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THE AMBiENT PiNG http://www.theambientping.com Every Tuesday Night @ The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom 1214 Queen St. West (At the corner of Gladstone/Dufferin St.) Doors open at 9pm - 1st set at 9:30 - PayWhatYouCan http://www.gladstonehotel.com/MapQuest%20Maps%20map.htm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This Tuesday November 23rd - Planet Of The Loops Andrew Aldridge's (now) quarterly series Planet Of The Loops lands at the PiNG for another evening of loop-based improvisations which will surely have your head spinning. This flight will be crewed by the members of Hamilton-based low frequency pilot, who will be accompanied by their new drummer and a complement of delay devices. Take us out #1... http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/lowfrequencypilot.htm http://www.geocities.com/energymadeaudible/planet.html Between Sets CD - "November Suite" by Robert Fripp It's the perfect time of year to play this soundscape CD, recorded live at Green Park Station, a converted railway station in Bath, UK, on a very cold afternoon on November 21st 1996. http://www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/index.htm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coming Tuesday November 30th - Nilan Perera and Friends http://www.sarahpeebles.net/cinn_bio_perera.htm Between Sets CD - "Fluidities" by Jonathan Hughes (Foundry) http://foundrysite.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rik maclean's *ping things* CD Reviews "Land of the Blind" by The Circular Ruins The music of The Circular Ruins has always struck me as lush, as very full. An intricately detailed canvas of sound art that captures a sense of both time and place. With the release of "Land of the Blind", The Circular Ruins have collected eight stunning pieces that continue to engage & delight in the same manner. The disc opens with "A Storm of Secondary Things". Delicate sweeping pads loop and swirl, while complex percussive patterns play underneath. Shimmering melodies unfold as the piece progresses. A beautiful introduction to the disc. "Holiday in Reality" is built around fluttering patterns of sound, a series of squelchy electronic patterns rising and falling throughout. A sense of movement, of journey permeates throughout the track, a lovely feeling of travel. Wonderful. "Thought is False Happiness" builds upon a laticework of pads and waves, intricate folds weaving and gaining in complexity as time passes. A stunning piece. Track four, "Anamnesis", is a much more subtle piece, a minimal sense of movement that uses silences to accent the tones throughout. Patches of dialogue pass through like fragments from half forgotten dreams. A fantastic track that I find myself drawn to again and again. "The Abyss of Proof" is an ominous track, a dark foreboding introduction leading into a tense claustrophobic environment. Be careful when you stare into the abyss, it has a way of staring back at you... "Interior Distance" features a repeated arpegio overtop an organic backdrop of landscape sounds. Delicate and simple, yet somehow vaguely threatening. A slow and steady journey through the familiar territory of reason to the darker lands of delirium. "Standing in Violent Golds" is a more dense piece, dark matter and alien elements clashing, conflicted. There are small pieces of beauty that stand in contrast to the controlled chaos at play here, but they serve only as small reminders of order, in effect bringing the confusion more into focus. Disc closer "A Distant Assembly" is an epic track that utilizes oblique motion to anchor simple melody lines, slow waves of sound rising and falling like tides. Tones gain in strength, finding order and reason, gradually melting into other forms, taking on other shapes and meaning. A hundred vistas pass by during the course of it's length, each another glimpse of alien worlds, different spaces, a thousand more just beyond reach. And then it is done, an afterimage reflected in our mind's eye the only reminder of what we've seen. Without doubt, "The Land of the Blind" lives up to and surpasses all of my expectations with regards to The Circular Ruins. A truly wonderful disc featuring a truly wonderful collection of music, I recommend it wholeheartedly to fans of the ambient genre in all of it's forms, as well as to all those who enjoy the discovery of inner journeys. rik maclean - rik@pingthings.com http://www.pingthings.com = ambient + electronic + chill things Send an e-mail to pingthings-subscribe@yahoogroups.com for updates on *all* the latest releases on sale at ping things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE AMBiENT PiNG presents live performances by Toronto's finest ambient, chillout and experimental music artists plus performers from across the continent, every Tuesday evening at the Ballroom in the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West at Gladstone/Dufferin St. - Both the Queen Streetcar and the Dufferin Bus stop right at the hotel. http://www.gladstonehotel.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Please forward this e-mail to any friends who may be interested in live ambient, chillout and experimental music performances