In 1987 VIDNA OBMANA was approached by a local experimental theatre compagny for creating a soundtrack to their pending theatre piece ‘Experience Artaud’. A play that focused on the turbulent life of French artist Antonin Artaud (1896-1948). After several meetings, VIDNA OBMANA worked on the soundtrack which initiated his departure from his pure noise work. Utilizing a KORG MS 20, tape loops, shortwave radio and his voice VIDNA OBMANA created a haunting soundtrack that would support the turmoil artist Antonin Artaud experienced. Unfortunately the funding fell through for the theatre company and the play was never materialized and ever performed. However VIDNA OBMANA’ soundtrack got a small cassette release on his own short-lived M.O.M. (Mechanical Orchestration Music) label. For a limited time the full soundtrack is available at ‘name your price‘. Thank you for your support !
Today is BANDCAMP FRIDAY (a special day in which bandcamp allows us musicians, independent labels to collect fee-less our sales). But we also have some important news to share…
Due to moving houses to another country, we’ll be putting our mail-order service on hold till at least February 2026 – in order to sort everything out in terms of shippping options and costs, etc. However if you want to catch upon your collection, now it’s that moment. We’re offering you a 40% discount on any title you want to order, this runs to October 15th. Till that day we’ll accept any order of physical items. This way we can still handle all the packaging and making sure the orders are on their way to you.
Use the code : moving2025
Unfortunately we’re still not able to ship any physical orders to the USA, due the unclear situation with the pending import taxes and the required documents. Our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.
Use your discount code through the following bandcamp sites :
Dirk Serries is joining Mark Wastell‘s big band INVISIBLE GUARDIANS for an unique concert at Cafe Oto (London, UK) this Tuesday September 16th. In Mark’s own words : “Somehow, I seem to have pulled this one off. INVISIBLE GUARDIANS BIG BAND at Café OTO this coming Tuesday, 16th September. Featuring Jazz FM and Parliamentary Jazz Award winners, a founding member of the Brand New Heavies, a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award, a current member of the mightly Cymande, a platinum selling Blue Note Records recording artist, Poll toppers, and collectively, musicians that have worked with the likes of John Zorn, David Sylvian, Chaka Khan, Derek Bailey, Tony Conrad, Keith Tippett, Stewart Lee, Oasis, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Maggie Nicols and Kid Creole and the Coconuts!“
Matthew Bourne / piano Binker Golding / tenor & soprano saxophone Rachel Musson / tenor & soprano saxophone Ed Jones / tenor saxophone & bass clarinet Sue Lynch / flute, clarinet Ntshuks Bonga / alto saxophone Kevin G Davy / trumpet, flugelhorn Charlotte Keefe / trumpet, flugelhorn Raph Clarkson / trombone Dominic Lash / double bass Caius Williams / double bass Dirk Serries / electric guitar Jackie Walduck / vibraphone Ansuman Biswas / percussion Lascelle Gordon / percussion Will Glaser / drums, cymbals Mark Wastell / drums, cymbals
Tickets are available through the Cafe Oto website.
MATTHEW GRIGG & DIRK SERRIES – INTERVENTION MODEL (lathe cut / tape, Unknown Tongue 2025)
Intervention Model is the first recorded meeting of Belgian polymath Dirk Serries and British free thinker Matthew Grigg. From overamped Shock recs squall to frayed Xpressway thrum, two guitars scorch and smoulder through these four improvised unedited tracks – captured in the reverberant shimmer of Brecht’s Oode Klooster Kapel. The results read like an exploration of sound and noise, stasis and movement, feedback and freedom. Twin guitars in constant exchange of ideas and detail, documenting the calm before/after, and the eye of the storm.
The release is very limited, the numbered lathe cut edition is on 16 copies, the cassette is on 34 copies. Get your copy here…
I had the pleasure and honour a few weeks ago to talk on my weekly radio show, “Between the Grooves,” with Belgium-based Dirk Serries — a sonic artist of longstanding.
I play Dirk’s music quite regularly on my overnight show, “Night Lights with Malcolm Burn” on Radio Kingston in Kingston, New York. If you don’t know Dirk’s work and you enjoy ambient and experimental music that has the ability to transport you to another state of mind, you need to look him up and explore his discography.
Malcolm Burn’s The Long Way Around Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Go here.
