| Austere | |
| Origin: | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Genre: | Ambient, drone, minimalism |
| Years Active: | 1998 – present |
| Label: | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (2001-present) Hypnos (2006-2011) Blue Water Records (2007-2010) Dark Duck Records: Drone Download Project (2001=2--8) relaxedMACHINERY (rM) (2010-2012) |
| Associated Acts: | The Mystifying Oracle, Freq. Magnet |
| Website: | http://austere.org |
| Current Members: | anonymous |
| Past Members: | anonymous |
Austere is an anonymous, obscurantist electronic music group that has covered a wide variety of styles in their releases: Classical Minimalism, psybient, psychedelic ambient, ambient, dark ambient, drone, glitch-ambient, and downtempo-style drum and bass music, which out of deference to Coil they spell "musick." The group started working together in 1997, with their first release on 1 January 1998, and is loosely based in the Pacific Northwest in Portland, 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; North Chatam UK, UK; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; Brighton, UK and SF, CA amongst many more.
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.
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.
| Artist: | Austere |
| Caption: | Austere Logo (2007) |
| Studio: | 13 |
| Ep: | 4 |
| Live: | 1 |
| Soundtrack: | 2 |
| Video: | 2 |
| Singles: | 10 |
| Option Name: | Collection |
| Option: | 1 |
The discography of Austere, includes thirteen studio albums, four extended play CDEPs, ten compilation appearances, including several on Hypnos and a 6-hour compilation box set of previously released and three unreleased tracks.
| Released | Title | Other information | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 January 1998 | Convergence (CD) | Originally a CDR released by the band. Reissued on CD by Sound-O-Mat Recordings in 2005. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#01) | |
| October 1999 | Monodia (CDR) | Limited edition of 50 and 15 promo copies (65 total), long out-of-print. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#02) | |
| February 2000 | fade (CDR) | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#03) | ||
| October 2000; reissued 2006 | Curio (CDR) | First limited edition of 50 with gold foil. Reissued by Sound-O-Mat Recordings in 2006. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#05) | |
| March 2003 | Remission (CDR) | "Unreleased" in January 2004, replaced by Remittance CD. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#06) | |
| December 2004 | Remittance (CDR) | 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 (SOM#08) | |
| 2005 | Eco (CD) | Artwork by Cat Rayburn. First CD design done by someone other than one of the band members. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#09) | |
| 2005 | faded (CDR) | A "demix" collaboration between Austere and Stephen Philips of Dark Duck Records, using their original CD release fade. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#10); co-released by Dark Duck Records. | |
| 2007 | Pulse (CDR) | The third of their Steve Reich inspired process music releases. | Hypnos Secret Sounds (hss10). | |
| August 2007 | rirrom ("mirror") (CDR) | 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 (CD) | The first on Hypnos main label. | Hypnos (hyp2753). | |
| 18 January 2009 | The Sound of Silence I: An "Unnatural History" of Rare and Unreleased Tracks (box set with MP3 player) | 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 (SOM#11). | |
| 13 January 2012 | Euterpe (CD) | The first on relaxedMACHINERY art /music / community label. | relaxedMACHINERY (rM_0021). |
| Year | Title | Other information | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August, 2000 | distance (CDR) | A collaboration with In The Now from Brighton, U.K. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#04) | |
| 2004 | evergone (CDR) | A collaboration with Abstract Audio Systems from New York City, New York. | Sound-O-Mat Recordings (SOM#07) |
| Year | Title | Other information | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Diapason | Drone Download Project Year 1 (data 2xCD) | Dark Duck Records (DDP #1) | |
| 2001 | Whainer | CD-only bonus track on The Drone Download Project Year 1 (data 2xCD) | Dark Duck Records (DDP #1) | |
| 2003 | Tea-Totaled | Drone Download Project Year 2 (data CD) | Dark Duck Records (DDP #2) | |
| 2004 | The Hills Are Alive | Track on Full Cold Moon: A Tribute to Jhonn Balance (MP3) | Dark Winter | |
| 2005 | Big Bang into Particle Acceleration | Track on Space Collaboration (MP3) | The Ambient Collective | |
| 2005 | Wend | Drone Download Project Year 3 (data CD) | Dark Duck Records (DDP #3) | |
| 2006 | The Cuce | Track on Orgambient: Long Form Ambient Vol. 1 | Blue Water Records | |
| 2007 | Alchemy (Gold Into Lead demix) | Track on Lena - Alchemy of Fingers and Dark CDS | Hypnos | |
| 2007 | Puissant | Drone Download Project Year 4 (data CD) | Dark Duck Records (DDP #4) | |
| 2008 | Fasciculate | Drone Download Project Year 5 (data CD) | Dark Duck Records | |
| 2008 | Crystil | Track on Messages from a Subatomic World CD | Hypnos |
| Film | Studio | Year | Producer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast 'n' Bulbous - A Tribute To Captain Beefheart (Song "Electricity") | unknown | 1988 | none | |
| The Thin Horizon | Artifexwerks | 2006 | Artifexwerks | |
| Claude's Room | unknown | 2008 | unknown |
All Austere releases are distributed by the ambient label Hypnos Records, and the band has signed with the labels Hypnos and Blue Water Records in 2007.