Ambient : Aether by Barry Schrader

Reviews

It is some of the finest minimal space ambient I've come across, where atmosphere is all, activity is slight, and the tone is everything. …it is thematically consistent throughout, mostly smooth as silk, and a pleasure to listen to. If space ambient is your kind of music, don't let this one pass you by. - Steve Mecca, Chain D.L.K.

We are pleased as punch that Barry Schrader has a new album out since he hasn't released any new material in about ten years.  Entitled Ambient: Aether, the album features four beautifully executed ambient instrumentals: Cloudrise," "Atmosphereic Rivers," "Supernal Ascent" and "Aether."  All of the sounds were computer generated and yet...the overall sound is surprisingly warm and organic.  Truly nice hypnotic stuff. - babysue (LMNOP.com)

Progran Notes
At the age of 80, I’m releasing my first album of new music in over a decade. Composed in 2024 and 2025, Ambient : Aether is different from my previous works in its use of stylistic features of ambient music and also experiments in controlled distortion. While I’ve used ambient elements before, I haven’t intentionally composed an entire album that utilizes characteristics of the style. Yet, Ambient : Aether is not ambient music in the traditional sense, and it still incorporates my techniques of musical development and timbral transformation. As to distortion, which has become increasingly important in electro-acoustic music, I’ve introduced distortion to several timbres; some sounds are the kind that might come from forceful playing on a string or produced by overblowing on a wind instrument, others are sound masses that exhibit more extreme distortion, including artifacts.  All of the sound material in Ambient : Aether was created using a computer and a variety of software; no acoustic sounds were used. Ambient : Aether is an imaginary journey through the aerosphere, traveling from the rising clouds that we can see to the atmospheric edge and the invisible mythic aether beyond.

Schrader's compositions for electronics, dance, film, video, mixed media, live/electro-acoustic music combinations, and real-time computer performance have been presented throughout the world. In 2014, he was given the SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award. He was a member of the Composition Faculty of the CalArts School of Music from 1971 to 2016. His web site is <barryschrader.com>.

barryschrader.com