VIDNA OBMANA – TWILIGHT OF PERCEPTION REDUX VOLUME TWO 1995-2002 (3xCD, ZOHARUM)
The fantastic ZOHARUM label continues with the VIDNA OBMANA reissues. Here’s volume 2 in the succesful TWILIGHT OF PERCEPTION REDUX 3xCD. To celebrate we’re offering you a discount of 35% on the physical and digital release !
For digital – use code : twilightredux2 For physical – use code : twilightredux3cd
On top of this those who want to catch up with the complete digital catalogue, grab it at a stunning 80% discount. The discounts will stop at a unspecific moment in time : tonight, tomorrow, next week….
We’ve debated among ourselves about this for a long time and even checked in with some of the die-hard fans but it’s time to unleash a subscription option for Dirk Serries’ Streams Of Consciousness series.
This is what Dirk Serries wrote on the subscription series :
Welcome to the home of my Streams Of Consciousness music series. An assemblage of my ongoing drive to compose, perform and record the ambient music I’ve been known for under main pseudonym Vidna Obmana and more recently under my own name. What distinguishes the Streams Of Consciousness series is that this is the purest form of creating the ambience. The constant factor in my expansive oeuvre and the artistic hunger to keep on growing and learning. Those who know me and have been following me over these past 4 decade can confirm that there are almost no artistic boundaries in my musical experiments. From the harsh industrial music early on to the free improvised live events throughout Europe and releases on A New Wave Of Jazz. Even when a new ‘ambient’ album appears on a label, it still holds enough twists and turns. However there isn’t a month that passes without having the need to go full into the purest form of soundscaping. The set-up is simple : an electric guitar, a very small pedal board of four effects. Each idea/theme/motif is performed live into my DAW and mixed/mastered for instant release here.
No edits, no additional layering. Music that is part of my DNA, the heartbeat of my passion for the purest form of what I call my vintage ambient music. Music that I once, long time ago, performed on synthesizers and a lot of outboard gear during the early ambient years of Vidna Obmana. Think of Gathering In Frozen Beauty (1989), Near The Flogging Landscape (1990) or my trilogy uniting Passage In Beauty (1991), Shadowing In Sorrow (1992) and Ending Mirage (1993). Of course now, thanks to the digital evolution, upgraded and trimmed down to the most minimal set-up to re-imagine that minimalism and introspective quality in my music. A set-up that allows me to just sit down, take a breath and create/perform/record.
Subscribing to this collection will help me to sustain this creativity, to bring a bit of comfort to the technical side of things like instrument maintance, upgrading the studio and giving me the space, time and foremost artistic freedom to continue to create this streams of consciousness. On top of that is the annual subscription price of 55 EUR way below the amount of albums that will be published and when bought individually. Annually there’ll be at least 10 albums.
Projekt Records just released The Transcending Quest (2019 remaster) by vidnaObmana, check it out here.
“★ NAME-YOUR-PRICE DOWNLOAD ★
Genres: Tribal Ambient, Ambient, Experimental
This 1994 release is available for the first time from Projekt’s Bandcamp, and this Friday at streaming sites.
Originally released on 3″ CD on the Italian Amplexus label in 1994. Remastered by Dirk Serries in March 2019.
soundohm: “THE TRANSCENDING QUEST perfectly represents the sound of Vidna Obmana, and in its 20 minutes it concentrates all the atmospheres and moods that were later developed on a fundamental album like THE RIVER OF APPEARANCE or on his nearly-mythical collaboration with Steve Roach, WELL OF SOULS. THE TRANSCEDING QUEST was also the beginning of that wonderful and unforgettable adventure called Amplexus. Simply a must for any Ambient connoisseur!””
