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----------David
Helpling . Jon Jenkins - The Crossing |
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STYLE |
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Melodic
electronic music. The Crossing is an album of expansive
panoramas of sweeping beauty and elegant drama. Electric
guitar textures and synth pads work together to form warm
soundscapes of touching grace and impressive grandeur. Here
synthetic tones luxuriate in epic melody; multi-layered
themes that evolve and recur, sometimes building to intense
crescendos of heady magnificence; in other places languid
and unhurried, falling away into minimal ambient space.
There are airy beatless passages of floating bliss such
as The Same Sky with its high up atmosphere and meandering,
weightless repeating lead motif. There are dense emotive
sections where echoing drum beats clamour in rolling patterns
like breaking waves whilst powerful, soaring refrains positively
beam and sparkle. |
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| ARTWORK |
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The
Crossing is presented as a three panel digipack, a format
that, I must say, really is made for atmospheric music of
this sort. The package opens out into a glorious pair of panoramic
vistas designed by Michal
Karcz (whose visionary imagery is appearing with increasing
frequency on the covers of interesting CDs of late). The external
scene is of a jagged peak clad in thick snow rising out of
a turbulent sea of mists. The full view when opened out sees
a second peak in the left foreground a gulf to be crossed
between. In the rightmost corner another foreground crag stands
dark and solid, the eye finally picking out a tiny figure
in silhouette looking into the distance. Lovely grey, purple
tones hang over a lustrous orange sky behind. The inner view
is of a snowy path snaking away through the central panel,
dusky, frosted grass filling either side. Track titles are
on the rear, credits and website details are within. |
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Not
so long ago this talented duo delivered the album Treasure,
and now, building on the success of that release, we have
the results of two years' work in the studio presented in
The Crossing. The eleven tracks here see Helpling/Jenkins
developing their broad sound more fully and picking up just
where they left off. Jon Jenkins says of the new album "We
wanted to take all of the ingredients that make a great
movie or book sequel - more action, more intensity, and
somewhat darker with more daunting challenges - and express
them through the music on this record." David Helpling
continues, "The Crossing is a title with more than
one meaning. Not only is it a metaphorical representation
of an arduous and inspired journey across an unfathomable
hardship and distance, but it is also a crossing of two
paths, of two currents; the result of which is complex and
beautiful as well as powerful and intangible."
The Crossing is put out via the Spotted
Peccary Music label and excerpts of all tracks can be
sampled on the label website. Additional information on
the music of Helpling/Jenkins can be explored at the Deep
Exile website. |
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----------Cell
- Hanging Masses |
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STYLE |
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Downtempo
and ambient electronica. Cell takes the intensity and drive
down a few notches from his previous full length studio album
Phonic Peace - and what a fantastic result. Hanging Masses
has a beautifully warm, delicate sparcity to it. Unhurried,
beatless introductions and wind-downs feature some elegant
expanses where lush synthetic effects and micro-detail enliven
glistening, lustrous pads and layered washes. The beats here
are leisurely structures, light frameworks littered with fragile
crunches, flickering clicks and tweaks, muted hits and deep,
padded kicks. For the most part, percussion and bass lines
are subtle, woven tightly into the mix; often holding back
until well into the development of a track, sometimes barely
there at all. Melodies are understated and retrained, often
just simple thematic motifs that hang among the undulations
of the textures and drones. The title track picks up the rhythmic
side somewhat, still relaxed and downtempo, but with a stronger
groove and accompanying lead line lifting the euphoria to
a more dynamic climax |
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| ARTWORK |
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The
usual Ultimae black borders and panoramic imagery adorn this
rich digipack. Deep, sharp, metallic blues bathe a montage
of urban shapes and sky fragments in glorious colour. Track
titles are on the rear cover section with times alongside.
Inside the imagery becomes appropriately interior in nature
- an underground station of similar hue to the cover, emphasis
on the cables, planes and structures. A sixteen page booklet
is held in a card slot to the right of the disc; same blue
tones throughout. There is a page for each track with brief
credits at the foot. The final pages contain thanks and a
portrait of the artist. Website information and contact details
are at the back. |
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| OVERALL |
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Alexandre Scheffer first appeared as Cell on Ultimae back
in 2001 as a contributor to the Fahrenheit Project. He has
since delivered a series of 'live' recordings and the studio
album Phonic Peace which was released via Indica Music.
