Nerell, Loren

Artist: Loren Nerell
P: 1996
Lilin Dewa could very well be the sequel to Robert Rich's superlative 1989 recording, Rainforest. Both are heavily influenced (and in the case of Loren, very directly so) by the gamelan music of Bali. To put this CD in the same league of Robert's is, coming from me, very heady praise. To me, Rainforest is a literally essential CD and may be Robert's best work. That Lilin Dewa stands toe-to-toe with it and even expands on some of that release's work is quite a feat.

Artist: Loren Nerell
P: 2012
Loren Nerell creates a masterful release of deep ambient with SLOW DREAM, field recordings from the world of sleep. On his seventh solo release, Nerell's four lengthy tracks are all-encompassing sonic environments forged mainly from extremely processed location recordings made during his trips to Bali. Rich drones and shimmering highlights skirt over the organic textures, processed and layered into subtle, delicate resonant spaces. Glowing, amorphous drifts of sound create the impression of traveling along the supple contours of subterranean passageways. This SLOW DREAM takes ethereal shape as an exotic but compelling atmosphere that hovers between the waking and sleep state. When experienced at a lower volume and left to repeat play over the course of a few hours, the transportive effect of this soundscape is especially powerful and mind-altering.
"A glowing, amorphous cloud of spine-tingling sound. Two musicians come to mind when listening: Jon Hassell, who popularized Fourth World music, and Brian Eno, the father of Ambient music. While sounding nothing like the work of either artist, Loren Nerell's music takes inspiration from both of them. His music is evocative of mist-covered mountains and slow-motion waterfalls, so it owes something to Hassell. But it also pays tribute to the patient genius of Eno, with its endlessly evolving atmosphere, in which there is no beginning or end, only the present. Djam Karet founder Chuck Oken, Jr. describes Nerell's music as a 'sound pool' that the listener is immersed in. His words couldn't be more accurate. To describe ambient or atmospheric music as 'a soundtrack' is clichéd, but it's really the best way to talk about Nerell's work." -- a review from Forced Exporsure

Along with his ongoing solo releases, Nerell has 30+ years of ethno music studies and performing and recording with gamelan ensembles. Nerell has collaborated with pioneers in the electronic, ambient and new music fields including Steve Roach, A Produce, Kronos Quartet and Paul Haslinger. He continues to compose and record in Los Angeles, California.

Artist: Loren Nerell
P: 2003
On Taksu (69'18"), Loren Nerell turns in an epic masterpiece of ambient music steeped in the legends and landscapes of Indonesia. The album draws equally from the region's cultural richness and intensely beautiful countryside and aspires to represent the integration of a living breathing art, people and land. A continuous piece, Taksu is less a re-creation of actual traditional forms of gamelan composition than it is Nerell's own free-form adaptation. The lengthy and immersing soundscape is built up out of a collage of ambient sounds, but surpasses the mere anthropologic or geographic ethnicities of conventional albums of Indonesian music through its integration of technology (synthesizers and samplers) somewhat outside of the tradition. A diffuse and continuous synth drone flows through this entire soundworld. Barely perceptible at first, methodically executed metallic tones are introduced and become more prominent throughout the piece's slow evolution. But what animates Taksu, and gives this album its strong sense of place, are the wonderful location ambiance recordings. These exquisite field tapes are mixed in with the layers of humming synths to intensify the main effect of the piece yet remain on the fringes of perception - providing Taksu with its palpable atmosphere. This is classic ambient music but with an undeniable connection to the realms of Indonesia - including its mental, physical and mystical states. Taksu is a vital hi-tech ceremonial performance - First World music of the 21st century.

- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END   1 November 2003

Artist: Loren Nerell
P: 2000
LTD 1000
More abstractly atmospheric than lilin dewa but less audio-realistic/panoramic than Indonesian Soundscapes, these four cloud-borne tracks hover in a lovely, ethno-tinged dreamworld. Wordless strands of female voice and serpentine flute passages occasionally emanate from the resonant haze of Dark Horizon, which thrums with mysterious energies and sporadic echoey beats. From within the drifting shadows of Eclipse, symmetrical gamelan patterns drift in a diffused latticework of hypnotic brassy tones, backed by slow, hushed percussion.Shifting gong haze takes our ears Within the Cloudwhich is laced with distant metallic clatter, fluttering soundwaves and sweetly somber organ-like drones, all of which become soft but chaotic textures. Crowing cocks, thunder and rain (a' la Indonesian Soundscapes) are surrounded by slowly circling twines of flute sound in Ablution (2:19) While unfortunately brief, The venerable dark cloud is a purely gorgeous immersion into Loren Nerell's subtle ambi-ethnic ear-dreams. The third world musicality is beautifully subdued, so don't be afraid of getting beat over the head with an overdose of World Music.
Recorded between July 1998 and January 1999. Mixed in January 1999 at Earthbound, Los Angeles, CA. Atmospheres used in this recording were recorded in Bali, Java & Los Angeles between 1992-1997. Packaged in oversized A5 folded paper sleeve with a plastic cover. Numbered limited edition of 1000 copies.

