#aural canyon

[musicollage]

John Paul Bohon — Scheele's Green. 2023 : Aural Canyon.

! listen @ Bandcamp ★ buy me a coffee !

[zef-zef]

Super Chilled!

John Thayer - Listening Sky (Aural Canyon, 2022)

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 368: Galecstasy

As the insanity of 2020 kept increasing, most of my plans for reviewing music fell by the wayside, and many releases I meant to cover got completely skipped as result. So whenever the mood hits me, I’ll be posting reviews of music from 2020 that I loved and had intended to cover. Aural Canyon is by now well known for its soothing and serene forays into worlds of ambient, cosmic, and new age music, but amongst their discography, there are also excursions into the heavier, freakier, and more rock-oriented spaces, such as the rustic acid jams of Heavenish by Future Museums. Another example is the completely gonzo Surprise tape released by Galecstasy. Comprised of Raquel Bell and Primary Mystical Experience, the duo fuse sci-fi electronics, ecstatic vocals, and dynamic drumming into a shadowy storm of drug-laced experimentalism, with vibes of trip hop, space age bachelor pop, dub, kosmische, and free jazz shining through it all. Interstellar drones, equatorial organs, and whirling waves of alien synthesis are supported by mutant funk, stoner sludge, and solar skank basslines, while Bell sings with strength overhead…her voice flowing freely between snotty post-punk chanting, sweet lyrical serenade, sexualized whispering, and wild wordless babble. And at the center of it all, Primary Mystical Experience alternately dances across sparkling metals and tightly wound skins, or smashes, bashes, and crashes his kit into oblivion, with almost every track featuring a truly spellbinding drum performance that continuously morphs between hard hitting groove physicality and prismatic splatter psychedelia.

Galecstasy - Surprise (Aural Canyon, 2020) “Double Torus” introduces a vortex of phaser while crystalline pings fade in from silence. Oscillating laser melodies enter alongside bass distortions, while warming currents hover all around. A sense of serenity is slightly disturbed by strange subsonics and psychoactive tracer patterns, while elsewhere, synthetic evocations of woodwinds play to the dawn. Eventually, the pulsing phasers recede, leaving a new age oasis wherein cut-off filters open into a spiritual growl and gemstone electronics mimic bell trees. In “Color Wheel,” asymmetrical basslines set up a dub drum splash, wherein Primary Mystical Experience’s trapkit skanks and sizzles alongside solar organ chords while Bell coos overhead…her expressive lyricisms intermingling with group shouts as the track dives deeper into a sci-fi riddim jam. Buzzing synths call out to a Caribbean horizon, squiggling filters recall UFO landings, and during cavernous choruses, the mix reduces to blasting drums and earworm hooks chanted in desperation. Cacophonous fills threaten to rip the mix apart, only for everything to snap back into the stoner zoner groove, with aquatic organ layers wrapping around fusion solo scats. During prog jazz freak outs, the barest semblance of dub structure holds things together while blazing leads rush in from all directions…their tones wiggling wildly while tropical organs sing through the storm. The drums continue working around the groove as much as with it, and at times, the vocals disappear for extended dub rhythm and fried synth freakouts.

“Ferns” is the centerpiece of the A-side, and starts with hippie poetry and rainforest ambient before snapping into another dub rhythm flow, though this time the vibe is more ethereal, with jazzwise hat and snare flourishes intercut by dazzling fills. Most of the melody is carried by sub bass and layered vocal howls…these gothic chants and melancholy mantras that eventually lead into space age bachelor pad perfection, with keys wavering like a mirage, smokey Jessamine-style bass pianos walking on clouds, and organs that evoke an Arabian desert fever dream. Changing vibes, we then snap into a section of deep and druidic fantasy pop, with evocations of Broadcast coming through in the paradisiacal vocal spells and spooky layers of electro-psychedelia emanating from the Ghost Box. Returning to the pleading dub verse, chords like crazed birdcalls sit beneath the vocals and liquid basslines dance aside a dopamine drumkit drift. Then, the mix gives way to an extended passage of controlled rhythm pyrotechnics, with Primary Mystical Experience letting loose self-contained eruptions that are interspersed by lounge piano runs and slip-sliding bass. Continuing to evolve, the track then breaks down into a midtro of piano chords and ghostly vocal ambiance before the drums resume their slow, stoned, and overblown ceremonial, which is eventually joined by smoldering bass bursts…the whole thing like some low slung, supremely stoned, and increasingly shambolic funk jam. And just when you think it’s all going to fall apart, the duo offer yet another dramatic shift, with electronic drums dropping shadowy hip hop beats and smokey jazz chords underlying an angel of the night as she sings her amorphous incantations. At some point the acoustic kit returns and brings the groove back into some semblance of shape, though the vibe is increasingly free and splayed out, with basslines singing vocal lyricisms high on the fretboard and pianos transmuting into a cosmic slop.

