Thomas Köner - Novaya Zemlya flac mp3 download

The cold wind whipped through her hair as she opened the door that led to the main deck of the icebreaker ship, in which she was the captain. The sounds of the giant ice glaciers being crushed by her ship made her uneasy, yet she was accustomed to the sounds weight. It had a bass to it, and reminded her of the fragility of life. Something so cold and massive could give way with the right pressure and patience. Strangely, she had gown used to it.If she closed her eyes and listened, it sounded has if the Earth itself was splitting, opening its self wide to release a New Earth (Novaya Zemlya).

To listen to Thomas Köner one must be equipped with a great pair of headphones or a system with a powerful bass. Novaya Zemlya means “New Land” in Russian, and the opening thunderous drops suggest at explorations of unknown territories where sound stands still, as if in a vacuum, barely escaping outside of its humid atmosphere. Yet Novaya Zemlya is not a synthetic or imaginary place – it does indeed exist. Just outside of north Russia, between the Barents and Kara seas, lies an archipelago of mountainous territories covered in snow. The sounds on the album paint an aural portrait of this abandoned land, full of frozen waters, glaciers and ice. The incredibly low rumbling drops among the signature Köner drones suggest an atmosphere of void, broken only by the collision of the colossal icebergs, at a slow relentless rate. On Novaya Zemlya Köner flexes his muscles once more, composing an environmental landscape “towards a metaphysical geography” with slight hints of dystopia and self-destruction: in 1961, during the Cold War years, Soviet Union has detonated Tsar Bomba on on Novaya Zemlya – the largest and most powerful nuclear weapon to date. Fans of minimalism, isolationism and indeed existentialism will be delighted with this next installment in Köner’s catalog, who has been creating dark ambient soundscapes since the early 90s. In fact, in 2010 John Wells’ Type Records has republished Köner’s earlier works in a three disk boxset: Nunatak • Teimo • Permafrost, which I proudly own, and suggest you pick up as well. Köner is known for his massive sound installations, combining visual and auditory experiences focused on physical listening, with a few live recordings on Mille Plateaux: Kaamos (1998), Daikan (2002), and Zyklop (2003). A spooky reminiscence of human demise and an enormous undertaking that could be only backed by Touch.

WOW !!!

Imho, this is Koners weakest release. It is yet another winter/cold soundscape, but vastly inferior to his other works. Koner can still create some of the most amazing sounds in ambient music, this time they just aren't arranged as well.

It says something when you give his 'weakest release' 4 out of 5 stars! That's 80%.

One of the strongest releases to date! "Novaya Zemlya" continues in the vein of "Unerforschtes Gebiet", but Koner expands his sound palette even more, even including several "voice transmission" samples. This album is as close to visual art and actual travelling as possible, totally agree with Thierry [author of liner notes] here.

great album! so deep, close your eyes & imagine yourself under the ice cap at the north pole, looking up the ice cap cracking all over the place mixture between ( darkness) , (bliss) & (paz)

...I had never been to the "New Land"...once I had listened to this CD...it was as though I had ...and I wanted to explore more with repeated plays...beautiful, haunting, deep and as cold as the winters from which the inspiration came...magnificent Koner indeed!

Amen

WOW !!!

extra nice amb~winter album.sounds shifting on his way like mountains of ice!only to fast on his end,so repeat this knob on!