Matthew Ryan & Hammock – Like New Year’s Day (Single) (2011)

Genre : Ambient, Post-rock, Singer/songwriter
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Tracklist :

01. Like New Year’s Day (Matthew Ryan Mix)
02. Like New Year’s Day (Hammock Mix)
03. Like New Year’s Day (Edit)

Hammock collaborated with singer/songwriter Matthew Ryan and released a single together called ‘Like New Year’s Day’ which was released on January 1st, 2011, new years day. There are 3 versions of the song, a Matthew Ryan Mix, a Hammock Mix and the original song itself.

Matthew Ryan

Born November 7, 1971, he is an American singer-songwriter whose music can be roughly characterized as alternative country. Ryan also collaborated with Neilson Hubbard to form the band Strays Don’t Sleep. Ryan’s voice has been described as a “hushed rasp, with words catching like vows destined to be broken – one of modern music’s most potent whispers.”

Perhaps the most underrated singer/songwriter of the past 12 years, Matthew Ryan arrived on the music scene in 1997 with Mayday. A combination of influences from Tom Waits, Waterboys and Bruce Springsteen can all be heard here, but the sound and songwriting are Matthew Ryan’s alone.

Hammock
An American two-member post-rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. With music created in between production and songwriting projects over the course of two years, Hammock combines live instrumentation, electronic beats, and droning guitar into atmospheric music similar in style to the work of Boards of Canada, Explosions in the Sky, and Stars of the Lid.

Hammock is a collaboration between Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson that developed out of informal recording sessions between songwriting projects. Hammock initially had no intention of releasing their studio efforts. After building up a collection of almost 40 songs, however, they changed their minds.

Hammock – Longest Year EP (2010) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Post-rock
Myspace
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Tracklist :

1. Longest Year
2. Dark Beyond the Blue
3. Cruel Sparks
4. Lonely, Some Quietly Wander in the Hall of Stars
5. One Another

The Nashville ambient band Hammock have had a strange and somewhat tragic year. In May, the first floor of co-founder Marc Byrd’s home was buried in rain water and debris, as the city endured an epic 100-year flood that wreaked havoc across Middle Tennessee. Then, on September 11th, a day that will forever be disquieting, the band was informed minutes before they took the stage in Hot Springs, AR that a man had been beaten to death not far from the club where they were to perform. Tragedy is a part of life, to be sure, but token phrases have yet to inoculate humans from the pain and confusion that tragedy can bring. Faced with misfortune, most of us bury our heads in the sand or medicate ourselves through dubious means. Conversely, Byrd, Andrew Thompson and regular collaborator Matt Slocum retreat to the studio, where for six years they’ve honed an otherworldly, cathartic sound they refer to as “Southern ambient.” It is among the South’s storied expanses that they find solace and redemption, a feeling that is easily telegraphed in their music.

Perhaps obvious at this point, the band titled their latest EP Longest Year because of the aforementioned trials they endured in 2010. And, though there are brief moments of wistfulness and melancholy found within its 32-minute run-time — thankfully, ambient artists are always bent on consumers getting their money’s worth — Longest Year transmits more hope and transcendence than any amount of darkness gleaned from the title. Like the Thomas Petillo photograph included with the release, the land (or, life, in the middle of tumult) may seem barren, but some choose to perceive this “death” as a new beginning. One gets the sense from these five songs that Byrd, Thompson and Slocum are of this mindset, men wise enough to discern what’s truly worth losing sleep over. Or, more importantly, what can be discerned about oneself or one’s impermanence in the midst of trouble.

Musically, Hammock is a band that trades in the slightest of nuances. To the impatient, this equates to each of their releases — there are nine total since 2004 — sounding roughly the same: Slow, dense, shadowy and possibly outright boring. Frankly, this music isn’t even meant for most modern, iPod-toting listeners (though, undoubtedly, they could be converted). Rather, as best heard on their most recent LP, Chasing After Shadows… Living With the Ghosts, Hammock (as the name infers) is a band worth taking in as a whole. Their work is experiential, crafted to soundtrack more than mere moments, but entire afternoons spent lost in thought or quaint appreciation for some surrounding beauty. Moreover, its impressionistic enough for you to find your own meaning within — album and song titles are the only words invoked to dictate feeling — but, it can’t be ignored that this music reflects its creators’ sober optimism about the world around them.

