May
2012
Ambient drone and moodscape.
Epoch creates a shadowy realm of naturalistic zones flecked
and clattering with percussive peculiarities. In conjuring
up the mysteries of the remote past Morris and Mystified
have steered clear of melodic forms and instead woven dense
tapestries of evocative texture. The album uses no synthesisers
or other electronic sound sources - although you would swear
otherwise, rather field recordings and heavily processed
acoustic instruments are twisted and shaped to purpose:
trombone, didgeridoo, vibraphone, bass drums, bowed gong
and scissors. Apart from the guttural growl of the didgeridoo
it is hard to identify the sonic origins of most elements
as heaving beds of tone mass and squirm. Bird-like shrieks
and cries dance over the heavy canopy of sound, a didge
barks, turbulent noise, the whirr of insectile motion, water
movement. A serious tone, a subtle evolution, a dark and
absorbing environment - somewhere to get lost.
ARTWORK
Epoch
is pleasingly packaged in a plastic free card wallet of two
panels. The disc lurks within one half - and to my delight,
the artwork includes a textured design on the inner surfaces.
Imagery centres on timeless forest scenes of murky rock and
moss, dark slender trunks of trees stabbing upward seeking
pallid skies. The surfaces all have scuff damage laid upon
the photographic base lending an air of age and individuality
as if someone previously passed this way, fingering these
pages or perhaps the package has been lost until now. Track
titles on the rear include timings and lettering is neat and
small. Within there is a paragraph explaining the music and
the advice "Think: lots of brass, lots of bass. Giant
reptiles in stereo."
Website information is here too.
OVERALL
Released
via the Lotuspike subsidiary of Spotted Peccary Records,
Epoch brings together US synthesist, percussionist, and
ambient musician Shane Morris and atmospheric dronescaper
Thomas Park AKA Mystified. The album holds four tracks of
music designed to explore the theme of prehistoric time
and evolution. Sleeve notes point out the Epoch is the first
of a trilogy of releases to be presented under the title
Inspired Evolution. The decision to build upon a solely
acoustic foundation of trombone and didgeridoo drones and
bass percussion effectively strips away the present and
stirs the primitive. You can read more about the album and
listen to samples at Spotted
Peccary.
Shane's website also holds a promotional video.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Solar
Fields - Random Friday
STYLE
May 2012
High tech ambient trance.
Random Friday sees Solar Fields pick up the thread deftly
spun through 2007's trance oriented Earthshine album. Here
dreamily evocative introductions quickly throb or pulse with
welling rhythms, lucid synths and sweeping atmospheres bathing
developing dance floor beats in luscious shifting light. Vivid
and crystal clear, Solar Fields' uptempo tracks have a silken
gloss that retains much of the subtle complexity of his downbeat
and ambient works. A leaning toward melodic and climactic
understatement lends an air of quiet dignity to Random Friday's
blissful, pulsating reverie. Blunt kicks and urgent basslines
heave the music onward, complementary sequencer motifs and
sibilant punctuating effects emphasising the muscular drive
of the beat. The ten minute plus penultimate Perception allows
a more gradual drawn out build up than most other pieces -
faint rhythmic measure percolating into percussive fullness
over three or four minutes before quickly being dismantled
and then reconstructed over the remainder of the track. The
eight centre pieces are bookended between the beatless shorts
Light Control to open and Polarity to close.
ARTWORK
Random
Friday is a digipack release of three panels - each outer
section holding a distinct image of effulgent sky and looming
landscape. The front cover recalls the sharp tower blocks
of Earthshine, the rear encircles a gleaming sunburst with
shadowy tree forms - track titles are here. The inner triptych
morphs a hazy synthetic surface into what looks like a planetary
arc, dark space beyond. Minimal information is provided on
the sleeve since a sixteen page booklet is secreted within
the rightmost panel. The standard Ultimae layout of a page
per track is adhered to: moody urban vistas; tight natural
abstractions and complex organic patterns selected to accompany
each recording. The centre spread gazes up at the sky from
among a field of deep blue cornflowers matched in saturation
by the huge sky of the final double page spread - Magnus'
portrait half in shadow to the far right.
OVERALL
[ Random
Friday ] comes as the uptempo aspect of Swedish composer
Magnus Birgersson's renowned Solar Fields. Released via
the iconic French label Ultimae, quality of sound and exquisite
atmospheric development are assured. The ten wistfully restrained
uptempo trance tracks here are intelligent, dynamic and
powerfully immersive. Promotional material refers to the
album as "a fine mix of progressive, acid, electro
& ambient influences - pushing the audio spectrum production
one level up." There is a free download of the album's
third track Cobalt 2.5 available at the Solar
Fields Bandcamp page and there is a promotional video
that you might like to check out at Youtube.
Finally the Ultimae
website provides more information and audio material
as well as purchase links.
