Author: Ryan Anderson

My name is Ryan Anderson, music aficionado, technologist, and former editor/publisher of Masstransfer zine. I’ve been following these genres for almost 25 years now and these are my favorite bands and albums.

Sonixcursions:002

Hello, and thanks for joining me on another audio-go-round of cosmic bliss. In this episode, I’m revisiting some of my favorite bands and albums from 2018 – starting off with probably my favorite band of the moment, Ulrika Spacek. In fact, many of the artists in the episode have only flown across my radar in the past few years or so, including Lowtide, Listening Center,  and The Advisory Circle.

Sprinkled in among the new blood are some long-time favorites like I Am Robot And Proud – who released a kickin’ album late last year called Lucky Static; and My Autumn Empire – aka Ben Holton, one-half of the classic British post-rock duo Epic45, with the epic title track from his latest album “Oh, Leaking Universe”.

Rounding out this episode, and easing you into oblivion, comes “A Living Thing” – the title track of the recent album from ambient kingpin Steve Swartz (Swartz Et), who has been immersed in the Detroit space/ambient/folk scene for close to two decades now. At one time, he was part of the dreampop group Au Revoir Borealis, who achieved some success in the early 2000’s. From there he went on to a more acoustic sound with his solo project For Wishes, and in the last few years has gone in a more ambient and conceptual direction. Stay tuned for a Masstransfer Rewind on Au Revoir Borealis in the coming weeks.

For more information on the podcast and the bands included, please subscribe to the email newsletter. See you on the flipside!

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Masstransfer << Rewind: Yellow6

Yellow6, aka Jon Attwood – circa 2016

This article was originally published in the fifth issue of Masstransfer, 2002.

With textures that drift in and surround you like a dense fog, Yellow6 has the ability to sound both fragile and thick at the same time. At the moment, Yellow6 and it’s human-form, Jon Attwood, is quite the prolific artist, appearing here and there (and here on the Masstransfer:05 compilation), constantly refining his unique style. Y6 came to being in 1995 as a home-recording project, and has evolved to the digital realm, as well as to the live stage.

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My Favorites of 2018

As we make another trip around the wheel of life, let me take a moment to look back at some of the releases that made the year a little more bearable. Drumroll please (rimshot where necessary)…

  1. Landing – Bells In New Towns
    This band continues to amaze with each release, progressively fine tuning their own unique soundscapes. Well done.
  2. Ulrika Spacek – Suggestive Listening EP
    Probably my favorite new band of the moment – hoping for another full-length in the near future
  3. My Autumn Empire – Oh, Leaking Universe
  4. The Asteroid #4 – Collide
  5. Spiritualized – And Nothing Hurt
  7. Adrien75 – The Deep State
    Although Mr. 75 has released several albums last year, this is my fave of the bunch
  8. The Advisory Circle – Ways Of Seeing
  9. Chatham Rise – Meadowsweet
  10. Lazy Salon – Boot Magna
  11. A Year In The Country – The Quietened Mechanisms (Various)
  12. Lowtide – Southern Mind
  13. I Am Robot And Proud – Lucky Static
  14. Swartz Et – A Living Thing

You’ll hear some of these artists on the next Sonixcursions podcast episode – on its way shortly. Subscribe to the Podcast or the Email Newsletter to get updates when new episodes are published.

Sonixcursions Podcast Available On iTunes and Spotify

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the Sonixcursions podcast is now beaming to your town via iTunes and Spotify, as well as good old RSS. As new episodes are released, you will get updates and notifications to join another transcendant musical voyage. Each month or so, I put together a mix of space-rock/dreampop/ambient/electronic/other music that gives you a brief escape from this crazy world, delivered by headphones. Rock on.

Sonixcursions:001

photo © 2018 Yiu Wah

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Sonixcursions – for our first trip, I’ve selected a number of bands who have been consistently producing stellar outersounds for over 20 years. Many of the bands on this episode can be traced back to the very early issues of the Masstransfer zine – starting with the opener Adrien75 (who Is Still Alive) and the lunar/tropical vibe of “Hawaiian Ring Drum Rum”; plus a throwback track from the band Seely; the dreamy electronics of Lazy Salon (Sean Byrne of Lenola/Twin Atlas); and the California-via-Philly psycountry rockers The Asteroid #4.

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Back From Beyond

For any of you out there who had followed the Outersound Underground site and podcast may have noticed it’s been off the air for a few months now. The last podcast went out at the very tail end of last year, and sometime in April the site had gotten hacked (it was a WordPress site after all) and the event gave me the chance to rethink the direction of the whole thing.

Coinciding with all of this, last year turned out to be the 20th anniversary of launching the Masstransfer fanzine – back in 1997. This caused me to reflect on all the music and bands from that scene, and realized that a good many them are either still together in some form, or their constituent players continue to record and perform.

This brings me to the new site, Sonixcursions.com – with a podcast that pulls from 20+ years of Masstransfer and Outersound tracks, focusing on bands that are standing the test of time, with a dash of throwbacks. The first episode will be posted in a few days, and if you’re familiar with the scene, many of the artists will be friendly to your ears. If you’re new to this realm of the sonicontinuum, they will be just as friendly.

Masstransfer << Rewind: Seely

This article was originally published in the first issue of Masstransfer, 1997.

With a style that fits somewhere in between the math-rock time signatures of Polvo and the dreamy textures of Windy & Carl, Atlanta’s Seely has opened eyes on both side of the Atlantic. The band was formed two years ago by the nucleus of guitarists Steven Satterfield and Lori Scacco, with the rhythm section of Joy Waters and Eric Taylor being added shortly after. They recently played at the venerable Lounge Ax in Chicago with a set consisting of 9 songs. Seely opened with “Exploring the Planets” off their latest album on U.K.’s Too Pure label, “Julie Only”, an album that had me mesmerized from start to finish. Prior to “Julie Only”, the band had released an album entitled “Parentha See”, on the American label Third Eye. That project stirs mixed feelings from the band because of friction between them and the label’s owner. Most of the tracks from that album were re-recorded in Chicago with the help John McEntire, ending up on “Julie Only”. They followed with some songs off their forthcoming album: “Adios”, a mellow instrumental; “Love Letters to Rambler”; “Consumer Pet”; “It’s Your Day Karen”; “The Sandpiper”; “How to live Like A Kings’s Kid”, another track from their current album; “San Salvadore”, an unreleased track to be included on an upcoming compilation CD; and finally, “Like White”.

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