Ambient
minimalism with subtle melodic elements. The Art of Dying
Alone rises up from silence into a gauzy sound mass that
throbs and undulates with soft focus drones and hazy, repeating
motifs. Some pieces feature clear melodic forms; a delicate
piano opens Nothing From No One, a lush guitar leads the
next track, there are acoustic guitar patterns, soft female
vocal sounds and smooth, elegant strings. Often the clarity
of these structures becomes swept up and almost lost in
ambient densities that gradually come to the fore, permeating
the consciousness in hypnotic insistence. For the most part
the album is beatless, yet track three features a subtle
thud that underpins the regularities of the cycling pads
and muted phrases. Much of the music has a melancholy warmth
to it, a gentle obscurity that imperceptibly wells up and
overwhelms the listener into blurry reverie.
ARTWORK
A
beautiful digipack houses this emotive disc - pale skyscapes
and white borders creating a sense of grace and refinement.
The front cover photograph sees a small isolated building
perched on the shore of a blue-bronze body of water. Distant
snowy mountains merge with the atmosphere as they recede -
and indeed it is the sky that finally holds the attention
- effulgent, white at the centre, gorgeous billows of murk
and cottonwool layers at the edges. The rear cover holds the
track titles with times in brackets as well as brief credits
and label information. Here the simple horizontal vista is
almost uncomplicated into abstraction. Within, the imagery
is even less defined - hints of cloud masses, plenty of white.
Writing notes here and some brief thanks.
OVERALL
Brock
Van Wey is the man behind bvdub, based currently in San
Francisco, he wrote and produced this album in Shaoxing,
China. Having recently appeared on the compilation Pop Ambient
2010 bvdub is known from work with such labels as Millions
of Moments, Echospace, Smallfish, Styrax, and Kompakt. Last
year White Clouds Drift On and On, a double disc presentation
was put out on Echospace and We Were the Sun, a hand numbered
limited edition followed on Quietus Recordings. The Art
of Dying Alone is appropriately released via Glacial Movements
Records, a label well known for its love of minimal isolationist
music. Here we have six tracks ranging from the eight minute
eight second opener to the twenty one minute twenty second
To Finally Forget It All. Visit the Glacial
Movements website for more info and some sound clips,
or try the
bvdub website or Myspace
page.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Various
Artists - Dark Room Beats
STYLE
Deeply
chilled ambient electronic soundscapes. This latest compilation
from the excellent Aleph Zero label pulls together some of
the most cutting edge sounds in the world of drifting, glitch
infested downtempo currently advancing over the horizon. The
music ranges from intensely beautiful and dreamy to somewhat
disconcerting and alien. Ovnimoon contribute a gorgeous track
called Cajita De Sorpresas where buoyant hazy pads support
a lustrous, fluid lead against an insectile, intricate beat.
An interesting collaboration from Omnimotion and I Awake entitled
Rebooting Daisy maintains the blissful, hypnotic floatational
approach with a slightly dislocated groove lumbering aside
sensuous female vocal layers and some delicately sparse melodic
touches. Vataff Project's Owl is an example of the more disconcerting
nature of darkness - a scratchy percussive track with a sequence
of uneasy drones and sci-fi mechanisms. The album winds down
with Shulman's One Step Closer; here remixed by Eitan Reiter
and DJ Shahar. Maintaining the spacey vibe of the previous
piece, this broad composition introduces a reverberating sax
that luxuriates in the groove driven expanse before dropping
away into a beatless pool of shifting synthetic currents.
The concluding track is from Minilogue Feat. Inid Imman: a
ponderous, gently thudding form with guitar manipulations
and ample surface damage - light whispers and minimal melody
- mesmerising light-headeness - heartbeat pump - fade to black.
MOOD
Dark
Room Beats is an album full of brooding low-light atmosphere
where periodic surges of warmth course through the night shadows
and luminous colours twinkle and glow. The name is well chosen
- this is certainly one for enjoying with a good sound system
in a darkened room - or maybe for creating your own relaxing,
dusky mindscape elsewhere during your day. Full of feeling,
with an unhurried approach and ample room given over to building
up mood and ambience.
ARTWORK
In
keeping with the theme, artwork for Dark Room Beats is resolutely
black across every panel. The front cover holds a simple image
of a glowing lamp, yellow-orange and warm upon an infinite
darkness. Flipping over, a tracklist is on the rear, set alongside
a duplicate of the lamp. Turning to the insert, this opens
out into three panels with a second tracklist on the outer
first, simple logo on the central. Inside there is a section
given over to thanks, a second with a more graphic representation
of the familiar lamp form, contact details below, the third
section presents an expanded tracklist, this time with writing
credits and some additional performance information.
