Showcase
of electronica from the influential DiN label. DiN30 covers
a wide range of contemporary electronic music, from the deep
ambient glitch of Tetsu Inoue, through the sombre rhythmic
muscle and slide guitar beauty of Robert Rich and Ian Boddy
to the Berlin school sequential energy of ARC. Most pieces
here are beat driven - programmed grooves combining digital
blips, twitches, grit and splashes with more traditional percussives
- some tripping lightly, many striding forward with plastic,
sinewy intensity, beatless passages are here too and compositions
carried solely by sonorous synthetic sequencing. The mood
and technical approach alters, at times dramatically, from
track to track - often shadowy, brooding and gutsy, at times
delicate and touched with fractured beauty. The tone soars
up into climactic grandeur in places - emotive and passionate.
Analogue vintage sounds work against the latest digital soft
synth technology to deliver a very lush sound palette broadened
further by the inclusion of diverse manipulated voice samples,
unidentifiable environmental enhancements and effected guitar
work.
ARTWORK
DiN30
iNDEX comes in a sharp card wallet that has a fold over flap
to protect the disc. On the front is a typical DiN piece of
futurist abstract imagery that calls to mind an industrial
or technical surface - horizontal bands and graduated tones
filling the whole panel. On the back a painted concrete or
plaster wall holds the track list, each title displayed alongside
the album from which it was taken. The wallet opens out gatefold
style to reveal another pair of panels; one similar to the
front cover minus text, the other presenting the artwork from
the nine source albums with titles below. A nice touch is
the fact that the inner surfaces of the wallet, wherein sits
the CD, are not left blank - peering inside you can make out
the dials, jacks and switches of suitably technical looking
piece of kit.
OVERALL
DiN30
iNDEX03 is the latest compilation from Ian Boddy's DiN label
and the third in the series. The collection includes two
tracks each from the titles DiN21 - 29 featuring such artists
as Robert Rich, Ian Boddy, Tetsu Inoue, Radio Massacre International,
Surface 10, Parallel Worlds, Hoffmann-Hoock/Wöstheinrich
& ARC. The album though does far more than simply express
highlights from recent DiN releases, working as a strong
item in itself iNDEX03 sees each track run smoothly into
the next, cross fading from one stage of an evocative journey
into the next. Here removed from their original context
many tracks exhibit a fresh beauty, another lustre - a new
juxtaposition drawing a different aspect to the surface
- label owner Ian Boddy having done a masterful work in
selecting, arranging and presenting the eighteen chosen
compositions.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Sempervirens
– Dirge of the Dying Year
STYLE
A stream
of evolving, experimental ambient terrains. Dirge of the Dying
Year presents a series of detailed, shadowy ambient environments
that flow naturally from one state into another. Field recordings
fracture steady synthetic textures; interference, indistinct
disturbances and peculiar shufflings hazy presences emerging
variously from the omnipresent dense sonic fog. Even drones
both tonal and atonal stretch into indefinite planes of sound,
often somewhat muffled or distant – thick with atmospheric
density. In places melodic forms arise as if encountered incidentally,
captured in passing before lost once more to distance - far
off transmissions, dimly recalled, musical fragments, a lone
guitarist idly fingering. A voice murmurs faintly, a few words,
is gone. Metallic clinks, tinkling chimes, a tolling bell,
creaking patterns, liquid burbles and bubble motion –
just some of the characters caught up in the constant stream.
MOOD
In
keeping with the title Dirge of the Dying Year is both weighted
with gloom and touched with beauty. The over-riding tone being
one of dusky density – sonic murk and careful weathering
spreading an ashen shroud as far as the ear can see. Everything
has soft edges, the soundscape having eroded away into crumbling
decay and lonely grey. The album though is not so much dark
or uncomfortable as hazy – in places the warmth of the
sun filters through the cloud mass or the air thins out suffieciently
allowing the listener to focus for a while on the different
elements within earshot.
ARTWORK
The
album comes in a jewel case with additional visual inserts.
The artwork throughout the case is engrossing and attractive
– as moody and emotive as the music. The track list
is found on the rear as is usual – black font against
the bright red, yellow, orange of the imagery here (which
I will come back to presently). Most appealingly the package
contains a series of eight artworks each from a different
graphic artist inspired by one of the tracks on the disc.
These are gorgeously impressionistic affairs and interact
delightfully with the music if held in the hand and absorbed
whilst listening. Damaged photomontages, heavy oil paintings,
mixed media combinations, graphic elements alongside photographic
material. Abstract and figurative, from pastoral to apocalyptic.
