Visionary Sound Arts Interface

BENEFIT FROM MY TIRELESS SEARCH FOR THE CUTTING EDGE. Return to Main Page Click Here To Explore Exotica With Darv Click Here To Explore Industrial With Darv Click Here To Explore Tantra Music With Darv Click Here For DVD DarvReviews REVIEWS These are not necessarily VSA or Electronica reviews, but passing comments on what Darv is listening to NOW. 4-23-2009 Daydreamer (val)Liam Celestial Dragon, 2009 click here for Daydreamer webpage BEAUTIFUL COSMIC VIBES INTO INFINITY Daydreamer is for the Radical Beauty enthusiast looking for that *je ne sais quois* in enchanting modern synthesis. These are powerful emotionally positive vibrations throughout much in the Ishq realm, but with thoroughly chilled technoambient and electrodub downtempo beats at times. Every piece is lushly produced, gorgeous to feel and emotionally revivifying. spring water with liquid crystals. this is music to disappear in; for real. [i'm very impressed with what is happening over at Sonic Dragon & affliates. my package was postmarked from Hong Kong.] this is amazing blissful synthesis and one of the best releases so far this you. modern visionary music aficionadoes on the paradise tip should take note: new acquisition necessary. 4-22-2009 Crystal Bowls Chakra Chants Jonathan Goldman & Crystal Tones Spirit Music, 2009 Click For Healing Sounds Website METAPHYSICALLY CORRECT CHAKRA MUSIC Jonathan Goldman is probably the premier sound healing recording artist of the planet, in my estimation at least. His impressive catalog is a valuable resource to any person investigation the effect of sound on consciousness or the therapeutic use of sound to promote well-being and health. This new album, "Crystal Bowls Chakra Chants," done in collaboration with William Jone and Paul Utz, who call themselves Chakra Tones, melds Goldman's chakra sounds technologies which he showcased in the "Chakra Chants" albums with the use of crystal bowls, struck and rubbed, which have been calibrated to tones that are harmonically related to the 256hz fundamental (itself a harmonic of 1hz.) Without getting too technical, this calibration finds some consensus among chakra sound enthusiasts. I own numerous crystal bowl recordings and chakra sound crystal bowl recordings. Some are just pure drone. Others are rhythmic and narrative, at times to a fault. What makes this disc special is not only Goldman's well- considered vocals and the spellbinding use of crystal, but the incredible gentleness and subtlety of the music, and the superb balance between instruments. The vocals SUPPORT the sound of the bowls instead of competing with the delicate overtones. Where some bowl albums feel like strict meditation, this one feels like medicine. that is not to say it is "medicinal," but that it touches ones body with a sensitivity, with care and honor, that is palpable and convincing. It is easy to simply allow the music to move through one's physique. Played over speakers, the precise conditioning and attuning of the indicated areas of the body should be evident even to the untrained person. An excellent meditative device, suitable for backsound also for creating healing environments. 4-19-2009 Natural Born Chillers [compilation] Various Artists Aleph Zero, 2004 Natural Born Chillers 2 [compilation] Various Artists Aleph Zero, 2009 2ND EDITION MORE ROOTS; 1ST YAH!! SHOOTS!! THERE IS A CERTAIN ELEGANCE i've appreciated in the realms of visionary sound arts. i'm not exactly sure how to describe it properly. i've seen it called "Radical Beauty." certainly the classical ideal participates in this, but it also entails our modern use of sound to achieve window frequency states and beneficial SOMATIC conditions. as a young synthesist, i found this beauty not so much in the stodgy Beethoveness of the Berlin school, but in the firm classical values of Constance Demby and the wild cosmic speculations of Michael Stearns. Not only was this narrative cinematic music spectacularly beautiful to hear, it also engendered highly salutary physical body states. Many people would cite Brian Eno's "Music For Airports" as an example, although i would certainly merit "1/1" as such but not the entirety. in the modern electric scene, i might cite The Heavenly Music Corporation, particularly the first album and the "Orchid" album by Ishq. This album is a likely candidate to join these admirable albums in sound heaven. to be fair, a lot of this disc is SERIOUS electrodub absolutely on a peer level with Posford and Ott. it can be quite busy with A LOT going on in the foreground, background, overground, underground and intraground. all over the place and included therewith are these passages of great elegance and transcendental power. a lot of tryppers are gonna have a GREAT time with this one. The first song, "Alaya" by the afore-mentioned Ishq, is on a "1/1" level, but even more high-definition! When Hillier hits his mark it is simply stunningly gorgeous! no beats, sheer waves of voluptuous sound pouring like tapestries, lavishing itself upon the listener like inescapable sultry tropical breezes. Following this, Anahata kicks in with a solid deep bass line at the heart chakra! "Shakti" follows a groove so bottomed out it is amazing to find out it resonates halfway up! There is a patient straight up and forward movements in the blutechy way. Induces a sort of love serenity. we then move into the far down groove, descending through air with trance drums to land gracefully in a new place of wonder and amazement. "A New Philosophy" by Zen Mechanics is an 11 minute merrilymerrilymerrily down the stream flow session that transmigrates into a shponglized electroreggaedub experiment, but not in a zany way but rather of going farther and farther inside as the Universe becomes larger and larger. just when you think you know where you are going, it shifts into a triphop phantasmagoria. and now you KNOW you are listening to an Aleph Zero album because this kind of global fusion, even the riffs that must somehow find their way back to Tony Banks of Genesis, the multicultural references, the ace programming are some of the spectacular things about the label and the artists on the label! Jirah's "Disconnect" picks up the tempo a bit. there is a feeling up being alert and active. hitting the navel and solar plexus, it brings us into a more focused state. the affective content is more wilful, making things happen, wanting certain somethings to happen and causing their occurence. this certainly would be good works music for the paradimensional gnomes. some fun, interesting hand drum work towards the end.... ..."Monochrome Rainbow Pixie" by Agalactia chills it all down with a more meditative environment environment with flute that becomes transcendental & more Alan Watts [one of the previous songs had some too] gives way to a technoshuffle? this song is more playful. i think the previous song was sort of the freeway to get us here to the amusement park. these are the dancing wallpaper pixies, repeating the same little dance over and over joyfully in a carnavalesque atmosphere. excuse me whilst i dance with them a bit.... *dancing with the pixies in cartoonland* wha? now they are leprechauns?! by god it's a jig! i DO love a GOOD JIG! *dancing with the leprechauns, etc...* the next chill down is with guitars, hinting at, yes what does become an technoambient blues dub piece by Cosmic Fools, entitled, "Be Yourself." flanked by acoustic blues guitar and sparkling acoustic piano, the throbbing synthriff makes me think of the moon shine on the veranda of a sleepy town love shack on the edge of the swamps, kicking back spliffin it. o: lyrics! "be yourself, let your conscience guide you, follow your heart not the people around you." electrotabalas pull us into the inevitable symbiosis of blues and raga.... when the crisp drum pattern and sunshine synths of "Estha" by "J.Viewz" snaps up the vibe and carries it to a new optimistic level it is like a breeze has begun to pass through the room and the chill is down. flute and female chorus bring us into focus above the heart. it seems like anything i could think of realistically can be made to happen if i go for it. the sarod. and things are getting deeper. o man i've really done it this time. "On Air" by Son Kite [remix: Midival Punditz] connecting the solar plexus and the heart and reminding me of my responsibility. Get back on plot. bold major chords marching bravely into the future. meditation on will. by the time Omar Faruk Tekbilek and Steve Shehan hit us with "Ya Bouy" we are ready to get back into our body. there is a celebratory air with expert arabic percussion and the oud singing out a wail of thanksgiving and forgiveness. the final piece - - "Under Water" by Eastern Spirit - - takes us, of course, into a liquidic medium of some time, with sonar echo from some impossible electric octopoidian being escorting us through realms of what appears to be an underwater civilization. just a glimpse and then we are travelling back along the tube, back to the world & our lives in the monochrome.... yeah! The just-released "Natural Born Chillers 2" lets the listener know right from the start that this with be a more dubby ride. With Cajun Lousiana blues guitar & jamaican seasonings