes organically."

"The trio from South Wales blend an appreciation for modern, heavy music together with an experimental edge to create a swirling, hypnotic maelstrom of repetitive, naturally grooving stoner-rock, kind of like Neurosis meets My Bloody Valentine meets Sonic Youth meets Can. The simplistic, rock-solid rhythmic base provides a launchpad for Kaskie's inventive, dense, discordant fretwork."

"[...]his approach to the instrument is more textural than harmonic or melodic. He draws long sounds from the instrument, processing and layering to create a slowly swelling and morphing mass of shimmering icicle tones that hang in the air like wraiths of smoke. It sounds especially great in the dark, as the waves of guitar echo around the room."

"Being a Nabokovian and visceral garden of delights, a musical evocation of memory and desire spread over four sides of vinyl. The sound is conjured forth from dark wells to be birthed, twisting and screaming in silver winds. Recorded at Black Dirt Studios, over an intensive three-day period of hermetic isolation, while snow blanketed the surrounding fields, this work is both more detailed and conjures a heavier, more brooding occult atmosphere and sound"

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