These images have also been taken and combined on the rear
cover into a single construct capturing something of the project
overall – fiery, textured sky, stark silhouette of a
tree, a lone hazy figure, graphic eye.
OVERALL
The
album comes as a limited edition jewel case package of only
300 copies released via New Age Dawn/Stellar Auditorium Productions.
Sempervirens (meaning evergreen from the Latin, semper - always,
and virens - green) is Estonian musician Margus Mets, an artist
having honed his skills through the creation of a considerable
catalogue of mostly unreleased material – six albums
and other uncompiled compositions to date. Dirge of the Dying
Year comes as the pinnacle of this previous material –
an ambitious and visionary project. Margus Mets is clearly
more than a musician as one of the images within is credited
to himself.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
The
sound of this album calls to mind the blurry, crepuscular
feel of Tor Lundval, the experimental freedom of Alio Die.
You will likely enjoy this release if you like dark ambient
music, since although the music is not primarily bleak or
brooding, it does share much in common with the genre –
sombre, minimal, often melancholy. Have a listen to some tracks
at The Sempervirens
Myspace page.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Mystical
Sun - Energy Mind Consciousness (EMC)
STYLE
Deeply
chilled electronic downtempo. Mystical sun really takes
the pace down here - the music is quite minimal compared
to much current chillout - almost ambient for much of the
journey, very ambient for some parts. Smooth oceanic swells
and pads, ethereal washes of tone and spacey expanses form
atmospheric soundscapes upon which are laid out some attractively
understated melodic synth lines and tranquil sitar phrases.
Environmental sounds mix with the synthetics - forest sounds,
storm rumbles. The beats when present drift along with idle
indifference, sleepy, far off affairs that set the arrangements
gently nodding with rhythm. The album darkens considerably
in the latter half becoming tenebrous and brooding such
as on the track Dark Energy, where moody, almost atonal
drones, swirl across a throbbing bass like the welling up
of night. The following Expansions sinks perhaps even deeper
into gloom - an intense beatless ambient zone that is suggestive
of an abyssal space. Subsequent to this loss of light and
tangible form the final track Sanctuarium restores the warmth
with a dreamy piece of relaxation music - drifting sitar
motifs and falling strums over luminous waves and lustrous
drones - willingly we float into etermity.
MOOD
EMC has a restless calm to it - a prowling
downbeat cool that suggests huge reserves of hidden strength.
Although deeply chilled and at times, almost ethereal, there
is a muscular quality to the music. There is also a significant
ongoing shadow that lends a certain mystique; the artist
expained to us that "Expansions was mixed during a
full moon eclipse and I think that added to the mystery
around it. The eclipse happened in August of 07 in very
early hours of the morning around 3:00 AM". So the
absence of light mentioned above is pretty much factual,
"as when the song was made, the moon was gone. It was
a very magical time. I had full view of the moon while mixing.
It just happened to be in the studio window at the right
time..."
ARTWORK
Energy
Mind Consciousness comes in a slick card wallet with a fold
over flap that keeps the disc safe. The prime image is of
a checkered plane falling away into an imaginary vortex -
the blacks and purples of the pattern illuminated by a bright
burst of light emanating from within. No text at all on the
front - just the picture. On the back the surface is plain
black with a simple tracklist, decorative titles and glyphs.
Here too are website details for the artist and label. Opening
up we find another image similar to the front cover only closer
and flipped horizontally - this fills the left hand panel
whilst the right holds thanks and credits plus a larger sun
glyph. Nice package - so much more individual and pleasant
to hold than a jewel case.
OVERALL
Energy
Mind Consciousness arrives as the third full length album
from Mystical sun on top of a huge list of compilation appearances.
The album is released via the eclectic Cyberset Records
who also released the previous Deeperworlds.
Here Mystical Sun wind down much further than before with
what is probably the strongest CD from the project to date,
certainly this disc refines the artist's unique sound taking
it in a direction that avoids following the crowd of the
genre. The label promotes the release saying “EMC
is a post electronic, post ambient and post millennial magnum
opus of transcendent soundscapes". If the success of
this recording matches earlier heights, Mystical Sun's reputation
will be most firmly established - over two million track
downloads surrounding the debut Primordial Atmospheres and
album of the year status for Deeperworlds.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
This album
strays a little further into ambient chill than many albums
in the genre - if you enjoy spacey synths and very unhurried
downtempo beats with a leaning toward the dark side - then
this is one to try.