UK improvisor and label director Mark Wastell has been a driving force in the British free impro scene for years. As part of Derek Bailey’s COMPANY group in his younger years to being the label curator of the tone-setting CONFRONT RECORDINGS, Mark is a talented multi-instrumentalist, known for his cello work solo and in a group like IST with Rhodri Davis and the late Simon H. Fell. While guitarist Dirk Serries has been transparant about his fascination for Derek Bailey, Mark is equally inspired by the legacy UK drummer/percussionist John Stevens left behind.
As a sincere ode to Bailey & Stevens’ oeuvre and important contribution to the free improvisation scene, as we know it now, Mark Wastell & Dirk Serries are joining hands for a set of percussion/guitar duo concertsand recording sessions. They are playing Rotterdam’s KOFFIE & AMBACHT on May 31st and the open-air CITADELIC FESTIVAL in Gent on June 1st. Their first ‘tour’ ep is scheduled for a limited run release on Confront Recordings around that time.
TONUS’ latest album ‘Analog Deviation’ gets a beautiful review from Ken Waxman over at Jazz Word (Canada). The album is of course available from our store.
“Under the rubric of creative improvised music a variety of sonic notions can be expressed even if the instrumentation and inspirations arise from similar circumstances. Abstract and pointed, Tonus’ two improvisations encompass tonal ambiguity and rhythmic transformation as the trio members languidly stretch out their distinct response to free form challenges. The band is Belgians, guitarist Dirk Serries and pianist Martina Verhoeven, who singly or together have worked internationally with among many others Charlotte Keeffe and José Lencastre; while the UK’s Benedict Taylor, playing viola and broken fiddle, has worked with Paul Dunmall and Alexander Hawkins. Before Verhoeven’s inner string strums and soundboard echoes from the piano are finally obvious about 10 minutes into the improvisation. That’s because Taylor’s arco viola pinches intersect with Serries flat string clanks and frails at the top. The two string players’ flanged strains, rubs and stretches are further emphasized as the pianist’s rolling patterns provide a complementary bass line. The subtle timbral transformations are further emphasized as an adagio slide finds isolated guitar picking prominent among elevated and basement shakes from piano pitches. The trio’s slightly longer “Outbound” confirms Tonus’ identification as a string trio combining discordant fiddle rubs, bottleneck-like guitar frails and massed inner piano string shakes. Additional percussion arises from Verhoeven smacking the piano’s wood and Serries doing the same on his guitar’s body as Taylor brings out his broken fiddle to screech dog whistle-like strains as the exposition speeds up. Reaching a sequence of group tension so intense that imminent string breakage is suggested, intermittent passing tones finally connect individual split tones. First suggested by Serries’ mandolin-like frails and Verhoeven’s keyboard thumps, eventually Taylor’s elevated rubs propel a final sequence that that is as imbued with intermittency as improvisation.” Jazz Word – Canada
As from today on, after careful debate and in the light of the constant changing world economics (shipping costs, custom taxes, etc.), we are launching a new line of digital releases. Music that has been on the waiting list for a physical release but the harsh reality caught us in speed. We sincerely hope you’ll follow us in our vision and adapting to the circumstances around us but we want to keep our label alive and haven for the unique in free improvisation, avantgarde and free jazz alive and this is currently the way to proceed. Each digital release comes in a stylish design, featuring the breathtaking photography of MARTINA VERHOEVEN. Thank you.
BENEDICT TAYLOR & DIRK SERRIES – GEOMETRIC FOLKLORE (nwoj0070, A New Wave Of Jazz)
GEOMETRIC FOLKLORE is Benedict Taylor (viola) and Dirk Serries (guitar)’s third duo collaboration. After their OBSIDIAN album for Creative Sources, they returned to the magnificent Oude Klooster chapel to record/perform this next phase in their ongoing duo dialogue. And growth is clearly noted, two long form improvised pieces touching upon slightly different themes and tonalities. Perhaps a bit less abstract that what we heard on their previous two albums and deliberately more harmonic and with a strict interplay between the two kindred spirits, re-inventing the folklore as you will.