throughout, the second edition is more earthy in textures along the lines of Boozoo Bajou or Little Axe, but with that inner Aleph Zero hardwiring. the first song, "Hibernation," by a project of the same name, includes the aforementioned Lousiana bluesie vibe, which gives way to a pretty lean electrodub mix by Ott of Bluetech's "Prayers For Rain." this track, while receiving the benefit of a production similar to the work Ott did for Hallucinogen, is pretty straight ahead for the modern dancefloor. After that 9 minute jam, comes some Jamaica stylee wit' 3 Wise Monkeys' "I'ts gonna rain." i forgot i was in maui for a sec. Then Majan gives us more Cajun style which morphs into a Jamaican/Arabic mix in the AlephZero mode. that's a lotta cross-spicing in the gumbo! Things slow down for the epic 12-minute "Flying In The Rain" by Tau Kita. It's like having some Roger Waters Pink Floyd electro techno journey replete with extended guitar solo & dream-like passages. a vocoderized voice becomes our psychopomp through some fantastically bizarre Alan Parsons on serious tryptamines environments. This is not a dance piece but a harrowing skin-of-one's-teeth journey through dreamland to end up reaching the quiet of the far shore. this is when Interlaced kicks in with "Insologic." we have melted through into vast unpredictaable realms of shimmering intense radiation! is it the winged white with bright yellow trim serapenthim, swirling incandescent UFOs from the ET heavens? things get complicated as the gates below open and we see the extradimensional pixies and gnomes working on their incomprehensible machineries of reality creation. this somehow calms down into the Agalactia track, "Aatmatyaag," which is a pretty standard downtempo bhangra-influenced track for them. Midival Punditz continues the India theme, with "Vande Mantaraam" solo male sanskrit vocals mellow but with a deep ragga groove. this song marks the first really formal devotional feelings on the album. getting into DJ Cheb i Sabbah territory here. swear it sounds like "Monday Martyrdom" there at the end. "Kali Ma" by Outerspect begins with processed jaw harp and the return of the cajun guitars in a slow rocker, live drumming, and female vocals sung to Kali, the great mother destroyer. pleasant song. "Numb" by Pi quiets down even further. leisurely electric piano and acoustic guitar with a bluesy electric lead guitar. we're led down an endless labyrinthine hallway. it makes me feel high. so numb. what does it all mean? a quirky set of contrivances fool me into almost missing the sneaky snaking reggae groove setting in. is there really a ghost in here? or is it that static wind? wha?! melting? "Coffee" by Eiten Reiter - this gets mellower and mellower until one disappears completely. 4-14-2009 Drums Of Fire David & Steve Gordon Sequoia Records, 2008 Drum page @ Sequoia website LEGENDARY DUO RELEASE ANOTHER GREAT DRUM DISC i first started keeping track of the Gordons when i discovered their timeless ambient music which might be called "new age" by some but for me will always be "aquarian paradisal." Discs like the Garden Of Serenity 1 & 2, Sanctuary and the essential, ONENESS, which istwo angelic continuums for extended celestial travels. Then they released some drumming albums which i used repeatedly to wonderful effect as backsound for ritual and journeying. i am particularly fond of Sacred Earth Drums and Sacred Spirit Drums. this is the best one since those first two. it presents itself as the first of a 4-part series based on the elements; hence, this is the drum of FIRE. there is an inventive, refined use of the stereo field and a multitude of percussion instruments, plus occasional flute. in the liner notes they mention a writer wishing they would do a percussion only album and i should like to echo that sentiment, at least for the EARTH album, dudes. this is an enjoyable recording and easily resides in my collection next to the other Gordons' drum releases. the pace is still in the upper theta range, not fast paced beta as one might theorize about fire music. i find it rather trancey and not exactly housework type music. on the contrary, one of the things that really stands out about David Gordon and Steve Gordon is that the music is always conducive to the listener having a relaxed organism. even the drumming albums are gentle, like a massage. it is a natural production ear talent that they share. they are older now and there is a feeling of assuredness, of deftness that surpasses the previous albums. "Drums Of Fire" is something of a progression building on their past work. the sound and feel is much the same. their grasp of energetic work is the key here. the drums are nourishing, filling one out, rather than energizing and ecstatic. the album is replete with the rich production one comes to expect from Sequoia. if you like the other drum discs by these crafty paradiddlers, check it out! 3-29-2009 Observer Magic Sound Fabric Spiralight Recordings, 2008 Click Here For Page At Spiralight ELECTRODUB NONDUALITY Magic Sound Fabric evolved to essential electrodub, a solid movement in modern techno and dub influenced electronica. The sound moves in the same vibration currents as Zero One, Bluetech or Karl Bartos. With distinct continental flavorings and namastes to Kraftwerk and Enigma, this is a big sound perfect for the down curve of that long-awaited acid trip. Faithful to the CR78&Cheaps drum set and carefully using the most successful voicings from previous albums, which allow his grooves to provide rich fullness while not getting too complicated but with a nearly angelic feel at times While being hip groovy electrobeats mixed with fat dub passages, this album has distinction for the semantic content, which is quite mantra-like: Track one: "the world is an illusion" - de rigeuir electropop to go with your Kraftwerk & Bartos; Track two: "the world is make-believe; let it go" - that euro-hint of Enigma Track 3: dubtastic! "there is no illusion (in the Light of the One)" Track 4: "I trust the Light and regain my soul." - gets a little euro again, we're interdimensional here Track 5: "Heaven's coming down to meet the Ground" - very angelic and the sky opens up -("nothing in the world can keep me from bliss") - a spiral download of vibrant dayglo rainbow energy from on high Track 6: comes the dub "there's a unified direction to the mirror of perfection" - the Mystic Dream Song - "shining down the recesses of the subconscious mind" a DEEP groove pulling us inside and up simultaneously Track 7: this is what dub must sound like in heaven. Some snaky guitar riffs even. "only love is real" a synthdub charmer. radio rotation material. Track 8: did somebody give Peter Frampton some acid and have him sing in that guitar/voice synthesizer? Bet if one was trypping that they would understand the words. One of the more varied and complicated songs of the album, "Majesty," has bold major chords and a feeling of looking ever-farther into the distance Track 9: of course, the album ends on a crown and heart chakra piece that gives me shivers of delight just thinking about it. "Beautiful" brings us back down into our heart as the journey peacefully lands, flying saucer-like, back in our familiar environs. This is the fourth Magic Sound Fabric album. The first was remarkable for intense wordplay and an intimate "made in my refurbished garage" sound. There is nothing like "Unfold" (1999) and i do recommended it for those who like truly shroomy music. "Uplift Drift" (2002) was the beginning of the MSF electrodub sound, good for electrolounging with headphones as the cover indicates. an interior headtryp wafting through the occult spaces. "Freedom Star" (2004) i called an angelic electrodub album and i still think it is fair to say that. People who like Shakatura The Saafi Brothers or Makyo should like it. Even people who enjoy Amorea Dreamseed or Michael Hammer might possibly relate to it if they can at all handle programmed drums. "Freedom Star" is HUGE vibrant dayglo mandalas. I really like the mystical nature of these works by Cameron Akhunaton. For the spiritually-oriented listener, this is a quite superior place in the electrodub realms: ie-not zany and crazy like Shpongle, not all detailed-in like, say, Bluetech; not too stripped down and modular like Zero One, but devotional and openly tryppy. This latest edition shows an alacrity and strong dance groove intentions (while still being midtempo) which make 2009 a bit brighter guaranteed. 