EarthEar CDs Titles from the EarthEar catalog Featured CD: EcoAcoustic Compositions David Monachhi Eco-Acoustic Compositions is perhaps the most multi-faceted disc I’ve heard in years of exploring this field. David Monacchi takes us on a very personal journey, into both the diverse sonic world itself (with pieces focusing by turn on water, insects, birds, whales, and rainforests), and the creative possibilities available to composers inspired by these voices around us. Each track offers a clearly distinct approach to working with field recordings and studio/electronic manipulations. We hear extensive and primary use of filters and spectral envelopes in the first track, playback of very focused recordings into resonant spaces (cisterns) on track two, time-expansion so as to enter into bird song and human musical responses on track three. David then explores a simpler and t o my ears most compelling approach, his reconstructions of largely naturalistic sound material on the final two tracks. David’s approach is manipulated, but never manipulative. While moving surely beyond a naïve or complacent reliance on the natural soundscapes “as they are,” and exploring the aural edges and depths of the material with studio extrapolations, the work never becomes obtuse or pointedly experimental for its own sake, and always retains a fundamental sense of wonder about both sound itself, and the natural voices that underlie the work.

EarthEar Titles > (click CD cover for full description and ordering information)

The Dreams of Gaia Various Artists A two-CD suite that offers a deep immersion into the voice of the planet, featuring career highlights from 19 of the world's premier nature sound recordists and soundscape producers. This specially-priced set includes a 48-page booklet of reflections from the artists, essays on soundscapes, and detailed track notes, creating a context for deeper enjoyment. Pure, unretouched nature fills the bulk of the set, focusing on especially surprising and engaging voices; also includes tastes of composing with layered natural & urban soundscape recordings. Rainforest Soundwalks Steven Feld Ten years after his groundbreaking Voices of the Rainforest (Ryko/The World, 1991), which featured songs of the Bosavi people in the context of their natural soundscape, Steven Feld returns with his pure environmental sound follow-up. Four extended immersions into the quieter times of day draw us into the rich sonic interplay of birds, insects, The most traditional natural sound release in our collection. Long tracks offer relaxing ambience, yet also reward attentive listening. Day of Sound Jason Reinier, Various Artists Recorded midnight to midnight on a single day by 36 recordists on four continents, this graceful mix is delightfully ordinary yet surprising, featuring casual everyday voices like birds, neighborhoods, and sleet on the window, as well as human creativity with sound, including a wave organ and a tunnel singer. The Day of Sound project has been featured on All Things Considered (an early 8-minute mix of this project) and The New York Times Online (a millennial project recorded over a two day period). The sounds here are about evenly split between human/urban soundscapes and the voices of “nearby” nature. Includes recordings by Doug Quin, John Hudak, Jim Metzner, Thomas Gerwin, Michael Rüsenberg, many others. Before the War David Rothenberg & Douglas Quin The next step in music/nature collaborations, as Nature becomes a player in the band, creating a compelling “earth jazz” that rises from the powerful soundscapes of a living planet. For many years, David Rothenberg (Sudden Music, Terra Nova, Why Birds Sing) has explored the meeting places of music and nature in his writing and music. Now world-class field recordist Douglas Quin (Antarctica, Forests) joins him, improvising not over chord changes, but sound changes. World-tinged jazz ensemble featuring clarinet, guitar, bass, large wooden flutes, and percussion; natural sounds form the foundations for the tone and improvisations of each cut. Three tracks feature spoken-word vocals, exploring the fraying bonds between nature & humanity. Antarctica: Musical Images of the Frozen Continent Chris Vear EarthEar is helping sell the last few dozen copies of this ambitious and rewarding multimedia project produced after Vear accompanied a British science team to Antarctica. Includes the half-hour title film and soundscape (with three viewing options), several shorter films, as well as a CD featuring extended tracks of source recordings that are themselves utterly engrossing. Beautiful photos and text in 80p book, along with CD and DVD Suikinkutsu Steven Feld A soundscape from Kyoto’s Enko-ji Temple, this multitrack composition is composed from recordings of a suikinkutsu (underground water-zither, often installed in consort with a hand-washing basin) and ambient recordings of cicadas. Finally, an EarthEar release that healing arts professionals can love! This is the our first release to maintain a fairly consistent tone throughout. Lovers of deep trance music can also go far with this one! Caratinga Douglas Quin In Brazil’s disappearing Atlantic Rainforest, this important preserve is home to several species of primates, including half the world’s population of the wooly spider monkey. The CD presents a day in the life of the forest, beginning with the dawn bird chorus along a small stream. Striking primate sounds fill the afternoon, which ends with a shower and an evening of rhythmic, ringing frog calls. A straight-forward and varied rainforest disc, presented with a clarity and quality that is a cut above. Why do Whales and Children Sing? David Dunn How did our culture come to lose its appreciation for the voices of our planetary companions? What can paying attention to sound offer us, individually and collectively? This book of short essays, each accompanied by a track on the CD, introduces the universal qualities of sound-making and listening, and is filled with sudden kernels of synthesis and insight. It's a great blend of history, philosophy, personal reflection, deep ecology musings, and cultural context. The CD has 40 tracks, nearly all being natural sounds, with a few exploring human sound-making. The Time of Bells 3 Steven Feld This ongoing series of releases is the most comprehensive, and engaging, exploration of the roles of bells in society. Feld weaves soundscape compositions that exist both as “real-time” experiences featuring animal, church, and festival bells, and also as reflections on the ways that bells have had an impact over the course of centuries. Africa meets free jazz with a car horn band and a Coltrane-inspired ensemble The Time of Bells 4 Steven Feld This ongoing series of releases is the most comprehensive, and engaging, exploration of the roles of bells in society. Feld weaves soundscape compositions that exist both as “real-time” experiences featuring animal, church, and festival bells, and also as reflections on the ways that bells have had an impact over the course of centuries. Church bells, sleigh bells, temple bells, World Peace Bell and the Hiroshima peace bell