OVERALL
Aleph
Zero compilations are always something of a delight. This
one took three years of meticulous work to "design
the room's sonic surroundings". The label is clearly
intent on setting the standard for others to follow with
this collection, Shahar and Shulman having selected thirteen
pieces of visionary ambient glitch-chill that are of amazing
quality and gratifying consonance. A number of Aleph Zero
favourites are of course here: Shulman, Hibernation, Omnimotion,
Vataff Project and Krusseldorf. Label head DJ Shahar brings
his talent to bear in sharing with Eitan Reiter to remix
the Shulman track One Step Closer. Other artists include
Altair, Phasephour, Ovnimoon, I Awake, Good Rester, Alexander
Daf, Aligning Minds and Minilogue Feat. Inid Imman. Robert
Rich provides another highlight with Moth Wings: a lush,
coruscating piece of sonic chiaroscuro featuring a meandering,
sonorous flute.
Promotional material suggests "Come relaxed and open
minded, turn off the lights, and let us take you somewhere
else without ever leaving your room." Why not explore
the eflier
and see if you'd like to take up the invitation.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
Dark
Room Beats will appeal to downtempo fans that enjoy the more
ambient side of the genre. This is a high quality release
that the more discerning listener will appreciate. Aleph Zero
and Ultimae seem to excel in this type of lush, glitchy chillout.
AUDIO
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Rudy
Adrian - Distant Stars
STYLE
Ambient,
floatational, deep space music. Distant Stars is an expansive
series of galactic environments and nebulous textures. These
lengthy pieces are beautifully descriptive of the dark emptiness
of space where colourful forms and gaseous structures revolve
slowly into view and meander in gradual procession. Rudy Adrian
uses layers of delicate synthetic drones in gossamer sheets
that seem to glow and radiate warmth as they move. In places
the music becomes dramatic and heavy with momentum such as
in the latter stages of the opening piece where density and
intensity build into a crescendo of movement also the introduction
to Trajectory where a steady descent is described with falling
tones and deepening force. Among the drifting restful regions
are passages of enigmatic dissonant sound and zones of alien
peculiarity. Often there is a sense of isolation and lonely
wonderment as one wanders very, very far off.
ARTWORK
Distant
Stars comes in a jewels case with sharp graphics set within
broad white borders. Centrally on the front cover sits a set
of overlaid photo images showing an effulgent night sky that
drops down into blue with clouds, to the sea, to a smooth
beach touched by the lap of gentle waves. On the rear cover
is a closer image of the beach, again looking seaward, track
titles with times laid out down the middle. The insert has
two panels - the second outer panel holding a monochrome portrait
of the artist. Innermost - the whole ground is flat white.
To the left a duplicate tracklist with an explanation of the
project following. Finally a paragraph with a gear list and
an invitation to make contact by email.
OVERALL
Distant
Stars is Rudy Adrian's twelfth full length release and follow
up to the 2008 album Desert Realms. He has released CDs
that fall into two main categories - ambient atmospheres
and sequencer sketches. Now for the third time with label
Lotuspike, Rudy alters emphasis from the more earthbound
Desert Realms and Moon Water to venture far into space.
The six tracks range from the fifteen minute eight second
Le Songe Du Singe to the relatively fleeting Netherwords
which falls just short of five minutes. Rudy himself says
of the album, "I found myself inspired to create some
longer floating pieces that seemed evocative of exploring
deep space, so I started experimenting with the idea of
creating an album consisting entirely of dark, 'deep space'
music." Goal achieved - Distant Stars is a powerfully
transportational collection of highly imaginative open horizons
and boundless profundity.
Contemporary
electronic chillout. The Summer 2010 Collection from Cymbidium
is a warm album of lustrous synthetic glitch and electro-beat
both vocal and instrumental. There are pieces here with
something of a modern lounge vibe; others that have a fractured,
experimental feel; moments where the electro-pop of the
nineteen eighties is called to mind; slick jazzy montage
sounds and relaxing, soulful female vocals. Sensuous, muted
sax juxtaposes dappled light textures and tinkling metallics
on Sleep Mode, the opener from Saine; an effected beatbox
groove contrasts the dreamy male voice singing on MC Hossni
and DJ God Wind's track Traveling. Kaneel's Loquace ranges
from dreamy wobbling arpeggios against flickering clicky
percussion to an intense zappy tremolo sound collage. Cut
and paste sampled speech, languid piano and static texture,
crunchy programmed rhythms and serene melody - this collection
doesn't stand still for too long.
ARTWORK
Summer
2010 Collection features the cover artwork that you can see
to the above left. A vibrant female portrait in shades of
saturated orange where photographic elements blend with hand
drawn line art and graphic enhancements. Since this is a digital
release this crisp design by Oliver Cartwright is the only
visual content.
