Frans de Waard on Excavated Relics

SUB LOAM - EXCAVATED RELICS

Back in 2016, Thomas Shrubsole released 'The Portable archive' under his Sub Loam name (see Vital Weekly 1051), which was culled from material he already recorded in 2009 and 2010. It is something I enjoyed very much, as Sub Loam is something along the lines of lo-fi electronics, drones, ambience, and field recordings. Now there is a tape with "two recently rediscovered examples" from the same period, which Sub Loam feels they should be heard out there as well, and, sure, why not? This is something that could have also been surely been on the original release. On the first side, there is 'Soil Surface', a slow rhythm piece. Or perhaps something that is on a loop device but slowed down quite a bit. In sync we have a mild synth sound burping away. It is a very moody piece and almost a dub-like one at that; all bass but no dance riddim. This is a particularly great piece by Sub Loam. The B-side contains 'Stone Fragment', in which the guitar plays quite a big role, strummed in a really odd way, and set against a set of misty electronic backing, with an odd flanging effect on the strings. It seems like he's playing the guitar with a stick, creating odd timbres. Buried in the background there is a bit of percussion. It is a totally different kind of piece and a most enjoyable one at that as well. I sure can believe that if you found this after ten years you would want to release it. (FdW)

Review from Vital Weekly issue number 1208

Buy a copy by emailing direct or from Boomkat

The Portable Archive - Sub Loam Re-issues

Sub Loam's first three releases Ohr, 2 and Earthern Circle, originally released on Cotton Goods and Dissolving, will be re-released soon as part of a retrospective set entitled The Portable Archive. Long unavailable these three re-issues will be be bundled with a further two full albums recorded during the same time period (2009 - 10) but never released before. For fans old and new of Sub Loam's herbal-toned landscape exploration and exploratory ambience this should provide an extensive sonic topography from familiar places half-remembered and hitherto unknown areas off the beaten track.

More details to come.

Keep your ears to the ground.

Plants Projected

'A Concise Dictionary of Plants and Their Uses' as reviewed by Stuart Marshall in The Sound Projector :

"Again and again I return to this intriguing mini CD from Sub Loam (i.e. saxophonist and SP reviewer Thomas Shrubsole), as if it would yield to me its mysteries, but alas! Swiftly am I ensnared and borne upon its pulsating airways, yet just as swiftly it’s over! Where fled those rogue minutes? In this wise, concise designates more than botanical taxonomy, though both here are central concerns: manifest in the splicing of Shrubsole’s pithy breath work and the bloom and swirl of spectral electronic backdrops. Most distinct is this in the first of the three untitled pieces: multiple rows of delicate, trowel-headed honks slowly summoning wispy, electroacoustic spirits, while at the same time suggesting an attitude of horticultural preparation that inspires me to chop carrots in concert. Tracks two and tree are (even) giddier: a tiny sax twittering like butterfly wings caught in swerving currents of pure colour; and finally a slow kaleidoscopic reimagining of all that has preceded. It’s an unearthing of unearthly sensations that could well uproot your mental stability. 39 further copies of the CDR are in existence, all of which are accompanied by a hand-numbered A4-sized abstract print by the artist."

You can read the original review on TSP website here:  http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2014/09/24/natural-kingdoms/

Forthcoming/New Shoots

Sub Loam branches out to pastures new. Keep a lookout in the coming months for this new project on Wist Rec based on Richard Mabey's book 'The Unofficial Countryside'.

Further info:

http://wistrec.com/the-unofficial-countryside/

http://wistrec.com/

Previous Sub Loam releases can be ordered

Here

Here

and

Here

Some old stuff currently out of print can be listened to Here

Maybe one day it will resurface in physical form again...

