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November/December 2006
D. BATISTATOS Cosmicleaf's chill comps and artist albums usually show strong roots in psy and progressive trance, exploring the enormous potential of those styles in a downtempo context and building on them with sounds from other dance and electronic genres. Greek composer/producer and label regular D. Batistatos surprises with a debut solo album that has roots all over the place, which I find a source of both joy and frustration. The tempo is very consistently laid-back, the sounds softer-edged and airier, and trancey arpeggios when they do appear are often sitting back in the mix. His love of floating cinematic strings is apparent on "Crazy Sick Monkeys", "Shining" and the gorgeous "Mood That I'm In". The stoned rhythms and reverberating production techniques of dub also make an appearance, inevitably perhaps. The title track "Architect" takes the album on a left-turn with an urgent, rolling bassline and snarling guitar samples set against pretty minor-key strings. One of my fave psy-chill pieces "At The Bottom Of The Ocean" gets a remix that retains the original's ghostly beauty while reconfiguring the rhythm. Its a shame that all these shifts in style are not unified by a single vision; the art of album-making remains a work in progress. A more dynamic mixture of tempos wouldn't go astray, either. But I'm guessing none of that is too daunting a prospect for this talented 25 year-old. Rating: 3/5
ELECTRIC SKYCHURCH Cyberset is one of a new wave of eclectic music labels based in San Francisco, a city which in the 1990's was home to one of the greatest of all ambient and electronic labels Silent Records. Cyberset occupies the "new edge", aiming to unite a disparate roster of artists who share similar views on global community, personal growth and environmental awareness. Sonic Diary Singles by Electric Skychurch is an "unmixed" version of Sonic Diary (2001), an instrumental album highly regarded among ambient and electronic aficionados. Separating the tracks has been a mixed blessing, with a some moments like "Dark Prophecy" sounding like disconnected elements of a greater whole. The quality of James Lumb's writing and programming still shines through, however. Rhythmic and layered and mostly melodic, this music sounds like an ode to the joys of modern bleep as well as the timeless, bubbling melodies and euphoric synth swells of Tangerine Dream and the old school Berliners. The leisurely breakbeat of "Heaven" is a stunner, with bleepy melodic patterns circling above a spine-tingling chord progression so warm it just reaches out and hugs you. Lumb's creativity shines on "Full Moon Generator" an almost entirely percussive piece that engages with its fresh and original samples. The album would make a great DJ tool, too, but if you haven't heard the 2001 release get it first. Rating: 3/5 for this version, 4/5 for the original. San Franciscan breakbeat DJ/producer Brendan Angelides launches his downtempo moniker Welder on Vines And Stream. "Purple And Orange" is a fine piece of stoned, paisley breaks that rivals Bonobo or early Quantic. String sounds are popular, with "Ants Are Small" sampling orchestra and punchy violin phrases to good effect while "Shiva" has fun making strings, sitar and tamboura sound twisted and a little bit wrong. A few tracks of fidgety lo-fi noise seem to show off production prowess and little else, otherwise Vines & Stream is packed with good ideas and more than a little mischief. The chord changes and melodies often wander off in unpredictable directions thanks, I detect, to a certain jazz influence. Take your time with this album to fully soak up the weirdness - it's worth it. Rating: 3.5/5 Single Cell Orchestra has been on the electronic scene for years. Celldom V.1 offers crunchy, distorted breakbeats ala Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin but with a higher squelch factor and bigger, shinier synth chords which often have an 80's ring about them. This kind downtempo electronica is more of an acquired taste than most. Some listeners will be fascinated by the juxtaposition of pretty melodies with sharp and glitchy machine grooves, others will be just irritated. Rating: 2.5/5