Dirk has experimented with music on the border between avant-garde, industrial, experimental and ambient for close to 40 years now. He released his earliest work (1984) behind the pseudonym vidnaObmana up to 2007 when he closed the book on this project (realizing an extensive discography). In October 2013, Dirk Serries re-booted his classic vidnaObmana ambient sound from the mid-1980s/early 1990s. In contrast to his original music that was mostly synth-based, this ambient music is constructed on electric guitar. Dirk also runs the A New Wave Of Jazz label, dedicated to free improvisation and minimal avant-garde.
Through his experience in the free improvisation Dirk transformed his solo ambient music, originally constructed meticulously by writing strict motives before performing, to being able to improvise 200% and still create his trademark ambient music for which he is recognized worldwide.
“All of this started from the time I was a kid and enjoying early film soundtracks, which fascinated me to the extent that I thought, this would be really cool to make myself,” says Dirk. “It somehow sparked sort of an obsession… it’s not a hobby, it’s not a profession. For me, it’s an obsession — it’s part of who I am, part of my DNA, so to speak.”
We talked about the creative process. “For me, despite how you have to describe your music, for me it’s always been part of an ongoing search for that refinement in sound, and how it would trigger me as a musician to go deeper into something I would love to listen to myself,” says Dirk. “It’s part of an external world that you create for yourself and that’s where I love to be [in].”
Every musician has his ups and downs in realizing — who am I, what am I doing here, is this worthwhile to do? — and I do have that, as well,” says Dirk. “But each time I’m drawn back into it just because of the fact that it just feels comfortable with sitting in that world of sound whatever it is — if it’s an ambient record, an experimental jazz record… it’s all part of one continuing organism that grows, that expands and changes over time as I am, as a person.”
I think it’s fascinating that Dirk puts it this way because I experience the same thing. It’s the same kind of compulsion that I have, if one can call it that. There are a lot of other things that I could be doing in a day but this is what feels like it matters the most. Whether anybody else cares or not it’s not relevant.
Dirk agrees: “It’s a pretty egocentric situation you’re in but it’s also a very therapeutic situation — I feel good about it because there are a lot of things going on in the world, unfortunately, which are not that positive. The music, the sounds, the little space you create for yourself — these are things which I feel comfortable sitting in and from the moment you’re really in there and it works and the music gels, you feel really nicely despite the fact, indeed, whether you will share it with people or not, with the audience.”
“The Stars Sublime” — Dirk Serries — The Might of Stars Sublime (April 2025)
“As a musician you go through phases although it’s all in the same genre but still you have these kinds of variations on the aspect of recording soundscape music. This piece really resembles a little bit of everything I have been doing over these past 40 years. It’s a really beautiful introduction to who I am now,” says Dirk.
“There are different rules to creating such a soundscape although you could easily record it or compose it in a shorter time,” says Dirk. “I always admired Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois when they did their ambient works together. A couple of those songs are pretty short but they still work, and keep the slow pace, as well, so that nothing is abrupt, nothing is really produced in sort of its own level that really changes the entire mood of the songs. It’s artistry.”
This brought back the memory of when I was young and was listening to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” When I listen to that record now years later, having made albums and knowing how they’re made, I realized that record was made like a pop record. It wasn’t a pop record, per se, but all the pieces, for instance, even “Us and Them” and some of those tracks are six minutes long but somehow they seem longer. I think there’s an art form to that.
I asked Dirk how he would describe the relation between a keyboard instrument and a guitar in terms of the two instruments’ expressiveness. “That’s a good question and also a difficult question to answer,” says Dirk. “It took me a long time to actually get to the guitar. I started out as a young kid. My first synthesizer was a Korg MS-20 — great sounds and unpredictable, as well. That was all part of my discovery of sound and I stuck to that for a long time. I moved onto digital work stations like the Korg M1 and the wave station and your recording equipment evolved from the 2-track cassette (and 4-track cassettes). Younger listeners will probably never know what happened back then.”
“Also there was the saturation of it when you bounce it because your sound changes over time and back then you had to know that up front,” says Dirk. “Because you knew there was no way back. All these things evolved for me and created such a huge machine to operate because when the computer came, the multi-track and all the editing … and all the synthesizers together … it actually burned me out.
“At that point, I had already introduced the guitar a little bit in my music,” says Dirk.
