Lately, I’ve been feeling like a lot of the best ambient music is actually not made by ambient musicians—or, at least, by musicians whose main thing is ambient. Eno’s best ambient albums were probably in some way informed by his glam rock career, and Wolfgang Voigt was more into what you might call “dub techno” than pure ambient when he whipped up Pop. The sounds in this new batch of ambient vignettes from African American Sound Recordings—the side project of the Memphis-bred rapper and producer Cities Aviv—are cribbed from a variety of different genres and conceptual spaces. “Iron Clad Remedy” is glowy and sample-heavy, where the piano-driven “Sometimes Armor” is more concrete, with shades of Duval Timothy and Dean Blunt. “Respiratory Poem” is one of the most affecting moments on the entire project; thick with vinyl hiss, it showcases a wordless, listing vocal that’s almost all breath. Side project or not, “Share Spirit” is essential.
African American Sound Recordings - Share Spirit
Staff PicksNew batch of ambient vignettes from Cities Aviv side project.
By will
2024/01/24
- 1Respiratory Event
- 2Respiratory Poem
- 3On My Street
- 4Posh
- 5Ariane's Tips
- 6Evenin'
- 7Diesel
- 8Choke Dream
- 9Absolute Human Contempt
- 10Red
- 11Identical Sharp
- 12Embrace Me To Stone
- 13Orgy
- 14Sometimes Armor
- 15Consideration
- 16Moratorium On Apples
- 17Vagina
- 18Troupe
- 19Iron Clad Remedy
- 20On Fire
- 21Since When Do You...
- 22Through Sheer Jackets
- 23Poison Sigh
- 24Staged
- 25Love Bondage
- 26Disappearing Event
In this article