dubboyface
fan of FAX label forever, back when Other Music had great stock across the label... super compilation!
Favorite track: The Fires Of Ork - Talk To The Stars.
For the 20th anniversary of his Fax label, early 2012 Pete Namlook released The Ambient Gardener-Spring. The compilation kicked off the superb Ambient Gardener series and has been released as a limited edition of 300 copies only.
Liner Notes
This is the first part in a four-part compilation series to give you a deeper insight into the philosophy behind FAX and ist related labels, and to look back on what happened over the past 20 years.
Planting a seed in the soil of a perfectly prepared field is one of the most important moments, and the most important thing about it is to “just do it“ at a certain moment in time, and in a place suitable for the plant to grow. I therefore planted my music in the field of electronic music, in a “soil“ that only a few others around the world at that time saw as a fruitful ground for the present and future of sound.
The first seed was “Sequential – The Mission to the Sun“, “Sonne“ (in English, “sun“) was a track I had hold on my shelves since the ‘80s and wanted to release. Now, in collaboration with DJ Criss, calling himself Craig Peck, I reworked it, and the sound reminiscent of a rocket launch at the beginning was perhaps a metaphor for the successful start of it all. This composition had been released by the beginning of 1992 on a different label, but it showed me that there was an interest in this music. I released it along with all the techno vinyl (on the “Other Side“) that I released with a lot of DJs and producers during 1992 and 1993.
The next seed was “Silence“ (with Dr. Atmo) and “Hope“ was important to me, as I wanted to introduce an epic, symphonic sound along with timeless melodic content: slow, deep and dark, but not without hope, and intending to create a sound that brings you back to yourself. The “healthy listening“ lies in the rather therapeutic approach of “letting go“ and letting your mind travel.
“Air“ was a different entity, as it was the first solo CD that I did on my label. Composed and produced within a week, it was a seed of a different kind, as I included jazz, ethnic music and spoken French, and combined it with the electronic music I liked. This was different, and very well received by a lot of other “Ambient Gardeners“.
In this way the collaboration with the London-based Mixmaster Morris started, and we had a lot of fun working on Dreamfish, which was more in the psychedelic realm. I then met Tetsu Inoue and worked with him in his New York studio at 2350 Broadway on the quieter and more abstract compositions. From Norway, 700 km north of the Arctic Circle, Geir Jenssen came to work with me, as I was a big fan of his Biosphere “Microgravity“ album and he had the same feeling about my “Silence“ release…the “Fires of Ork“ collaboration was the result.
Slowly we all had the feeling that we were part of something bigger. The community of “Ambient Gardeners“ at that time who were releasing this kind of music was about 20+ people who lived in different parts of our planet, and we all knew about our work and proceedings.
All of these collaborations, and many others worldwide, helped and led to a warm promising summer.
Technical Note:
The tracks have been gently remastered but I wanted them to be authentic…creating and producing music, as well as sowing and cultivating plants, is an ongoing learning process and I am glad that I have learned a lot between 1992 and today…:-)
Pete Namlook stands out as a brilliant musical visionary within the realm of ambient music. His innovative sonic
contributions undeniably form a crucial element of the electronic music landscape. As a prolific pioneer, he not only initiated but also personally nurtured the ambient movement from the 1990s onward....more
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