3-26-09 TERRY RILEY Terry's best known works were created in the late 60s and early 70s. In C, A Rainbow In Curved Air and my personal favorite, Shri Camel, all featured permutating minimal melodies which i have referred to as "musical mandalas" or "sonic kaleidoscopes.) While the main body of his canon is trance music played live on organ with various echo and loop processes (much in the style of Robert Fripp's "Frippertronics," but Riley was doing this quite some time before Fripp,) Terry also has a number of releases which are more varied, using voice and narrative melody. these tend to be quirky, but quite thoughtful and original. recent darv acquisitions: Persian Surgery Dervishes (2 CD set) Robi Droli, 1993 First disc is a live performance in Los Angeles, the second is in Paris. Much like Shri Camel, but the tonal colors are darker, the mood more sedate and late night. Descending Moonshine Dervishes (2 CD set) Kuckuck, 1983 First disc is record live in Berlin, 1975. It is more extemperaneous mandalas, with occasional phase shifting giving the music a feeling of high velocity travel. Second disc, titled, "Songs For The Ten Voices of the Two Prophets," features Riley's nasal voice reminiscent of David Allen or Steve Hillage, singing in a solo wailing style typical of arabic styles. It is interesting to hear this style done in ENGLISH. He is singing about how marvelous the EMROIDERY is on a particular piece of linen. This leads into an extended instrumental section which sonically describes the embroidery. this stuff REALLY reminds me of arabic mandalas. These two 2-CD sets i recommend for collectors who really enjoy Rainbow in Curved Air or Shri Camel and want to hear variations. this is a music of nuance, where differences are heard in the subtleties. good for meditation and deep listening. 3-18-2009 Indigo Egg Ixland Celestial Dragon, 2008 Click Here For Listing At Sonic Dragon TRUE PSYCHIC THIRD EYE TECHNOAMBIENT TRIUMPH Matt Hillier (a.k.a. Ishq, Virtual) truly stunned my aesthetic senses with the luscious, ravishing double CD release, "Orchid." Since that astounding audio adventure, i have collected whatever i could find of his work which includes the material at Virtual.com, his collab with Coldrick and the album i recently acquired, which had samples at Virtual, "Temple" by Crystal Moon (although this last i am now unsure of, since the notes at Sonic Dragon imply that "Indigo Egg" is the pre-Ishq material.) I've enjoyed all of these albums, altho the Virtual thing is quite different from the Vibe of "Orchid." Even the Ishq album in the Virtual series sounds like Virtual. Those albums are piquant sound delicacies, to be sure, but never approach the voluptuousness, the deep sensuality of "Orchid." This new release is a magnificent return to style for Hillier. Whereas "Orchid" created a insanely deep blue environment -- a buddhic plane throat chakra navigation device for swarming the lotus blossoms through interuniversal hyperdimensions -- "Indigo Egg" goes to the next level of the sixth plane third eye, the subtlety of the psychic. Present here is not only that fantastic richness of Indigo, but the lavender of the intuitive use of psychic power Click Here for a good pic of third eye psychism Click&Video Heita Copony Mandalas-pause @ 2:40 real psychic vibe All of the tracks except the last on this album are keyed to the third eye aspect. This would obviously be a VERY intense tryp under the appropriate conditions and recommended for experienced users only. The album begins with an energetic dozen minutes of uppermidtempo scene- setting, then quickly brings us down into the theta range, probably around my fave 4.9 hertz, although i did lose consciousness at times at the 2.45 harmonic, which is there also. These fascinating all electronic pieces are probably the best sound representation of feelings that i experience when connecting with my third eye abilities. But beyond that, the production is gorgeous and i immediately think that Dakini Records will pick this one up for its label because it is so perfectly in sync with their sound and style. I found the emotional climate on this album also to be more positive than "Orchid." There is a blissful quality, rather than the deep meditative. I'm finding this a year after release, but WOW! two consecutive listens and am totally stoked and impressed. 3-7-2009 Three Cities Bombay Dub Orchestra Six Degrees Records, 2008 Bombay Dub Orchestra (2-CD set) Bombay Dub Orchestra Six Degrees, Records, 2006 Click Here For Bombay Dub Orchestra Website Click Here for BDO @ Six Degrees Records FULL ORCHESTRA INDIA DUB CLASSIC Albums from Six Degrees are always a pleasure to hear. The production is warm and earthy, yet detailed to a remarkable, shall we say?, degree. The material that they select is always high quality and their long term artists continue to develop and innovate their sound. I implicitly trust this label's taste and integrity. Last December, in my usual manic spate of holiday CD acquisition, I picked up these albums, enjoyed them immensely, yet somehow never got around to reviewing procedures. Then, they were occultly lost in the continuing deluge of visionary sounds as is the custom in this household of One. This morning, the guy in the red truck parks in my parking space below my closed-windowed apartment and begins belching the de rigeur subwoofed hip-hop through my walls. Sensing that this was my opportunity, lo & behold, I ended up playing "Three Cities" double-woofed and mid-volumed as a way to redefine our sonic relationship. After many listens of Bombay Dub Orchestra, this was my first chance to allow the music to fill the space around. Man, was I blown away. The richness and intensity of the full orchestra give this album a density and intimacy not often found in Asian Fusion, but also the nectar of the perfect bass, cleverness of the riffs and relaxed awareness that the music offered me made for a perfect hour of attentive listening alternated with reading my new book by John Allegro, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth." So involved was I, so awash in this beautiful fusion of North Indian Classical with reggae dub, hip-hop and r&b, that I scarcely noticed when my erstwhile antagonist drove his little red freak show away! Yay! But seriously, all of the Bombay Dub Orchestra that I have heard is top-notch Asian Fusion with an affinity for full orchestra classical which goes well beyond most other artists in the field and is simply breathtaking at times. While there are some higher tempo dance tunes, BDO is rather dedicated to the mid-tempo dub stylee. As I said, listening to BDO I am mostly in mid-alpha and able to concentrate, read, converse and so. Under the appropriate conditions, I am relatively certain that this music could be used to tour many of the Vedic heavens and possibly interact with the GanDARVas themselves! "Three Cities" is striking for the string arrangements and lush orchestration on top of energizing compositions that have full emotional positivity and leave one feeling nourished. With this album, BDO manages to transcend its influences and present its own unique voice that may possibly lead to a future reality where you know that it is BDO in the first 8-16 bars. yes, the artistry is THAT inspired! The self-titled 2-CD set is as consistently excellent but without all that acoustic instrumentation. The synthesis carrying these background responsibilities is very competent and a pleasure to behold. great voicings! The moods are a bit more Western/Continental also, with phased Rhodes piano at times and jazzy underpinnings. Sometimes there is that French influence like the Buddha Bar stuff, etc. But overall, quite delicious courses of exotic auditory cuisine. Perhaps best is the sustained interest and variety for the course of two full discs! ready to hear it again at the end! I�m sure my later reporting on these wonderful discs is old news to fast and sure follows of the Six Degrees saga. But to the rest of you who enjoy World Fusion in the flavors of India, the work of Bombay Dub Orchestra is a must-hear and worthy addition to any serious aficionado of the IndiaDub realms. "Three Cities" is a worthwhile classic. If you like it, i KNOW you will like the 2-CD set, which has some wonderful ambient pieces on it as well. 3-6-2009 Starlight, Volume 1 Robert Carty Deep Sky Music, 2008 Click Here For Deep Sky webpage CARTYGRAPHER OF THE LUMINOUS HEAVENS Fresh from its creation in December, this initial release in the Starlight series finds our intrepid sound explorer sauntering boldly into the realms of Planetarium Music; a natural subgenre, it would seem, for the expansive, silky style of its creator. For ageless aeons extending to the nethermost nuances of the ancient past, titans like Jonn Serrie and Michael Stearns have plumbed these celestial depths for the shining treasures of firey stellar noumena, glistening in the velvet black manifold of the dreaming void. Now, Robert Carty unveils a new chapter of this aural drama. As i said, it's a natural. Carty's sonic palette has been so extended over these many years of intensive creation, that he has developed the perfect space music sensibility within his wider range of aesthetically intriguing atmospheres. This type of environment is kin to Serrie's mellifluous "layers of continuum space," but is an outgrowth of Carty's many years of developing his own unique idiom of synthesis. His style tends to have more developed micro-levels, higher definition of outline and edges, and also a brighter emotional color. Rather than the, at times, nearly pious and academic reverence, mixed with awe and humility, of Serrie's major works, Carty's Planetarium Music seems to me to filled with the sense of fusionary bliss and Oneness which is the real payoff from sustained stargazing. From the Stearns-like opening track, "Polaris," an arresting and powerful lightning strike of a composition which is really quite different from the rest of the