quite pleased with the kind words from tsb. thank you Zach!

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Score: 6/10

More evident and surely more significant than ever before, mankind's existence is quietly approaching the natural world's capacity for sustainable living conditions.  Limited natural resources are succumbing to the desperate needs of exponential population growth and greedy corporate profits.  In their minimal existence, the human race has managed to quickly pave the way for their own imminent extinction by slowly deteriorating the natural landscapes of this fine planet.  Of any tragedy imaginable, the planet Earth has been in the most sorrowful of all time, as the necessary evils of our existence constantly play tug-of-war with its depleting resources.  Artists throughout the ages have struggled to capture the natural beauty of the world around them through paintings, poetry, and music, while others quietly destroy it before their own eyes.  To this day, we have artists like Segue contributing their own feelings of loss with their surrounding natural world.  

The identity behind the clever moniker of Segue is Jordan Sauer, who displays his affectionate attitude towards the natural world with his mixture of field recordings and electronically produced ambient drone.  Nature versus man-made.  Peaceful versus destructive. 

With his latest release, Into the Fall, Jordan feeds my unabated appetite to understand more about the beauty of sound.  Having released several electronic works in file format through different Canadian and German netlabels for nearly three years, Jordan's latest collection of sound is being put out by the relatively new Japanese label Slow Flow Rec, and is his first physical medium release on the CD-R format.  Judging from SFR's modest collection of releases, it seems this new material fits in nicely with others from Celer, Ryonkt, and Elian.

As stated before, Jordan's use of field recordings is noticeable from the get-go.  "Transpire" introduces us to gentle, calm splashes of water; their pleasant sounds quickly overcome by a subtle, yet defining electronic tone accompanied by a relentless drone, introducing the listener to Jordan's take on the ceaseless battle between mankind and nature.  The next song, "Drift" continues this theme as we hear birds chirping peacefully in the background while an almost overlooked sound that takes the form of chopping wood can be distinguished through the lifeless drone.  As it closes, those same birds have mysteriously gone missing, while the chopping sounds draw out their last swing.  These field recordings are an important feature throughout Into the Fall, which allow Jordan to passionately display the constant collisions of the coexistence between humans and mother Earth. 

While these two tracks and others do well to hold up this perception of the music, there is a lack of uniformity throughout the album as a whole.  With ambient releases, my preferred album is one that has a storyline and starts and finishes with a recurring theme.  Other tracks fall short of this on Into the Fall.  With a name like Segue, I would expect the album to flow without pause, forming a concise feel of sound through and through.  While there are many transitions, other parts of the album are missing that link that would tie this album together beautifully. 

Nonetheless, "Indian Summer" is definitely a worthy standout track on its own.  It could easily be something drone wizard Tim Hecker left off An Imaginary Country.  Segue is on his way to crafting some really wonderful ambient releases and I think everyone should be on the lookout for what this quiet, young artist has for us in the future.  

-Zach Corsa

http://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/2669/Default.aspx

Thank you to Tanner for such a lovely, enlightening review...he really does have a keen ear for the finer details i try to convey in my music. please check out his website (link below) and support his excellent work as a nexus point for the online ambient community...

Jordan Sauer’s new Slow Flow album ‘Into The Fall’ released under his moniker ‘Segue’ is another example of the trendsetting curatorial choices of label owner Ryo Nakata who consistently releases the most compelling new voices in the ambient genre. ‘Into the Fall’ has been on my playlist for a number of months and served almost as a sound track for a whole mini-period of my life in New Orleans. Sauer’s organic synthesis of multiple styles and aesthetics forms the basis, in my opinion, of powerful album that suggests a more diverse approach to the genre.

Until yesterday when I set my intentions on reviewing this album that I have lived with for so many months, I had failed to listen to it with a good pair of headphones. Doing so revealed a highly sophisticated layer of detail that I never appreciated in all the months that it was used as a meditation tool or as a way to tune my environment. In particular I realized, through the use of headphones, Jordan’s masterful use of panning. There is a density of layer in these tracks that I find uncommon in much of the music that I have been drawn to in the past few years.

Tho somehow similar in aesthetic to the music of Celer, the similarity is perhaps in the pacing of meta-events, but unlike Celer who’s music acts on the mind through the reduction of material, ‘Into the Fall’ brings the listener into the sonic otherworlds through complex layering of minimal elements. If I had to draw comparisons I would say that Sauer’s new album combines the best of old school Steve Roach with the vibe and pacing of Celer while welcoming the sonic vocabulary of a whole range of glitch and noise composers. The aggregate of these comparisons is something totally original, a unique voice that will likely surprise us with his ability to continue to generate some of the most fresh sounds on the net.