GAS This remarkable work of ambient techno was originally released on the Emit label in 1995 but has long been out of print. Now UK composer Mat Jarvis (aka Gas, High Skies) has re-released the CD on his own label, remastered and repackaged and sounding no less strange and beautiful than it ever has. Aficionados of techno often talk about techno's soul, yet that very quality I've often found lacking in the electronic music coming out of the genre's birthplace of Detroit USA. Gas 0095, on the other hand, is very much the business. At the ambient end of the techno spectrum the Brits and Europeans rode an extraordinary wave of creativity in the early to mid 90's. This was defined most famously by the "electronic listening music" of Warp Records short-lived Artificial Intelligence series. Whether Warp and Jarvis ever crossed paths at the time I can only guess; while Gas 0095 would have fitted well enough with the Warp A.I. aesthetic it really does inhabit a world of its own. It's melodic yet abstract, mechanical yet lush; alien yet intimate. I've never heard machines sound so alive while still sounding so clearly like machines. Is this the sound of Isaac Asimov's humanoid robots let loose in a recording studio? A notion for sci-fi fans to ponder, perhaps. This remains the only Gas album to date and one upon which Emit carved its enviable reputation for innovation, quality and subtlety. Upon release one reviewer called it "the sound of machines crying". I'll say no more. Rating: 5/5
GENERAL FUZZ This is beautiful, intricate, loose and funky. San Francisco producer James Kirsch aka General Fuzz has recorded a fantastic instrumental record of melodic breakbeat and loungey chill. The album's first half is mid-tempo grooves sitting around the 120bpm mark and they bare some similarity to the complex ambient breaks of Sasha's brilliant Airdrawndagger album. Except that General Fuzz always places his melodies way forward in the mix - he's not making club music after all, despite its progressive house lineage - so even at low volume these pieces work a treat. Kirsch's live organ, guitar and electric piano playing is truly funky at times and his layering is exquisite. The second half is little less distinctive and detours into jazzy sax on "Liquid Jazz", smooching sunset atmospheres on "Lost" and "Bars Of Parma", and swelling violin with electric piano and bubbly breaks on "Lido". Unbelievable that this album is downloading for free on his website. Someone give this man a contract. Rating: 4/5
GLIDEASCOPE London beat scientist Glideascope has made an intimate and contemplative album that sounds distinctively different from most eclectic hip-hop based chill music. One reason is his obvious love of classical chamber and symphonic music, elements of which are woven throughout. The clean string sounds appear to be live rather than sampled and thus more immediate, echoing the work of arranger Graig Armstrong. In fact production-wise Audio Cinematography is one of the smoothest albums in the style I've heard excepting the rough-edged TV and radio voice samples. He's been compared to Nitan Sawney, a fair comment in so much as both artists both like to mix fusion music with political comment but Glideascope's grooves are more strongly rooted in hip hop and dub and he leaves more space in his music. The distinction between songs and instrumentals is often unclear, making this album a remarkably cohesive given its diversity of ideas. The Jamaican toasting on a few tracks is a yawn; a minor distraction on an otherwise intriguing release. Rating: 3.5/5
HAMMOCK A cursory listen to Hammock's second full-length album of cosmic guitar melancholia will inevitably draw comparisons to Icelandic ambient rockers Sigur Ros. Except that Hendrix and Pink Floyd were laying the foundations for this sound live on stage nearly 40 years ago, something forgotten by excitable reviewers who point to Ros as the source from which all dreamy guitar rock springs. Hammock's sad, epic music bathes the listener in multi-tracked electric guitars swimming in a sea of reverb and gentle distortion, sometimes alone, sometimes with piano, cello and/or a steady rock backbeat. It's a somber, fuzzy sound but crucially a melodic one too, with an appeal to both electronic ambient and indie rock listeners. The album's 16 tracks are mostly short instrumentals, and the few with vocals are also effective. The title track suggests what Oasis might sound like if Liam took a chill pill while the band played inside a very large cathedral. Not exactly an album to cheer you up, but one to turn up the volume and lose yourself in at the right time of day. Or night, if your neighbours are far enough away. Rating: 3.5/5