album, more active and intense but does immediately draw one into "deep listening" mode, to the lovely "Saturn's Song," which finds Carty in fine form working with heart chakra vibrations into the last half hour of the album: a fully satisying set of luxorious star music. Robert Carty has an enormous catalogue of albums. This latest release reveals that his powers as a synthesist and sound painter continue to be excellent, and his spiritual sensibility is finding fuller, mature expression in his development of stellar music which now is become a landmark in Planetarium Music per se. 2-15-2009 Stream Of Thought Steve Roach & Erik Wollo Projekt, 2008 Click Here For Steve Roach website AMAZING FUN COLLAB OFFERS RHYTHMIC THRILL RIDE It begins with a sparkling, glistening environment of crystalline light with all the cheerful breeziness of a Pat Metheny album, but somewhere between Paul Avgerinos rich production values and the steady pluckpulse of Steven Reich's best work, then suddenly we slide down the slippery slope into the glurpy glorp of the primordial ooze, filled with dmt-gnomes from the 5th dimension..... .....water, luminescent water, through which we see parallel wave-like corridors of flow in which swim beautiful iridescent eel-faeries or sylphs....the background fades away to deep space in which toroidal asymmetric pulsar-like globs of magnetic plasma lifeforms emit radiation of high frequency intelligence.....each environment more strangely beautiful and deeply alluring than the previous one, for 19 technisonic episodes.... Wollo brings a fresh perspective to Steve's deeply committed sonic shamanism. He has a sense for the emotionally dramatic and high gloss space music like Avgerinos or Stearns which makes for wild shifts in texture and really clean, sheer definition between audio events. Steve responds in the superb category with intuitive meldings that allow his style to mesh with Wollo's, nearly, it seems to me, taking the support role which provides cohesive value to this 70 minute journey to the inner stars. A strange and wondrous journey which consistently couches its imagery in a positive, spiritual ambiance. Even in the darkest regions of "Stream Of Thought," there is plenty Light. The percussion is quite interesting, being most theta shamanic trance but also increasing the pulse rate into very enjoyable alpha ranges. A hint of techno influence. Some of these beats pleasantly hearken back to "Empetus." We find ourselves mostly in Dreamtime and the lower astral "Cartoonland." But, man, are those crazy kids having fun with the dancing psilocybin wallpaper.... People who like Robert Rich's brighter albums or the afore-mentioned artists should enjoy this one quite a bit. Sanctuary Shapeshifter Visionary Music, 2008 Click Here For Shapeshifter Sanctuary Web Page GO HOME, HOME BABY, GO HOME The web page has a very nice 7 min sample from the beginning of this album if you click the link.... Here we have an album inspired to guide you to the reality of my favorite subject: THE PARADISE WITHIN. These are musical compositions centered on keyboard stylings, but synthesizer-based in sensibility and texture. What we have here is an hour of extreme inner planes paradise done in the signature style of an artist who apparently has been doing this sort of thing for a number of lifetimes. i hear so much Lemuria in this that it brings a fond tear to my eye. it is amazing in this day and age that we have reached the point of reconnecting so far back! and yes there is Atlantean influence also. of course, we find more modern idioms, but i'm really talking about the feel of the album. it comfortably compares to the ambient works of David and Steve Gordon; i'm thinking primarily of "Oneness," "Sanctuary," and the "Garden Of Serenity" albums. comparison to Michael Hammer naturally comes to mind, but Shapeshifter is much more narrative and story-telling. yes, i think there is a narrative here but i am still exploring. i think it is about how to bring the inner paradise to the outside world, but still testing at this point... while i am an avid collector of all of Shapeshifter's work, the recent "Shamballa," "Rejuva" albums, plus this new one, "Sanctuary," establish this artist as a primary source for Paradise vibrations and certainly as essential picks for any ambient room i would consider doing. we can file this one in new age or healing music, but i think it fair to call it true Visionary music, as the company's name implies. 1-25-2009 Earthlight David Parsons Celestial Harmonies, 2009 Available @ Steve Roach's site, click here HEY, DAVE, COULD YOU SET THE BAR ANY HIGHER? He'll smile wistfully and tell you he's not a musician, but a "sound painter." Then suddenly, you're several dimensions over the line, hovering in the plenum Void, incandescent astral mysts slowly entwining upwards towards a *what!?!* an ENORMOUS daystar of brilliant sparkling white Light?? David Parsons must be the ultimate electronica craftsperson. Using samples he has recorded on numerous visits to India, Tibet, and Bali, along with state-of-the-art Kurzweill equipment, with every subsequent release Parsons reveals not only new aspects of his abilities but also an attention to detail and minute resolution which is sine qua non. Like most long-term Visionary Sound artists, Parsons has developed several styles that he like to work in: the first I'll call "Tibetan Meditative"-consists of long form pieces that induce meditative mind states, like "Himalaya," "Dorje Ling" or "Maitreya;" "Cultural Ambiance" albums like "Yatra" or "Parikrama" which include meditative pieces but are more trying to describe a locale; and more rhythmic/shamanistic works like the Balinese "Ngaio Gamelan," "Shaman" (a fave of mine,) and 2004's electro release on Groove Records "Vajra." This last would be a great acquisition for people who have never heard this artist before and have more modern technoambient affinities than classical or asian classical. Recently, David Parsons released the ghostly 2005 album, "Inner Places," in which he conjured visions of the Lokas. This album seemed to be in touch with spirits of the dead and was a little scary tryp kinda. To find music in his canon like that, we'd have to go back to 1980's "Sounds Of The Mothership," with atonal stuff like "Tree Spirits," or 1982's "Tibetan Plateau." Earlier in 2008, after a three year hiatus, "Surya" appeared. It was also pretty astral, but perhaps more to the dark ambient side like Steve Roach. Both "Inner Places" and "Surya" were rather sedate, exploring the darker, more Neptunian mysteries of Tibetan mysticism. This new one, "earthlight," is the more energetic and exciting Parsons of "Shaman" and "Vajra." !! While working within his familiar idioms, Parsons embues these visionary sounds with an excitement and wondrous sharp resolution that made me *gasp* more than once. Gorgeous and overflowing with life- force, spectacular dynamics and surging enthusiasm make this album a grand return from the realms of the dead to the revels of the living. Yay! Extremely powerful like "Shaman," with strong melodic work, wild contrapuntalities and deep spiritual force, "earthlight" takes the listener on a far-ranging cosmic ride comparable to the best of Demby or Stearns, but right here in the juice of the planet. *whoa* This one is a MUST for Parsons fans and for all who like expertly executed, thoughtful and thought-proking electronica in the Visionary mode. Atmospheres Deuter New Earth, 2008 THE CONTINUING PRODUCTION OF EXCELLENCE You can always count on Deuter for crisp production values, total emotional/intuitive commitment to the performances and a lush, evocative feel that is as luscious as a perfectly ripe mango, fragrant as a rose in full bloom and pristine as a lily pad. Wow. This album is in Deuter's more western classical mode, the more traditional sound that made him world-famous. While not breaking any new ground, it does take its place alongside the pantheon of his main modality musics including the recent 2003 releases, "Sea & Silence" and "Earth Blue." I distinguish these albums from his Reiki releases, which tend to have more of an explicit influence from eastern Asian classical musics. Regular readers know that I prefer his meditative and healing musics. Last year's "Spiritual Healing" is one of my most loved Deuter releases of all time. I always keep up with Deuter because when he gets it right, it is nearly perfect. This album, while not in my preferred style and not terribly original, is a very enjoyable paradisal environment and the relaxation response my body had to it was near immediate and quite profound. I should point out that Deuter stands out as one of the early progenitors of what would come to be called "New Age Music" along with other highly notable composers like the supreme angelic sounds artist, Iasos, and the pioneer of scientific healing music, Stephen Halpern. Like either of these other artists, when you put their music on, it will sound like "New Age Music" because they are IN FACT "New Age Music" because they are the ones who developed "New Age Music." My body convinced my mind that i like it. 1-19-09 Aquarian Dreamer Brian E. Paulson Aeon Records, 2008 Music For The Soul MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST EXTRAORDINAIRE CONJURES MELLIFLUOUS CONFLUENCE OF TONAL EVENTS hey, I'm a big fan of BEP and it is always a pleasure to hear what is new at Music For The Soul. For those readers not familiar with him, I'll just say he has several interesting styles and plays a panoply of instruments. A lot of his early work is what I'd call "Scientific Ambient," in that the vibratory matrix in each piece has a fundamental pulse rate that is calibrated to measured vibration rates or to brainwave states. He also has developed more narrative musical works which are more in the New Age realm but are underpinned by considerations of sacred geometric ratios and chakra theory. These works are considerably more complex in structure and feature Brian's talents on numerous instruments. They tend towards blissful and enchanted states of consciousness. Lately, these types of works have crossed over into what I consider to be Angelic Music. A third style that has always been present is Brian's fusion music that combines worldbeat, jazz and rock. This style gives him a chance to let loose with drums and guitars with abandon. Solos, flourishes, dynamic changes in energy and mood: the whole gamut. So much so that it can leave one breathless and completely confused as to what could possibly come next. AQUARIAN DREAMER is one of the Angelic albums and part of the strand he began weaving with 2004's "Deep Release" album. Where that album soared high and dived deep to achieve healing responses, this album is more geared to relaxation and creative imagination. The first piece, the 30 minute, "Dream Vision," I can comfortably enjoy as backsound in a relaxed alert state, or I can sink in to a lower vibration just on the edge of sleep, a visualizing theta state. The music rather offered me both choices. The overall mood is a meandering casual dreaminess in which various sounds and textures float in and out, some appearing only once, as Eno called "jewels in the desert." I am tempted to call this "Possiblistic Music," as it seems to encourage taking one's time and to consider alternatives, look at something from various angles. This playful exploration of texture reminds me of meanders Patrick Bernard likes to do, and there is a background vibe in the Michael Hammer mode which makes me feel like the back cover of the cd case, which with abstract light pastels and a swath of vegetal green, is more representative of the album than the darker (even if quite stunning) computerized graphic on the front. "Aquarian Dreamer," also half an hour, features soaring piano as in "Deep Release," which often reminds me of Raphael or Lafond's work with Patrick Bernard. BEP plays some tasty bass throughout (which gives the piece a lower end presence sometimes missing in ethereal music) and a range of devices from harmonica to triangle. These paradisal notes create an atmosphere that I hear potentially so many influences in, but Brian has created his own sound. It IS Aquarian and what feels to me as Atlantean (this may be because of his previous work in Egyptian modalities, or it may just be how I distinguish his atmospheres from, say, Hillage's & Giraudy's Aquarian vibes, which tend to be on a cosmic mandalic scale, whereas BEP is much more conversational and here in the mezzocosm with us.) As the piece progresses, we are drawn into a slow groove which seems to be gracefully carrying us through a luminous environment. This is luscious music for relaxation and creative daydreaming. It would great backsound for friendly intimate conversation, for laying out, cuddling or doing yoga. After listening to the whole album, my heart and third eye feel tonified and my entire body is relaxed. I listened to the album as I wrote this and at no time did I feel that I was slipping out of alpha, but I do know from previous listens that it is entirely possible to go transic on this stuff and get some visuals. In fact, BEP admits that this music is a REPRODUCTION of Visionary dream states that he has experienced. I recommend this to people who enjoy Angelic and Cosmic musics. There are getting to be so many albums from Brian E. Paulson now that you just have to go to the website and check him out. Some of these newer CDs are not posted at the site and I am unsure if he is actually selling them, but drop him an e-mail and I imagine something is possible. Quirk Brian E. Paulson Aeon Records, 2008 Music For The Soul GOT QUIRK? Starting with a drum beat that almost makes you think that a mid-period B-52's album is about to begin, "Quirk" immediately gets the listener caught up in some strange conglomeration of science fiction, modern lounge, progressive rock and fusion jazz, with sudden infusions of fun craziness liberally spiced with aromatic concoctions of synthesis and cultural references like a musical encyclopedia on acid. He calls it "proto-pop/jazzy/worldfusion/solarneurooptilogical tone generations." I call it good clean fun! Seriously, though: I'd have to call this the latest incarnation of Space-Age Lounge Music, which we might as well call Modern Lounge. Chosen by Keyboard Magazine as the CD release of their December 2008 "Unsigned Artist of the Month" feature, this album allows Brian to really pull out the stops and create some *FUN* energy. A celebratory, party atmosphere, "Quirk," can get you tapping your toes and snapping your fingers while wondering at the same time "what exactly is this wild wacky wondrous stuff you are listening to?" It is a music that is unpredictable, highly unusual and takes a fair amount of risks. By that, I mean that it DOES NOT sound like the ready-made, easily digestible pabulum that typically gets pushed across the scanner. No: this music is TRYING to get you to have fun, to crack up and laugh, to maybe even, could you?, be silly without being embarrassed. Then you listen closely and - whoa - is this guy getting all dexterous and over the top like Return To Forever? What's going on? It's so kooky and playful, yet how on earth did he play THAT? I have a number of Brian�s fusionary albums and he is getting increasingly good at this thing. Perhaps what really stands out with this album is the full professional production (perhaps some new mastering tricks?) which makes the music jump out at you like a chimpanzee. It's incredible, really. This album is NOT for serious jazz aficionadoes who want to sit there with a straight face and "critically appreciate" the artistry. Nope. BEP will say, "excuse me?" and blow your mind with some wild imaginings beyond your considerations. While the chops are there in abundance, what is actually going to happen is that you are going to get pulled into his giggly googly world of wiggly waggling tongues and raised eyebrows. That's it. Forget about rubbing your chin thoughtfully. How can you do that when your fingers are snapping? This album is brimming over with 21st Century Lounge, Worldbeat fusion jazz hearkening back to the Eighties hey-days, and eclectic rock forms all tied together with exciting keyboard riffs, unique synthesis and a bright optimism that only a QUIRK could cook up. 1-5-09 Temple Crystal Moon Kinetix, 1997 LOST TREASURE OF THE PSY-ERA MUDRA I found some free mp3 samples from this album at the Virtual website & on first listen i knew i wanted the disc. Click here for free sample page which is out-of-print but can be found by the intrepid visionary sounds aficionado, if diligent enough. i've seen it for $40 plus shipping, but i found mine for a reasonable eight bucks at ebay. This is some amazing psi-ambient very reminiscent of early Heavenly Music Corporation, but there is indian percussion which gives it a subcontinental elegance not unlike Makyo's side project, Padmasana, but even more ambient. since it was on the Virtual site, i'm tempted to speculate that this might even be early material by Hillier (et al?) from Ishq. it does have an Ishq kind of vibe: translucid shimmerings of exotic nirvana, this will provide an excellent sonic feast for lovers of lush electronic exotica like Makyo, HMO, or even Jarre. let me say it: this is like suddenly finding a long lost Heavenly Music Corporation album. the song titles are a clue: "Sea of Mermaids" "Temple" "Cloud" "Silent Pool" "Pamuya" "Sundream" "Butterfly" "Lotus" very dreamy, paradisal stuff. wafting away on the aromatic vapors of spiritual essence. my kind of electronic. "Temple" appeals to my fundamental musicophilia: my obsession with and pursuit of direct conscious experience of the Inner Paradise. take a few grams, put this CD on, and call me in the morning. 