Bleak beatless windscapes in
all their stark sonic beauty. Cryosphere brings together nine
ambient artists sharing a monochrome vision of smooth glacial
isolation. Toneless sweeps and aural air movements share centre
stage with atmospheric drones and subtle electronic patterns
and peripherals. Panoramic abstract arrangements are enhanced
by variations in intensity and density of sound - at times
thin, sheeting drifts of noise arise in gossamer veils, at
others rumbling masses of sound suggest enormity of substance
flickered across with delicate effects - some points are harmonious,
soft, consonant - others
MOOD
This
is not a dark album, although similar in a number of musical
techniques, the overall effect is quite different - here
palid light casts an ashen haze and wan horizons gleam in
the low radiance of a boreal dawn. Glacial Movements have
pulled together a creation of remote solitude in shades
of grey and white. Peaceful, expansive, timeless and elemental.
ARTWORK
Cryosphere
comes in a slimline jewel case with elegantly sharp graphics.
The front cover image is rolling polar landscape presented
in shades of grey - although this is one of those delightful
grey tone pictures that isn't quite grey. The cover opens
out into a two panel booklet - a legend and contact details
on one face, tracklist and credits on the other. Each contributing
artist lists some recording details along with website and
email information.
OVERALL
"GLACIAL
MOVEMENTS is a new label devoted to the description of icy
landscapes." This exciting debut album from the label
is exquisitely presented as a limited edition of 300 copies
and features tracks from Lightwave, Troum, Tuu, Oophoi,
Netherworld, Northaunt, Tho So Aa, Closing The Eternity
, Aidan Baker. The artists have managed to establish and
maintain a fresh musical zone for themselves - a barren
space of desolate magnificence, frozen air, lonely quietude.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
This
CD is a must for fans of beatless ambience that enjoy minimal
soundscapes of deep seclusion. If you enjoy the approach of
dark ambient artists but want something without the gloom
- try Cryosphere.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------
Huski - Love Peace Pain
MUSIC
Electro-pop songs of retro synthwork and
dreamy female vocals. Huski present here a series of vocal
tracks that range from bigbeat and robotic electronica to
engaging downtempo ballads. The programming style has an early
eighties feel, often suggesting a futurist vision from a bygone
decade - clear instrumentation and regular structures overlaid
with effects hinting at a passionate love of sci-fi. Piano
and guitar bring a more organic nature to some pieces with
Pike's organ and musical saw strains maintaining the yesterday's
tomorrow effect. Maple Bee's voice wanders from baby doll
to sultry siren to ecstatic balladeer - bringing an individuality
and intimacy to the music, polished and perfectly presented.
ARTWORK
Love
Peace Pain revisits the night-black background and neon light
aesthetic of Soft Cell - the front cover image picturing the
Huski duo in cabaret poses against pink and turquoise florescent
tubes. The same approach fills the rest of the package - a
twelve page booklet littered with glossy portraits of the
suited Pike and Maple Bee in sequined dress, blue shine on
one side, pink glow on the other. Lyrics for the songs are
all here along with generous thanks and credits.
OVERALL
Huski is the result
of a chance encounter between producer Pike and singer Maple
Bee at a party in a Turkish restaurant. The songs are all
co-written with Pike playing most of the instruments and taking
on production whilst Maple Bee lays her voice down in multiple
layers or gently intones languid lyrics or suggests that female
computer voice of tomorrow's airports and space stations on
the techno electronica of 'Urtica'. Covering a variety of
musical genres Love Peace Pain is primarily an intelligent
pop album of melodic synthesisers and strong beats with strong
and flexible voice of the unique Maple Bee.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Banco
De Gaia - Farewell Ferengistan
STYLE
Experimental dance and downtempo
electronica. Banco's latest album features his trademark multilayered
synths, world voices and powerful rhythmic accompaniments.
