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May/June 2007 reviews (A-Z)
Artist: Asura This French act's debut album Code Eternity (2000) holds the honour as the one that launched iconic psy-ambient label Ultimae Records. So it seems only fitting that Asura's latest release continues to shine Ultimae's beacon so brightly. The epic Life Squared captures remaining member Charles Farewell in spellbinding form. Opening with an orchestral, almost cinematic overture the album then traverses most points of the ambient trance and ethno ambient compass with emotion, invention and kind of tension-and-release dynamics that can make you feel giddy if you happen to be standing up (my advice: sit down and stay there). “Galaxies part 1” is a cosmic drone so deep and wide you may get lost and not return for several days. The beatless “Prophecy” is an ecstatic meeting of lush strings and several different vocal chants. Storming 4/4 club grooves drive several tracks but given that these chug along at a modest 120bpm they work for both dancers and chillers. Kudos also to Ultimae alchemists Vincent Villuis and Huby Sea for another absolutey first class mastering job. Play it loud, play it often. This is everything ambient trance can be and "chill" music of any variety doesn't get any more moving. Rating: 5/5
Artist: Deepspace
I've always been particularly fond of spacemusic in the old-school style, whether about space up there or the spaces down here. The new album by Australian composer Deepspace covers both bases. The Barometric Sea is a high quality collection of floating cosmic hymns alongside impressions of more earthly spaces and environments. The Deepspace sound is familiar enough to catch the ears of spacemusic fans while at the same having enough original textures and colours so as to not sound like anyone else in particular."Astrology" plays off a lonely and lovely piano signature against a gentle loop of synthetic chords. The title track "Barometric Sea" is ravishing: its purity of tone and static, Zen-like quality is worthy of Aphex Twin. This is a great album in the classic spacemusic mould: subtle, poised and quietly awe-inspiring. Rating: 4/5
Artist: Tristan Feldbauer
Radiating from the core of Swiss musician Tristan Feldbauer's third album is an early digital synth sound that for me defines some peak moments in 80's pop. Musos will probably know the original keyboard instrument by name. Me, I just know it from classic synthpop moments like "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" by The Korgis and "Drive" by The Cars. On Recordings Feldbauer and his three collaborators perform 12 exquisite ambient pop instrumentals all wrapped in that same floating, hovering sound that stretches off to the horizon. The crisp drum programming is simple and effective, the basslines warm and true. The melody lines are handled by a variety of keyboards and occasional jazzy guitar. By turns melancholy, nostalgic and bittersweet, the music often feels like a glide through an neon-lit urban landscape and not surprisingly it makes a fantastic album for the car. Recordings is special, there's no better word for it. Rating: 4.5/5
Artist: Erdem Helvacioglu
It's been a long time since I listened to any new music from New Albion, one of those indefinable labels of the old school known for its innovative strands of ambient, classical and avant-garde electronica. Turkish musician Helvacioglu created this unique piece of work with acoustic guitar fed through a variety of processors and digital alterations and recorded in real-time with no post-production. Altered Realities sounds like nothing else I've heard on guitar in recent years. The sounds are crystalline in texture, the production clean and detailed without being too polished. The strums and reverberations shift between something you can almost hum along to through to shimmering patterns of colour and tone that ripple across the landscape. Weirdness and dissonance occasionally take over but not for quite long enough to have me reaching for the stop button. Sometimes beautiful, often eerie, unquestionably original. Rating: 3.5/5
Artist: Justin Robert
A mature and thoughtful collection of beatless and gently experimental ambience. Although inspired by by environmental impressionists like Eno and Steve Roach, this American composer also veers into deeply personal territory at times. Among the soft-focus sounds and dappled colours of Manasota there's suffering as well as joy, intimacy as well as cool detachment. Sonically the music ranges all over the place from lovely tonal passages to surreal, disintegrating, washed-out layers of sound. More often than not, the album works. There's some guitars, strings and flute in there and various machine buzzes and drones; beyond that, the sources of Robert's sounds are probably known only to him. Which is nice. Rating: 3/5
Artist: Ulrich Schnauss