Burning ambiance surrounds a boom bap beat in “Lizard,” with cymbals spreading out like waves of fire and tight hi-hat, snare, and kick patterns giving way to tom fill meltdowns. Dissonant yet soothing soundscapes of mysterious origin pan back and forth and synths are reduced to pure astral texture, while trip hop basslines move menacingly in the distance...their tones felt more than heard as they bop on the beat. Blurred leads and fever dream melodies swim at the periphery, and the focus always stays centered on the awe-inspiring layers of drum fill terrorism, with the performance eternally tethered to a deep and doped out groove, yet travelling further and further out towards manic bombast as the track progresses. And at the end, the drums cut away dramatically, leaving behind seed shakers and oceanic atmospheres. “RMX” sees funereal electronics descending over droning chords and their tones of seasick majesty. Added to this mix of buzzing seance synthetics and sinister electro-incantations are shadowy pillows of bass and a potsmoke smothered trip hop drum anthem, with splashing rides giving off golden glitter, snares snapping and cracking, and trap-leaning bass drums moving on and off the beat. Yet as soon it forms, the track filters into subterranean darkness, until nothing remains but pounding filter bass. The A-side ends with “Pendulum,” which is a short piece of reverberating spectral bursts, primitive space synthetics, and granular noise atmospherics, with rapid pitch modulations accelerating first into a maddening buzz, then into an unholy scream that disperses in a flash of ping pong delay.

“Window” opens the B-side with a rush of fills before transitioning into the groove, which quickly slows to a dopamine crawl. Octave basslines and pounding trapkit mutations recall Stereolab's "Anonymous Collective" and Bell’s voice returns in full force as it combines sweet serenades and bewitching howls according to some anti-melodic dream logic. Descending synthesizers bring to mind robotic birds as the drums barely hang onto the groove, and at some point the kit explodes completely while blackened synth chords blare into focus. Bell’s voice grows increasingly mantric and evil…like some priestess chanting forbidden spells over a far out freak drum jam. Swirls of golden light thread through bodies of burning smoke and eventually, the waves of dissonance take a turn towards sunshine radiance while a diva calls out to the spirits of the sky. All the while, snare and tom fills rip the mix apart, only for the duo to snap back towards druggy octave groove perfection. “Hop Woo” follows with a soundbath of static and noise, as harsh textures are repurposed for spiritual communion. Tones slowly mutate in pitch and generate psychotropic visions before flowing back into narcotizing harmony, with longform phaser motions and filters opening into white light. Next is “Body in the Stream,” a sort of dubwise downtempo dreamscape that chops and screws “Color Wheel” into a vaporwave remembrance of its former self. Slushy electronics and syrupy vocals are stretched into a sonic molasses and basslines are reduced to a deep earthen hum, while piano chords smear across the spectrum and drums hit with the force of shadow.

“Advanced Civilization” was among my favorite tracks of 2020, and begins with soundclip chatter, lulling bass loops, and repetitions of the track title. Then comes a pitch-perfect lounge psych groove out, with airy drum beats and jazz rock rock flourishes underlying Bell’s purring vocal warmth, as well as the soaring violin performance of Justin Scheibel. Polychrome 60s keyboard accents a buried in shadow and the rhythms assume an infectious swing, with basslines ambulating up and down with a touch of dub fluidity. It’s all so remarkably simple, yet deeply affecting as it sweeps my heart into a cinematic pop paradise—one that recalls strongly for me Vanishing Twin—even as Bell evokes a young Jaquee McShee with her cooing layers of jazz vocal mesmerism. At some point the singing swaps with the “Advanced Civilization” loops and all the while, a spectral keyboard solo proceeds in the background, adding textures of haunted steel pan exotica. Then, during a completely entrancing violin solo, bowstrokes of slow psychoactive delirium move into rapid-fire patterns of Henry Flynt ecstasy, or alternately dart, dash, and soar like Sophie Trudeau in Valley of the Giants. Layers of shining string skree flow forth in cloud of minimalist magic and the groove continues to slowly unfurl in the background, with starscape synths sitting above an improvised explosion of rhythmic force. And from here, we settle into a sort of lackadaisical and violin-led acid jam of bashing rhythms and subdued space electronics.