VIDEO
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Steve
Roach - Groove Immersion
STYLE
May 2012
Ambient groove.
Steve Roach further develops the Immersion series, picking
up the thread left from Immersion Five - Circadian Rhythms.
Whereas the first four albums in the series focussed on
"harmonic meditations and glacial forms" the fifth
introduced rhythmic structures to the mix. Here again, a
series of hypnotic grooves are juxtaposed, interwoven or
overlaid (depending on your perspective) upon synthetic
beds and morphing zones. The beats are subtle affairs, soft
percussives and padded tonal thuds, shifting imperceptibly;
brighter dancing percolations flitting about the central
grooves at irregular intervals providing some higher frequency
detail. The rhythms seem to be roughly paired so that tracks
one and three have similar measure and tracks two and four
likewise for the most part - that said, these aren't so
much separate tracks as point markers in a continuous seventy
minutes plus progression. Beneath hangs a sinuous curl of
music: twisting, swelling washes set within a great expanse.
At times distant turbulence stirs the empty air surrounding
Steve's musical core, at other times the central sound is
immediate and intense.
ARTWORK
Groove
Immersion arrives in a pleasingly tactile matt finish digipack
of three sections. The outer three panels open out into a
vivid panorama of swirling yellow-orange curves and dark holes
haloed with fiery rings. There is minimal text throughout
the whole package: on the rear cover the expanded title Groove
Immersion in Four Parts - 73:59; within, brief credits and
the observation that the music was "created with hardware
instruments only." The artwork on the inner panels zooms
in on the outer imagery brightening from deep orange on the
left to warm lemon yellows on the right.
OVERALL
Groove
Immersion is released as either a stand alone recording
or as part of the Steve Roach 2012 box set - the latter
pairs Groove Immersion with the recently released Back To
Life within an "elegant German-made black box with
faceplate. Each box is signed and numbered, limited to 500
copies. Includes cover art micro posters exclusive to the
box." The four part Groove Immersion itself might be
considered as part six of Steve's Unfolding Immersion series.
The set opens with one of the more pacey tracks - the music
shadowy and introspective yet bathed with silken beams of
sonic light. Section two is ponderous - a lazy rolling pattern
that has a heady tribal mood. The final piece begins with
a similar groove to the opening part and then deftly morphs
into something more akin to the more languid measure of
section two. Drifting away at the end - slowly - slowly
...
Listen to an excerpt at Projekt
or via the Steve
Roach website.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Rick
Wakeman - In The Nick Of Time
STYLE
June 2012
Progressive rock electronica.
In The Nick Of Time is a live album recorded back in 2003
that showcases some of the outstanding solo material composed
over the decades by keyboard legend Rick Wakeman. Supported
by The New English Rock Ensemble, Rick's music here takes
on a massive live rock character. The drums are thunderous,
the lead breaks (both from Rick on synths and Ant Glynnes
on guitar) are masterful and grandiose, the vocals are those
of dramatic rock opera epics and even bassist Lee Pomeroy
gets to dazzle during a blinding spotlight section of the
concluding Wurm. The heaving progressive pomp and unashamedly
extravagant arrangements give the music a dynamic enormity
firmly rooted back in the seventies.
ARTWORK
In
The Nick Of Time is a jewelcase presentation with a generous
twenty page booklet included. The Front cover sets a galactic
tone that is expanded throughout the package with effulgent
red orange nebulae vomiting out stars, planets and snaking
keyboard ribbons. Rick's image hangs in the void to one side
of the titles semi-transparent. Track titles are listed with
times on the rear along with publishing information. The booklet
opens with a five page section "Rick's Attempt at a Definition"
wherein Rick explains the title of the album; thoughts on
prog; something of his personal history: a bit of a rant about
Yes and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and plenty of thoughts
on the development of the man's music. There are numerous
live performance photographs, posters, biographies of the
band and a whole page of credits and thank yous.
OVERALL
Rick
Wakeman is surely one of the most well known keyboardists
alive - his work with various rock and pop giants (David Bowie,
Marc Bolan and Yes) as well as some huge early solo releases
(The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Journey To The Centre Of The
Earth ...) establishing a loyal following that would remain
for decades. In The Nick Of Time is an archival live recording
that sees the maestro in fine form back in 2003 promoting
the Out There album. Tracks include developments of favourite
solo compositions such Catherine Parr/Beware Your Enemies
and White Rock; pieces written for vocals such as No Earthly
Connection; a reimagining of the Yes classic Wurm as well
as pieces from the then newly released Out There album of
2003. For more information you can visit the official Rick
Wakeman website or you can purchase the album directly
from the Gonzo
Multimedia website.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Amongst
Myselves - Fragments
STYLE
June
2012
Ambient soundscapes and spacey expanses.
Fragments plays as an unbroken fifty-seven minute whole wherein
nine distinct sections segue seamlessly from one to the next.