“After I had recovered from the burn-out…, I sold all my synthesizers. And left over was one very cheap electric guitar and I started from scratch,” says Dirk. “Could I play guitar? No. I couldn’t really play it well then and I still don’t at this point call myself a guitar-player.”
I think that’s the beauty of the guitar. I use a lot of open tunings. I never change my strings. There are a lot of weird, funny things that I do that are very individual; and we invent those things for ourselves. Think of Jimi Hendrix with his guitar upside down and strung the other way up and playing, etc. These are all things you can do with a guitar. Whereas with a keyboard, you press the key and that’s the note that comes out.
Dirk agrees. “The guitar is very organic whether it’s an acoustic or electric guitar,” says Dirk. “Of course, there are big differences. It’s how you apply it, how you take it into your hands. The guitar is an extension of who you are at that point and I learned despite the fact that I was kind of an anti-guitarist. It made me discover a tool (I prefer to call it a tool) that I got so comfortable with over time. I’ve more and more started to play actual real chords on the guitar and incorporate it in my music but keep it experimental. Keep it not really too tonal.”
“This opened a different kind of spectrum for me,” says Dirk.
Photo by Shaun Cullen
I asked Dirk how he would describe his music — that is, the kind of music that he’s generally the most enthusiastic about creating. “This goes in phases,” says Dirk. “I also have a label for free jazz and experimental improvised music which I do with a lot of sound colleagues from London, Germany, Holland and from Belgium. That’s a different part of me. If somebody would ask me what kind of music I make, I would prefer to say just experimental music, which I think really covers a lot.”
“Who I am as a musician is that I’m also a huge listener of music and always want to discover new music,” says Dirk. “That’s how I learned about musicians, such as Hirotaka Shirotsubaki, classical music … and Emmylou Harris, who I discovered later because of the “Wrecking Ball” album, and that’s our connection.”
“This is what opened up my ears and my mind to other music; you discover that a lot of other people doing other music also listen to your music, which you would never expect,” says Dirk.
“If you would ask me now about my five favorite musicians, that would be impossible to do because you listen to so much music and in every little corner of a particular genre you will discover a new musician or an old musician who was already there for a long time but you never knew before and then they become part of your playlist, so to speak,” says Dirk.
I believe if there is one musician that we could all despite our musical tastes agree on it would be Jimi Hendrix. He was someone who changed music forever. Nobody was playing loud like that, bending the notes, etc. It’s hard to think about music before Hendrix. That sense of musical adventurism, I think, is something that he left behind for all us to learn from. Keep pushing wherever you can go with it and experiment. John Coltrane is another good example.
“Yes, this is very interesting and also signifies, I think, how important these musicians were back in the day, although they lived short lives,” says Dirk. “They touched upon something so unique you can’t really think about the pre-Jimi Hendrix or pre-John Coltrane, it’s mind boggling.”
Passage Dawn — Dirk Serries — Streams of Consciousness (A Series of Works by Dirk Serries, 2025)
I asked Dirk what format he works in as there are so many options available now. “I work with an Apple computer,” says Dirk. “I used to work with Pro Tools. But it’s not really compatible with all the plug-ins. I work now with Reaper, a software that’s very intuitive, very user-friendly and is compatible with all the plug-ins you want to use.”
“For young musicians who just stumble into the music scene, I think it’s also pretty overwhelming because I’m afraid they will lose the sense of the beauty of creating music because you’re so absorbed by the huge possibility of [too many] options,” notes Dirk.
I personally think that having too many options is the death of art. For example, the Abstract Expressionist American artist Jackson Pollock did something original in his art when he threw cans of paint on his canvases. Many people have tried to recreate that but they don’t and can’t. What Pollock did was unique and original. He was the first. It’s the same with music. You can make all kinds of fancy sounds but there still has to be some kind of heart and soul in there that comes from being a musician.
“Art itself has always been approached as being the more intellectual, especially the visual arts,” notes Dirk. “You have music as entertainment. But there is way more to music.”
“the ultimate drone album. My bible of inspiration from two amazing artists : Brian Eno with his legendary 80s ambient records (foremost ON LAND) and Robert Fripp’s own Frippertronics (think of LET THE POWER FALL and A BLESSING OF TEARS). NO PUSSYFOOTING still underrated, to my humble opinion.”
