Format: LP
Label: Constellation Tatsu
Catalog: CATSU 005
Release date: 8/20/24
Track list:
1 7° 10° 77° 83°
2 The First Steps Onto Their Soil
3 Hotel Mona Lisa
4 Indistinguishable From Magic
5 A Big And Strange Place
6 Volcanic Institutions
7 From Fire, Ice
8 Embera
9 5,000 Feet Under The Surface
10 Blending All Of The Above
11 S-shaped Isthmus
12 Magnified Pieces Of Thermodynamics
13 The Signs Are Everywhere
14 Rights Of The Idea Or A Machine
Release description:
Following its release in the winter of 2018, “Landmarks”, a collaboration between veteran ambient artists Celer and Forest Management, initially drew quiet accolades and a steadfast listenership that has since swelled to unimagined proportions (~20 Mil. streams), resonating with listeners perhaps now more than ever and cementing its status as an experimental classic.
Inspired by Paul Theroux’s novel “The Mosquito Coast” and Peter Weir’s 1986 film adaptation of that book, “Landmarks” sets out 14 tracks in a “stunning hour of music” (The Quietus) that creates a “general sense of foreboding, critique of romantic retreat into individualism and colonialism” (A Closer Listen). The album is now offered on vinyl for the first time (originally out on cassette tape), newly remastered by Stephan Mathieu to enhance the depth and richness of this oneiric soundscape.
Both Americans, Celer (Will Long) resides in Tokyo, Japan and Forest Management (John Daniel) in Chicago, USA. “Landmarks” was born of their months-long collaboration, trading music back and forth and reshaping each other’s work using a series of patches, tape looping, and electronic manipulation. As a throughline in each piece we hear their distinct voices and cultural contexts blend to unique, often otherworldly effect, conjuring a dreamlike tension that refuses easy resolution. We are hooked by a mood that captured listeners back in 2018 and continues to hold us today in the context of current events, related disquietudes, and a nostalgic longing for solutions that may be more imaginary than real.
Press reviews:
Headphone Commute
Here is another gorgeous ambient album from the era before the absurdity of these times, which kept me centred and, to some extent, calm. It’s a perfect record to end this ⟪ REW | FF ⟫ column since I feel that I’ve riled myself up a bit with the doom and the gloom. And yet, even back then, for this record released on Constellation Tatsu in the winter of 2018, the two veteran ambient musicians, Tokyo-based Will Long (as Celer) and Chicago-based John Daniel (as Forest Management) were already contemplating a new interpretation of a soundtrack, “nostalgic for a different time, something that’s only partly imagined, and without the defined predictions about the life cycles of mass culture based on our limited understanding of current events.” Here, custom patches, samples, and loops are drowned out and manipulated through tape, dissolving their essence in that beautiful, dreamlike, lo-fi glow that is so prevalent on productions by these two musicians. Filled with field recordings and symphonic alterations, the album appears to be easy-listening on the surface. And yet, throughout this hour of music, there is an undercurrent of unease, slight tension, and unresolve, which is precisely what leaves you imparted, slightly perturbed, and emotionally touched. And all music should make you feel something, don’t you agree? Originally released on a cassette tape, the album is now available for the first time on vinyl, remasted by, you guessed it, none other than Stephan Mathieu again at Schwebung Mastering. You can pick up a limited edition 12″ directly on Bandcamp.