AmbientMusicGuide.com

The early albums of Israeli duo of Yaniv Shulman and Omri Harpaz were rather too derivative of psy-chill icons Shpongle to be classics, despite frequent flashes of originality and brave experimentation. By the time of their third album, however, Shulman had escaped Shpongle's shadow to become a downtempo electronic act with its own special combination of beauty, quirks and musicality.

Random Thoughts appeared at a time - the mid 2000's - when downtempo music from the global psychedelic trance scene was plentiful but increasingly formulaic. Many producers seemed content to wheel out the same old presets and samples: trancey arpeggios, plundered ethnic voice samples and slow dubby drum loops. Add a Terrence McKenna spoken sample or two and presto! - another piece of fodder for doofers, trippers and stoners.

In stark contrast Random Thoughts felt like a blast of fresh air at the time and, even though it's a collection of bits and pieces rather than a single focused project, it remains a great collection of tracks. The band's genuine compositional ability benefits greatly from their quest to keep uncovering fresh sounds and combinations with music technology. From the brooding, stuttering tech-lounge of the eleven-minute opener "OMG" to the beatless and bleepy collage of "Staring At The Abyss", the requisite surrealism of the genre no longer sounds tired. There's variety aplenty too; "Look Honey" is mad electronic jazz and something of a misstep but the vocal track "I Dive" is a totally immersive, deeply dreamy ambient pop song. The album also includes three remixes the duo have done for other artists, highlighted by a reworking of Entheogenic's "Spaced" which gets an unexpected and brilliant touch with a Hammond organ solo.

Endless Rhythms Of A Beatless Heart finds Shulman still treading their own distinctive path with a mixture of ultra crisp beats, Arabic flavours, shimmering chords and geometric shapes. It works best when it follows a convincing melodic line; a couple of glitchy, squawky tracks come off as decidedly cold but they're not enough to overshadow what is another inventive and beautiful album. The shining jewel here is the 12-minute “Transmissions In Bloom", a haunting and inspired exploration around a simple chord progression with melodic contributions from electric guitar, vocal chants and Moroccan wind instruments. It's a stunning track, high on the all-important goosebump factor, slowly building and unfolding with such a profound sense of longing you don’t want it to end.

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