The Heavenly Music Corporation II — Robert Fripp, Brian Eno — No Pussyfooting (1973)
The best way to find Dirk is at his website: https://dirkserries.com/. His music is on many platforms, including Spotify and Bandcamp. Many of his live performances are on YouTube. Dirk also has a new, magnificent release — “YODOK III – NIDAROSDOMEN.” It will be officially out on September 19 but pre-ordering is now available through Consouling Sounds. After September 19, copies will be sold on Bandcamp. Check out the album teaser on YouTube.
Dirk chose a few more excellent tracks for our talk that we didn’t have the time to play on the show. I’ve included them here for your listening pleasure.
“from his vast and impressive catalog it’s difficult to choice, but this piece is one of my absolute favorites as it resembles everything I got to know Steve for, when I met him personally becoming good friends and collaborators. This piece blends in just a pitch-perfect manner the esoteric and spacious character of his music with the tribal-infused phase in his oeuvre.“
The Origin of Artifacts — Steve Roach — Artifacts (1994)
M.B. 55 T.D. 56 — Maurizio Bianchi — The Plain Truth (1983)
Listen to our entire one-hour talk here. Start at 1:01:17.
Today it’s once again BANDCAMP FRIDAY. Not only can you still benefit from the fantastic offers we have over at A New Wave Of Jazz but also are we giving you a 50%discount on any physical/digital release on these bandcamp collections
use code : bcfridayseptember
TIP ! You can also use the discount code if you want to purchase the full digital catalogues.
DIRK SERRIES was interviewed by renowned producer MALCOLM BURN (Emmylou Harris, The Neville Brothers, Bob Dylan, and his work with Daniel Lanois) on his BETWEEN THE GROOVES radio show on Radio Kingston (Kingston, NY). In this episode of his radioshow they talk about music, the world around us and more. Quite different and spontaneous. Do check it out.
On April 28th the German AUDIOPHOB label released Dirk Serries’ newest ambient album THE MIGHT OF STARS SUBLIME. Available through the label and directly from the artist over at his bandcamp here. Reviews will be added below the photo and bandcamp link. Enjoy.
VITAL WEEKLY REVIEW : This time, I will refrain from expressing my surprise about Dirk Serrries returning to ambient music, playing guitar with lots of effects, and such, because there are a few of these albums, and it’s a steady stream. If Serries is on a roll, there’s no stopping him. His improvised music side is nice, even when, most of the time, not my thing. I always preferred his work as Vidna Obmana and Fears Falls Burning, and these days doing a crossover between those previous projects. There are the highly atmospheric, sustaining patterns of Vidna Obmana, without the refinement, coupled with the rock-like guitar drone approach of Fear Falls Burning, but without the rock context, if you get my drift. The previous release had a bit more of a crumbled approach, almost like aliens playing the residue of a guitar, but on ‘The Might Of Stars Sublime’, the guitar returns to being a guitar and even howls like a drone-rock guitar e-bow solo. Here, too, the element of sustaining plays a significant role in the music, with the five pieces ranging in length from seven to ten minutes. Each of these is a well-rounded composition, and the five pieces are alike, yet different. They’re from the same composer, who nailed his approach down and sticks to the plan. Of course, Serries understands the need for this approach; to make an atmospheric album most enjoyable, it is essential to have no distractions, no out-of-place elements, and to do what he does best: play this kind of music. Whereas the previous release reminded me of Manuel Mota, this new one reminds me mostly of Dirk Serries, and that’s also (!) a great connection. Another refined work!
AFRICAN PAPER REVIEW : Mit “The Might of Stars Sublime” veröffentlicht der belgische Musiker Dirk Serries sein erstes Album auf dem Leipziger Label Audiophob. Aufgenommen mit elektrischer Gitarre und Effektgeräten, bewegt sich das Werk im Spannungsfeld zwischen warmer, vielfarbiger Klangschichtung und rauen, körnigen Texturen, oft mit einem spürbar melancholischen Unterton. Die Stücke folgen einer reduzierten, aber harmonisch fein abgestimmten Struktur, in der melodische Elemente zwar angedeutet, aber nie vordergründig ausformuliert werden. Stattdessen entfaltet sich eine Musik, die gleichermaßen geerdet wirkt und doch in eine andere Dimension zu führen scheint. Der Titel, inspiriert von einem Zitat Goethes, scheint auf diese Spannung zwischen Größe und Zerbrechlichkeit, zwischen Sternenglanz und Stille zu deuten.