Farewell Ferengistan has a strong melodic aspect with emotive
chord progressions and harmonious musical patterns laid out
across a range of tempos from the chilled title track to the
big beats of Ynys Elen, the beatless 'The Harmonious G8' and
a on to number of more uptempo pieces. Indian vocals, Latin
yells, clattering ethnic drumming and breathy flutes are among
the global flavours expertly woven into the electronic foundation
here. Banco uses stabbing piano sequences, smooth pads, ambient
effects and organic samples to develop his themes - deep basses
warm and abdominal range from sub-bass depth to dubby bounce.
MOOD
Generally
uplifting and tuneful, Farewell Ferengistan tells a series
of musical stories each with its own personality. Kara Kum
thumps along under a heavy rhythmic regularity, We All Know
The Truth (You Have God) presents a gentle female vocal cusioned
among strings, Flow My Dreams, The Android Wept is a variation
based upon the 16th century John Dowland composition 'Flow
My Tears'. There are some long atmospheric intros where no
percussive disturbance enters for a long while, passages of
hypnotic repetition and subtle variation, intertwining vocal
improvisation and plenty of electronic guts.
ARTWORK
A
bold photomontage fronts the digipack - Ferengistani life
spattered in snapshots across a blue skyscraper backdrop.
The blues of the architecture are continued across the rest
of the external panels and behind the CD kaleidoscopic and
in sharp perspective. Track titles appear on the rear with
primary contacts and credits - within, each track is laid
out with an accompanying story or curiosity - tales from history
and the modern world, lyrics, inspirational details, origins.
OVERALL
This
is Banco's seventh studio album to date and shows Toby Marks
refining the approach that he has built up and developed over
the years - more confident with maturity, still inventive,
experimental in places yet still unmistakably Banco De Gaia.
Farewell Ferengistan will probably be very well received by
the fans since it's a consistently solid album with all of
the familiar elements and with the usual flair for unpredictability
- not playing to fit within a muscial mold, playing what needs
to be played.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
If
you like edgy, electronica that covers a range of bpm's centred
around world dance, if you enjoy well produced synthetic music
that is about as organic in approach as it gets - then this
might well be one for you.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Max
Corbacho - Moontribe
STYLE
Deep spacey ambience with powerful
resonant beats. Moontribe consists of a series of confidently
developed electro-atmospheres that slide past with velvet
smoothness - clean synthetic sweeps and dense multilayered
pads, embellished with mysterious bubbling effects and sonic
turbulence. The percussive structures combine natural drums
with electronic patterns in evolving cycles that are at times
tribal, insistently mesmerising, then soft, dispersed to a
trickle. When the beats drain away the inventive depth of
Max's electronic soundscaping is most apparent, luxurious
rolling densities and luscious drones full of shifting aural
strata
MOOD
The
mood is mainly one of manipulated primitive rhythm and spacial
ambiguity - ancient futuristic immersives, distant, yet touched
with familiarity. The organic individuality of Max's compositions
stops the music from feeling cold or remote - rather a hypnotic
warmth pervades everything, glowing sonic colour suffusing
silky beds of ambient cloud.
ARTWORK
Water
surface patterns with graphic enhancements fill all panels
- on the front, vivid greens and blues ripple around pinks
and bronze shades. Text on the external packaging is uncomplicated
- only titles and basic information. Within we find an explanation
of the project, a list of sound sources, thanks and contact
details.
OVERALL
Moontribe
is "a collection of previously not published tracks,
destined originally to collaboration projects that finally
did not see the light, plus two totally new pieces".
This is Max Corbacho's sixth CD and shows the composer to
have developed an engrossing and mature sound - the final
two pieces 'Across The Spectrum' and 'Moontribe' were written
two years after the earlier pieces and betray a glorious absorbsion
in texture and groove structure. The clarity and transparency
of these tracks is a delight to the ear - pulling the listener
into beguiling worlds of liquid reverberation and interwoven
crystal impact.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
Moontribe
is a CD for ambient lovers fond of electro-tribal beats and
lush, polished soundscaping. With similarities to Na-Koja-Abad
and Steve Roach's rhythmic material.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
Janet
Robbins - Carrying The Bag Of Hearts, Interpreting The Birth
Of Stars Vol 1
STYLE
Ambient electronic soundscapes
both with and without percussion. Broad orchestral synthetics
with interlaced melodic patterns typify Janet Robbins current
style, cinematic and luxurious. The first track 'At The Heart
Of A Spiral Galaxy (M51's Close Encounter)' is propelled gently
by a varying beat - not dominant, rather snug within the mass
of instrumentation. Tracks two and three are beatless. Musical
themes seem to grow in stature during the passage of these
tracks, at times dramatic and visionary, then soft, quiet,
meandering. Different synth voices take on each of the interlocking
melodies entwining, ebbing and flowing in enthralling motion
- Janet clearly has a great compositional skill, aware of
how sounds enhance one another, how to progress an idea through
different stages.
