Various - 360°: A Foundry Project

Unlike the earlier Lost & Found anthology, 360° is more than just a label sampler. As suggested by it's subtitle, there is a cohesive concept at work here: Bentley provided each artist with a short excerpt from a fragment of a story that he wrote, and each of them replied with a track intended to be related to their excerpt. Contributors range from members of the Foundry roster like eM, Rhomb and Jonathan Hughes to guests such as Kim Cascone, High Skies (a.k.a. Mat Jarvis, the man behind several classic albums under the name Gas on the late and lamented Emit label) and Mark Van Hoen & Seofon. The latter duo provide one of the highlights of the album with "Shrine", a brilliant combination of fragmented voices and static-ridden pulses. The style varies from track to track, but they're tied together by a series of "interpolations", short interludes by eM that perfectly bridge the gaps and help establish a consistent theme for the collection. (Greg Clow for Grooves Magazine #9)

Various Artists: 360°
The Foundry (2002)

360° is a compelling conceptual project in seven episodes and fifteen parts (tracks) brings together nine explorers of the electronic frontier. The disc follows loosely cinematic themes of gestures, spheres and shadows succeeding in its suspension of an imaginative otherworld. Collaborating with the Bay Areašs Seofon is Touch artist Mark Van Hoen (Locust) on the pulsing flow of "Shrine". The track becomes the centerpiece of the set climaxing in between apt "Interpolations" by Foundry label director eM (Michael Bentley). The short sound constructions act as cushioning devices and add experimental weight to the final mix. EM:T label favorite, Mat Jarvis (Gas), under the new moniker of High Skies, has been dormant for too long. His existential approach and lively interpretation of "Staars" promotes the retrograding of the planets. Painting an alien landscape, it is "Zargosso" by Sketch which darkens the atmosphere and brings down "the ship". Sound designer, Kim Casconešs (Mille Plateaux) contribution, the radiant "Superfield," hovers remotely with an alert, interdimensional placement. Newcomers Rhomb complete the picture with the enigmatic short "360° Theme Redux", which has a two minute soul, beating long into the night. (TJ Norris for Soundvision)

Various Artists - 360 degrees: a foundry project [Fou.15] The Foundry/Hypnos

The latest Foundry(/Hypnos) disk takes as its theme a story by Michael Bentley: a project which stalled (see the on-site PDF), but saw a new life following the Archipelago set, when Bentley invited a range of local musicians to choose a chapter and create a soundtrack to it. A theme by Rhomb, written when the story was first conceived, opens and closes the album, and the individual tracks are linked by interpolations that create a seamless continuity. Extracts from the story are present as liner notes, but there is no spoken narration. A solar wind, or waves, that end in a rumble thunder runs through Rhomb's theme over which synth chords loom, analogue ringing notes slowly build a melody, and provide a stately, dramatic opening, with gongs suggesting a hint of the orient. A gentle space ambient from eM, 'Reflective' has drifting high tones, a deeper base and calls that echo and burr, light loops supporting our free fall. An underlying tone that rises and falls stepwise supports the ratchets knocks and bloops of Jonathon Hughes' 'Viscous space'. A hollow crackling and a slow tonal synth build over the computer noises, which are joined by rhythmic motors and radio sqwals to build quite a head of steam. 'Staars' (by High Skies) is the most predictable track, something of a TD-influence with tuned percussion, long note melody, light percussion and a sample that sounds like an astronaut relay, but is nonetheless enjoyable and works well in this context. In 'Shrine' Mark van Hoen and Seofon process vocals into layers and snatches looped to form both the melody and part of the rhythm, the rest coming from a variety dits and pops, with a swirling moving high ringing sound completing the mood, sliding into a dubby section before a clattery fade. 'Zargasso' suggest the Sargasso Sea to me, with big drifting wash tones containing a hint of voices, noises and tones in fading wave-echoes and an undercurrent of droning white noises. There are suggestions of rhythm which become a slow beat, with a dub-bass and then a jazz trio in there. The rhythm speeds up over bubbling, drops and wooshes fade. Swizzly high tones, bubbling radio noise and a big machine hum form the basis for Thermal's 'Embers', weaving around each other, developing and changing, joined by chitters and dits that echo while a throb builds, and finally computer chatter over the long fade. Strange radio transmissions are captured in 'Superfield', rapidly corpuscular to begin with then joined by layers of bloops, after which metallic rolls crackles and rumbles all come together in this dramatic piece from Kim Cascone. Which echoes into the '360 theme redux' where chords and notes from the first erupt, distant and hollow, the wind increasing, and joined by ticking taps and buzzing, into a final thunder rumble. Not forgetting the 6 interpolations by eM, 30 second minatures of rumble dits scrathes buzzing and bubbles that anonymously glue the tracks together. This is not a compilation, but a collection of specifically written tracks to fit the themes and developments of Bentley's story, with an overall sound reflecting the space element. The result is an impressive album which coheres while allowing stylistic diversity, and also presents some great individual contributions. Another excellent product from The Foundry. (Jeremy Keens for Ampersand Etcetera)