NITESTYLEZ REVIEW : Put out on the circuit via the German Audiophob label on April 25th, 2k25 is “The Might Of Stars Sublime”, the most recent album by long standing producer Dirk Serries who has – according to Discogs stats… – more than 130 solo album releases under his belt using his real name alone, with a multiple of multiple involvements in groups, bands and projects as well as other aliases used since the 80s not accounted for. An impressive discography which sees its latest sequel, a five tracks and roughly 45 minutes spanning CD album, venturing into emotional, highly dramatic Synth Ambient landscapes with the opening tune “A Soft Glow” which moves to and fro like bright beams of sunlight over harsh, mountaineous terrain on a stormy, semi-clouded day followed by the deeper, more nocturnal, yet not less dramatic “Evocation” which, despite being less spiralling, for us evokes faint memories of Tangerine Dream’s score work for the 1977 movie “Sorcerer”. Furthermore “Carved Into” Oscillation” brings forth a calm take on post-apocalyptic Dark Ambient melancholia with fine morning mists floating over scarred landscapes and future battlefields whereas “Form Reversal” enters a realm of shimmering Ambient hopefulness and ethereal beauty before the final cut that is “The Stars Sublime” waves goodbye in a most comforting, and probably most classic and soothing Ambient manner with its soft ebb and flow of tonal shifts and a basically naturalistic overall feel which also might speak to fans and followers of (Neo)Classical music for a reason. A highly recommended journey into Ambient and Deep Listening Music as well as classic Synth compositions for those who know. Go check!
KRAUTNICK REVIEW : Heimlich wie die Kraft der Sterne bedient sich Dirk Serries für den Titel seines neuesten Albums (obwohl das zum Zeitpunkt der Niederschrift bei dem vielbeschäftigten Antwerpener vermutlich nicht mehr zutrifft) „The Might Of Stars Sublime“ bei Johann Wolfgang von Goethes Gedicht „Glück der Entfernung“. So poetisch wie der Titel ist auch die Musik, möchte man sagen. Dieses Mal hat sein mit der E-Gitarre erzeugter Ambient mehr Modulation als auf anderen Veröffentlichungen dieser Art, man ist beinahe geneigt, zu sagen: mehr Tempo, was bei beatlosem Ambient natürlich etwas schwierig zu ermitteln ist. Strahlende Schönheit liegt ihm ebenso inne wie beklemmende Spannung. Die Musik auf diesen fünf Tracks bewegt sich mehr, die Modulationen geschehen wahrnehmbarer. Auf vergleichbaren Alben strecken sich die Tonlagenänderungen bisweilen in den mehrstelligen Minutenbereich, hier geschehen sie wahrnehmbarer, expliziter. Rasanter wäre das falsche Wort, weil man den Bereich des Ambient hier nicht verlässt, dennoch hat sich das Tempo hier erhöht. Aufgrund der Sounds, die Serries hier und überhaupt generiert, erwartet man das komplett Verlangsamte, und fühlt sich dann, wenn er sich etwas flotter bewegt, quasi überrumpelt. Es entsteht eine Art Beklemmung, ein Unbehagen, wenn das, was den Hörenden ansonsten entspannen soll, unerwartet Spannung erzeugt. Und schon ist man gefangen von den Sounds hier. In „A Soft Glow“ klingt Serries‘ Gitarre wie zwei Orgeln: eine generiert eine deckende Soundscpae im Hintergrund, die zweite im Vordergrund in anderer Tonlage eine Melodie. Hier entsteht der Eindruck erstmals, alles sei zu schnell, obschon es immer noch sehr langsam vonstattengeht, wie Serries seine Gitarre und die Effektgeräte bearbeitet. Man ist verunsichert, fürchtet einen Angriff, als bäume sich da etwas in der Musik auf, um den unbedarften Hörenden zu attackieren, doch dies geschieht nicht, Serries hat das Biest unter Kontrolle, vermutlich windet es sich deshalb so vergleichsweise ungestüm. Für „Evocation“ wechselt Serries die Ausprägung der Sounds, hier klingt die Gitarre wie ein unbestimmtes Instrument in einem nebligen Hallraum, ebenfalls leicht beschleunigt variiert. Anders in „Carved Into Oscillation“, da nimmt Serries das Tempo erstmals heraus. Hier klingt die Gitarre wie dunkler Atem, bald cineastisch, warm, weich, beruhigend, und die Anflüge von Unbehagen sind verschwunden. Mit „Form Reversal“ kehren sie zurück, denn das Stück erhebt sich bedächtig schlängelnd aus dem Abgrund, es entwickelt einen Rausch und ist beinahe melodiös, so wie der Auftakt. Das Quasi-Titelstück „The Stars Sublime“ kommt komplett ohne den Fuzz aus, ohne das Diffuse, ohne Drones: Die Gitarre ist weitgehend klar gespielt, die zweite Ebene erinnert abermals an eine Orgel. Bill Murray erzählt den Teetrinkern RZA und GZA, dass er vor dem Schlafen Kaffee trinkt, damit er dann schneller träumt, und so wirkt „The Might Of Stars Sublime“ ebenfalls ein wenig: Es ist alles etwas beschleunigt, damit man schneller entspannt. Aber wie gesagt, lediglich im Vergleich zu anderen Arbeiten von Serries, für sich gehört ist dies immer noch chillig-schleppendes Gitarren-Drone-Ambient. Schön und entspannend, wenn es im Hintergrund läuft, und umso spannender und detailreicher, wenn man die Konzentration darauf lenkt. Und während man dies liest, hat Serries 393 neue Alben herausgebracht.