MOOD
Enigmatic
and enchanting - this first volume in Janet's series establishes
her as an able creator of evocative soundworlds of partially
hidden depths and constant flux. The mood is often introspective,
dimly illuminated and full of sonic shadow - pianos, strings
and chimes enrich the lush sound, peculiar effects mystifying
and thickening the spell. The beatless tracks are no less
rich in harmonious interplay, multiple layers coruscating,
circling like oil on water.
ARTWORK
Janet's
own hand-drawn imagery fronts this album - with a dreamlike
quality, a female figure clutching red heart floats above
a green plain which is split open by a deep stream flowing
red. A panther mouths the ground, eying the viewer only partly
absorbed in the white pool before it. More of Janet's drawings
are within - here black and white line art, the curving forms
filled alternately with words and textures. The project is
explained here along with credits and contact details.
OVERALL
This
is the first in a series of CDs - the intention being to release
"one CD of three songs every few months ... some will
be without vocals, others with". This initial outing
shows the writer moving away from the guitar based material
of her previous release 'All The Worlds' and plunging right
into computer based digital arrangements - nonetheless, this
environment obviously suits Janet well. Carrying The Bag of
Hearts... is an adventurous project with an ambitious palette
that succeeds beautifully.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
Give
this CD a listen if you enjoy melodic ambience that would
work as a film score for a Dave McKean project. Anyone appreciating
low-key electronica that prowls the shadows, twinkling as
it goes, music that tells stories and produces magical oddities
from a black hat will appreciate this music.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------
Beese & Brtschitsch - ...In The Long Run
MUSIC
Beaty electronic chillout instrumentals
with aspects of "elektro meets breaks meets dub meets
jazz meets funk meets rock meets triphop". In The Long
Run is a very rhythmic album - beats often consisting of
two layers, bright sibilant hats and snares light and crisp
at the top, deep thudding kicks at the bottom end along
with equally punchy basslines. Piano lines and chords and
snatches of melody are accompanied by a variety of quirky
ephemera - droplets, vocal bytes, breath sounds. Although
mainly instrumental 'Guilty' is an almost spoken male voice
track and 'Hush!' is built around a transplanted Indian
vocal. This CD though is concerned primarily with solid
rhythmic material, the gutsy grooves often embellished with
additional sounds worked into the percussion arrangements.
ARTWORK
A
feminine cyborg figure sprawls across the front cover - gleaming
metallic and criss-crossed with structural patterns. It's
only upon closer observation that the artists are noticed
- at work within cockpit-like extensions to the figure. A
closer view on the reverse confirms the presence of the duo
- again the silver form is laid out upon infinite sands, hazy
as they roll into the distance. Inside - the booklet and inner
jewelcase insert make up a single image of panoramic mixing
desk controls montaged onto another sandscape, again the artists
are included in the scene. Brief credits are found within
- here presented on a final image, this one presumably detailing
the inside of the cover figure - Beese and Brtschitsch stand
here against the contoured walls of their vessel, tinted green,
flanked by screens and dials.
OVERALL
This is a clubby album
with a laid back European feel - gritty downtempo tracks that
could equally fill a dancefloor or your headphones on a solitary
night. Melodic content is mostly comprised of brief, almost
abstract patterns. The album is released on the c.o.r.n. label.
Watch out for the hidden track at the end of the CD - a remix
of 'Guilty'. If you enjoy chillout music that explores rhythm
rather than ambience, then this might be one for you.
