There’s something quite mesmirising about this tape from San Franciscan sound artists Only Now (Kush Arora) and Orogen (Lucas Patzek). It’s ambient experimental music, these dense suites of bottom heavy sound design, manipulated field recordings and power electrics all enmeshed as one amorphous soup of sound. Instruments or sound sources all devolve into one and are impossible to discern, though the duo report that they used ‘3 CPU’s with dozens of VST instruments and effects, Eventide Space, Nord Drum 3, Dave Smith Pro 2, (and) lots of heavily manipulated field recordings.”
They’ve also managed to imbue proceedings with an understated but unmistakably menancing feel. It’s dark ambience verging on black metal as resonances evaporate across the stereo field. There’s an immensity to the music, a lumbering languid pacing, a feeling of something deep dark and primal imbued with violence.
The story behind these recordings is fascinating, with the duo initially recording (in their words) “some pummelling metallic drum work using physical modeling VST’s and synths.” They’ve then deconstructed this music into this restless brooding tectonic ambience that’s quite unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.
