A Kranky Records regular since 2006, Thomas Meluch has slowly but surely earned a swell of respect and admiration from the wider ambient community through his textured instrumental manipulations.
As well as his Benoît Pioulard pseudonym, Thomas has also produced alongside Rafael Anton Irisarri as Orcas, with two albums on Morr Music, and more recently, released my favorite album of his to date; Sonnet, which I was lucky to witness live on a hot Portland summer evening last year. 2016 however, sees a bitter-sweet production in his latest release, Radial; treating us listeners to some special unreleased productions, including his own take on an Aphex Twin classic, Stone In Focus.
Just like Aphex's ambient classics, such as Rhubarb, Thomas' interpretations and indeed his productions in general, reproduce this simplicity and swell of emotion. Radial captures the very essence of Thomas's work, as a spectrum of degrading colors, gently shift in waves of warmth, static and blanketing drones.
Radial, comes under disappointing circumstances however, with Thomas recently breaking his wrist while hiking, hindering him from working and producing. Funds from the EP (currently name your price on Bandcamp) will go towards medical bills and lost hours of production.
A track from the EP has the final word in Benoît's isolatedmix, appending a considered mixture of music that has helped keep him company since his injury: "these are some of the records that I've found to be most healing over the past couple of weeks while mostly kind of cooped up at home with books, movies and cats." Healing indeed, as the mix drifts between soothing deepness in Warmth's recent ambient output; Markus Guentner's, Baryon; and Zane Trow's futuristic experimentations, alongside moments of uplifting light from Bibio, Chilly Gonzalez and Elvis Depressedly.
1. Ant'lrd : Aplomb : Split
2. Andrew Chalk : Untitled : The River That Flows Into the Sands
3. Colin Stetson : This Bed of Shattered Bone : New History Warfare Vol. 3
4. Elvis Depressedly : Weird Honey : Holo Pleasures
5. Future 3 : Trmbns : With and Without
6. Warmth : Odessa : Essay
7. Memory Drawings : Sunstruck : Music for Another Loss
8. Markus Guentner : Baryon : Theia
9. Saint Hildegard : Ave Generosa : A feather on the breath of God
10. E and I : A Perhaps Song : An Inch of Air
11. Chilly Gonzalez : Rideaux Lunaires : Solo Piano II
12. Zane Trow : Arcade : For Those Who Hear Actual Voices
13. Bibio : Wren Tails : A Mineral Love
14. Kyle Bobby Dunn : Duck-Faced Fantasy : Kyle Bobby Dunn and The Infinite Sadness
15. Benoît Pioulard : Madrigal : Radial
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