With an evolution in style well in keeping with the label's
sonic philosophy, Hanging Masses appears on the genre leading
Ultimae Records. The eight tracks include a collaboration
with Aes Dana and generally clock in around the ten minute
mark, give or take a minute. Promotional material points
out that Hanging Masses is something of an homage to Brian
Eno, Tangerine Dream, Steve Reich. As is expected, the Ultimae
website contains a full presentation for the album with
a player for each piece and some background information.
This is a very much welcomed progression for Cell, a gorgeous,
mature sound that must establish his reputation ofr ambient-chill
beyond all question. |
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----------Hybrid
Leisureland - Scroll Slide |
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STYLE |
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Ambient
electronica with subtle percussive elements. Scroll Slide
is one the most delicate, lustrous albums of synthetic sound
I've heard. The melodic phrases and patterns positively twinkle
like sunlight through layered foliage. Light and airy, understated
yet beautifully detailed - these tunes demonstrate just how
full of feeling and humanity a digital sound palette can become
in the right hands. The odd piano sounds slightly melancholy
and touching among the programmed textures - Breeze Is Nice
really pulling at the heart strings. Sparse bass touches and
dulled kicks see Hidetoshi making full use of the frequency
spectrum as little frills and crackly specks dot the surface
like motes in the air. |
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| ARTWORK |
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An
utterly captivating package here from Ultimae - you almost
want to own this album even if you don't fancy the music,
it's that appealing. But, I'm pretty sure that if you're a
downtempo fan that tends toward the ambient end of the genre,
you will love this release for the music too. The usual three
panel panorama unfurls a delightful scene of twig tips and
spider threads caught in the sun, perfect depth of focus and
lovely colour. Track titles are on the rear cover with times
for each piece. inside is a second narrow slice of nature
in a different hue - again beautiful. No text here to spoil
the view except contact details in the black border below.
The accompanying sixteen page booklet holds a series of abstract
photographs each offering an ephemeral visual to match a track
from the album. Credits are on each page as well as a brief
inspirational phrase. |
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| OVERALL |
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Hidetoshi
Koizumi from Tokyo, Japan is the man behind Hybrid Leisureland.
You might have caught his previous Ultimae tracks on the
Oxycanta collections. The label refers to his music as "micro
environments, delicate yet intense," that captures
the impression well. Having been composing since 1995 it
comes as no great surprise that Hidetoshi appreciates Erik
Satie - a similar minimal, grace and beauty shaping Scroll
Slide throughout. The nine pieces here are mostly just over
the five/six minute mark - unhurried developments that gently
dance in the air making their emotive mark and flitting
away. The artist himself says of his work: "I picture
the original world, investigate my own, and express it as
delicate whispers..." You should listen to this one
if you enjoy detailed ambient environments - the Ultimae
website provides samples of all the tracks. |
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----------Hessien
- Obelisk | Stelea |
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STYLE |
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Hazy,
ambient audio-environments. Obelisk | Stelea consists of
a set of four original tracks and four reworkings by collaborating
artists. The first series of four features layered guitars
textures, understated phrases and harmonics as well as soft
veils of female vocal from Jane Williams and various field
recordings of barely discernible human voices. There are
some sparse bass lines and hints of rhythm; peculiar disturbances
and muted clatter, echoing patterns and pulsing reverberation
further establishing semi-conscious beats. Blankets of hiss
and mists of lo-fi noise soften much of the music, bathing
everything in a dreamlike blur. The emphasis on acoustic
sounds gives way somewhat to an increasingly synthetic tone
as the collaborating artists bend the source recordings
to their diverse individual will; muted washes and soft
focus drones eroding and gelling around the earlier clarities. |
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| ARTWORK |
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For
the purposes of this review I have only a digital download
to hand and so will likely not do justice to the exquisite
presentation that we've come to expect from Fluid Audio and
Handstitched*. The package arrives in "letter pressed
covers that slip nicely into organic silk screened cotton
pouches," and comes as a strictly limited edition of
only 200 copies. There is an 8-page full colour booklet included
that features a series of exclusive images and 4 specially
commissioned poems by Estela Lamat, themed around the 4 original
songs by Hessien. There are generous images of the packaging
in all its glory at the Fluid
Audio website. |
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| OVERALL |
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Hessien
- is primarily Charles Sage & Tim Diagram who recorded
this music on location in Queanbeyan, Australia and Cambridgshire,
UK. The project releases the EP Obelisk|Stelea via Fluid
Audio and Handstitched*. The four reworkings of the original
source material, intercepted in various states of formation,
are by Solo Andata, Jasper TX, Zelienople and Konntinent.