Forests: A Book of Hours Douglas Quin A groundbreaking combination of field recordings from forests in Madagascar, Africa, and Brazil, interwoven with sections of composed and improvised music that evokes connection and tunes our ears to the dynamics of nature's language. In subtle ways, even the day-cycle of "natural" sound at the heart of this 56-minute work is composed, as Quin employs various electronic, structural, and emotional approaches to "play" the soundscape itself. Among the highlights are several African choral pieces, a trans-Atlantic meeting of primates, and the blurring of distinctions between the musics of nature and man. Concert for Bats, voice, and natural sounds Mariolina Zitta Italian educator and musician Mariolina Zitta weaves a magnificent, sensitive, musical tapestry centered on the songs and spaces of bats. Beginning with recordings of bats made by American researcher William Gannon, Zitta has woven recordings of cave ambiences with a sensitive music-making using didgeridoo, voice, logs, bone whistles, seed rattles, and ringing stalactites, creating some of the most accessible yet also authentic interspecies music we have heard at EarthEar. One of the real pleasures of the disc is the variety of textures and rhythms found in the bat calls. The disc is also commendable for its brevity: rather than extend the experiment beyond the limits of either the listeners’ attention or the musicians' muses, Zitta wisely offers us a stellar 38 minutes of musical grace, easily repeated. The Sound of Light in Trees David Dunn Enter a previously unknown sound world: the insides of piñon pine trees, where the trees’ circulatory systems, branches moving in the breeze, and a wide variety of insects create a soundscape that is at once strangely familiar and utterly alien. This CD-length composition shares much with Dunn’s classic Chaos and the Emergent Mind of the Pond, with its wide range of insect sounds creating a web of percussive scratching and ticking. The extensive notes make a case for expanding study of bark beetle biology to include their acoustic behaviors. Grooved Whale Lisa Walker Some of the richest interspecies music to emerge in recent years, featuring stellar humpback whale calls, richly evocative violin played in underwater canyons, and subtle electronic touches. Lisa Walker is a classically trained violinist who spent four years doing field research on whale songs. Walker’s stellar recordings of the whales include both mating and feeding calls; the melodies and rhythms of her compositions are elaborations and reflections of themes found in the whale songs. Our most familiar-sounding “music with nature” release, with a rich, embracing tone that can appeal to a wide audience while avoiding new age clichés. The Lion in Which the Spirits of the Royal Ancestors Make Their Home David Dunn EarthEar is pleased to be keeping this classic disc in circulation. At the time that Dunn released it on his own in 1995, it immediately became an essential expression of his singular approach. Exploring the persistence of spirit in the landscape and culture of Zimbabwe, the disc is at once deeply sensitive and entirely free of romanticism, rooted in current cultural and ecological conditions. Includes animals recorded at waterholes, church singing and tourist performances, and storytelling. The Time of Bells 1 Steven Feld This ongoing series of releases is the most comprehensive, and engaging, exploration of the roles of bells in society. Feld weaves soundscape compositions that exist both as “real-time” experiences featuring animal, church, and festival bells, and also as reflections on the ways that bells have had an impact over the course of centuries. Focus is largely on rural bells and the ways that bells shape daily, seasonal, and ceremonial time. The Time of Bells 2 Steven Feld This ongoing series of releases is the most comprehensive, and engaging, exploration of the roles of bells in society. Feld weaves soundscape compositions that exist both as “real-time” experiences featuring animal, church, and festival bells, and also as reflections on the ways that bells have had an impact over the course of centuries. Focus is more on urban bells, with a theme of bells ringing time of authority and disruption Ecosonidos de Panama: Verano Tropical Jay Needham EarthEar's newest artist collaboration release features sounds recorded near Panama City, in a former military base turned open space. Sound artist Jay Needham has been traveling there for several years, working with local residents to raise awareness of this nearby landscape through listening and recording. A straightforward day cycle in a rich soundscape, including monkeys in early morning, a bamboo forest at mid-day, cicadas at dusk, and night ambiences.

Critical Responses to EarthEar:

The best soundscape recordings are not gentle, easy listening ambiences but revelations of our environment of sudden intensity. . . . Like all real art, these works teach us to experience the world anew even after they have stopped playing. Like the best nature photography, nature phonography can be sensitive, inspiring, deep and perceptive, and get beyond the easy sense of voyeurism.
E Magazine

The EarthEar CDs are very accessible, intriguing sensory excursions which can be visited over and over without monotony. . . . A bold step beyond stale background/relaxation nature audio.
New Age Voice

I am a longtime listener of nature sounds, with close to 400 CDs in my collection. I love all the discs I have gotten from EarthEar to date. I must congratulate you on The Dream s of Gaia: it is solidly produced, extensively annotated, beautifully packaged. A first rate job in all respects.
Jim Remsen, Jr.

Every week I’m stunned by your productions used on Living on Earth. I wait for them!
Anonymous LOE listener

You may have already been bored by an hour of the same rushing stream or some soft new-age piano music repetitiously blended with the cry of loons. Serious environmental sound artists are up to something deeper and more complex that takes a bit more effort to comprehend, but is much more satisfying.
Sierra

A new generation of recordists has been transforming what had been a documentary-like discipline into a lively art.
Billboard

The special genius of EarthEar artists is in collecting sounds from natural habitats and shaping them into fascinating sound sculptures. . . . EarthEar provides the most original environmental sound art I have ever heard.
Marius-Christian Burcea, Romanian radio host