Iowa-Based Ambient/Electronica Collective Releases Latest Podcast

Ambient Matyk, a loose collective of musicians in the Cedar Rapids area, has released a new podcast entitled "Russia's Very Low Frequency Station" via main organizer Mark Rushton's web site.

The 17 minute podcast contains a long, drifty piece of improvised ambience which is inflused with live and improvised shortwave tuning, bass guitar, and real-time mixing. Mark Rushton mixed loops using his laptop and provided the shortwave sounds while Jon Harnish played bass.

The podcast can be obtained from http://podcast.markrushton.com and a subscription feed (RSS 2.0) can be obtained at http://feeds.feedburner.com/MarkRushtonmarkrushtoncomPodcast

You can also obtain the MP3 file directly via: http://www.markrushton.com/music/podcast/051030-markrushton-P7-russiasvlf.mp3

Russia's Very Low Frequency Station was recorded on Saturday, October 15, 2005, at the Matyk Building in the New Bohemia section of downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Ambient Matyk collective meets at this location once a month to create recordings which are later edited and put into podcasts.

Rushton describes the recording:

"The loops I used were significantly slowed down, abused, and pitch-shifted. The shortwave broadcasts I found were recorded live as well. Everything else was done improvisationally and was not overdubbed."

"After listening to it for a couple of weeks, it sort of reminds me of a couple of artists. The keyboard part in the background sounds like 1980's-era Harold Budd, all slowed down and drifting in and out. Other parts remind me of tracks from Loscil's 2004 release called 'First Narrows.'"

Rushton's podcasts have been a considerable hit on the internet. A recent live recording that Rushton and Harnish created in Iowa City in September has received well over 1000 downloads in the past month. A 34-minute long slice of improvised electronica at the Ambient Matyk in September has also been downloaded over 1000 times.

Says Rushton, "I'm not worried about making a big splash in Cedar Rapids or even the midwest. This is about providing wonderful music for a global audience. Jon and I and others just happen to live in Iowa, and that's where we're making the music."

For more about Mark Rushton's music, podcasts, CDs, free MP3s, and original fine art, visit http://www.markrushton.com