Tho I suggest listening to the album once or twice with headphones, I also really recommend that you let this album guide your meditations or dreams. There is a shamanic quality to this work that is wonderfully nostalgic of the early pioneers of the genre. Burn a bit of sage and let the room clear, light a candle and let the music take you to your inner worlds to the inner places that Jordan Sauer aka Segue has laid out for all of us. ‘Into the Fall’ is a gateway, at least for me, into a sacred place, my inner alter, my higher self.

Check it out Tanner's site here: http://tannermenard.archaichorizon.com/

Jordan Sauer's new Segue album for Slow Flow is an absolutely delightful work through and through. I've enjoyed his music since first discovering his releases on Autoplate and this is a natural progression from them. Coming as a 9-track CD each piece is a gently refined and beautifully fluid meditation on quiet, subtle, mellow ambience. Within the tracks you'll layers of gorgeous sound created with a keen ear for the organic. Guitars and processed tones slowly well up and drift around you and there's a lovely lo-fi feel to each and every moment. Warm and friendly, full of passion and elegance - this is another utterly superb release from Ryonkt's wonderfully low-key label. You'd do well to pick this up quick smart because, as ever, it's a limited run. Tremendous.

Thank you Mike!

Check out smallfish here: link

all music is recorded and produced by Jordan Sauer using field recordings, acoustic guitars, violin, piano, glockenspiel, melodica, assorted percussion and sine waves via laptop.

'into the fall' was recorded during a transitional period in my life when many things began to change all at once. it was also recorded during the spring-autumn season of 2008, and so the emotional trajectory of the album coincided well with the changes in the physical world around me.

for me, music is a form of meditation, of reflection on what was and will be.

"I wear my shadows where they're harder to see, but they follow me everywhere. I guess that should tell me I'm traveling toward light."
- Bruce Cockburn

world wide 10.00USD + shipping 3.00USD

to purchase: slow flow rec website

thank you!!!

VA - Sound of Slow Flow Vol. 1 (Slow Flow)

The shadows recede into their coldness. She shows up this morning. With her
light breeze and the blue skies, Spring begins another cycle. The light synthetic chirping in my headphones joins that of the birds. And they all sing. On the train, I read Haruki Murakami's Dance Dance Dance (1994). The atmospheric swells and the ambient drones are the perfect soundtrack to the novel. All the more appropriate, since this disc arrived from Japan. On this compilation, Sounds of Slow Flow Vol 1, ten various artists contribute tracks that express their image of "slow flow". Each is delicate and unique in its own way, but this conceptual theme joins the album together unlike any other scattered sampler. With this first release for Sapporo, Hakkaido-based Slow Flow Records, the label enters the minimal ambient scene with an eclectic roster of artists. This ethereal movement in between space and stillness is collectively comprised of compositions by Pawn, Celer, Ryonkt, Cloudburst, Elian, Segue, Porzellan, Glenn Ryszko, Entia Non, and Ian Hawgood. One of the familiar names on this bliss saturated collection is Celer, a husband and wife duo, with a deep discography, and the second release for this label, Cursory Asperses (Slow Flow, 2008). Compiled by Ryo Nakata (Ryonkt), the 70+ minute journey will take you through textures and tones designed to complement the impossibly persistent soundtrack of the daily life. Current Slow Flow releases include the above mentioned album by Celer, an album by Misound, Stanze di te, and an upcoming album by Jordan Sauer (Segue), Into the fall. Recommended if you prefer meditative sound over silence during any activity, except useless rambling thoughts. Filed under ambient and experimental releases, along with titles from 12k, Room40, Dragon's Eye, and Spekk. Looking forward to all future releases.

This is certainly not an exhaustive selection - on the contrary, these tracks are what came to mind first when asked what my favorite net audio for 2008 was. These are definitely some of my favorite releases via the web, but to be honest, I spent most of 2008 acquiring cd's and discovering record labels rather than staying on top of the many many netlabels out there...

Check out the Phlow mag 2008 charts from various label owners/producers as well as my own picks:
Segue best of 2008

Thanks to Sven Swift for putting this together.

