Phantom Channel

Update: 26/08/08 - Phantom Channel Welcomes Chaz Knapp

2008-08-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Phantom Channel's fourth web-based release is currently in the works, with artwork and mastering issues being dealt with. This release, tentatively titled "The Life of A Fawning Parasite", thrusts one Chaz Knapp into the limelight. Chaz, you may remember, featured on our second compilation with the serene 'Delicate Goodbye'.

Chaz Knapp also creates music as one third of Our Brother The Native, the prodigious trio signed to FatCat Records, who released the critically acclaimed 'Tooth and Claw' while in their early teens.

The band returned last January with the epic 'Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels'. Surely a contender for album of the year, 'Make Amends...' was a sprawling opus that made a mockery of the genre restrictions, with the trio exploring everything from folk to ambient and grindcore to post-rock, sometimes altogether.

With the third Our Brother The Native album nearing completion, Mr Knapp has taken time out to record six tracks of piano led brilliance for Phantom Channel. Fans of Peter Broderick, Max Richter and Ralf Zurmhule will likely revel in the classical orchestration and subtle hints of electronics prevalent throughout.

Release Date to follow.

You can stream a few of the tracks at Chaz's Myspace.

Elisa Luu : Floating Sounds (PHCH 002)

2008-08-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Phantom Channel's first foray into the realm of solo releases brings Elisabetta Luciani to the spotlight....

Recording as Elisa Luu, Elisabetta is the Rome based composer behind these 4 tracks which so delicately fuse flute, saxophone and guitar with computer generated effects providing a spectrum of hopeful, sensitive and subtle melodies.

It's not very often that we can stumble across music so steeped in digital production which retains human qualities such as grace and hope but Luciani has achieved something special here on 'Floating Sounds'

Working alone Luciani creates a unique hybrid of mostly instrumental electronic music with subtle elements of jazz. The final track 'Starry Night' features treated vocals by Chinese singer MousoN which perfectly use her breathy tones purely as an instrument rather than a device for language.

01. Starry Night
02. Artline
03. Slow Bass Flute
04. R3son8

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Phantom Channel Presents.... Part 2

2008-08-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

Phantom Channel’s second download compilation, like the first, is available for nothing from the label website. It’s an eclectic, if generally downbeat, collection, which expands the parameters considerably from the first.

The collection hits its stride with track three, “Tired of Losing” by Engine7. It’s a muscular, upbeat technopop instrumental whose warmth is tempered by the buried sample of a man seriously losing his rag, giving the piece a creepy feel. Three gentle instrumentals follow. “European Clarinet”may sound too much like the sax solo from Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” for its own good, but Chris Tenz’s gossamer-light guitar piece and Chaz Knapp’s short cello and piano tune are both excellent.

Other highlights include Unflower’s sprawling, eponymous epic – a fantastic slab of dark ambience. “Slow Bass Flute” could have beamed in from a seventies Cluster album. Gold Panda’s “Like Totally” starts out all scratches and birdsong, but brilliantly morphs into something that sounds like a pastoral Arab Strap. Eerie Days’ “Conscience” is a strong finish to proceedings. It’s a beautifully slow, sad ballad that would have graced the first Goldfrapp album.

Phantom Channel Presents..Part 2 is much more like a traditional compilation album with its up and downs, where the first had the feel of an expertly pieced together mix-tape. And you can get it for nothing, so what are you waiting for?

(Music Musings and Miscellany)

01. Loose Lips Sink Ships - 3
02. Shoosh - Pestilence
03. Engine7 - Tired of Losing
04. Mikkel Lentz - European Clarinet
05. chris tenz - I Thought I Was Past This
06. Chaz Knapp - Delicate Goodbye
07. Hurra CaineLandcrash - He WhoLeaves Her, Makes No Sense
08. Unflower - Unflower
09. Icon x6 - Substance
10. Elisa luu - Slow Bass Flute
11. Konntinent - Anurik 2
12. Gold Panda -Like Totally
13. Eerie Days - Conscience

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Shoosh - 'Pestilence' Promo Clip

Phantom Channel Presents.... Part 1 (PCCH001-01)

2008-08-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Why are sounds important?

Sound is important for many reasons - but have we forgotten what sound actually is? For millions of years sound couldn't be captured and eons of resonance was lost in the mists of time. If Stockhausen, Tietchens and Froese have taught us anything, their message should be that even the most mundane of sounds are to be cherished. Sounds are all unique: the idle chatter of fax machines, the drip of water, footsteps, rustling leaves, gentle rain - all of these are as valuable as any instrument. It is with this sentiment that Phantom Channel presents Part 1 of its 2 part introduction compilation.

Part 1 features nine predominantly ambient-based compositions that explore texture, emotion and resonance framed in a cosmopolitan mix of untapped sanguine beauty...

From the abstract, yet celestial sounds of Svefn, through the hazy warmth of Scotland’s Mosca. The strange, other-worldly beauty of Parhelion and the violent storms contained within the Lethosomn Vangelis inspired soundscapes. We hope that this compilation appeals to all.

01. Engine7 - A Few Remaining Moments
02. Parhelion - Forgotten Outpost
03. EL Heath - Electric Storm
04. Adam Trainer - Sedation
05. Weird fields - QED
06. Lethosomn - Engulfed in Red Clouds
07. Brakhage - Early Morning Frost
08. Mosca - Brand New Polaroid
09. Svefn - Lightness

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Artwork by Liam Frankland Mastering by Engine7 Media and Design Weird Fields

EL Heath - 'Electric Storm' Promo Clip

Brakhage - 'Early Morning Frost' Promo Clip