RENA JONES My dislike for the world of digital glitch music, that bastard child of binary code, will already be known to some readers. Is that the CD player stuck again? Or a dodgy CD burn? If you feel likewise, then take a few deep breaths because perhaps all that experimentation hasn't been in vein and the genre is not necessarily a creative dead-end. For cellist, violinist and electronic musician Rena Jones the clicks, scrapes and stutters are but just one subtle part of the beguiling and unique music of Driftwood. Her restraint in the use of these electronic elements coupled with her strong sense composition sounds like a logical end-point for glitch experimentation. The majority of this album is light years beyond the random doodling of nerds with laptops making the kind of noises that annoy dogs and make most of us wince. Meshed with this electronic element is Jones melodic writing for cello and violin, embellished further with electric piano and a steadily shifting palate of strange synthetic textures. Most tracks are somber and a little bit ambiguous without being at all alienating. Innovative and accessible: a meeting of the two does happen sometimes. Rating 4/5
K. LEIMER "Drone ambient" has long been a hallmark of serious electronic musicians, even if the notion inspires different things in different people. In the last 15 years it has often meant dark and dissonant ala Roach, Lustmord and others; this album heads in another direction. American composer Kerry Leimer has been releasing music for three decades now and his seventh album Statistical Truth is drone music of sorts, and more. This is my first encounter with his music and it's an absorbing and beautiful record. There's faint echoes of Fripp and Eno's tape-loop music in places; the luminous glow of Budd and Solyaris or the menace of Woob in others; and an overwhelmingly personal touch that makes him fundamentally different from all of them. Various synths (including the wonderful Minimoog) and processing units are the foundation of these 11 tracks with added colour here and there from piano, electric bass and guitar. Drum and percussive patterns are effective on two tracks but even if they weren't there the album's ghostly chords, euphoric glides and dark passages would rarely be dull. If you care to read about Leimer's working processes, systems and intellectual concepts via his website then the album has an added academic appeal if that level of detail floats your boat. Me, I'm happy to revel in the mystery of music that engages and intrigues and tugs at the subconscious, without wanting to know what it all means. Rating: 4/5
MINDTRAP This Scandinavian trio makes lush, smooth instrumentals in the Balearic chillout style. Funny, then, that the accompanying media release for Northern Rooms attempts to distance it from that well-worn sound, using the somewhat specious reasoning that the band members all reside in a much cooler climate. Can't hear it myself. Nothing wrong with that, either, as this is a solid example of the genre. The loping, simple drum loops and smattering of vinyl samples are sounds both rooted in hip hop, while the warm synthesisers and guitars are the reflective and mellow kind that are unavoidably with lazing around in tropical climes in general and Ibiza in particular. A preference for vintage analogue synths adds some nice touches, especially the singing and crying Moog solos on "Late At Night". The most distinctive thing about the album is the arrangements, which leave a surprising amount of empty space instead of filling every square centimentre with strings and airy keys. Worth a listen. Rating: 3/5
THE NECKS I've always thought that "ambient jazz" is just fine as a description of what this unique Australian band sounds like. The Necks use the repetition ideas of minimalist composers like Reich and Glass as a foundation, starting with simple patterns and ringing changes on them only very gradually. But in The Necks case the resulting music is ultimately looser thanks to the jazz element, with improvisation of course being that genre's very basis. Having recorded some ten albums together since 1989 Tony Buck (percussion), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Chris Abrahams (various keyboards) can probably read each others minds but Chemist never sounds like music they could make in their sleep. The album demonstrates their continued vitality and ability to create sublime soundtracks of the mind. Chemist is an exception of sorts, in so far as it contains three 20 minute tracks rather than the hour-long pieces the trio is famous for. The filmic "Buoyant" is very sparse and slightly creepy with a sense of expectancy that is never quite resolved. Against a repeating bass signature, ripples of acoustic and electric piano dance over an ever-so-subtle ringing drone. And