At the end of the tape sits “I Erase” and its pulsing wavefronts of organic warmth…as if a kosmische energy field is vibrating into existence. Technoid machine cymbals sketch out maddening patterns as an intergalactic angel sings, and all the while, drum beats grow rapidly in the ether, with chain off snare rolls and fourth world tom tom tribalisms accented by harsh cymbal strikes. There’s a blurring of the acoustic and electronic as the drums refuse to assume any semblance of a defined form, instead preferring to executed a fairy fantasy dance that only enhances the magnificence of of Bell’s diva dreamspells, and of the ambient cloudforms flowing all around the body. After a false ending of rhythmic whispers and drums popping gently into silence, the oceanic atmospheres of organ ambiance resume their deep space aria, with vibes of early Klaus Schulze shining strongly in the mix of primitive galactic electronics and chaotic drum psychedelia. Laser blasts, silvery starlight oscillations, and mutating modulations dance together while leads sing strange extra-terrestrial songs, and during a climactic finish, chest rattling basslines join free jazz drum splatter over a heavenly haze of sonic sunshine.

(images from my personal copy)

[joyfulunion]

Future Museums - Heavenish

Future Museums’ latest album ‘Heavenish’ is out now on Aural Canyon.

Purchase Cassette: Future Museums - Heavenish

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 399: Ocean Moon & Lake Mary

Jon Tye’s Ocean Moon project has been especially active over the last couple of years. Going back to 2024, there was the release of Call for Peace with the expanded Ocean Moon Group, and also a colorful collaboration with Floating World Pictures, both of which came out as part of Lo Recordings ongoing cassette series of modern new age and ambient works. Then in 2025, Tye dropped two of Ocean Moon’s most significant productions…the bucolic blisscapes, optimistic light structures, and ideological explorations of Buddhism and artificial intelligence that make up Ways to the Deep Meadow on Music from Memory, and Shimmering States on Pinchy & Friends, the latter of which I listened to over and over again upon release, as it pushed the project towards more rhythmic formations of ambient techno and ambient dub, with direct 90s chillout evocations that called back to some of Tye's work in MLO.

Now to start 2026, Ocean Moon has released yet another transmission of transcendent sound with Empty Infinity, this time in collaboration with Lake Mary, the musical moniker of out-there guitar explorer Chaz Prymek. Prymek has been steadily crafting his own individualistic and iridescent landscapes of longform ambient based in the language of American primitive music for well over a decade. And the artist is no stranger to collaboration, the most notable of which might be the albums released as Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroish aka Fuubutsushi. But even though Prymek has made music alongside a diverse array of artists throughout his extended discography, Empty Infinity is still a compelling and somewhat surprising pairing, one that might not be expected, but that ends up making a perfect sort of sense…as two artists from different zones of the experimental landscape unite to create something at the border between cosmic new age spiritualism and minimalistic and ultra-deep dream drone.

The Empty Infinity cassette comes out via Aural Canyon, and on the labels’s Bandcamp and also throughout the tape artwork, there are references to The Secret of the Golden Flower, a book related to Taoist teachings and a form of meditation called “internal alchemy”. This gives the experience an extra layer of sacred significance, and further imbues to the mesmeric musical formations with a spectral and supernal glow. And it is rather fitting that Empty Infinity is being released by Aural Canyon, as both Ocean Moon and Lake Mary have worked with the label previously. Tye and Ocean Moon put out one of my favorite tapes from the project in the form of Adventures in the Rainbow Vortex back in 2021…a tape I return to again and again anytime I need a calming, yet mysterious and imaginative experience of ambient new age bliss. As for Lake Mary, Prymek has released several works with the label…such as the KODA reissue, Once It's All On The Ground, and a recent joint work with Pinyonpine.