Dark spaces with subtle sonic light currents mirror the cover
art: brooding and isolationist in places; hauntingly beautiful
in others. Roberts employs silken synth textures, electric
guitar forms and various field recordings as well as glitchy
sound beds. In places guitar fingering ascends out of abstraction,
chiming tinkles and rhythmic fragments fanning the gentle
warmth of melody. Sparing keyboard patterns move against keening
guitar threads; oceanic turbulence juxtaposes wafting vocoder
shreds; low sonorous drones roll below graceful shafts of
synthetic tone; nature noise - chirps of birds and insect
whir - busies itself behind strongly effected chord strums.
Fragments evolves constantly, playing with brightness and
gloom; emotionally stirring up delicate twists of wonder,
evocative transportational suggestions and disquieting zones
of obscurity.
IN
DEPTH
The ten minute twenty four second Morning in the Bowl of Light
is the longest track here - a slowly unfolding emptiness where
subtle electronics wash around faint cricket-like coruscation
and bird sound. Midway (as with a number of pieces here) the
mood shifts and dreamy synth tones meander upon a deep breath-like
rhythmic pattern. Toward the end of the track the mood again
alters abstract threads and somewhat less melodic waves leading
the way into the subsequent piece. City of a Hundred Gates
is the shortest fragment at three minutes twenty eight - this
track revolves around a relatively dense mass of warm drones,
interwoven with delicate hypnotic swells before dissipating
into atmospheric space.
ARTWORK
Fragments
arrives in a shiny jewel case with minimalistic yet vivid
artwork - deep, saturated greens; colour in motion; long exposure
light streams. On the front cover various horizontal bands
of verdure smoothly flow - single white streak; heavy black
ground. The title doesn't break this abstract simplicity,
but sits within the transparent spine. On the rear, a more
energetic sweep of colour curls around the track titles. Titles
are repeated on the flip side of the gatefold insert - the
green sweep of the front cover continued here. Inside to the
left are simple credits, contact and website details as well
as a small number of genuine thanks. To the right, green light
shafts hang vertically, reminiscent of grass blades viewed
close up.
OVERALL
Fragments
was recorded by Australian ambient musician Steve Roberts
between 2008 and 2010. As the title hints, the music draws
upon previous material - inspirational threads taken, reimagined
and embellished. Three earlier studio albums are revisited
and absorbed - now unrecognisable in fresh form. Although
nine tracks are listed, the nine titles more accurately identify
point markers within a single longform composition. Often
the nature of the music makes a change at the point markers
- perhaps an interlude where field recordings move to the
fore - many times though tracks vary more dramatically part
way through. You can explore this unusual release at the Amongst
Myselves website, where there is plenty to read and opportunity
to listen to samples of the album.
ARTIST'S
THOUGHTS
VIDEO
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
----------Craig
Padilla - The Heart Of The Soul
STYLE
May 2012
Rhythmic ambient, melodic instrumental.
The Heart Of The Soul is an emotionally intense album of delicate,
romantic electronica. Velvety synth washes and smooth chordal
arrangements underpin piano melodies that meander in solitary
introspection or strain with touching melancholia. Often the
thematic leads are developed with synthetic voices - liquid
chimes, beaming chorals or bright string effects keening tenderly
or drifting in deep reverie. Much of the music here is comprised
of beatless, organic soundscapes with their tranquil poetic
leads; there are however, some notable digressions - the opener
You Were Here dancing in rhythmic sequences, a padded beat
hanging behind; New Directions delivering a more dynamic evolving
keyboard motif that takes up a ponderous beat of understated
drama somewhere around the three minute mark.
ARTWORK
The
Heart Of The Soul is a beautiful digipack presentation of
earthy hue and semi-matt finish. There are two panels, the
disc neatly slotted into one end - no plastic to be seen.
Outside, two intimate photo images with restricted focus show
vivid red flowers against the curving relief and rough texture
of wood. The rear cover has a light sheeting of rain - track
titles here with times alongside. Within, a two panel panorama
shows snow draped mountains lurking in distant mist beyond
an undulating grass plain. A single red-leaved tree catches
the light off-centre to the left. Here sparse text provides
credits and thanks.
OVERALL
Released
on Spotted Peccary Records, The Heart Of The Soul is Craig's
latest solo album following a four year gap after Below
The Mountain. There are ten tracks that range in length
from the almost three minute opener to the powerful Midnight
Encounter that clocks in at thirteen minutes ten seconds.
Craig has said regarding The Heart of the Soul "This
music was created during a series of major life-changing
events that I was experiencing. I had taken a new path in
my life, focusing on my work, my kids, myself, and choosing
to be surrounded by only positive people and things. This
led to a deeper appreciation of the love in my own life,
both within myself and in the world around me." You
can discover more information and listen to sound samples
both at Spotted
Peccary and at the official Craig
Padilla website.