360 DEGREES (CD by The Foundry)

This is a compilation that is based upon a story, or rather a story fragment, which is divided in various episodes. Each episode gets a piece of music by eight different musicians and also there are six interpolations between the pieces. The musical styles covered here are ambient in its various forms. Be it from straight down washes of synths to more rhythmical work and glitches. In the first area we find labelbands such as Rhomb, eM and Jonathan Hughes, who both proof not be any different from any of the best works on Hypnos (who are co-releasing this CD). High Skies (aka Mat Jarvis, who worked as Gas on the Em:t label, who remembers them??) and Mark van Hoen's collaboration with Seofon are both in the more beat oriented areas, but both stay firmly (and luckily) away from techno music. Sketch and Kim Cascone operate more in the glitch areas, but that's of course just a term. They too operate very much from an ambient background, they just seem to be using a different thing to come to the same conclusion. The interpolations cross fade tracks in and out, which give this album a really nice flow. Up to track six I thought I was still listening to the first track. It didn't seem to me that I was playing a compilation. Nice ambient compilation, even when you don't pay any attention to the story, like I did. Nothing new or spectacular, but really a nice listen. (Frans de Waard for Vital)

Various Artists - 360° (The Foundry FOU.15, CD, 2002)

Always an interesting blend of ambience, samples, buzzes, and all things generally experimental, The Foundry label once again brings forth a cutting edge piece of music for those always wanting to push the envelope just a bit. Their CDs often defy easy categorization, and this one is no exception. Though it is often quirky and downright weird, amidst the noise there is a certain accessibility as well, though it's hard to pinpoint how it all gels into something that actually flows along quite well. Rhomb's "360° theme" has a slightly dissonant but compelling main sound that bulls its way in, commanding attention as it repeats itself with regularity and insistence. Next up is eM's "Reflective," a sublime minimal ambient piece, with lots of interesting subtle noises running through it. After that comes the first of six very brief pieces simply titled "Interpolation One," and two and three, etc. Each is a half minute bridging piece, the glue if you will that holds the disc into a unified whole. Another great title is "Viscous Space" by Jonathan Hughes. It's hard to describe the delicate structure and sounds in many of these pieces, but they all have something to recommend about them. Sometimes, like "Interpolation Two," the music seems merely glorified static, but most of the time, like on "Staars," there are discernible sounds and on rare occasions like this one, an actual melody. In fact, by comparison to the rest, "Staars" must be the pop single, a fun, effusive piece. I expect Laurie Anderson to start singing on this one, it reminds me of her music circa Mister Heartbreak. The most accessible track is followed by the quirkiest, "Shrine" by Mark Van Hoen and Seofon. Odd beats, clicking, static and samples are placed with a cool pulsing electronic sound that makes me immediately think of the classic, groundbreaking soundtrack to the old sci-fi film "Forbidden Planet." This is challenging and wonderful. The disc is notable for inclusion of a Kim Cascone track, he of Heavenly Music Corporation and Spice Barons fame. It fits right in with this experimental mold. Those who go in for something different should be well pleased with this one. (Phil Derby for Exposé Magazine)

VARIOUS ARTISTS: 360 Degrees (CD on the Foundry)

Conceived and organized by Michael Bentley (aka eM), this 51 minute CD from 2002 is a concept release in which the various electronic musicians contribute an instrumental soundtrack for a science fiction tale (in which a space traveler encounters "something" in the void) told via text on the CD's insert card. Included in this project are: Rhomb, eM, Jonathan Hughes, High Skies, Mark van Hoen & Seofon, Sketch, Thermal, and Kim Cascone. Although decidedly "ambient" these tracks display a tad more substance (sometimes even discernible rhythms) than most passive soundscapes. Delicate melodies lurk among these textural compositions, as crackling tones and drifting atmospherics conspire to generate a mysterious sonic environment for the listener. The music throbs with cosmic qualities: chirping radio emissions, oozing radiation fields and the languid drone of interstellar particles as they tumble in the great vacuum. Minimalist abstractions evolve structure, ascension achieves escape velocity, and atonal noise abounds with vague harmonics, frequently applying smooth beats to invigorate the astral soundtrack. This Foundry project is quite entertaining, excellently capturing the limitless void, elucidating this galactic panorama with unaggressive drama and electronic suspense as the strange tale unfolds. (Matt Howarth for Sonic Curiosity)