Packaged in a petite, gray-cardboard, letter-pressed sleeve, the Duckbay label's aptly titled Listen has come out of nowhere to announce itself, quietly, unceremoniously (much like the sounds within), as one of the finest collections of esoteric ambience to hit the racks this year. Serene soundscapes, scabrous drones, transitory pulsewidths, staunch digital minimalism…it's all here, awaiting one's immersion into its beckoning, warm bath. There's nary a duff track in the bunch: label honcho and compiler Jordan Sauer's hit one right out of the park on his first at-bat, corralling together the crème de la crème of the worthy unknown, the brash upstart, the clandestine operator. Sauer might not force you to, well, listen intently to these myriad works (it's not the kind of music associated with strongwilled persuasion); the sounds are potent enough to speak for themselves. "U.Me," by IJO, wraps you in a warm, fuzzy gauze of discarded digital detritus and solipsistic electrostatic crackle, the listener watching in abject resignation as his bedroom disintegrates around him. For Elian, "The Feeling Has Passed Me By" manages to conjure up great longing, illustrated by a particularly edgey piece of dronemeal that resembles rivulets of acid rain splattering on pavement. Son of Rose makes music that pops in and out of focus like the flickerframes of antique projectors on "Flocksandflocks", a pinging chorale of disc-error loops volleying across oscillating chimes. Entia Non reveals the noises curdling out of abandoned tunnels dug by pernicious insects on "Silt", while Chubby Wolf (the female half of atmospheric wunderkind Celer) makes the oxygen absorbed by macrobiotic flora and fauna expand, contract and resonate throughout the fibrous contrails of "A Wispy Tear." As the finale, Ryonkt's Basinski-meets-Budd smeared pianoscape "Circulation", unspools dreamily into the room as December gunmetal skies engulf a dim orangey sunset outside my window, I can't think of a more serendipitous way for such a hugely engrossing Listen to conclude. DARREN BERGSTEIN

go here to purchase: www.duckbay.net

the review can be found here, along with many others: http://www.eiaudioverite.blogspot.com/ 

Thanks to Max Shaefer and cyclic defrost for this one!



....

Sounds of Slow Flow vol.1

What
is first noticeable about Slow Flow Records is its focus on simplified
contrasts of space, volume, and temporal division. Compositions use a
drama of small gestures effectively, expanding to fill the emptiness of
a vast blue backdrop with absolute stillness or shivering with
movements so quick they elude even the most concentrated gaze. The ears
are often gripped by churning drones that smokily evoke the image of a
massive presence slowly waking from an ancient slumber. The first
awakenings are those of "Through the Square", a selection from Pawn,
which sets the austere, ethereal experience of the piece against a warm
breath of feint electronic tones, serpentine commentary, and the
eternally spreading echoes of a new morning.

The faces that
appear momentarily in the rest of the albums tracks represent rising
names in these corridors of experimental electronica - among them,
Celer, Ian Hawgood, Entia Non, Segue, and label manager Ryonkt himself.
Each incessantly initiates new excursions - from drone, to glitch,
ambient, and sound collage - and yet the dynamic of the group feels
natural. There's no leading or following, no commandeering or passivity
- just a gradual snowballing of ideas, continually peaking as a
gloriously momentous stream of sound. Peer into Celer's window, for
instance, and one finds them abrading a wealth of detail into a piece
that flows intriguingly. After Elian's composition accrues layers of
guttural grit and becomes somewhat more dissonant, Segue has the
drizzle of fuzz periodically recede to reveal lonely ethereal melodies
amidst a humming landscape of ambience. The album draws out a wealth of
imagery. Indeed, compilations have rarely sounded so full of life.

Max Schaefer

http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=2573

Mike, who runs the lovely smallfish record label and shop, has written some kind words about the release and has a few copies for sale. head over and check out the shop > http://www.smallfish.co.uk/shop/release/?cat=DB01

"I'm thrilled to have secured some copies of this tremendous album. The first release for new label DB (short for Duck Bay, quite possibly) run by Jordan Sauer, aka Segue, it brings together some truly top notch artists to give us a gorgeous selection of ambient, soundscape electronics. Featuring tracks from Offthesky, Ryonkt, Entia Non, Son Of Rose, Corey Fuller, Elian, Glenn Ryszko, Segue himself, Porzellan, Russell Garden, Crossroads, Chubby Wolf (great name, by the way) and Shunji Takami I'm finding it hard to pick out anything other than pure class all the way through. You'll find it's a contemplative and beautiful set of tracks that always seem to have an element of melody in there, be it a gentle guitar chord, or a warm texture or drone. There's power here as well with tracks like Elian's 'The Feeling Has Passed Me By' or Russell Garden's 'Shh...' which use dense drone-constructions in a truly angelic way. Again, like I say, it's hard to pick specifics out because everything flows together so well - a real achievment for a compilation. It's an edition of 200 copies and it comes in a really nice cardboard package which complements the music contained within. I'm spoiled for choice this week I must say and this is another absolutely fabulous release. A big recommendation."

Thanks Mike!

Thierry Massard, a prolific blogger (http://massard3.blogspot.com/) and writer on all things electronic-music related asked me to fill out the infamous questionnaire by Marcel Proust. My answers to these questions, along with many other excellent producers can be found here >

http://the-questionnaire.blogspot.com/2008/11/segue-jordan-sauer.html