12-28-2008 Timelapse In mercury - Virtual Space Volume 1 Virtual Virtual, 2008 Click Here For Virtual Website ELUSIVE TECHNOAMBIENT VISIONARIES RELEASE DEEP SPACE PROJECT VIRTUAL is the overarching music project of the minds behind the stunning release "Orchid" by Ishq. While it never gets fully stated, i believe that Virtual is Matt Hillier, with Jack Stephanson, who has passed away, and possibly collaboration with Matt Coldrick (?) Anyway, this website has been releasing some high quality technoambient and with "Orchid" has firmly cemented a place in the annals of millenial electronica. "Timelapse In Mercury" begins their Virtual Space music series. AND SPACE MUSIC IT IS!! It begins with so many audio trappings of the science fiction genre, one almost thinks it is the beginning of some kind of Star Wars saga. But rather than amping one up for the jump into hyperspace, this recording begins with an intense delta wave vibe that slammed me into hypersleep before the end of the second piece on my first THREE attempts to listen to the album! So begins an incredible journey into innerdimensional space through a collapsing wormhole into a trippy fifth plane environment filled with tryptamine gnomes, UFOs and ultimately to sixth plane angelic beings. It kept coming to me: "this is the REAL alien dreamtime music!" Virtual has a sound that features the organic slurpiness and insectoid crackling of Vir Unis, melded with a profound sense of gorgeous space on the order of Serrie, Demby or Carty. after being pulled into sleep and dragged through the wormhole, the adventures begin as clearly upperdimensional phenomenon and become increasingly ethereal with strong resonances in the upper cranium. the title piece is completely brilliant and perfect, showcasing the awesome production work which, for all the incredibly high-pitched almost screeching sounds such as one would get by stretching the sound of glass chimes, there is *virtually* NO distortion in the upper register. crystal clear. after a two minute almost frightening transition, we are deposited for the last two compositions in a celestialangelic space so pure and pristine as to be nearly shocking. we are immersed in luxurious golden light and end up serenely calm, lieing in a meadow by a pond with ducks. paradise. love this album and would buy it again. completely synthesis with no drum machine as such and what percussion exists is pretty ambient. snag it as only 500 copies were made. 12-13-2008 brightwhitelight Sounds From The Ground Waveform, 2008 SFTG DUBBY DESIGNER MUSIC DIGITAL DELIGHT This new release is more upbeat than the last one, "High Rising," which was good snooze material for audio enjoyment at lofty heights, but not so good for early morning stocking at sea level. That is to say: this album is midtempo electrodub; there is enough energy to use it for light activity and the bottom bass end is, as usual for Waveform releases, wide and deep, at times satisfyingly chunky and full of juice. Sounds From The Ground started with a pretty reggae-roots-oriented style and has slowly moved towards a more techno-flavored electronic downtempo environment. I daresay that this album is somewhat inspired by the recent work of Bluetech, for the edges are a bit more angular and the rhythms crisp & complex. They still retain enough of the roots feel to make lovers of traditional dub perk up their ears. I've seen it happen. It is also worth mentioning that this is a stripped-down sound: like Zero One, there is a relative austerity of sound events happening and each is in its highly-defined sonic zone in the stereo field (I typically refer to this kind of production as "modular.") what this means is that listeners who hope to find new levels on repeated listen won�t really....however, repeated listen will deepen the pleasure of noticing the contrapuntal relationships and various expertly timed tone jewels. This is fun, hip synthetic backsound, chock full of the signature dub vibrations and momentary glories one comes to expect from SFTG. It continues the trend of moving to a more electro sound and stays rather well within aesthetic definitions, taking few risks, but rather offering the sumptuous vibe feast typical of the Waveform label. OZRIC TENTACLES Back in the mid-90s, I had a friend who was into pretty angry american hardcore and death metal, but we had some common interests in the occult and worked together. At one point, once he was familiar with my musical interests, he told me that I would probably be interested in Shpongle and Ozric Tentacles. I have to admit I somewhat discounted his opinion and made no attempt to follow up on his suggestion. After my transition to Maui in 2003, however, I began to have a greater interest in midtempo technoambient and electrodub (thereby attenuating my previous aversions to hard techno and reggae.) As readers of this column know, I began a ravenous course of exploration into the talents of all the artists on the roster at Twisted Records, along with a growing interest in the electrodub of Entheogenic, Shulman and others. I don�t know...perhaps it was the implied Crowleyan and Lovecraftian connections in the name, Ozric Tentacles, that kept me from making initial inquiries into their work... Boy, was I missing out! This group has over two dozen albums and has sold over a million copies worldwide. What do they sound like? That's just it! HARD TO EXPLAIN. If you took a massively shredding prog rock fusion band like, say, Brand X or the Dixie Dregs, gave them a enormous phalanx of synthesizers and a steady diet of psilocybin tea, they might come up with something as psychedelic and high-energy as this. The songs are not your standard narrative arrangements, but basically solos connected by bridges, no verses or choruses. And every solo is wild and completely over the top in some odd yet exciting tryptaminic fashion. For those of you familiar with Steve Hillage, this is what might have happened if he had continued with the Aquarian crystalline UFO concepts of "Green," but dispensing with voice and going all instrumental. In fact, we HAVE to source Hillage's work as a primary influence on the band and the guitarist's style. Which is fantastically AWESOME by my lights! For those of you who like the modern technodub stylings of Shpongle, you might as well go get a copy of Ozric Tentacles' 2004 album, "Spirals In Hyperspace" and 2006's "The Floor Is Too Far Away" is a really fun ride also. People who are more into progressive rock - you need to check this band out! There are just too many albums and almost all are great tryps. I highly recommend 1994's "Aborescence," which maybe has some Jeff Beck R&B accents and takes one through thick jungles of psychedelic flora. 1999's "Waterfall Cities" is also a favorite of mine and quite paradisal in the Hillage mode. It has been said that if you have heard one Ozric Tentacles album, you have heard them all. Well, I think that each album has its own subtle production differences and stylistic idiosyncracies. And certainly a few stand out as being rather unique, particularly Spirals, which uses quite a bit of drum programming I think, whereas most of the albums feature predominantly live drumming (imho.) But even if that were true, then it would mean that you would have to get them all! 11-30-2008 Golden Ratios - Pythagorean Harmonic Healing Vol. 1 Dr. James Hopkins Art All Ways, 2007 Click Here For Website AUDIBLE FRACTALS - THE LAMBDOMA SEQUENCE This album was composed using painstaking precision. Going so far as to custom design and construct unique instruments based on a rigorous fidelity to the intricacies of Pythagorean musical theory, Doctor Hopkins has produced a breathtaking drone meditation album that is surely on par with the caliber of works by Joachim-Berendt and Johari. Furthermore, this is one of the few albums that one may have the fortune to come across that is actually sonic sacred geometry (the others that come to my mind immediately are Dr. Jeffrey S. Thompson�s calculated musics of the Sri Yantra and the Labyrinth.) The twelve string instruments Doctor Hopkins has created vary in size from 2-7 feet and have anywhere from 25-117 strings. These strings must be tuned precisely (a task which Hopkins describes as �extremely arduous and time consuming�) in order to derive the pure mathematical toning function created by Pythagorus two and a half millennia ago. The result is a harmonically rich sonic wash perfect for meditation and sound healing. I can state quite honestly that on the very first listen, my body reacted to exposure to these sounds with a strong and definite healing realignment of my upper vertebrae. This is all quite fantastic when one realizes that this universe of sound is being generated by hundreds of strings that are tuned to only two notes, D and A. This is a quite exciting tuning, as it tends to realign the relationship between the sacral chakra and the third eye! This disc is an automatic no-brainer acquisition for serious students of audio meditation, sonic healing and visionary sound. Spiritual Healing Deuter New Earth Records, 2008 NEW AGE EXPONENT CREATES ANOTHER GORGEOUS VISION Deuter has settled into a comfortable niche which features the signature sound he has been working on for over a decade. While I was always marginally aware of Deuter throughout the first quarter century of his work, it was his 1995 album, "Wind and Mountain," that converted me into a regular listener. That album successfully melded his celebrated facility with piano, flute and strings with a technically advanced understanding of the use of synthesis and production technique. Deuter's last few albums have been on-going refinements of this sound. I have "Earth Blue" and "Sea & Silence," which I found to be very enjoyable and filled with the pristine beauty that one comes to expect from Deuter, but I always love it when he returns to the graceful sweep