Hammock - Chasing After Shadows... Living With the Ghosts (2010) (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Ambient, Post-rock
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Tracklist :

1. The Backward Step 4:58
2. Tristia 5:46
3. Little Fly/Mouchette 5:52
4. Breathturn 6:00
5. In the Nothing of a Night 8:48
6. Andalusia 7:42
7. The Whole Catastrophe 3:52
8. The World We Knew As Children 5:39
9. Dust Is the Devil's Snow 6:43
10. How Can I Make You Remember Me? 4:55
11. You Lost the Starlight in Your Eyes 9:14
12. Something Other Than Remaining 3:10

Hammock is Nashville, Tennessee’s Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson. Known for their quietly emotive, melodic guitar washes, the duo debuted in 2005 with “Kenotic”, followed by an EP, “Stranded Under Endless Sky” (2005) and the LP “Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo” (2006). Hammock’s most recent release, Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow (May 2008), features original artwork by Riceboy Sleeps (Jonsi Birgisson of Sigur Ros and Alex Somers of Parachutes). “Maybe...” is the studio recording of the music that Byrd and Thompson unveiled at their first-ever live performance, which was at the after party celebration of the Riceboy Sleeps overseas debut art exhibition, held in Hot Springs, AR in August 2007.

‘Chasing After Shadows…Living with the Ghosts”, Hammock’s fourth album, captures the duo transitioning into a much larger, darker sound and merging their signature cosmic guitar washes with massive layers of live, acoustic instruments and thick analog tones. Masterfully mixed by Tim Powles, member of The Church, ”Chasing” transcends a mere listening experience by its emotional intensity and sheer beauty and is somehow able to convey one’s innermost longings into sound, making for an indescribable affirmation of the spirit.

Hammock - Raising Your Voice...Trying To Stop An Echo (AWESOME !!!)

Genre : Post-rock, Ambient
Myspace
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Tracklist :

1. I Can Almost See You 4:13
2. Raising Your Voice...Trying To Stop An Echo 5:01
3. Losing You To You 6:22
4. When The Sky Pours Down Like A Fountain 5:22
5. The House Where We Grew Up 4:16
6. God Send Us A Signal 4:33
7. Clouds Cover The Stars 1:28
8. Floating Away In Every Direction 6:41
9. Take A Drink From My Hands 4:59
10. Startle The Heavens (Lament) 4:19
11. More Dead Than Alive (Get Away From The Medicine) 1:11
12. Disappear Like The Morning... 4:46
13. ...Like Starlight Into Day 3:54
14. Shipwrecked (Flat On Your Back) 3:58
15. Chorus Of Trees 2:11
16. Passing Away 5:07
17. Will You Ever Love Yourself? 5:47
18. Sparkle And Fade 1:12

Hammock is the ambient / post-rock project of composers Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson. They debuted Hammock in early 2005 with the full length album Kenotic.

Since their debut, Hammock released an EP in mid-2005 called Stranded Under Endless Sky, and The Sleep-Over Series Volume One six months later in early 2006. In November 2006, Hammock released the full-length follow up to “Kenotic”, Raising Your Voice…Trying to Stop an Echo on Darla Records. In January, 2008 Hammock announced that their next full-length, a special release titled Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow would appear in May, 2008 and that the six-panel digipak for the record would feature original artwork by Riceboy Sleeps (an art collaboration between Jonsi Birgisson of Sigur Ros and Alex Somers of Parachutes).

A majority of Hammock’s music is ambient instrumental, save for a few tracks on Kenotic that feature haunting ethereal vocals. Their sound is “sleepier” than the brash, often obvious crescendos of their post-rocker cousins, reminiscent of 80’s Brian Eno and early 90’s Nick McCabe of the band The Verve.

Much of the later Hammock albums have been more instrumental and meditative, as on Marc Byrd’s conceptual album The Sleep-Over Series. Hammock has also been featured on NPR (National Public Radio), and tracks from the album Kenotic were used by NBC during the 2006 winter Olympics coverage.

[me]It's an 2006 released album. AN AWESOME ALBUM !!! Relaxing, Comforting, Beautiful Noise. Their new album is more "heavier."And for it's an difficult album to enjoy. So, so far, this is the best Hammock's album i've ever hear.

More Hammock's Albums :