Oceanic
ambience with subtle orchestral melody softened by atmospheric
distance and disturbance. Procer Veneficus Swaying themes
of neo-classical solemnity drift on dense currents, muted,
weighted with textural drones. Dream-slow adagios drift on
unseen currents, sluggish and undulating with low heaving
swells of intensity. Leaden strings brood within the undertow
of massive darkness yet the mindspace created by Procer Veneficus
here somehow avoids any sense of the oppressive, any malevolence,
all is beautifully melancholic. Deep, deep wistful nocturnes
touched only by the faintest shafts of weary light. An explanation
of Procer Veneficus says "This project’s purpose
is to convert dreams (both waking and sleeping) and an attitude
of absolute dedication to the whole of nature throughout the
universe into an audio format so that the end result may be
conveyed to other individual organisms capable of receiving
and interpreting such information".
ARTWORK
Saltwater
and Glassmoon comes in a simple card sleeve, uncluttered,
no front cover text. The prime image is of a moonlit shoreline,
white lunar effulgence touching the water, fringing the tide.
Everything is steeped in indigo grey – night tones.
The back of the sleeve is matt black with blue text –
titles, a tracklist, credits, label information. I understand
that the package includes a postcard too.
OVERALL
Procer
Veneficus is Dereck Schultz otherwise known as Night –
an American ambient artist influenced by the landscape of
his homeland and currently especially enjoying forming quite
minimal acoustic and organic compositions. This release was
originally composed and recorded in 2005, delivered now as
“an obscured gem” in the first series of release
from New Age Dawn/Stellar Auditorium Productions. I have to
say that I have never heard anythng quite like this before
- the ambivalent middle ground between classical form and
ambient deconstruction is masterfully laid down. The artist
himself talks of the album in terms of a drowned orchestra
“silver oceanic melodies waning into sleep, slipping
softly over the continental shelf into the enveloping refuge
of abyssal silence.” A fairly substantial discography
exists under the Procer Veneficus title in CD and CD-r formats
- why not visit the artist's
website for more information.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Underjordiska
= Spectral Lore
STYLE
Dark post-metal
ambience. The disc opens with the tranquil sounds of the sea
and rolling guitar arpeggios - gulls create an air and wheel
within it. After a brief pause as if catching breath in readiness,
synth strains ripple over the guitar and little by little
lap over the melody. In time the atmosphere cracks somewhat
- more distorted guitar massing up into a denser sound. Then
as if dropping off the continental shelf - all rhythm is gone
and the soundscape opens up into a reverberating expanse of
multilayered drones. Deep gloom and low thrumming tones dominate.
In time melodic hints suggest underwater forms and fluid motion
- drifting, meandering - picked out as if by the slightest
touch of light. The intensity builds in places to a weighty
mass of sound and then falls away once more into abyssal emptiness.
Track one drains away into the second half - faint sonic turbulence
marking the shift. This latter section gradually wells up
- shadowy drones fractured with distortion thickening ultimately
into heaving density. At the crescendo of this colossal build
once more a falling away into uncharted depths - brooding,
very low. The ambient space ebbs and flows - points of softness
disturbed by immense distant agitation - smooth submersion
swaying with occasional warm currents. Melodic elements pass
by, the outlook brightens and we're near the surface once
more - echoing mandolin patterns leading the way. Eventually
a tide of dreamy pads and sparse harmonious notes throws us
onto the shore.
ARTWORK
I
have only a sample of the artwork for this release. The website
explains that a four page booklet accompanies the disc in
its jewelcase. The front cover that I have features a montage
of photographic and drawn elements. Against the billowing
clouds of the early evening sky a silhouetted figure seems
to be waiting out on the water, a drifting row boat away off
in the foreground. The reverse of this single sheet is darker
- the figure here standing within the boat, the sea grey and
heavy, the sky a foggy accumulation of ashen tones. Here too
are the two simple track titles - part 1 and part 11 - along
with brief credits and website details.
OVERALL
This
release comes from the Stellar Auditorium / New Age Dawn
Productions label as a limited editon of just 300 copies.
It brings together two artists Underjordiska and Spectral
Lore in a split disc arrangement. Two passages each longer
than half an hour make up the two parts of the album. The
tone of this recording varies considerably during the journey
from sea shore to ocean bed and back - melodic moments interspersed
with amorphous freeform - restful consonance running into
dissonant noise and back once more. Promotional material
points out that the disc features "actual underwater
recordings, aquatic drones, unique instruments (from a mandolin
to a duduk) and even melodic post rockish moments".