and meditative purity of "Wind & Mountain." This album is yet another technically superb, somatically pleasurable and emotionally uplifting Deuter release, featuring the crystalline production sound, expert intuitive understanding of the use of sound to induce therapeutic states and sensitive musicianship that he always brings to his craft. Anybody who likes Deuter at his best will love this album. This certainly makes me want to backtrack to the last few albums I skipped for some negligent reason. Deuter is one of the founding artists of "new age" music. His trademark sound is a fundamental to it as is Steven Halpern or Iasos. There is no doubting this. People who have a set predisposition against the genre will not want to hear this music. Poor you. Dreamtime Submersibles Evan Marc (aka Bluetech) (featuring Steven Hillage) Somnia, 2008 SUBAQUATIC ADVENTURES WITH THE LIQUIDIC ELVES An escapist fantasy into the psychedelic deeps as if some crazy hit of DMT dragged one all the way down to the bottom of a breathable sea. This is a real deparature from the rather cerebral, angular "designer music" of Bluetech into a space-music oriented style similar to Alpha Wave Movement. Only perhaps it should be called "undersea-music." Very gentle, very psychedelic, this is basically a leisurely tour of a submerged realm of liquid secrets populated by a vast variety of impossible life forms and odd, curvaceous architecture built by some unknown race of beings. And, yes, there are vehicles to ride in to get around to the various vistas of vision. I suppose these are the "submersibles." It's almost like an entheogenic ride at some far out amusement park of the imagination. DMTsneyland. But very mellow, not wild and freaked out techno kaleidoscoppery, but serious modern electronic space music. Joined by psychedelic music composer, Steven Hillage, on guitars, Evan Marc takes us on a highly pleasurable exploration of unknown realms deep in the waters of the Unconscious. Hillage completists can rest assured that they will not be disappointed, as he puts in some fine and subtle work here. People who enjoy Alpha Wave Movement, Zero One or downtempo technoambient projects like them will dig this release. I find it imminent listenable for enjoyment, good backsound for reading or relaxing. It is totally NOT energizing; a laid back trip. Under the right conditions, this album is sure to produce a fantastic journey through the lush liquid realms of the innerdimensionals. Terra Alpha Wave Movement Harmonic Resonance, 2008 THE MELLOW SIDE OF OUR PLANET Gregory Kyrluk has such an impressive body of work that it is hard to understand why he hasn't received greater recognition. Along with a handful of genius americans like Robert Carty, he has been regularly creating albums of great craft and beauty that, I think, can be considered truly "American Electronic." While Kyrluk is obviously influenced by Tangerine Dream, I have no difficulty saying that he near immediately surpassed his influences and if you compare year to year what he has released and what TD has released, he is, well, clearly superior. His first release, that I am aware of, was "Transcendence," which still remains one of the great technoambient releases to date, imho. It was as if Steve Roach's "Structures From Silence" mutated into electronic modern beats. Kryluk then went through a longer, darker period with whole albums that feature brooding, menacing states rather describing the primordial struggle for existence as well as states of deep bliss. But recently, he has come back out into the Light with 2003's "Cosmology" and 2006's "Beyond Silence," both of which are filled with numinous incandescence. This album, "Terra," is the full return to a delicate, divine imbued with deep feelings of compassion and grace. We have to call this space music. The kind of thing that ends up on the syndicated shows like Hearts of Space or Musical Starstreams. But this is the real deal, created by someone who has already demonstrated that he understands the darker side. Definitely in the top of 2008 list. 11-13-08 Reconciliation Jacotte Chollet MultiDimensional Music, 2008 Click here for MultiDimensional Music Website! LATEST FROM FRENCH COMPOSER IS A MEDITATIVE MASTERPIECE! i have written extensively about the music series entitled, "Listening To The Self, Restoring Wholeness," by Jacotte, of which this album is the ninth and most recent release. "Reconciliation" has the soft mellifluousness of her earlier work, "Silent Light," -- one of my favorite discs to have on as i sleep -- and expands on the themes of spiritual development which emerged in her two previous albums, "High Spaces," and the 2-CD "Ascension." This is her most meditative disc to date, consisting of 5 relatively long works which maintain a constant emotionally soft, meditative environment while each performs energy realignments specific to its vibrational shape. It is almost as if the grandeur of the celestial sweep of the Shasta Ascension composer Michael Hammer had merged with the profoundly intuitive, transformative insight of Australian synthesist Marcey Hamm, and together they explore the deep meditation vistas forged by David Parsons in his sound paintings of Tibetan meditation. Jacotte's mastery of the medium is evident in one's continuous sensual, emotional and intellectual pleasure of being effected by these mysterious sounds. During one of my deep listenings of this recording, i found myself spontaneously imagining three circles vibrant with the primary colors -- blue, water; red, fire; yellow, air -- merging to form brown which deepenend into black. and the visualizing them as if on a tv set, merging into bright white. it seemed to me as if this music was dissolving the boundaries represented by these colors -- blue, emotion; red, spiritual; yellow, mental; brown, physical -- and that i was actually experiencings these dissolving boundaries, mergings and new unions which the colors simplistically represented. we usually think of the philosophical reconciliation as that of black and white, material and spiritual, mind and heart, and so forth. i felt like i was experiencing a complex process like that, but it felt very simple and straightforward. Lightworkers and those who love angelic music will greatly appreciate this album. People who enjoy the previously mentioned artists should too! Those looking for a pleasurable meditative soundscape which also encourages mental attitude softening and healing of the emotional body should also definitely check this out! if you wish to read DARV'S NOTES ON THE 3RD LISTEN of this album, click here: Reconciliation description track by track for all the MultiDimensional Music reviews click here: Darv's MultiDimensional Music review page! 10-20-08 Naturescapes DVD Brainwave score composed & performed by: Dr. Jeffrey Thompson Music composed, produced and performed by: Jim Oliver The Relaxation Company, 2008 SCENIC PASTORAL VIDEO WITH PIANO SCORE I like the photographic qualities of this dvd more than the score. Meandering through a myriad of meadows and reveling in reveries of river rivulets, Naturescapes is notable for its compositional expertise. Like a flowing painting, the video carries us through a series of natural scenes which are all balanced in terms of color, light and shading, organic movement and symmetrical transformation. All quite pleasing to behold, but not filmed to be breath-taking nor awe-inspiring, but rather to inspire a feeling of Oneness and interconnectedness. While one often gets the impression from the promotion of this disc that Dr. Thompson�s music is herein, that is misleading. The Doctor actually created the brainwave matrix (or �score� as it is called in the accompanying literature and on the disc.) The music is by Jim Oliver and is done in his signature sound and style, on piano, with some string and synthesis accompaniment. While Oliver�s work sounds largely the same to me - - long drawn out noodling where it is hard to pick out the melody - - his art is based on solid healing music theory and does evoke the relaxation response. His stand out release is �Harmonic Resonance,� which was released as part of the Healing Music box set by The Relaxation Company in 1995, but can be purchase separately. That album is one of the most intense resonant pieces that I own and is completely AMAZING when experienced under the appropriate conditions. I haven�t kept up with Oliver�s career, but I do think that this soundtrack is a mature work compared to what I�ve heard and, while perhaps not intriguingly original, it is quite pleasant as backsound. The Doctor�s brainwave �score� is nonintrusive and perhaps mostly hidden in the nature sounds. If I was sitting in a doctor�s or a dentist�s waiting room, it would be great to have this flat screen on the wall with the music very low. Quality natural landscape video with artistic balance in the cinematography, with a pleasing if somewhat bland musical score. But perhaps that is the point, since the intent is to induce states of relaxation and feelings of wholeness. I can dig it. Frankly, I like this better than the John Banks videos, but less than, say, Timeless which has scenes of great grandeur and a tasty compilation of Patrick O�Hearn compositions for a soundtrack. Lastly, Naturescapes comes with an accompanying CD called �Gentle Rain,� but one can barely hear the rain for the chirping birds, and if one turns the volume up high enough for the rain to be satisfying, the bird chirps are FAR too loudly. O well..... sadly, I know of NO easily available soundscape of even, gentle rain! The best recording of that kind that I have ever heard is �Rain� from the Sound of Nature series (notice: it is the SOUND not SOUNDS of nature.) That recording is difficult to acquire, but it is on a torrent somewhere....Most rain recordings mix in music. Good solid rain is hard to find! Thunderstorms, yes; gentle rain, no. ANYWAY....I do appreciate this DVD for the simple, uncomplicated relaxed state that it induces. The images are beautiful while not so full of grandeur as to awe or otherwise excite the viewer. The brainwave headspace is a quite familiar mid-alpha state that provided a transparent vibratory atmosphere for me to write this review! 