Austere (EDM group)
Austere is an anonymous electronic music group known for producing work in a range of styles including classical minimalism, psybient, ambient, dark ambient, drone, glitch-ambient, and downtempo drum and bass. The group began collaborating in 1997, with their first release issued on January 1, 1998. Although they maintain anonymity, they are loosely based in Portland, Oregon, through an affiliation with Sound-O-Mat Recordings.
The two members of Austere have lived in several locations, including New York City, North Chatham in the United Kingdom, Portland, Seattle, Brighton, and San Francisco.
Their recordings in the classical minimalism genre, such as "Convergence", "Eco", "Pulse", and "Vox", draw influence from Steve Reich’s process music, particularly as described in his 1968 essay "Music as a Gradual Process".
Austere has collaborated with artists including Abstract Audio Systems from New York City, In The Now from Brighton, and Stephen Philips of Dark Duck Records.
The group has contributed music to various video and film projects. They provided the soundtrack for "The Thin Horizon", an independent film by Michael Peters of Artifexwerks in Forest Grove, Oregon. A track from the Dark Duck Records Drone Download Project was used in the independent film "Claude's Room". Their music has also been featured in several music videos, including "Abandon" and "Tiny Danser".
Members of Austere have also pursued solo projects under the names The Mystifying Oracle and Freq. Magnet. Freq. Magnet has released three full-length CDs, a DVD, and a track on a Hypnos compilation album.
Discography
The discography of Austere includes thirteen studio albums, four EPs, and ten compilation appearances. Several of these compilation contributions have been released through Hypnos. The group has also released a six-hour compilation box set that includes previously released material as well as three unreleased tracks.Albums
| Released | Title | Other information | Label |
| 18 January 1998 | Convergence | Originally a CDR released by the band. Reissued on CD by Sound-O-Mat Recordings in 2005. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings |
| October 1999 | Monodia | Limited edition of 50 and 15 promo copies, long out-of-print. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings |
| February 2000 | fade | Sound-O-Mat Recordings | |
| October 2000; reissued 2006 | Curio | First limited edition of 50 with gold foil. Reissued by Sound-O-Mat Recordings in 2006. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings |
| March 2003 | Remission | "Unreleased" in January 2004, replaced by Remittance CD. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings |
| December 2004 | Remittance | A "re-release" of Remission with two changed tracks and a remastering job. Free copies were offered to those who bought Remission via a "replacement kit". | Sound-O-Mat Recordings |
| 2005 | Eco | Artwork by Cat Rayburn. First CD design done by someone other than one of the band members. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings |
| 2005 | faded | A "demix" collaboration between Austere and Stephen Philips of Dark Duck Records, using their original CD release fade. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings ; co-released by Dark Duck Records. |
| 2007 | Pulse | The third of their Steve Reich inspired process music releases. | Hypnos Secret Sounds. |
| August 2007 | rirrom | All information on CD package is backwards, printed on "mirror-like" material, and can be read by holding up to a mirror. | Blue Water Records. |
| 10 February 2008 | Solyaris | The first on Hypnos main label. | Hypnos. |
| 18 January 2009 | The Sound of Silence I: An "Unnatural History" of Rare and Unreleased Tracks | Box set comes with all tracks in 320Kbs CBR MP3 format on a SanDisk flash card in an MP3 player. Released exactly ten years after band's first release. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings. |
| 13 January 2012 | Euterpe | The first on relaxedMACHINERY art /music / community label. | relaxedMACHINERY. |
DVDs
Releases
- Convergence – self-released, 1998; reissued by The Sound-O-Mat, 2004
- Monodia – self-released limited edition of 100, 1999
- fade – self-released, 2000
- Curio – first limited edition of 50 with gold foil, 2000; second unlimited edition, 2006
- distance, 2002
- Remission – Sound-O-Mat Recordings, 2003; "unreleased" in 2004
- evergone, 2004
- Remittance – Sound-O-Mat Recordings, 2004
- Eco – Sound-O-Mat Recordings, 2005
- faded – Sound-O-Mat Recordings, 2005; co-released by Dark Duck Records
- faded DVD – Sound-O-Mat Recordings, 2006
- Pulse – Hypnos "Secret Sounds" imprint, 2007
- mirror – Blue Water Records, 2007
- The Sound of Silence I: An Unnatural History of Rare and Unusual Tracks – Sound-O-Mat Recordings, 18 Jan 2008
- Solyaris – Hypnos, 2008
Compilations
Each is a single track title followed by the compilation it appeared on.- Diapason on The Drone Download Project Year 1 – Dark Duck Records
- Whainer on The Drone Download Project Year 1 – Dark Duck Records
- Tea-Totaled on The Drone Download Project Year 2 – Dark Duck Records
- The Hills Are Alive on Full Cold Moon: A Tribute to Jhonn Balance –
- Big Bang into Particle Acceleration on Space Collaboration – The Ambient Collective
- Wend on The Drone Download Project Year 3 – Dark Duck Records
- The Cuce on Orgambient: Long Form Ambient Vol. 1 – Blue Water Records
- Alchemy on Lena – Alchemy of Fingers and Dark – Hypnos
- Puissant on The Drone Download Project Year 4 – Dark Duck Records
- Fasciculate on The Drone Download Project Year 5 – Dark Duck Records
- Crystil on Messages from a Subatomic World – Hypnos