Austere is an anonymous, obscurantist electronic music ‘band’ that has covered a wide variety of styles in their releases: psybient, psychedelic ambient, ambient, dark ambient, drone, glitch-ambient, downtempo-style drum and bass and Classical Minimalism music. The group started working together in 1997, with their first release on 01 January 1998, and is loosely based in the Pacific Northwest in Portlandia, Oregon due to their connection to Sound-O-Mat Recordings which is located there.
The two members have lived in various places, such as New York City, NY; London, UK; Portlandia, OR; Seattle, WA;Brighton, UK and SF, CA amongst many.
Their Classical Minimalism recordings: “Convergence”, “Eco”, “Pulse” and “Vox” all draw upon composer Steve Reich’s Process Music approach, as defined by his 1968 manifesto “Music as a Gradual Process.”
They have collaborated with a number of musicians/bands including Abstract Audio Systems (New York City), In The Now (Brighton, UK) and Stephen Philips, owner of Dark Duck Records.
They have contributed to videos and films: the soundtrack for The Thin Horizon, an independent film written, directed and produced by Michael Peters of Artifexwerks located in Forest Grove, Oregon; a track from the Dark Duck Records Drone Download Project was used Claude’s Room, also an independent film. They have also contributed to several music videos, such as the Abandon video, and most recently, the Tiny Danser.
It had been confirmed that both the members of the band are avid lovers of the popcorn variety of “Dum Dum’s” lollipops.
Austere’s members have recorded solo works, as The Mystifying Oracle and Freq. Magnet. The latter has released three full CDs, a DVD, and a recent track on a Hypnos compilation CD.
Links