[Photo by acidjack]
One of the best things about festivals like Hopscotch Music Festival is being exposed not just to artists you know you want to see, but ones you didn’t know you wanted to see. I wasn’t aware of Asheville, NC based Ross Gentry, who records as Villages, before he took the stage at Kennedy Theater on the second night. But as soon as Gentry began creating his custom-made soundscape, I was grateful to be in the right place to hear the work of this brilliant emerging artist in the world of ambient and drone music. After a frantic day of day shows and main stage recording, sitting in the cool, dark Kennedy Theater for this Villages set felt like a reset button on the whole day. During this piece, you can hear the wash of running water, keyboards, guitars, found sounds and more combine to create an organic whole that is as soothing as it is thought-provoking.
At times it’s difficult with this kind of music to actually understand what the artist is doing, so I asked Ross to explain. Here is how this set was constructed:
All of the sounds I use are created using organic instruments and field recordings. My sets basically consists of a series of tape loops, which were present on stage, as well as electric guitar which was running through a series of effects pedals. The laptop itself it basically a means of triggering field recordings and various atmospheres, and recording and looping my guitar and tapes to further process and expand the sounds. It’s a very open and evolving process. It certainly leaves a lot of room to really feel out a space and develop pieces naturally.
The result on this night was a piece I felt was a beautiful meditation on the human experience, an oasis of calm in the midst of a frantic (but fun) festival. Gentry’s work was some of the most moving and powerful that I experienced at the entire festival and I hope more fans have a chance to experience his work. Please check out Villages’ extensive discography on his bandcamp page, where you can buy his releases on vinyl and cassette as well.
This recording was made with Schoeps MK41 microphones from an ideal spot in the venue. The recording captures the feel of the room very well and makes for a particularly good listen on headphones. Enjoy!
Stream and download the full set:
(To download the MP3, click the “Download” link in the upper right corner of the stream)
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Villages
2013-09-06
Hopscotch Music Festival
Kennedy Theatre
Raleigh, NC USA
Schoeps MK41 (DINa)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2>Sony PCM-D50>24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (trim)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, amplify, balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks
01 improvisation
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Villages by liking him on Facebook, visiting his bandcamp page and purchasing his releases there.
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