New Release - A Concise Dictionary of Plants and Their Uses

I am pleased to announce the latest Sub Loam, an art edition with a limited print on Dissolving. Green tones for ruderal forays. More info here: http://dissolvingrecords.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sub-loam-concise-dictionary-of-plants.html and here: https://soundcloud.com/dissolvingrecords/sub-loam-a-concise-dictionary 40 copies only, order at dissolving (dot) records (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk Thanks

Ruderal Memory now available from Boomkat

Recommended this week: http://boomkat.com/cds/700917-sub-loam-ruderal-memory "Ghostly, longform electro-acoustic invocation from Sub Loam, the character also known as Thomas Shrubsole and Jesus On Mars. Via soprano saxophone fed through multi-cassette, twin-reel-to-reel set up, 'Ruderal Memory' manifests 45 minutes of seancé-like atmosphere with patiently unfolding arrangement informed by yoga breathing techniques and conducted from an anti-anthropocentric stance in key with Sub Loam's themes of elemental interplay and chlorophyllic consciousness. Aesthetically we're reminded of Robin The Fog's spectral experiments on 'The Ghosts Of Bush' or the quivering microtones yielded in William Basinski's 'Disintegration Loops', yet as with all of Shrubsole's output, there's a deeply individual spirit at work, following his own quiet path to personal enlightenment."

Ruderal Memory reviewed in Vital Weekly

SUB LOAM - RUDERAL MEMORY (CDR by Dissolving Records) Quite an obscure release here, but it's apparently released for the Vernal Quinox, which happened here without noticing it. Behind Sub Loam we find Thomas Shrubbsole, and if I am not wrong it has been a while since I last heard his music; his '2' was reviewed in Vital Weekly 732. At the very foundation of this work there is the soprano saxophone playing, along with a 'multi-cassette, twin reel-to-reel set up' to do some further manipulation. With a reel-to-reel you can easily slow down things, going from 19cm/per second to 4,5cm/per second, and perhaps that's something that Shrubbsole does here, but in a clever way. He slows down his sounds but not all of them and not all the way. Just a few, and keeps other running at regular speed. His saxophone playing reminds me occasionally more of a trumpet actually. While the whole thing sounds at times a bit crude - which may be because it is recorded live in one take - it also has a fine orchestral feel to it. Glissandi appear out of nowhere, together with a low rumble of slowed down tapes and throughout it's perhaps heavy but also in a way zen like like. Somewhere in the middle of you would find drones and improvised music, all with a classical touch, certainly in the last ten minutes. Dense meditation music, and perhaps not that spring like yet, more like a farewell for the winter season. Raw and intense, but never noise based. Very nice! (FdW) From Vital Weekly 876, April 2nd 2013 http://www.vitalweekly.net/876.html

New Sub Loam Soon...

It's been a while, but with the first stirrings of spring comes the news that a new Sub Loam release is on its way. To be released on Dissolving around the end of March, keep a look out for more news here and on the Dissolving blog...

Foxy Digitalis reviews The Ley Hunter's Companion

A Nice Solstice Present:

December 21, 2011
By Travis Bird

A bit of an odd duck in the best sense, Sub Loam’s “mini-album” is a two-track, 30-minute meditative synth journey, a CD housed with a dedicated map-like poster in a 7-inch jacket. Containing two classy synth pieces, it’s an album that exalts the peculiar potential of a car trip for reflection, relaxation, and meditation. This in-car reflection always comes with solitude, and Sub Loam recognizes this and gets them out of the way, immersing the listener in the repetitive sequencer bliss of a blurry countryside passing by.

Both of these pieces are heavily indebted to certain aspects of ‘70s space and Kosmische music. “Lines In The Landscape” is a minimally changing arpeggiated sequence anchoring a hovering Kosmische-inspired theme. Although the daydream is broken rather abruptly at the end of the track, we move quickly into the equally mesmerizing “Odyssey.” This is a slightly faster sequence that features a prominent flanger effect and, again, minimal variation, until it slowly floats away.

Although it was released in time for “summer holidays,” the trip is equally comfortable listening in these winter times. Limited to 230 copies, this is a nice little document.

Dissolving Records

8/10

http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/?p=23056

Thanks!!