Promotional material describes the EP as: "Four pieces
becoming eight tales of dislocation, separation and musical
connectivity." You can listen to a sample from the
EP as well as download a free bonus track at Fluid
Audio. There are also some listening selections and
discussion of the release at
Handstitched* |
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----------Solar
Fields - [Altered] Seconds Movements |
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STYLE |
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Ambient
downtempo electronica. Solar Fields here delivers a development
of the music on Movements - not a remix album by any means,
but an evolution of that source material, allowed here to
open up, to meander and explore the more ambient aspects of
the sounds. It is almost is if Altered rises mist-like, incorporeal
from the solidity of Movements. The sound is lush and intense,
full of the multi-layered complexities and subtleties that
we have come to expect from Solar Fields. Static and crackle
fleck the quieter moments, gently heaving pads and washes
of tone shifting in ebb and flow, hints of rhythm arising
like a lazy tide. Very emotive, very beautiful - electronic
music at its most moving, stirring best. |
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| ARTWORK |
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[Altered]
Second Movements arrives in an Ultimae digipack of three panels
- a puddled concrete surface looming away in a string diagonal.
At the bright right-most extreme, the forms of clouds can
be made out in the reflections on the water; to the left,
the panorama fades gradually into complete blackness. Titles
are on the rear with associated times, the third panel a void
of darkness. Inside the imagery is mostly cloudscape - a sharp
architectural facade of old windows to the right. Only one
inner section holds any text - the left - here are brief credits
and recording details as well as website and contact addresses.
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In
the wake of [Leaving
Home] Magnus Birgersson released the follow-up [Extended]
as a limited edition, doing as the title suggested,
extending the initial concepts and opening up the structures
of the tracks on [Leaving Home] into deep downtempo freeforms.
Here a similar approach has been taken with [Altered] Second
Movements - this time the beats and tight arrangements of
[Movements] have been carefully altered, resulting in a
series of drifting, floatational moods. Promotional material
explains: "For Swedish composer Magnus Birgersson a
work of music can take many paths, and so this album is
purely interpreting another way to move through sound ...
as in the reminiscence of a dream, Solar Fields subtly recalls
[Movements] harmonies and melodies in a widely stretched
manner with low resonating pads providing a soft texture
upon which electrified and crunchy interferences glide."
That describes the intent and result of the project well
- as you listen to Altered, you'll catch forms and sounds
that you distantly recognise (if you've heard Movements
that is) here luxuriating in the depths of colourful sonic
atmospheres. Far removed from their initial incarnations
- these familiar variations are ideal for anyone appreciating
the more beatless, loose nature of Solar Fields. The Ultimae
website offers the usual selection of samples to explore
before buying.
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----------relapxych.0
- City Nightlights |
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STYLE |
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Ambient
soundscaping and experimental environmental music. City
Nightlights is a strongly atmospheric album of hazy ambient
tone and subtle rhythmic undercurrents. There is a soft-focus
mist bathing all of the smooth drones and peculiar field
recordings that are so deftly blended here. Rhythmic patterns
of varying wavelengths form among the shifting densities
as layers combine and reinforce, hints of vocal utterances
reverberating periodically in soft juxtaposition. Muted
beats on occasions hang deep within the oceanic drone-beds
often barely discernible, at times massing distantly into
pulsing regularity, more often drifting away back into obscurity.
Within the expanse far-off disturbances and faint percussive
shufflings emerge to agitate the surface bringing some interesting
sibilance to the mix. |
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| ARTWORK |
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City
Nightlights arrives in a slim jewelcase with a single insert
of artwork. The outer cover is without text: a dreamy photograph
of washed out tones presents a view of grey/brown buildings,
upper windows reflecting a pale sky. Centrally a pool of fountains
catches the eye with a statue of a female figure that initially
appears to be floating above the water. Only on closer inspection
is it obvious that a tall base lifts this frozen lady into
the air. The flip side of the insert provides the tracklist
and some background information on the project along with
website details. |
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relapxyxh.0
is an alias of Stockholm based Anders Peterson; freelance
sound designer and engineer. In this incarnation Anders records
abstract ambient music with organic field recordings and subtle
electronic percussive structures. Anders also runs the label
by means of which City Nightlights is released: Ghost Sounds,
aimed at "exploring the deeper realms of soundscapes
and ambience, often incorporating elements of minimal techno
and idm related rhythmic patterns into the mix". On this
disc are a total of six tracks that work around a united theme;
mid-length pieces that you might like to explore via the label's
Myspace page. |
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