The World Next Door is, in essence, a soundscape sculptor. The sound textures he creates on new LP Long Con Turtle Stack are always fresh, never derivative. The same can be said of the inventive beats and remarkable rhythms; they cannot be categorized as dub, techno or anything else. They're just timeless vibes.
Shortly after the eerie angel noises in "There Are No Virgins in Valhalla," for example, a rhythmic thump kicks in. But this is no club beat, and as the strange synths and creepy guitars worm their way into the track, it wanders further away from what one normally considers electronica. In fact, it ends up sounding like a gentlemanly battle between prog legends Steve Hackett and Robert Fripp.
Some may call it ambient, but there's too much progression and beat-dominance to truly be considered so. Although there are some harder moments, such as when TWND uses a particularly nasty sounding guitar, the tone is generally uplifting. The instrumentation tends to be dominated by acoustic guitar and sweet synths, so even when the mood shifts from contentment to apprehension, the music remains soothing.
Great albums, like life itself, can happen while you are making other plans. TWND had intended to complete a work he'd been working on for a decade, but instead he recorded this album of improvised instrumental experimentalism. Not sure how the ten-year-old album will work out, but this beauty is first class.
(Trinket Trance)Shortly after the eerie angel noises in "There Are No Virgins in Valhalla," for example, a rhythmic thump kicks in. But this is no club beat, and as the strange synths and creepy guitars worm their way into the track, it wanders further away from what one normally considers electronica. In fact, it ends up sounding like a gentlemanly battle between prog legends Steve Hackett and Robert Fripp.
Some may call it ambient, but there's too much progression and beat-dominance to truly be considered so. Although there are some harder moments, such as when TWND uses a particularly nasty sounding guitar, the tone is generally uplifting. The instrumentation tends to be dominated by acoustic guitar and sweet synths, so even when the mood shifts from contentment to apprehension, the music remains soothing.
Great albums, like life itself, can happen while you are making other plans. TWND had intended to complete a work he'd been working on for a decade, but instead he recorded this album of improvised instrumental experimentalism. Not sure how the ten-year-old album will work out, but this beauty is first class.
