Appearing music;
post-rock, jazz, electronic, minimalism, ambient...
appearing together and in different combinations.
PERENNIALS original Animated Film Soundtrack
dren mcdonald
PERENNIALS is a VR Animated Film which debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2023, produced and published by Meta and Directed/Created by Zoe Roellin, and the soundtrack was just released on Appearing Records.It is available on Bandcamp HERE and all the usual streaming platforms.
AppleMusic (in Atmos and stereo)
Spotify
Tidal Music (Atmos and stereo)
AmazonMusic
DeezerThere is a video of the soundtrack, featuring animated backgrounds from the animated film is here on YouTube.
oceanic
dren mcdonald
OCEANIC is the new ambient record from Dren on Appearing Records.It is available on Bandcamp HERE and all the usual streaming platforms.
AppleMusic (in Atmos and stereo)
Spotify
Tidal Music (Atmos and stereo)
AmazonMusic
DeezerThe most recent video from this record, Delphinus Bursa is here on YouTube.There's been some nice press already for the 1st single, like this, or this, or this at Electronica UK, or this with the Slow Music Movement. The second single got a little love over here as well.
Cover art by photographer, Maddox McDonald
"McDonald, a versatile composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, continues to innovate in his latest project. His approach to creating immersive auditory experiences is evident in “OCEANIC,” offering listeners a rich, three-dimensional sound journey." - Electronica UK"The sound is rich and sonorous. Synths sound like French horns and guitars. But it remains a deliciously electronic palette. Everything about this is redolent of the deep ocean. There’s a chilly, rolling, lightly menacing and dark oiliness to everything. Properly skilled Ambient." - AcidTed (on Oceanic)"resembling an underwater equivalent of Daniel Lanois’ spacious Americana" - The Answer is In The Beat (on Oceanic)
Pterous
dren mcdonald
Appearing Records begins it's journey with a series of single pieces and a full length album by composer Dren McDonald. Each piece is an instrumental with layers and layers of guitars (acoustic, electric, baritone, 12 string, e-bowed, fretless bass etc), simulating a guitar orchestra.McDonald created this suite of pieces as a tribute to several people he was close to who had all passed away within the same narrow window of time. With the loss of these people all happening over a short span of time, the creation of something new in the name of their memory was cathartic and a way for McDonald to spend time with his memories of them as he composed and recorded each piece.McDonald used over 35 different instruments for this recording which he played himself. Using a variety of unorthodox microphone techniques, several different types of amplifiers and different combinations of microphones, this recording represents an attempt to create a new 'orchestral guitar' sound.PTEROUS is out now from Appearing Records, and represents a truly unique listening experience.*Pterous is available now at the following platforms:
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
A Mescaform Hill Music Story
A Mescaform Hill Music Story is a new approach to a soundtrack recording, just released by Appearing Records.Rather than release a series of short cues for this VR animation, where the tracks might be jumbled out of sequence and played out of context with playlists in random. So this is a 17 minute long, single piece of audio with all of the cues and sounds from the VR animation. The score features a live string quintet, African vocalists, fretless banjo, and modular synthesis.A Mescaform Hill Music Story is available now at the following platforms:
AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
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FYC - BEST NEW AGE, AMBIENT or CHANT ALBUM
OCEANIC - Dren McDonald
OCEANIC Streaming LinksBandcampYouTubeAppleMusic (in Atmos and stereo)SpotifyTidal Music (Atmos and stereo)AmazonMusicDeezer
"McDonald, a versatile composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, continues to innovate in his latest project. His approach to creating immersive auditory experiences is evident in “OCEANIC,” offering listeners a rich, three-dimensional sound journey." - Electronica UK"The sound is rich and sonorous. Synths sound like French horns and guitars. But it remains a deliciously electronic palette. Everything about this is redolent of the deep ocean. There’s a chilly, rolling, lightly menacing and dark oiliness to everything. Properly skilled Ambient." - AcidTed (on Oceanic)
Delphinus Bursa Music Video
Dren McDonald is best known for his video game scores (CounterStrike Global Offensive, Ghost Recon Commander, Stranger Things VR), but he's also written music for film, VR experiences, and theme parks. OCEANIC is his latest full length release, an ambient collection of instrumental pieces for Appearing Records, released on July 26, 2024.The sound of the ocean, both above water and below, has a mysterious calming effect on us. There is probably a reason that we are all drawn to staring at the ocean…to listening to the waves. While not looking to emulate specific sounds of nature or the sea, OCEANIC takes inspiration from the ocean and its effect on us.In addition to the ocean, McDonald also rekindled a spark for his favorite Eno Ambient series records as he began to record these pieces; exploring experimental timbres created with layers of his instruments recorded with unorthodox techniques. None of these pieces started out the same way. A modular synth patch might inspire a mood as much as an Ebow triggering electric guitar notes through several effects pedals and amplifiers. Field recordings pushed through granular synthesis or pedal steel guitar delays stacked on reverbs all provided layers and triggered ideas for OCEANIC. The instruments are all played by McDonald, and he also engineered, produced and mixed the record (stereo and Atmos).“Atmos is an ideal platform for ambient music,” says McDonald, “giving an artist the opportunity to think about how the listener experiences music in three dimensions. Since a large percentage of music fans are now listening to their music on headphones like AirPods or the Sony 1000XM5, they can experience Atmos through head tracking headphones. Fabricating a truly immersive listening adventure that more folks can currently enjoy is fun to think about while recording and mixing.”
OCEANIC will be available in Atmos on AppleMusic and Tidal, as well as stereo on all streaming platforms and Bandcamp on Jul 26, 2024.
Track listing as follows:1. Orcinus Bulla
2. The Kids
3. Physeter Coda
4. Oceanlight Meditation Vis
5. Beachlight Meditation Vis
6. Delphinus Bursa
7. Dusklight Meditation VisABOUT DREN
Dren spent the 90s running a label (Vaccination Records Co.) while playing in a few SF Bay Area bands on that label, and eventually wound up writing music for film, theme parks and many video games including CounterStrike Global Offensive (Valve), Ghost Recon Commander (Ubisoft) and Cooking Dash (GLU Mobile/EA), Gunman Taco Truck (Romero Games) and the award winning indie game, Gathering Sky (Pontoco). In addition to his game soundtracks, he also released The String Arcade (2014), polyheDren - Psychic (2022) a collaborative music project featuring his music with guests such as Josh Freese (Foo Fighters), Nels Cline (Wilco) and Iva Bittová (Nonesuch), and his guitar orchestra record, Pterous (2023). His music can also be heard in the ubiquitous SuperZoom Instagram feature, Stranger Things VR (Netflix/Tender Claws) and many other VR and MR interactive experiences.Other guest appearances by Dren in 2024In 2024 he also appeared as a guest on Melodic Virtue's Star Stunted II w/ Rob Crow, Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran) Roy Mayorga (Ministry), and as a guest on The Residents Secret Show (Live in San Francisco) - Cherry Red Records, arranging and performing two songs by The Residents for their 50th Anniv with a band that included Josh Freese (Foo Fighters) and guest performers including Les Claypool (Primus), Ego Plum (Cuphead Show), David J(Bauhaus) and The Residents themselves.