review :: Royce Icon
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I like field recordings a lot as an element of a piece, as an extra spice to add with some other sounds, but not as the sole focus of a track. So I was a bit hesitant to listen to this compilation at first, as the liner notes led me to believe I was in for a bunch of untreated minidisc recordings of birds and kitchen appliances. Though that would still be interesting in its own right, I'm rather glad that I was wrong in my expectations. All of the tracks here feature found sound of some sort, some of the sounds more cut up or processed than others, but it's never the only thing going on, and all the tracks take a different approach while for the most part walking within the lines of the general aesthetic.
Most of the audio on "Muzick out of open windows" could be filed under the ambient genre, though there is some spastic synthwork and guitar here and there that wouldn't really fit that tag. Also, the first track has somewhat of an IDM feel to it too. But for the most part all of the tracks share a similar warm organic ambient vibe, drones and sweeps clashing with the found sound in a very pleasant manner.
I don't think there is a single track on this compilation that I don't like, but there are some that stand out to me as being a bit better than the others. The Andrea Marutti track ("My Playground") is probably the one that I enjoy the most, I really love the sinister vibe it has with all the reverberated sounds droning in and out of the piece, and the synth work is really top notch. "south wind" by Logoplasm is a really nice track too, as is "green flood" by The infant cycle.
The only thing I can slag this release for is that the mastering is a bit off in some places, there are some volume jumps here and there, but nothing really major. All in all, I think "Muzick out of open windows" is a a pretty kickass collection of found sound ambience. Recommended.
