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|
 |
|
------Single
Cell Orchestra - Celldom V.1: Opt |
| STYLE |
|
Electro grooves and synthetic
melodies - Single Cell Orchestra here presents a series
of appealing pieces where lo-fi beats full of hits of sculpted
white noise, blips and clicks roll along mostly at a smooth
downtempo pace - whilst a restricted palette of synthesiser
voices reminiscent of the 80s sound paints overlapping melodic
arrangements. The sound and aesthetic suits the band name
admirably. Effected pianos and music box voices tinkle and
echo against the circuitry of programmed rhythms creating
sometimes an air of wistful melancholy. The occasional snippet
of human voice, brief, fleeting contrasts the hypnotic electronica.
Lush washes of tone and harmonious, tuneful leads make for
some attractive themes and memorable moments. |
| |
| MOOD |
|
This
album has something of a retro techno mood due to the choice
of instrumentation. Yet there is a tinge of sadness in a
number of places. These feel at times like android themes
for Bladerunner cityscapes, visions of a future seen from
decades past. Single Cell Orchestra creates a sophisticated
brand of computer music, hi-tech chillout with catchy patterns.
|
| |
| ARTWORK |
|
Having
only a promo copy of the album I am able only to comment on
the striking tree-frog green of the front cover. As you can
see from the image above, this is arranged in stark simplicity
with only the text breaking the uniform surface. |
| |
| OVERALL |
|
Single
Cell Orchestra is primarily the project of San Francisco
musician Miguel Fierro, released in this instance on Cyberset
Records. Having been around since the early 90s and being
involved in releases for Astralwerks, Asphodel and Reflective,
he has recently also teamed up with Bass Kittens "to
do a bunch of singles". This album is intended to be
the first in a series of three or more releases under the
title 'Celldom', the idea being to deliver a set of different
aspects of Single Cell Orchestra's unique sound.
A deceptive simplicity pervades most tracks - both
in sound and structure, but the fresh, slender musical quality
here is compelling and quite often dreamy and transporting. |
| |
| WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM |
|
Electronica
fans with a love of melody and an appreciation for uncomplicated
synthesiser sound will enjoy this album. |
| |
|
 |
|
------Various
Artists - Chillicious |
| MUSIC |
|
Downtempo, moody soundscapes
with a nocturnal urban flavour. Chillicious prowls along
with measured dark rhythms, subdued melodies and gutsy basslines.
A number of tracks feature male voices - radio transmissions,
spoken, whispered, low chants and restrained singing. There
are elements of trip-hop, dub, ambient and electro threaded
throughout the collection - but always with a gritty, shadowy
nature underpinning the arrangements. Most pieces lurk in
this atmosphere night-time city cool, some taking the somewhat
lighter lounge sound approach like Timewarp inc's 'Top 5
feat.Rxn' whereas Chris Zippel presents a track that is
slightly reminiscent of a chilled remix of something by
Enigma. The set concludes with a piece of ambient groove
by R.O.U.D.O.S. entitled 'Know Some Things' that slinks
easily along as the album's longest contribution at eight
mnutes and four seconds. |
| |
| ARTWORK |
|
Chillicious
comes in a luxuriant dark digipack - lush black panels with
ash blue imagery hanging in the heavy gloom. The photography
presents late-night venues with silhouetted figures and low
lighting - the excellent logo smoking in the foreground with
icy fumes, frozen and lustrous. The track listing on the rear
cover is expanded inside providing credits, recording details
and websites for each piece. The Waveform back catalogue is
listed behind the CD and previous release Smooth Chill is
highlighted on the remaining inner panel. |
| |
| OVERALL |
|
Waveform
presents here a compilation arranged by label manager and
DJ Forest carrying the legend 'deeper, darker, sensual soundscapes
cool and refreshing'. Promotional material describes the intent
behind the project - "we remain true to the spacey, dubby,
psychedelic roots of authentic chill music and herewith present
some of the best of the genre with this collection of deeper,
darker recordings by various talented artists from around
the planet". This is an album for fans of low-key chillout
music that lurks in dusky corners, that drifts like black
clouds across the moon, that hangs like a distant refrain
on the downtown air. |
| |
|
 |
|
------Honest
Touch - Memories From A Dream |
| STYLE |
|
Melodic new age piano music with
orchestral, rock and pop influences. The central element in
Honest Touch's sound is the lively piano work of Fofi Maniadaki
- this is presented with accompaniments of electric and acoustic
guitars, strong live drum tracks and striking string arrangements.