I'll cut to the chase: I found this a massive disappointment. If you've already heard this talented German composer's previous two efforts, Far Away Trains Passing Bye (2001) and A Strangely Isolated Place (2003), you may well agree. Those albums were wonderful pieces indie-flavoured ambient pop-rock which showcased his unmistakably big, layered, arcing sound. Soon rock and dance producers everywhere discovered him and were begging Schnauss for remixes, and remix for them he did. Perhaps the weight of expectation from the cool crowd for his next solo album has proved too much? Goodbye is certainly ambitious. The main problem is that it revels in so many overdubs and such a dense sound that a genuine sense of groove and momentum is frequently lost. Where's the simplicity? Production prowess alone doth not great music make. The melodic writing here is either dull or too familiar. There's also an overabundance of guest vocals in the swirling mixes which, although mostly unintelligible, still manage to strip the music of some of the ambiguous qualities that helped define his instrumentals of yore. Rating: 1.5/5
Artist: Tauchsieder
In the 70’s and 80’s dreamy experimental electronica like this used to be called art rock. Now its called, um, well art rock if you like, even if the technology used to make the music has changed radically. British trio Tauchsieder have created a rather wondrous thing with with their second album. It draws inspiration from diverse sources: Eno’s landscaped ambience, industrial noise, electropop, ambient techno and more. Slowly morphing, landscaped drones dominate proceedings, these long beatless passages bridged by bits of atonal noise and distortion, radio chatter, odd interview bytes and a few excursions into bleeps and beats. The music of Louder is dark-ish but not isolationist, experimental but rarely abrasive to the point of annoying. Surrender to it on its own terms and you may find this revelatory with repeated listens. Rating: 3.5/5
Artist: Various
Just what psychedelic chill actually is in 2007 remains an open-ended notion thanks to a relatively small number of artists and labels like Aleph Zero Records. With the previous compilation Natural Born Chillers (2004) Aleph made a definitive statement with a collection that drew on the genre's more traditional sources - trance, Arabic and dub music. Now comes Midnight Soul Dive, an altogether different release which moves into some new and strange territories. While demanding more of your time and patience than the usual fare, it crucially stops just short of the line between listener engagement and alienation. There's still melody and tonal sounds everywhere, but compositionally much of the music is less obvious and arranged very differently. German act Krill Minima develops a slow, crackly click-groove over which electric piano figures are scattered like pebbles skimming over the surface of a pond. The surreal "Prana" by Anahata suggests what the more meditative strains of Indian music might sound like if practitioners swapped their traditional instruments for synths and samples. More familiar but just as creative is UK artist Ishq/Elve (Matt Hillier), one of the scene's most idiosyncratic talents. Here he shows his special way with sparkling, pristine sound paintings that suggest nature-as-paradise themes without any cloying new-age sentiment. This is an essential album of progressive, beautiful, genre-busting ambient. Rating: 4.5/5
Artist: Various
Greek downtempo label Cosmicleaf has now firmly established its style after a dozen or so releases since 2004. If you like psytrance and proper progressive trance Cosmicleaf offers the ambient flipside of those sounds, sometimes filtered through dub, lounge and slow breaks. Nova Natura part 3 shares its name after the radio show hosted by founder Nick Miamis, heard online every two weeks on DI.FM's Chillout Channel. Once again he serves up a range of down-to-midtempo beat patterns unified by exotic colours, plenty of melody and the crisp, creative production that is the label's trademark. "Life Support" shows label regular Side Liner still excelling at epic sweeps and pretty, uplifting arpeggios. The standouts are two dark-tinged cuts by Chronos and Will O' The Wisp, mysterious and beautiful tunes among a sizable quota of fluffy tracks which breeze pleasantly past without firing the imagination. Which begs the question: with Cosmicleaf's territories now so well defined, where to from here? Rating: 3/5
Artist: Wombatmusic Here’s a dance/psy-trance composer cutting a different path into the world of chill. I’m tiring of psy chill by-the-numbers with its pretty arpeggios, Eastern motifs and dubby beats all made with the same old presets and samples. Kristin Thinning Anderson aka Wombatmusic has created a beats-based ambient record that’s much fresher and less definable. Elements of trance, electro, African, Latin and classical music all play a part. Just why it’s different is not easy to describe. Perhaps it comes down to Anderson’s personal quirks and, particularly with his drum and percussion programming, a refusal to go with the obvious. It also has quite a spare sound, still exotic but subtley so. The mix of mysticism and humanitarian concerns suggested by the samples and vocal refrains is a bit muddled, though it does make for yet another point of difference on this intriguing album. Rating: 3.5/5
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