Some lovely words from Ben Chlapek about the power of community in the ambient music scene.
We would appreciate your support as we raise funds for our upcoming Spring and Summer music programs!
DONATE /stretchmetal-spring26
Photos of @_dousing_ performing at Grace Sanctuary
Photos by @ricardoeadame
Introducing our newest program, AMA Sunday: a recurring slow-time potluck for AMA members and friends 🍝
Feb 8 in Chicago, IL, held every second Sunday of the month at @bimbom.studios
ft. music by DOUSING, Chicago-based artist Ben Chlapek. drones, ambience, saturation ~
This event is free for AMA members and +1 with RSVP. While membership is encouraged, one-time supporters can find tickets and work trade options at /calendar
Come as you are, bring a dish if you can, and plan to stay awhile.
I’m back! A phone update fixed my mobile interface issues I guess (just in time for the collapse of society). I’m here to tell you I am playing a show LIVE in CHICAGO at the delightful BIM BOM STUDIOS @bimbom.studios on Sunday, FEBRUARY 8th thanks to @_stretchmetal ! I’m really excited, as I haven’t played live in over a year. Would be proper chuffed if you came out to hang. It will be a very chill potluck and you can lie on the carpet with cushions and absorb the sounds.
I’ve been in the sound space working on some sounds. My phone audio interface is corrupting audio somehow, so I haven’t been able to post the direct recordings. Anyway, working on the secret sauce, etc. I have a tape coming out soon, too! #dronemusic #ambientnonsense
You can get the entire drone sleepover set from @_stretchmetal . My set is 1.5 hours long and happens from 2:45am-4:15am. No time to waste - download it and start sleeping right now! dronesleepoverarchives.bandcamp.com
New one out today, getting all I can out of what is left of bandcamp before it’s likely stripped for parts or becomes a subscription service.
Inspired by the movement of the sun and the ocean, this is a special release for the 2023 Columbia Experimental Music Festival. Both tracks are the same looping part, but they're processed differently. "sun reflects of the buildings" is distorted and heavier, while "surf moves as it wishes" is cleaner and has synthesized waves created from white noise. Thanks for listening! I have a small grip of physical copies on me if you want.
Really miss this setup and those first Neatly Knotted songs sometimes. Ace Tone Top 5 organ, Casiotone, Roland 707 drum machine and hall reverb on the vocals. Seven years ago or so.
Thank you to Ian from @bostonhassle for the kind words about my tape released on @bloxhamtapes . Really appreciate folks taking the time listen. 🙏🏼 Working on some new ones already.
The new one is up for preorder over at @bloxhamtapes ! They wrote this:
Bloxham Tapes casts the net further afield for the label's tenth release by DOUSING, AKA Chigaco-based artist and musician Ben Chlapek.
The co-founder of Dismal Niche, an artist-run not-for-profit label and experimental music festival, describes his sound as "minimal, drone loop jams". Bloxham Tapes beg to differ. The DOUSING sound is all and none of the following. It's the moment that Moebius and Rodelius embraced melody. Dawn skittering on airplane wings on woozy transatlantic flights. Wide-open spaces lurking in every claustrophobic urban apartment. Rain on a windscreen on an endless drive. A solo flight on the black and white keys in the depth of winter. A fellow traveller. (Full Dousing disclosure: "The best air-conditioning unit in our apartment is in the bedroom, and I recently moved all my music gear from a corner in the 'dining room' to the bedroom because the rest of the apartment was too hot this summer. We called it the cool zone.") And you will hear something unique to you, something as unique as you are. So let these haunting DOUSING snapshots soundtrack your quiet contemplation, your hopes, your melancholy and your dreams of better days to come.
Welcome to the cool zone.