Ocean Moon & Lake Mary - Empty Infinity (Aural Canyon, 2026) “Without future without past” occupies the entire A-side, and begins with gentle tonal shadows and morphing molten oscillators that possess an almost physical growl. Silvery reflective slide guitar melodics bring an astral cosmic glow that disperses across rustic vistas of desert and dust, with the sounds backed by shimmering pads from the school of Rick Wright…the whole thing bringing a Floyd-ian vibe…like the atmospheric aura of “Welcome to the Machine” distilled to the purest essence of ambient and insterstellar psychedelia.  The haunting howls of bottleneck moving across six string arc across a soundbath of distorting dronal drift and celestial structures of vibratory light, and close listening reveals the creaks of stools and the clicks of pedals...sounds which further the sense of immersion…of the music as a live experience of mysticism and motion. As the extended journey develops, the blown out oscillations slowly recede, and so do all sensations of rhythmic form and movement…however subtle. This leaves the soul adrift in a shining void of phaseshifting feedback wavefronts and string synth incandescence, wherein barely there whispers of space age sequencing sometimes appear.

Over on side B, the title track sets pads like mermaid choirs aside streaks of choral crystal, with both locking into a sort of slow and skybound circulation. The sounds further blend with muted and subtonal guitars that sound like distant whalesong, and blooms of subsonic smolder surround melting strands of telephonic gemstone fantasy. The mix is enhanced by layers of hiss and hum, and the slowly moving swirls of sound that define the track’s structure increase in intensity and force, while layers of enigmatic motion in the depths of the substrata bring to mind some sort of ghostly string section. “A halo of light” follows with enveloping drones…perhaps sourced by a guitar under ebow…which push into self-distorting feedback as rainy day swirls of muted ambience hover in the distance. The whole thing reminds me of some Bardo Pond intro, only as if frozen in a state of etheric equilibrium, with amp hiss and static hum adding a comforting caress while ringing tones of self-oscillating chaos climb orthogonally out of the stereo field. The final track is “Wrapped in clouds,” and according to the liner notes, this is an Ocean Moon solo production. The mix is overlaid with more amp buzz, which backgrounds tremolo tempered textures of sculptural distortion, and wailing and wavering notes that decay towards the horizon. Glowing glimmers of noise shroud a desolate landscape of drifting buzz, as clicks and white noise whisps interrupt the organic and electro-somatic incantations of smoldering vibration. And there is little in the way of defined melody…with the track instead functioning as a study on texture, tone, and stasis.

(images from my personal copy)

[thenewobjective]

Johnny Bell ~ Field Trips

“Banjo drone” is the very definition of a micro-genre, currently so small we’re not aware of any other album in it.  This is the solo territory of New Mexico’s Johnny Bell, who approaches music with a collector’s ear and offers an album rich in timbre and sonically distinct.  Ironically, the album’s most intriguing moments arrive not in the American Primitive banjo or in the drones themselves,…

Johnny Bell ~ Field Trips

[amplifiedwires]

Sonny Sharrock

Still on a deep dive into this fascinating body of work from one of the most underrated guitarists ever. After mainlining GUITAR for multiple spins I've branched out into older and newer stuff of Sonny's work.

Right now I'm cranking HIGH LIFE which was recommended by ace Danish guitarist Nicklas Sørensen (Papir, solo):

A note abt Nicklas Sørensen - he just put out a fascinating solo record on Aural Canyon that I really liked a lot on my first spin.

Check it out:

This is gonna be a multi-years project going thru all of this glorious Sonny Sharrock music. Follow along if yer interested in adventurous and amazing guitar playing.

Leave a recommendation in the notes if ya got one. THX

UPDATE - I've listened to HIGH LIFE and Nicklas was correct - it rules.

[thenewobjective]

Julia E. Dyck and Stefan Christoff present A Silver Moon Mix

Tiohtià:ke / Montreal musician and community organizer Stefan Christoff has featured on this site many times over the last decade, including in his collaborations with Sam Shalabi, with his brother Jordan Christoff (as Anarchist Mountains), and with Nick Schofield (as rêves sonores).  He’s also produced mixes for us as well, both solo and with Jordan, often highlighting his extended network of…

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