OVERALL
Helsinki
based independent recording company Cymbidium Records delivers
a sharp compilation of electronic downtempo fleshing out
an already well established discography (the label having
been in action since 2005). The ten tracks here feature
artists from Finland and beyond, some that have released
albums of their own via Cymbidium as well as some less well
established acts. The music has been chosen for inclusion
by Costi, supervised by Saine and delivers a constantly
changing eclectic chilled landscape with influences ranging
from IDM, ambient groove and experimental electronica to
urban abstract, jazz and funk. The album is a digital release
and can be sampled in full both at Morpheus Music as well
as at the Cymbidium
website.
Experimental
minimalist ambient. Spectro-Sonic Cosmic Gaze is an album
of trance inducing electronic drones, shimmering layers
and faintly oscillating textures. A psychedelic, spacey
vibe runs through the radiant, beatless expanses established
here; a sense of universal distance with understated sci-fi
references and threads of a buzzing, mechanical character.
Ambient zones that thicken and drain are alive with bright
synth motifs delicately forming in subtle repetition and
variation yet always hanging far short of melody.
ARTWORK
I have only a downloaded promo copy of the
album and so have not seen any of the CD artwork, however,
the Findings
Of The Other Eye website points out that "each
copy of Spectro-Sonic Cosmic Gaze includes two vinyl, silk-screened
stickers and was personally assembled by the artist."
Regarding other relevant visuals I understand that videos
for each track of Spectro-Sonic Cosmic Gaze are to be found
on the label website. Promotional material explains "These
videos will be a product of the collaboration between The
Ocular Audio Experiment and ultra-eye mind-melter, John
Van Deren, an award-winning photographer and cinematographer
from Vermont. The videos will be shot in HD and eventually
available on Youtube with their own channel, as a way to
experience the whole album in both stereo and eyeball."
OVERALL
The
Ocular Audio Experiment began in 2009 as the experimental
sound project of Alex Pollock. Spectro-Sonic Cosmic Gaze
is the debut release from the project and comes also as
the first presentation for the brand new experimental, psychedelic
label Findings Of The Other Eye. The four tracks of the
album are mid-length coming in at a total of around forty
five minutes. Get in quick though if you fancy this one
since it is a limited edition with a short run of only 200
copies 100 of which will be available here via the label's
own store, the other 100 being released through German Quetzi
Records with distribution through A-Musik.
Produced, played, recorded and mixed by Alex Pollock mastered
by Richard AMP, of AMP with artwork by Eric Pollock and
Alex Pollock. There are samples at Findings
Of The Other Eye if you'd like to listen before you
buy.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Suns
of Arqa - Know Thyself?
STYLE
Ambient
chill with consistently dominant Indian content. On the rear
cover of Know Thyself? sleeve notes point out that this album
consists of four ragas, indeed the lush Indian nature of the
music is evident from the opening bansuri notes wafting thickly
on the air and the wiry stringed drone accompaniment that
soon follows. Bansuri master Raghunath Seth transports the
listener into dreamy exotic realms, his hypnotic melodies
driving each of the four pieces here. Western elements are
present, fused with the traditional performances with tasteful
subtlety, soft electronic tones and cosmic atmospheres, light
percussives wound around the finger cymbals and tabla beats,
a nodding dub bass, some crisp effects and peripheral embellishments.
ARTWORK
Know
Thyself? arrives in a smooth digipack consisting of three
panels. The front cover features a mauve tinted portrait surrounded
by galactic colour and swirling nebulae. The rear cover holds
the titles and a dominant acknowledgement of the work of Raghunath
Seth for his bansuri playing. Relevant website addresses are
also here for labels and band. The final outer panel lists
inspirational sources, mixing, publishing and production details
as well as a note that the music is in memory of John Ireland,
John Snelson, John Perkins and Willy Deville. The inner triptych
is comprised of two starscaped panels, the left most holding
a second inspirational portrait floating among the bright
points and bursts of light. The disc is held on the third,
rightmost section on a ground of banded graphic colour.
OVERALL
Suns
Of Arqa have been producing imaginative music now for more
than three decades, project master Michael Wadada originally
forming the band back in 1979. The impressive discography
now established has influenced many other musicians over
the years, often featuring collaborative work with international
artists. Know Thyself comes as follow-up to the 2008 twin
disc release Through The Gate We Go delivered via Arka Sound
Records and takes the album count well into the mid thirties.
Suns Of Arqa this time, however, return to the well established
Interchill Records label, having previously put out the
2000 recording Cosmic Jugalbandi via that route also. The
'four rarely heard ragas' presented here are each in the
region of fifteen minutes plus, unhurried, meditative and
truly mesmerising. If you enjoy the authentic sounds of
the Indian subcontinent with just a touch of western chill,
then this might be one to explore. Why not visit the Interchill
website where samples of the music can be found.