EXPOSÉ REVIEW : Like its title implies, The Might of Stars Sublime is less a disturbance and more of a step into the floating ambient direction, yet still full of fascinating textures and beautiful looping structures, created using a similar template of electric guitars and a massive number of effects. This one found release as a CD on the German Audiophob label, which specializes in ambient / industrial / experimental music. Like ZDII, the five tracks herein have no cadence or beat, they just flow from one idea to the next, though in a softer more discrete way; there’s nothing really abrasive here, just a gentle flow of sculpted dreamy sonic loops that the listener can immerse themselves in. The five tracks are around ten minutes each give or take a few, and have legible titles that are at once descriptive and inviting, like “Carved into Oscillation,” “Soft Glow,” “Evocation,” or the title track, each perhaps a journey unto its own, offering patches of light and shadow, flowing and muted tonal colors, all within a swirling eddy of textures and graininess. One might find The Might of Stars Sublime to be an easier journey with less of an overt industrial feel, a bit more melodic perhaps, expressive though still shrouded in mystery.
VER SACRUM REVIEW : Con The Might Of Stars Sublime, il suo debutto per l’etichetta tedesca Audiophob, Dirk Serries firma un ritorno che è anche un’uscita: un allontanamento dall’umano per abitare la rarefazione cosmica dell’ascolto puro. Qui la musica non racconta nulla, ma assorbe tutto. Limitato a 300 copie, il disco stesso è già un oggetto di ritiro, un frammento per iniziati. In un’epoca ossessionata dalla moltiplicazione, Serries sceglie la sottrazione radicale: una serie di brani che non cercano il centro, ma orbitano pazientemente intorno a un vuoto generativo. È ambient, sì — ma non come sottofondo: come orizzonte. Un orizzonte che si muove lentamente, troppo lentamente per lo sguardo frettoloso, ma perfettamente visibile a chi ha smesso di cercare. Il titolo stesso, The Might Of Stars Sublime, non è una metafora: è un invito a perdersi in una vertigine luminosa che non abbaglia, ma seduce con lentezza. Serries lavora per erosione. Ogni suono pare levigato dal tempo, come se provenisse da una fonte che ha suonato per eoni, fino a diventare pura presenza. Non ci sono accensioni, non ci sono cadute: c’è una stasi che pulsa, che respira con un ritmo disumano e necessario. Il minimalismo che pervade l’album non è scelta stilistica, ma atto esistenziale. I suoni si distendono come linee di forza invisibili, tra tensione e abbandono, tra l’eco e l’origine. La grandezza evocata non è teatrale: è cosmologica. Una vastità che si fa prossimità intima, come quando il buio di una stanza coincide con la notte stellata. E proprio qui si annida la forza del disco: nella capacità di evocare un altrove che non è fuori, ma sotto la pelle. Il brano finale, “The Stars Sublime”, è più che un culmine: è una soglia definitiva. Lì Serries chiude il cerchio, o forse lo dissolve. Si tratta del suo brano più trasparente e profondo, un eco affettuosa a quel Microphonics XXIII – there’s a light in vein, ma con una luce più rarefatta, meno terrestre. Non è nostalgia, ma trasfigurazione. Non memoria, ma riemersione di un sentire arcaico, assoluto. In The Might Of Stars Sublime non c’è spazio per la comunicazione, né per la relazione. È un disco per chi ha scelto di non partecipare, per chi ascolta non per sapere, ma per sciogliersi. Serries non ci accompagna: ci abbandona gentilmente in un paesaggio dove tutto è lento, distante, eppure inesorabilmente vicino. È musica che non chiede attenzione, ma sottrazione. Che non vuole essere capita, ma contemplata. Un’opera isolazionista, radicalmente aliena al tempo comune. Una preghiera muta verso un cielo che non risponde. Ma che continua, ostinatamente, a brillare.