Benedict Taylor – viola Dirk Serries – archtop guitar
GARUDA TRIO + RODRIGO PINHEIRO – LIVE AT SMUP (nwoj0071, A New Wave Of Jazz)
Hugo Costa travelled back to his native country Portugal (he currently lives in The Netherlands) to play with some of his favorite musicians. Their GARUDA TRIO doesn’t play often live because of the distance. After their acclaimed album ’TONGUES OF FLAMES‘ featuring RODRIGO PINHEIRO , they set for playing the legendary SMUP venue. Due to the miscalculation in the schedule, their concert was troubled by the rehearsals of a big band in the basement. The quartet of Hugo Costa (alto sax), João Valinho (drums), Hernãni Faustino (double bass) and Rodrigo Pinheiro (piano) decided to amp up the volume and dynamics to at least match or even overpower the sound of the rehearsal band. The concert became a celebration of life, injected with fire, heart, drama and joy, making the quartet grow as an unity. And proud to release this excellent concert on A New Wave Of Jazz digital.
Hugo Costa – alto saxophone Rodrigo Pinheiro – piano Hernâni Faustino – double bass João Valinho – drums
Drawing from his oeuvre and experience in ambient and experimental music, projects like his acclaimed Microphonics project, ‘THE MIGHT OF STARS SUBLIME‘, Dirk Serries‘ debut for German label AUDIOPHOB, feels familiar, close to home, but simultaneously creates another dimension in his realm of ambient music. This album leads the listener through a trip of minimalism, a sense of grandeur, a specific harmonic quality and beautiful ambient music which becomes full circle in ‘The Stars Sublime’, probably his most iconic and striking piece of music he made so far while it resembles a feeling that’s mutual with another iconic and acclaimed piece ‘microphonics XXIII – there’s a light in vein’ from his 2013 album. ‘The Might Of Stars Sublime’ is slated for release on April 25th
DIRK SERRIES – ZONAL DISTURBANCES II (cd, ZOHARUM 2025)
Following DIRK SERRIES’ recent albums the composer continues to explore different sonic terrain. Still on the electric guitar with a motherboard of analog pedals, the 4 tracks on ZONAL DISTURBANCES II start to give signs of a new signature style of ambience Dirk is constructing. Organic, brooding and eerie. All recorded live on the spot creating music that still showcases the artist’s fondness for minimalism and slow repetitive clusters of sound while tying connections with his roots in industrial and experimental music. Foremost he continues, after 4 decades in the scene, to etalate his artistry in creating provocative, unique and genre-bending ambient music. Dirk Serries is a musical force to reckon with and to be finally rewarded for his wilful and unique voice in an ever increasing superficial music industry.
In the meantime, while this one is ready to be released, the “Zonal Disturbances” project has developed into several volumes. So if you let yourself be carried away by this music, look out for the continuation soon…
Purchase your copy here through our personal bandcamp shop or directly from the label.
DIRK SERRIES’ compilation of music from his STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS series on Projekt digital has gained a lot of attention and praise. Here’re a few reviews. The album is still available through the PROJEKT bandcamp site. And mark February 25th in your agenda for ‘TREASURE OF STARS’, a new exclusive Streams Of Consciousness album, for PROJEKT.
AMN reviews : “In 2007, Dirk Serries wrapped up his long-standing vidnaObmana project, which began two decades earlier as an ambient electronic endeavor influenced by synthesists of the Berlin School. But a few years later he began quietly putting out recordings of this ilk once again, under the moniker Streams of Consciousness. There are a total of 17 albums released so far, including eight in the last year. This compilation consists of about 3 hours of these pieces. The sounds here are gentle ambiance, with slow-moving chord patterns, airy textures, and a peaceful mood. Created spontaneously on guitar run through effects, the music fits the album title. Serries plays in a stream-of-consciousness style and his output can be absorbed in that manner as well. The eight tracks are in the 18-25 minute range and feature lilting tones and expansive – yet mysterious – atmospheres. Individual notes and reverberating guitar washes are immersive but not suffocating. Despite the apparent simplicity of the music, it resonates deeply on an emotional level, inviting the listener to engage in relaxed, thoughtful introspection. Through this prolific project, Serries constructs serene soundscapes that facilitate moments of solitary reflection. He engages with the notion that the notes you do not play can be just as important as the notes that are played, thus using space as an auxiliary instrument. The album comes highly recommended for fans of vidnaObmana, Steve Roach, and the like. Streams Of Consciousness Compiled also serves as an unassuming antidote to an increasingly crazy world.”