Artist: Steve Roach + Loren Nerell
P: 2006 / 2009
TERRAFORM is the first full collaborative album for longtime friends Steve Roach and Loren Nerell. The two composers met in LA in 1981, back in the early days of the electronic music scene. It was a time when like-minded musicians who understood the importance of emerging technology were coming together in local clubs and performance venues to share what they knew and learn from one another. After years of friendship and occasional musical collaboration the two decided to convene in a relaxed setting to see what they could distill from a blending of their collective talents and individual styles to accomplish common aims. TERRAFORM emerged from their mutual desire to create an organic, surreal and deeply ambient environment of langorous humid soundscape enviroments. Through a labyrinth of studio techniques, a kind of audio terraforming was developed. Heavily textured and mood altering, the long uninterrupted flow seemingly slows time down by way of the surreal dark ambient soundforms found in much of Roach's work. Nerell brings the steamy, evanescent blend of his mutated Indonesian sources, a signature sound that defines his previous releases for Amplexus, Side Effects and Soleilmoon. Loren Nerell has studied gamelan music for the last 25 years, expanding and fine-tuning his mastery of Indonesia's unique indigenous musical traditions through performances and field work. During this time he has accumulated a large number of field recordings, many of which he uses in his compositions. This has evolved from simply using the material as-is, to an elaborate processing technique in which the material is taken to a point so far from its original source as to be unrecognizable. Along with their collaborative efforts Steve produced, mixed and provided art direction on this special release.Initial impressions from several listeners have referenced Brian Eno's seminal "On Land" recording.

Artist: V/A
P: 2000
Compilation of the Amplexus Edition releases.

Here the last copy!

Artist: V/A
P: 1999
Here's another excellent ambient anthology for those into the darker end of the genre. Featuring nine artists, the sampler takes from both new and veteran musicians, to deliver up a diverse yet flowing 74 minute CD. Kevin Keller opens the disc with samples of voices whispering. From it he creates a slow 12 minute warm drift similar to musicians like Robert Scott Thompson. Illinois synthesist James Johnson's Closure is at least half as long as Keller's track, yet the style is very similar, with muted and shifting chords gently floating on the air, melodic and peace-inducing. Dean DeBenedictis takes a much different approach, far more abstract and surreal, although there is a similar underlying melodic pattern underneath the Schnitzler like rattling and scuttling. As the tracks progresses along its eight minute length, it grows more fascinating with treated water sounds and voices. It is over far too soon. Ma Ja Le return the focus to melody, and the nine minutes Images Remain is full of crystal, ethereal chords floating up, a far different sound than their CD with Vir Unis. A piece one can lose themself in, with longing and melancholy, this would have fit perfectly on The Ambient Expanse. Rod Modell's Ipperwash Twilight leaps out of the speakers with incredible sonic clarity, and you immediately know you're in the presence of a creative force. Strange, but slightly melodic synths with a wide array of tones and field recordings spread sheets of sound over percolating sequencers, and the strange scaling and effects, successfully create an incredibly alien landscape. This is visionary music, alone worth the price of this disc. Dave Fulton's piece is also odd, with steely sequencer and loads of metallic industrial sounds that starts at a low volume that increases over most the track's length. It's dissonant melody provides sort of a lull in the overall CD flow, and sets up veteran Loren Nerell's Liquid Metal Stasis, an intense drone with microtonal bell sounds, volcanic bubbling, and other rich and colorful tonal shading. We definitely can never hear enough from Nerell. Scott Fraser's Straight Lines is another drone where the subtlety hinges on the changes of tones of the synthesizers. At eight minutes, it progresses through number of colorings, remaining surprisingly dynamic. As he often does, Steve Roach closes the set, his contribution the 7 1/2 minute Bottomless, and here we see the least urban track on the anthology evoking the wide expanses and chthonic depths of consciousness. A more chilly track than Roach usually produces, but no less evocative for it. A strong anthology, and one of the more impressive of the type in recent memory."
1999  Mike McLatchey / Expose Magazine

Artist: Stearns, Huygen, Walter Holland,
Djam Karet, Loren Nerell, Klaus Schulze,
Bo Tomlyn, Steve Roach, Robert Rich
P: 1990
This is a truly great, moody, mixed up album. I bought it because I am a great fan of Steve Roach, who has the last tracks. All the other artists are great, each track a different aural interpretation of a different Dali painting. It's like looking at Dali through headphones. Try getting a book with images by Dali, and looking at the pictures while listening to the music composed for each one. Moody, creepy, raucaus, dreamy, eclectic...Dali.