SALT PEANUTS REVIEW : The Might Of Stars Sublime is Serries’s solo electric guitar album that expands his minimalist ambient music, now with a motherboard of analog pedals and often colored with delicate, noisy, and distorted effects. The album was recorded at Serries’ home studio between July and August 2024, and its title is taken from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem «The Bliss of Absence» («…Powers eternal, distance, time, / Like the might of stars sublime,…»). The five pieces were created spontaneously and are expansive, accumulate to a bigger whole, and enjoy a rare kind of nocturnal, deep space harmonies. The last one, «The Stars Sublime», suggests the most beautiful and peaceful territory of this journey.
AMBIENT LANDSCAPE REVIEW : Dirk Serries’ latest excursion serves up soft, layered, sculpted loops combined with floating textures which meld into deeply flowing melodic tones as five distinct aural pathways forge an ambient landscape along a serendipitous sonic journey. It presents the listener with a calming and sustaining collection of beautiful atmospheres (with an occasional, subtle, feedback-oriented growl). Mr. Serries, while still (undoubtedly) striving for the next rung on the ethereal ladder, has perfected the craft of guitar drone-scaping (along with layering effects) and has cemented his “star, sublime” into the annals of outstanding ambient axe-men. Standout tracks (for me): Carved Into Oscillation & A Soft Glow. In a word . . . “Wonderful!”
SPONTANEOUS MUSIC TRIBUNE REVIEW : Tego artystę i dark ambientowy wątek jego twórczości nie trzeba na tych łamach komukolwiek przedstawiać. Muzyk, który kilka lat temu twierdził, że ambient to przeszłość, zdaje się w ostatnim czasie dostarczać coraz więcej nagrań w zadanej estetyce. Wszystkie je namiętnie śledzimy i rekomendujemy trybunowym fanom. Dziś produkcja domowa z lata ubiegłego roku. W kategorii dark ambientu taka, którą zwykliśmy określać mianem wzorcowej dla tej stylistyki. Pośród pięciu opowieści żadna nie ma oczywiście początku ani końca, płynie soczystą strugą gitarowego ambientu. Pierwszą z nich tworzą trzy wątki – krystaliczny ambient, warstwa codziennego kurzu i brudu, wreszcie basowa struga o zaskakująco kojącym zabarwieniu. W drugiej odsłonie narracja zdaje się być bardziej mroczna, płynie z głębin bezkresnego oceanu. Z czasem rozmywa się, odsuwa w cień. Otwarcie trzeciej historii jest ciepłe, niemal relaksacyjne. Rozbudowana warstwa szumu stawia jednak znak zapytania i skutecznie dominuje w dalszej części utworu. Czwarta część wydaje się sprasowana, matowa, przefiltrowana przez grubą kotarę teatralną. Szorstki flow ma jednak nieoczywistą intensywność. Wreszcie finałowa, łagodna, pożegnalna meta ballada, z nowym wątkiem, który brzmi jak nagie struny gitary. Smutna opowieść jednocześnie narasta i rozlewa się coraz szerszym korytem. Potem umiera w dalece metafizyczny sposób.