surprisingly some added colour from guitar, too, played by Tony Buck. "Abillera" develops into an expansive one-chord jam not unlike Krautrock icons Neu. The ominous but still beautiful "Fatal" sounds so Twin Peaks you can almost see the Dream Man dancing in front of those deep red curtains while Laura Palmer blankly looks on. Abrahams piano playing is at its spacey best here, alternately tickling your ears and washing all over you. Actually Chemist is a perfect introduction to The Necks if you balk at the prospect of the trio's hour-long pieces. Chances are after hearing this, ambient jazz epics like Sex (1989) and Aquatic (1994) will be tumbling out your speakers soon enough. Rating: 4.5/5
BRUNO SANFILIPPO Argentinean composer Bruno Sanfilippo already has eight albums to his name and, even though I've never heard him before, I sense a mature musician's poise and sense of craft all through this exquisite CD of tone colour ambience. A thin veil covers these melodies and impressions, unifying a quite varied sequence tracks with the soft-focus that "pure" forms of ambience always seem to have. "Intropiano" sounds like a superior Budd & Eno moment. "Introvoices" suggests floating through a glowing nebula or standing on a mountain peak in the Himalayas on a pristine clear day. "Introvisions" sounds like a violin and cello making love in a very large cave. On "Introsacro" layers of bells, guitar delay, whistling winds and very subtle chants gel in such a magical way that it cuts far deeper than a mere impression of something sacred. Exactly what's electronic and what's acoustic on this album is difficult to tell and I'm sure an organic sound was Sanfilippo's intention. Many elements have a familiar old-school ring to them but what Intro proves is that nothing need sound cliched in the hands of the gifted. A sensual and memorable piece of work. Rating 4/5.
THE VINYL GIBBON This e.p. from UK artist David Elliot serves up four slices of jazzy instrumental trip hop which variously echo DJ Shadow, St Germain and Ninja Tune downtempo. Mixing live and sampled playing he opts for angular (ie. not quite tuneful) melodies and a fair bit of improvisation on piano, bass and electric piano. Nice production with enough quirks and unpredictability to satisfy fans of jazzy breaks with an experimental edge. But if jazz in any form ain't your scene, cats, you're unlikely to be seduced. Rating: 3/5
VARIOUS ARTISTS Cosmicleaf Records (Greece) has been releasing its polished and highly melodic style of psychedelic-leaning chill for around 4 years now. Volume one in this series lacked the depth of the label's other comps, with some tracks being so sweet they bordered on new age facsimiles of the Cosmicleaf sound. Nova Natura part 2 goes some way towards redressing the balance between pretty surfaces and more ambiguous undertows. Its best tracks are sweeping and colourful and mysterious, and all of them are once again immaculately produced. Label regulars Side Liner and Minos contribute tracks with that same magical sense of unfolding and discovery that defines great progressive club trance, at least in the way the sounds are layered. A surprising remix of Aussie band Not Drowning Waving's along "Cold & The Crackle" by Arcane Trickster is flat-out brilliant. It coaxes out the original's dark ambient qualities with brooding atmospheric drones and a big, slow drum break. Rhythmically the album offers various permutations of dub grooves, electro-breaks and slow doof. Texturally its those intricate, clean and rich futuristic sounds that Cosmicleaf artists do so well. Rating: 4/5 Global Slowdown from sister label Tempest Recordings (Australia) sets the electronic chill perimeters much wider than the new Cosmicleaf compilation, going beyond progressive dance and trance-related sounds to include flavours of world beat, trip hop, rock and some harsher experimental directions. Mashing up styles and gleeful hopping between genres, the album's first and last thirds work well, from Kay Nakayama's almost Balearic pop to the bluesy guitar licks of Potlatch. Regulars Zero Cult and Side Liner provide more club-influenced downtempo with their lush glides, spinning psy melodies and ricocheting grooves. The album's middle section is more contentious, however, with a disorienting melange of trip hop, glitch, lo-fi and drum 'n' bass stylings that sound like they belong on another album. Ultimately Global Slowdown emerges as an interesting sampler of the broad talent the label attracts rather than a coherent chill comp. Rating: 3/5
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