EXPOSE reviews : “We all remember VidnaObmana from the last years of the 20th Century, a floating ambient project alias created by one Dirk Serries, Belgian composer and instrumentalist in 1984, who recorded nearly 100 albums, both solo and in collaboration with like-minded travelers like Steve Roach, Jeff Pearce, Brannan Lane, PBK, Sam Rosenthal, and many others. In 2007 Serries officially retired the VidnaObmana moniker and moved forward using his given name and some new aliases like Fear Falls Burning. One of those new aliases was Streams of Consciousness, which began in earnest in 2013 and continues to this day (2024), bearing an explorative deep ambient drone style created using electric guitar and guitar effects in his home studio, with slow flowing evolutionary washes of sonic color full of warmth and emotion, not at all unlike the works he produced as VidnaObmana. As of this writing, Serries has released 18 albums in the Streams of Consciousness series, all with cryptic numeric titles that seem to indicate the date on which they were recorded. Each of the albums contain two tracks, each roughly the length of an LP side, and those tracks do have English titles, so with 18 albums with two tracks each, to date there should be 36 tracks total, though you won’t find any of them on Serries’ Bandcamp page — instead one needs to search for Streams of Consciousness to find them. Streams of Consciousness Compiled contains eight tracks selected from the ongoing series (only a few were ever produced on physical media in the beginning, and have since been download only), it’s something of an introduction to his ongoing project, which as it turns out is more like a homage to VidnaObmana than most of the other projects that Serries has running currently, so for any listeners who were tuned into his work back in the VidnaObmana days, this eight track sampler (almost three hours of music) should go far to quench your thirst for his brand of dreamy, meditative sounds, and point you in the direction where more can be found.”
IYEZINE reviews : La qualità del deep ambient e drone di Dirk è sempre molto alta, le composizioni arrivano da pubblicazioni diverse, ma fanno parte di un unico continuum e lo si percepisce benissimo. Dirk Serries è un artista belga, compositore e musicista, uno dei produttori ambient e drone fra i più influenti e capaci della scena europea. “Stream of consciousness compiled” è un progetto per Projekt Records che racchiude una selezione di otto lunghi brani per circa tre ore di deep ambient, drone e viaggi siderali. Gli otto brani sono stati scelti da Dirk facendo una selezione delle diciassette uscite pubblicate su https://streamsofconsciousness.bandcamp.com/ . Tutte le composizioni sono state composte e prodotte dal vivo da Dirk nel suo studio usando una chitarra e tantissimi effetti, e il risultato è davvero notevole. La serie è cominciata nel 2013, e delle prime tre uscite sono stati pubblicati dei vinili in quantità estremamente limitata, per poi continuare la sua vita nella forma digitale. Questa raccolta mostra cosa sia questa meravigliosa collana di uscite deep ambient e drone. Seguendo da anni la collana ogni uscita prodotta da Dirk è notevole e questa selezione è sicuramente un ottimo punto di ingresso in un qualcosa che vi avvolgerà e si insinuerà dentro la vostra mente, cambiandola in meglio. Serries è uno sperimentatore sonoro da oltre quarant’anni, avendo iniziato nella scena do it yourself belga degli anni ottanta, cominciando nel 1984 il progetto Vidna Obmana con il quale ha cambiato la storia ambient e drone europea e non solo. Come si può ascoltare qui, la frequenza musicale di Dirk eleva l’animo umano, è un sostrato di luce e di bellezza, e anche le tenebre illuminano. Seguendo linee di chitarra totalmente inusuali ed estranee alla comune nozione della sei corde, si entra in altra quota, fra le nuvole che attraggono e al contempo respingono la