All of our musick is engineered, mastered, and produced, as well as oft-times (re)mixed at The Sound-O-Mat studios. We highly recommend them for your post-production studio needs.
We’ve covered a lot of ground since 1998:
Member Since: 8/8/2005
Band Website: austere.org
Band Members:
If we considered ourselves a "band" we'd probably be members of it. Maybe.
We are happy to be represented and distributed by the amazing ambient label Hypnos as well as the friendships that've come with it.
We also have to acknowledge all the post-production and mastering work, as well as the release of "Eco" and reissue of "Convergence" by The Sound-O-Mat , who was also behind the Freq. Magnet DVD release of " Principium Somniferum " and the new Austere DVD version of " faded ". We can't recommend their services highly enough.
Q: Why "Austere"?
A: We mean it in the older sense of "simple; plain; unadorned; minimal" rather than "severe; stern; forbidding; ascetic". Mostly we thought it looked nice, and we like the idea of being filed between "The Aphex Twin" and "Autechre". We prefer to pronounce it "awe-steer" rather than "awe-stare" but you can use whichever you prefer. We also answer to "hey you!".
Q: How would you describe your musick?
A: Musick is hard to describe, so we just fall back on the vague term "Ambient".
Q: Ambient? So you sound like The Orb?
A: No, we're old school ambient, props to Mr. Eno. Most of our stuff doesn't have a beat, and you can't bug out to it.
Q: So you're New Age wankers?
A: We're much too weird for the Windham Hill crowd, a bit too mellow for the ravers, and we look horrid in all black.
Q: So what exactly are you trying to do?
A: We like musick that you can really listen to or totally ignore, depending on your mood. We try to make musick that sounds differently every time it's heard. We want to make musick that's like taking a trip inside your head.
Q: Why the obscurity?
A: Maybe we're daft, but we think that the musick is the only thing that's important, not the personalities behind it.
Q: Isn't that rather pretentious?
A: Not intentionally.
Influences
So many to list, but we agree on: Coil, Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Arvo Part, Stars of the Lid, Viridian Sun, Phillip Glass, Simon Posford (all of his many projects), Edgard Varese, Bob Moog, Stravinsky, Edgard Varèse, Pierre Schaeffer, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Lamonte Young, Tony Conrad, ....
Those we've collaborated with: Mat (In The Now) , Evan (Blue:Tech, aka Poo:Tech), Ben Hudgins (Abstract Audio Systems) , Stephen Phillips (Dark Duck Records) .
What kind of drug are you?
Ketamine.
You are ketamine. Special, trippy, outgoing and spiritual.
Sounds Like:
Here's some words we or other people have used: atmospheric, gorgeous, ambient, cathedral-like, somber, ebbing and flowing, minimal, electronic, surreal, moody, abstract, soothing, psychedelic, subtle, relaxing, lush, colourful, spooky, quiet, evolving & bloody shite.