RYAN VAN WINKLE & RAGLAND “Red, Like Our Room Used To Feel” (Forest Records)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? An electronic composer and a spoken word artist getting down together to take you on a softly spoken journey. Beeps, bleeps, voice loops, mechanical beats and tender imagery create world to get lost in.
IS IT ANY GOOD? This is not a release for the casual listener as each song is part of a whole and in order to understand what is going on you have to listen to each word, each poem and mood as a whole. Ryan Van Winkle reminds me of Billy Collins, using simple language and everyday situations and objects to create a world recognisable yet personal. He speaks softly and without a forced rhythm, letting the words sit over the music naturally, almost hypnotically. There are moments and songs where the use of effects on the voice and looping the voice seems more to detract from the poems themselves; these effects often feel like someone going “we have these toys so we might as well use them” rather than reinforcing or adding to the general feel of the music. The music itself is often ethereal and otherworldly, more soundscapes than bona fide songs that add great atmosphere to the vocals, complimenting the imagery and visions declared in Ryan’s words. This release isn’t overly ambitious and doesn’t try to grab your attention with arrogance or swagger, in this sense it is more like an audio book that you can sit back and enjoy yet tune out if a phone call breaks the meditation. This release won’t be for everybody, and I’m hoping that the actual release has the poems in the cover booklet as they sound as if reading them would give just as much pleasure as listening.
WHERE IS IT? www.forestrecords.org

“Check out this neat poetry and music collaboration between Ryan Van Winkle (surely not his real name?) and Ragland (definitely not his real name). Red Like Our Room Used To Feel is available to steam or download for free. There is an optional donation of £3 which isn’t very much. The music is the soundtrack to a performance piece. I have given it a few listens and it is quite soothing and hypnotic stuff. Just thought I’d mention it.”

I have been working on this new compilation CD for the past few months – and it is now out! It features 22 tracks – brand new, unreleased or recent classics from members of the Forest Records Collective and a selection of special guests. The album features two Ragland tracks; “The Duke and Pines” from “Red, Like Our Room Used To Feel” and “Going Down” a brand new track from the forthcoming album “Volume Two”. You can listen to the album below and buy a copy from the website.

Suite Shop is a new musical project from Ragland. It is an album of instrumental pieces, each one named after a sweetshop favourite, each one leaving a tingly taste on the tongue. Click on the album cover to download the whole album for free. Here is the opening track, “Lemondrops”.

I have been working on this for the last six months and it’s great to see it up and running with a spanking new theme and the back catalogue available for listening and download…

Here is the opening track from the album, “The Flood”…