GONZO CIRCUS REVIEW : Op ‘THE MIGHT OF STARS SUBLIME’ (fraaie titel overigens) zijn ritmes absent, en volstaan een elektrische gitaar en analoge effectpedalen om grootse, epische kathedralen van geluid, laag per laag, op te trekken. Het eindresultaat is niets minder dan gelukzalige trance.
AUDIOVISUAL OHLSEN OVERKILL REVIEW : “The Might of Stars Sublime” ist ziemlich genau, was das Coverartwork von Serries‘ Gattin Martina Verhoeven verspricht: eine traumhaft schwebende, sanfte Entrückung in atmosphärische Ambient-Transzendenz. An- und abschwellende Flächen aus Gitarren- und Effektklängen, pur und schnörkelos schön, schmeicheln das Ohr und die Seele. Scheinbar simpel und doch voll profunder Tiefe. Dirk ist hier ganz in seinem Element und erinnert an einen lichteren Zwilling von Justin Broadricks Soloprojekt Final. Wunderbar!
JAZZ’HALO REVIEW : Regelmatig duikt materiaal op van Dirk Serries bij andere labels. Dit is zijn debuut voor het Duitse Audiophob. ‘The Might Of Stars Sublime’ staat voor scenografische soundscapes zonder extreme actiemomenten maar met eerder introspectief karakter en een tikkeltje magisch realisme. Een bijwijlen sombere toonaard hoort daarbij. Kortom, een eigen systematiek van Serries om verhaallijnen met minuscule wijzigingen op te bouwen. Ook te omschrijven als gitaar ambient maar wel degelijk à la Dirk Serries. Opgenomen in zijn “home studio” vorige zomer in de loop van de maanden juli en augustus en uitgebracht als digipack met foto’s van Martina Verhoeven.
ROCKERILLA REVIEW : L’estate del 2024 Dirk Serries l’ha passatta a guardar le stelle. Quindi con la sua inseparabile sei corde ha cercato di di descriverne la natura. Il risultato è raccolto nelle cinque lunghe tracce del suo ultimo Cd, The Might Of Stars Sublime, appena pubblicato dalla tedesca Audiophob. Un suono elettrico che si trasforma fino a rendersi irriconoscbile: tra le mani del musicista belga il feedback controllato diventa una sinfonia di microsuoni. Le cinque tracce del cd sono legate quasi senza soluzione di continuit. Minime variazioni inducono in stati di meditazione che trasportano i neuroni su orbite stellari. Cinque brani di ESTATICA AMBIENT MUSIC.
Super excited to announce the new live album by YODOK III is set to be released on Belgium’ CONSOULING SOUNDS on September 19th. Pre-order for this cd are now possible here. Definitely check out the album teaser and embrace yourself in the devastating beauty of YODOK III’s realm.
At the heart of Trondheim rises Nidarosdomen: Scandinavia’s great cathedral, the northernmost Gothic monument of the Middle Ages, built upon the resting place of Saint Olav. Within its stone walls breathes the colossal Steinmeyer organ, 9,600 pipes of air and thunder. A space made not only for prayer, but for ritual.
When YODOK III was invited to perform in this sacred colossus, the idea of summoning Petra Bjørkhaug to the Steinmeyer organ arrived like an inevitability. To let the cathedral itself speak through her hands, to allow its immensity to swell and entwine with YODOK III’s shifting tides of sound.
This album is the document of that night. An audience seated sideways beneath vaulted arches — for no one may turn their back on the cross — witnessed a music that slowly transfigured. YODOK III became something more, something larger: a dialogue between trio, organ, and cathedral. It is a testament not only to sound, but to presence, reverberation, and the living breath of Nidarosdomen itself.
Over the course of the next months we’ll highlight every month an album or project from the vast VIDNA OBMANA back catalog. We initiate the series with PRINCIPLE OF SILENCE, a project that VIDNA OBMANA and Belgian jazz double bass player JORIS DE BACKER formed some 23 years ago. The duo focused on creating a live melange of ambient, ethnic, classical and free form jazz-inspired music. The live interaction between them was unique. Incredibly enough they played every concert in a church or chapel, two of them were 5-hour marathons as part of the ‘night of the museum’ the city of Antwerpen organised in the Summer of 2002 and 2003. They self-released one album. For a limited time their 4 digital live albums are available at ‘name your price‘. Thank you for your support !
dirkserries.com 