Right now you can listen to samples of the album on the
label's Myspace
page (30.09.08) not sure how long those will remain
in place.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Falling
You - Faith
STYLE
Dark
melodic ambient with ethereal female vocals. Faith is a
hauntingly beautiful collection of very contemporary electronic
songs. John Zorko has a sensitively restrained touch - forming
uncluttered, panoramic soundscapes of cinematic elegance
shot through alternatively with touching melancholy and
honest warmth. Clean electric guitars, reverberating pianos
and smooth strings build most of the instrumental melodies,
but if anything, the wonderfully subtle, delicately shady
synthetic work is the most stirring. Little touches of tone,
delicate textures, fleeting peripheral effects and aural
turbulence, swells of shadow and layered drones. The vocals
are as personal and sincere as we have come to expect from
Falling You - each singer distinct and differently focussed,
perhaps none more obviously so than the instantly recognisable
Aimee Page; her oriental voice inflections and gossamer
tones all the more human against the deep cello sweeps of
Erica Mulkey on Freefall. Tracks range in length from brief
glimpses into beguiling sonic vistas through to a couple
of quite lengthy compositions that evolve as they progress
- starting beatless and freeform, then shifting shape and
eventually flowing, carried by programmed percussion. The
intensity of the album varies too - meandering ambient and
heavenly one moment, tenebrous industrial grit on silk the
next, then dreamy and blissful, late night lounge music
- although never straying beyond the unity of the discreet
Falling You vision.
MOOD
Faith
has the familiar pensive melancholia of previous albums, although
this time the theme material is more consciously consistent.
Vulnerability, trust, self awareness and hope are recurring
subject materials reflected in the meditative approach to
much of the music. So too the singers variously display aspects
of intimate self expression, wistful deeper musing, joyful
soaring and heavenly siren song. Elegant and graceful, Falling
You often reveals a cool, rolling cinematic breadth that is
evocative of stormy skies and dramatic monochrome landscapes.
ARTWORK
Faith
arrives in what has become Falling You tradition - a jewel
case package filled with low key blue and black imagery and
a five letter title. This time tumbling glass star spangles
glimmer in the darkness of the front cover. On the back these
are seen to be emptied from a crystal goblet caught by a gleam
of light. Track titles are here. Inside the disc hides a shot
of an upturned palm - a scattering of sparkles stark on the
skin. The insert shows the goblet now shattered and jagged
- credits laid out alongside on a track by track basis. Pleasingly
the insert opens into three panels - the inner three given
over to lyrics - each track listed with writing and performance
information and words set out below. The rightmost section
includes a dedication and thanks. One remaining section holds
a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche - "Woe to the thinker
that is not the gardener, but only the soil of the plants
that grow in him," followed by some words musing on the
album's theme. One phrase asks - "when life tests us
and we fail, will our faith save us, or shatter like a sheet
of glass as we plunge through it?"
OVERALL
This
is the fourth album from Falling You, the project having
debuted ten years ago now. Faith is released through Magnatune
as were the last two albums Touch and Human. Promotional
material explains that Faith explores "what we humans
do when life's experiences shake the foundations of whatever
beliefs we hold, 'faith' asks the question, 'What do we
do when everything crumbles around us?' ". However
this is not a religious record (although not necessarily
anti-religion, either). The list of vocalists this time
sees the return of Dru Allen (currently singer with Mirabilis),
Jennifer McPeak (the original Falling You vocalist), Aimee
Page (previously with ethereal / goth band Vishnu's Secret)
and Suzanne Perry (currently with MelodyGuild). In addition
two new singers bring fresh talent - Android Lust vocalist
Shikee and Amanda Kramer (used to sing with Information
Society, The Golden Palominos and World Party -- she now
performs with The Psychedelic Furs and Siouxsie). Faith
builds very satisfyingly on the Falling You foundation,
all the best elements are here once more, the new material
everything that we might have wished for and just that bit
more.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
Falling
You do an excellent job of sounding different from the rest.
Darker and more freeform than many electronic female vocal
projects. This album will doubtless delight previous fans
- especially those that enjoyed the less beat driven tracks.
For the uninitiated - lovers of the darker aspects of such
acts as Delerium, Balligomingo and Sleepthief will likely
be drawn to Faith.
Mystical
Sun Website