Choral voices from the Fons Musicalis Choir and neo-classical
vocals from Marita Paparizou combine with a variety of orchestral
sounds to broaden the musical palette and add to the romantic
drama on a number of tracks. The singing on the album is soaring
and bold, much of it wordless, suggestive almost of a rock
musical at times. Sounds of the sea, babbling children, radio
transmissions, birds and traffic noise all bring an ambient
background to various points on the CD. |
| |
| MOOD |
|
Dramatic
and warm - Honest Touch have quite an emotional approach where
sweeping surges of feeling and climactic peaks well up and
overflow against a pacey set of bright musical structures.
Often quite beaty, edging toward rock at one end of the spectrum
with flamboyant, grandiose themes and then dropping to gentle,
almost plaintive interludes and delicate moments all within
a single track. At times cinematic and frequently ardent,
Memories From A Dream presents a vision of opulent, optimistic
romanticism. |
| |
| ARTWORK |
|
I
have only a promotional copy and so am able to comment on
just the front cover imagery you see above - a well chosen
photograph of a lonely wooden jetty shot so as to capture
a limited range of hues and a frozen narrative moment. |
| |
| OVERALL |
|
Honest
Touch refer to themselves as "a project rather than a
traditional band". The project being established by Fofi
Maniadaki and Samy Elgazzar based in Athens, Greece. Supporting
the two person nucleus is an impressive array of collaborators
- a five-piece band, the Amadeus Orchestra and on some songs
the Philarmonia Bulgarica, the Fons Musicalis Choir and guest
artists Vasilis Garoufalidis on violin and vocalist Marita
Paparizou. The band often performs live having debuted in
2000, their set comprising a combination of both original
and cover music. |
| |
| WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM |
|
Honest
Touch will appeal to piano enthusiasts that enjoy strong melodies
and an upbeat new age aesthetic. This album includes an instrumental
cover of ABBA's 'Lay All Your Love On Me' which perhaps hints
at the tuneful stylistic choice of the band. |
| |
|
 |
|
------Five
Thousand Spirits - Quantum Consciousness |
| MUSIC |
|
Opening with dramatic gongs,
murmuring voices and cinematic sweeps - Quantum Consciousness
establishes an expansive warm soundscape where intermittent
electronic bleeps and flickering static play across the
smooth surface. Various effects fluctuate in levels of dominance
- surges, mechanical clickings, burbling electronica. The
warm tones give way in a number of places to less comfortable
patterns of notes, darker atmospheres, ambiguous zones where
puzzling noises come and go. There are low, garbled voices
and fluttering pitch-shifted breaths along with rhythmic
heavy breathing - sometimes dropping to little more than
a faint movement of air. Simple musical motifs recur in
places, becoming mesmerising in repetition - there is even
a soft beat at one point. Frequently the mood drops almost
to a sombre introspective level - but always there is a
sense of wonder and mystery, chimes and percussive objects
reverberating, unidentified environmental recordings stirring
up dirt and murk.. |
| |
| ARTWORK |
|
Designed
by Hic Sunt Leones - the whole package is suffused in a flat,
deep green with gold imagery. Serpents twine in a deathly
struggle on the front cover - simple and stark against the
sea of green. The jewel case reverse carries an archaic image
of a world surrounded by clouds, blown into movement by cherubs.
The legend 'Prepare to have your reality shattered' proclaims
the intent of the music. Inside we have another serpent design
- this time black against green - framing the tracklist, gear
description and recording information. |
| |
| OVERALL |
|
After
seven years of silence from the release of their last collaborative
work Raffaele Serra and Alio Die here create together an absorbing
series of moods. This music was composed between 2004 and
2005 with Raffaele Serra working with analog and digital synthesizers,
tapes and electronics and Stefano Musso providing drones and
loops, editing, zither, field recordings, valvular radio.
Saffron Wood is also mentioned in the sleeve notes, having
provided a flute sample on the track 'Green Desire'. The album
consists of five lengthy tracks of organic ambience and electronic
atmosphere. For those familiar with the work of Alio Die -
the earthy nature of this release will be familiar - mystical
and thought provoking. |
| |
|
 |
|
------Max
Corbacho - The Talisman |
| STYLE |
|
Expansive beatless spacey ambience
created by the establishing of immense translucent zones of
overlapping tonal masses. These swelling multiple layers are
lustrous and dense like massive backlit clouds drifting in
darkness. A warmth breathes into some pieces, still panoramic
and open, but with waves and undulations of harmony and serenity.
