 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|
Through the 1990's most new-school ambient trance music came from labels whose main focus was the dancefloor - psy-trance labels like Spiritzone and Twisted, the more mainstream Lost Language and Hooj Choons, the Euphoria series and so on. The genre was crying out for someone game enough to take it a step further. Enter Vincent Villius and Sunbeam of French-based Ultimae Records, established in 2000 and one of the first labels to champion the genre full time with its "panoramic music for panoramic people". Some of it quite danceable, certainly, but nearly always with the enveloping ambience of psychedelic spacemusic in all its intriguing shades and colours. Ultimae's Fahrenheit Project compilations are brave and beautiful. They offer some of the richest, most creative and intelligent trance-based ambient you'll hear from artists anywhere on the planet, past or present. Fahrenheit Project part 1 is an impressive beginning and makes clear from the outset that Ultimae's definition of trance is open-minded and progressive. Aes Dana (a duo comprising of the label's co-founders) gives us something new and strange with the extraordinary "Skyclad". The opening oriental flute and eerie background drone could be textbook ethno-ambient until a percussive drum loop kicks in and casts its hypnotic spell. Also of note is Craig Padilla's beatless "Beyond Beta", jaw-droppingly beautiful and almost Berlin old-school ala Ashra with its warm, enveloping shroud of shimmering melody and sad synth chords. Fahrenheit Project part 2 is book-ended with two lovely drone tracks from American deep ambient composer Robert Rich - more proof that the various sub-genres associated with club music are far from the only ones catching the Ultimae's ears. Highlights in between include Chai AD's spellbinding "When The Effect Came" with its heady mix of acid house buzz, thick trip hop groove, Islamic wailing soaring alien-like synth chords. Swedish duo Vibrasphere's "San Pedro" is profoundly uplifting and great example of their talent for blending pretty acoustic guitar with seriously big, bass-driven techy dub. Fahrenheit Project Part 4 is another blinding collection, probably the best of the series so far and the ideal introduction to the Ultimae label. Puff Dragon's "Chinese Radio" is slow motion hypnosis with a thunderous 4/4 rock drum groove not unlike Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir", with the addition of a repetitive one-note arpeggio and snippets of a Chinese folk melody. And then comes that spoken mantra you can't get out of your head: "...perception... reality... perception... reality". Other highlights include Cell's "Audio Deepest Night" which is widescreen ambient trance at its most muted and achingly sad, while highly respected Polish outfit Aural Planet show their dense, pretty, uniquely intense sound to maximum effect on "Hydropoetry Cathedral". Fahrenheit Project part 5 (2005) starts well enough with ethereal gems from Jaia and Solar Fields but much of the rest doesn't capture the artists at their best. There's too much washed-out reverb and atmospheric fog swirling around a rather big hole where the meldoies were supposed to be. Maybe next time. Ultimae Records has set a standard for ambient trance and psychedelic slowbeats post-2000 that's exciting and deeply inspiring. As well as the first four Fahrenheit compilations the Ultimae catalogue also includes some striking single-artist albums - look out for releases by Solar Fields, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Aes Dana and Asura. |