luce che arriva dal vuoto, in un vero e continuo flusso di coscienza che abbraccia il tutto partendo dalle parti che lo compongono, arrivando a rompere la divisione e la diversità delle parti. Questo disco non va ascoltato, ci si deve immergere ad occhi chiusi, è quasi una meditazione nel senso più altro della parola, un essere qui ed ora ma a diecimila metri da terra, distantissimi da dove ci troviamo ora. La qualità del deep ambient e drone di Dirk è sempre molto alta, le composizioni arrivano da pubblicazioni diverse, ma fanno parte di un unico continuum e lo si percepisce benissimo. Profondità, bellezza e anche magnificenza, per un’opera che lievita ad ogni ascolto, e che come le cellule germina in continuazione producendo nuove cellule, in un afflato che non è solo musica ma tendenza all’infinito e a risvegliare una parte di noi che è infinita e che fluttua, lontana dal nostro corpo. Non è un lavoro per chi cerca nicchie di genere o appartenenze a qualche genere o scena, qui c’è l’universo nella sua totalità che pulsa.
CHAIN D.L.K. REVIEW : There are albums you listen to, and then there are albums that listen to you. Dirk Serries’ “Streams of Consciousness Compiled” belongs to the latter category – a collection of ambient driftworks that doesn’t demand attention but rewards surrender. These nearly three hours of shimmering, slow-motion soundscapes are less a “best of” and more a portal into Serries’ post-VidnaObmana meditations, a distilled essence of his decade-long “Streams of Consciousness” series, built entirely in real-time with just an electric guitar and a handful of effects. Serries has spent over 40 years sculpting sound, often navigating the liminal space between presence and absence, between what is played and what is left to dissolve in its own wake. His approach here is a masterclass in restraint. Notes don’t so much ring out as they breathe; they rise and hover, contemplating their own existence before fading into the ether. It’s music in which time itself slows to a near standstill, like sunlight refracting through water, catching brief, fleeting patterns before they are swallowed by the current. The track titles – “Meandering”, “Harmonious Flare”, “The Whispering Scale” – serve as vague coordinates, but they don’t prepare you for the immersive depth of each piece. “Remote Delight” is a lesson in how delay and reverb can bend perception, stretching a single note into something more resembling a memory than a sound. “Solstice of Murmur” unfolds in waves, each one softer than the last, as if it were erasing its own past. “Glow Horizon” feels like floating through the liminal zone between wakefulness and sleep, where recognition and abstraction blur. For those who miss Vidna Obmana, this release is a gentle assurance that the spirit never truly left. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to exist as a cloud for an afternoon, “Streams of Consciousness Compiled” is your answer. A weightless, introspective dream of an album, built for those willing to embrace slowness – not as a limitation, but as a form of transcendence.
Working band KODIAN TRIO exists 10 years. Rose from the ashes of a scorching concert at London’s Café Oto in 2015. Already 10 years later and armed with three major studio albums and multiple live appearances later, the trio have become major contenders on the fertile and outward-looking European scene. KODIAN TRIO is a unique one with 3 strong musicians constantly challenging themselves to move further and beyond. KODIAN TRIO is Colin Webster on alto sax, Andrew Lisle on drums and Dirk Serries on electric guitar.
They are playing two exclusive concerts : on Friday March 21st they are doing a trio concert at Wuppertal’s GRÖLLE GALERIE and on Saturday March 22nd they are playing jazzvenue PlusEtage with special guests Charlotte Keeffe (trumpet), Martina Verhoeven (piano) and Raoul Van Der Weide (double bass). Not to be missed.