In other places the sound drops away into unfathomable depths
where fractal lights play lazily on the surface of the abyss.
The density of the music almost impenetrable at times - suggestive
of enormity and endlessness. Amnios contains whispering voices,
echoing sussurations, a hint of humanity adrift on meandering
tides. Ruby For The Sun builds on a rumbling weight of sound,
the glisten and shimmer of gossamer membranes unfolding their
colour above - electronic washes bathing everything in gliding
radiance. Cellular Memory contains near percussive flashes
of white noise and trickles of glassy synthesiser, liquid
clear amid the oceanic swell and pull of steady drones - the
track fading almost imperceptibly, slowly, off into infinite
distance ... |
| |
| MOOD |
|
The
Talisman engenders a definite sense of awe and wonder - a
feeling of universal enormity pervades the whole album shot
through with delicate filaments of light and colour. In general
the mood is one of ponderous, harmonious drama, the occasional
dissonant tones and grumbling clouds usually brightened by
shifting unseen luminaries. Rather like a series of aural
nebulae - each track has its own distinct personality but
all clearly share a common structural nature. |
| |
| ARTWORK |
|
The
imagery on this album is very beautiful - fractal swirls and
organic loops and skins laid out one on top of another - all
in luscious hues of green, olive and pale yellow. The designs
were apparently created using Apophysis 2.04 beta - a neat
piece of software ideally suited to producing abstract graphics.
Subtle olive lettering disturbs the visual impact as little
as possible - tidy and tasteful. Internal panels make use
of black and white versions of similar images - with an explanation
of the project, recording details and contact information
laid out in a simple white font. |
| |
| OVERALL |
|
Max
Corbacho seems to be growing in stature with each release
- this is a very ambitious sound presented with a high degree
of polish and attention to detail. There are eleven compositions
on the album, each created sometime between 2004 and 2006.
Max's promotional material explains that "most of these
songs were composed during various, long, deep meditative
improvisation sessions". Equipment used for the project
included "my beloved Korg Triton & Korg Z1, and
sound processing outboard expansion units such Reverbs and
Delays, as well some other esoteric gear". The results
are timeless, placeless, progression free infusions of harmony,
floating as if suspended in the vastness of eternity. The
Talisman is released via ad21 Music - a label set up in
1998 by Max and fellow musician Bruno Sanfilippo to showcase
their own ambient and contemporary electronic music releases. |
| |
| WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM |
|
If
you like Steve Roach's work, The Talisman might well be right
up your street. Professionally produced ambient grandeur -
free of beats and melodies, but thick with tenebrous drones
and glowing textural density. |
| |
|
 |
|
------Max
Corbacho - The Resonant Memory of Earth |
| MUSIC |
|
Smooth, synthetic ambient zones.
This is an album of immersive atmopheres without beat or melody,
designed to set the listener adrift. Welling up like waves
on the shore, washes of tone arise and roll one over another
in constant succession - some deep and sonorous, some light,
thin, others full of sonic detritus caught in the tide - percussive
rattles like churning pebbles. Ever-receeding surges of sound
drain back into the next wave. As the album pulls away from
the shoreline the electronic ocean becomes dark and obscure
in places, floating forms drifting by, heavy masses of tone
heaving and pulling. Tracks blend one into another, the only
indication of a progression usually being a lessening of intensity,
a lightness as if surfacing momentarily. New tracks subtly
intorduce fresh voices into the mix and some shifts of scale. |
| |
| ARTWORK |
|
Liquid
ripples and solarised reflections fill two panels of the cover
booklet in rich blues, turquoises, terracotta hues and dark
shadows. The title text sitting in a heavy border of shadow
near the base. On the reverse an ambiguous out of focus photo-image
works as backdrop for the titles and an explanation of the
project. Within we find a gear list, recording details and
credits, some special thanks and contact information - this
is presented on a white background with an accompanying monochrome
reflection image. |
| |
| OVERALL |
|
For
his third album, Max Corbacho presents four longform pieces
ranging from just over six minutes to thirty eight minutes
fifteen seconds. Designed for continuous playback - the tone
is generally a serious one drifting somewhere in between warmth
and cold. The concept behind the music is that of the "earth
call" - what Max describes as "that feeling pulling
us away from the cities to seek contact with the rock, the
earth and water ...". A strong sense of space with something
of the viscosity of liquid pervades this album - the listener
is able to feel suspended in sound, surrounded in all directions,
afloat, immersed. |
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