Articles
2009 Top 10s and 20s
King Midas Sound
Starke

Albums
36
Aardvarck
Matias Aguayo
Anaphoria
Anduin
Arbol + Fibla
Aufgang
Beneva vs. Clark Nova
Black to Comm
Bvdub
Cornstar
Dinky
Enola
Fieldhead
FOURM / Shinkei / Turra
Billy Gomberg
The Green Kingdom
Chihei Hatakeyama
Ian Hawgood
Marek Hemmann
Khate
King Midas Sound
Marcel Knopf
Robot Koch
Lambent
Shinobu Nemoto
Olekranon
Laurent Perrier
Piano Magic
Porzellan
Pylône
Ryonkt
Shadyzane
Slow
Small Color
Solomun
The Sound of Lucrecia
Stray Ghost
The Use of Ashes
Sylvie Walder

Compilations / Mixes
Sebo K
Will Saul
Tama Sumo
VOLTT Amsterdam Vol. 1

EPs
Blindhæð
Roberto Bosco
Franco Cangelli
Dieb
dub KULT
Abe Duque/Blake Baxter
Gemmy
Christopher Hobbs
Duncan Ó Ceallaigh
Christopher Roberts
The Sight Below
Two Fourteen
Van Der Papen
Andy Vaz
Vetrix
Eddie Zarook

DVD
Optofonica

The Green Kingdom: Twig and Twine
Own Records

Michael Cottone clearly isn't averse to any ‘folktronica' or ‘pastoral ambient' associations that might be brought to bear upon his work: his latest collection under the name The Green Kingdom is not only titled Twig and Twine but includes a photograph of a verdant paradise on its inner sleeve. Not that such elements are necessary to convey the release's essence, as in their absence the nine settings would establish a kindred impression. In fact, track titles alone—“Autumn Eyes,” “The Promise of Spring,” and “River Bends Park” are representative—on the forty-five-minute sequel to his self-titled debut (SEM, 2007) and last year's Laminae (The Land Of) accomplish as much.

The Michigan-based self-taught musician, graphic designer, and sound artist roots the album's material in the gleam and sparkle of electric guitar shadings and expansively builds it up using digitally manipulated acoustic and electronic sources, samples, and field recordings. What results are transporting electro-acoustic meditations filled with tinkling melodies and rustling sounds (“Crystal Window”) and thrumming choirs of creature calls and chirps (“Maplecopter”); the peaceful ambiance nurtured in “Orange Saturday Morning” certainly suggests the image of a park, still damp with dew, being brought back to life by the warmth of the rising sun. Though the material is primarily beatless, “Maplecopter” does animate its softly modulating organ tones and bright textural colourations with a simple bass drum pulse, while a similar treatment surfaces amidst the kalimba plucks and general tonal splendour of “River Bends Park.”

The Green Kingdom's serenades offer not only a break from the too-hectic pace of modern-day life but at times allow one to travel back in time to re-experience, even if in memory only, childhood moments, like the wonder felt upon a first walk through a newly discovered forest or a lazy, carefree walk by the riverside. Cottone chose “Into the Magic Night” as his title for the first track but might just as well have used it as a title for the collection as a whole, even if the album is more sunlit in feel than it is spectral.

December 2009