10-14-08 Liquid Light of Healing Aeoliah Oreade, 2008 Divinaura Aeoliah Oreade, 2007 CUTTING A NEW FACET IN GEM OF TRANSUNIVERSAL ANGELIC MUSICK The first thing that comes to my mind to tell you is that this music is the taste of 21st Century hyperangelic technologies that are beginning to kick in now. Aeoliah has a LARGE discography dating back to 1980. i became aware of him around that time, as his albums were logged into the library of the University radio station i worked at during those early years. his discs were actually in the stacks of every licensed station i worked for throughout my on-air career. so i've somewhat kept track of his work all these years. i'm particular about my early Aeoliah recordings. "Angel Love" is the perennial classic, and de rigeur for serious angelic libraries. I am very fond of "Inner Sanctum," probably because it is greatly influenced by Iasos. I also own: "Majesty" as my selection of his many orchestral albums; "Crystal Illumination" a synthclassical chakra suite which is beautiful but didn't really work as a an accurate resonance device for the chakras in my opinion; "Colors Of The Heart," which is solo classical piano with synth embellishments, quite new age radio stuff, commercially well received but not a favorite of mine; "Angels Of Healing" and "Angel Love 2" are lovely half hour pieces 2 to a disc and good for people who already know that they like Aeoliah. "Realms of Grace" (2005) and "Radiance" (2006) represented a new phase for Aeoliah, where he had come to properly integrate brainwave resonance considerations along with a new awareness of pitch accuracy, nuance in voicing and lush production. "Liquid Light of Healing" is a state-of-the-art, pure and pristine exemplar of contemporary angelic synthesis. while i immediately enjoyed earlier albums, this one blew me away and was a completely involving transformative journey from beginning to end. completely synthesis, i would put this album on par with Iasos' greatest works. probably the first time i've claimed that. probably. this is a righteously good suite of Shasta Ascension music taking us to realms akin to our deepest flights with Constance Demby. yes, it is that wonderful! the song titles themselves tell the story: + Out of the Silence + Activations of Star Portals + Portal of Transmutation and Purification + Heart of Compassion + Portal of the Luminous Presence + DNA Activation/merkaba/ascension + Unity + Nirvana i have no doubt that transdimensional experiences with these tracks would approximate the vicinities described in the titles! angelicists, lightworkers, dimension shifters all need this recording. highest recommendation to people who enjoy previously mentioned artists or others like: Patrick Bernard, Michael Hammer, Raphael, & Andrew Forrest. "Divinaura" reveals Aeoliah's dual side, which, much like Deuter, largely consists of confectionary new age pop songs in the 4-5 minute time frame. i generally am not attracted to this sort of thing regardless of who is doing it. It is much like the label, "Higher Octave," which produces supersweet new age music that i generally don't relate to (it is my own bad attitude, i'm sure;) while its offspring label, "Cyber Octave," has has numerous recordings that i enjoyed because they were more shamanic or technoambient. And, sure enough, the album begins with a graceful light classical piece that the cynical would surely lambast for its cloying, muzak-like qualities, replete with a surreptitious technically simple, spanish guitar solo. the second piece brings the spanish guitar to the fore. slowly the music begins to tread a path into less-familiar territory until we are dancing with downtempo trance dance beats. some of this new more shamanistic rhythm work he's using reminds me of Gerald J. Markoe and his work with Ancient Brotherhood. which is fine with me and interesting to hear Aeoliah get a little more physical in his music. but along the way there is plenty of Aeoliah's tradmark piano, synthstring, voice and harp. one thing i have always impressed with is Aeoliah's sincere love of the music that he creates. The album is presented as a transmission of Goddess energy, and i am in complete agreement that the overall mood and texture is of the Divine Feminine. this album would certainly feature in any Goddess sets i chose to perform. certainly, devotees of the Goddess will greatly appreciate this release. as far as these pop-oriented sorts of discs go, i enjoy Divinaura far more than the other Aeoliah of this nature and far and away more than similar efforts by Deuter. because this is a Goddess transmission, it has far more SOUL, i think, than the others. So that's my *dig it* on this matter: "Liquid Light Of Healing" is a superb celestial music acquisition; "Divinaura" is a quality release of Goddess music which largely avoids cliche, but is suited to special tastes which appreciate very feminine music. 10-05-08 The Calling Kip Mazuy Bliss Music, 2006 Click Here For Bliss Music Website 3-CD SET CONTINUES THE JOURNEY TO THE ULTIMATE BLISS As mentioned in my prior post, i recently acquired new releases from Kip Mazuy that had been out for some time, but that i had just realized were available via internet. These recordings have blown me away with just how good they make me feel. from the first listen, one can feel this powerful yet subtle and familiar sensation that eventually develops into deep pleasure and bliss. any experienced trypper could tell that these discs have ecstatic potential. whereas the "Shakti Silence" double-cd has one disc of masking noise that is encoded with the bliss signal and the second disc is a drone meditation piece similar to the works of Hans Joachim-Berendt with the sandawa or to many tamboura droning recordings of which i find "Attunements For Dusk and Dawn" by Harish Johari to be particularly wonderful, "The Calling" is much more reminiscent of Mazuy's past ambient work. while after several listens each of all 3 discs, i still find them hard to distinguish mentally (should have taken notes,) i can still tell you that they are splendidly beautiful in the western classical sense, have some piano and minimal guitar at times, and there is quite a bit of voicing, sometimes in what i believe to be Sanskrit. The effect of these recordings upon the listener is stunning and near immediate, although as one is entrained the blissful state intensifies. After 30-40 minutes of exposure, i find my body releases the fundamental of its basic resistance and i am in a sort of free-floating sensual pleasure that can become so strong that one wonders if one is maxing out, but just can't seem to turn it off. After two weeks of daily listens (at first i could only listen to one disc a day because i needed time to integrate the experience,) i find that i feel calmer and happier all the time and my physical pain has either lessened or i've somehow tuned it out better. in any event, in my case this has been a strongly positive transformative process and i wonder how i will feel in another couple of weeks! I strongly recommend these recordings for those who are seeking spiritual development, experienced meditators, and pleasure seekers. Although pricey, i feel they were a quite worthy investment and look forward to the changes that will surely come as i continue to listen. These discs surely are potential "best of 2008" here @ Darv xanadu. you can experience this for yourself. for free. simply click the below link to the bliss music website page that has the sample link. scroll down to the bright blue letters that say click for audio sample. i recommend you right click, select "save target as" and save the one minute sample to your hard drive. then you can select continuous play on your winamp or whatever, splice the track by 3 or 4 seconds and bingo! you have a continuum of shakti sonic which should give you a good impression of the resonant qualities of the recording. Click Here For Shakti Sonic sample page Immune System Shad Diamond, PhD Diamond Crystal Music, 2006 Click here to go to Diamond Crystal Music CRYSTALLINE VIBRATIONS TO BOOST HEALTH I had to get more crystal music from Shad Diamond, as it is some of the most exquisite angelic music that i have had the pleasure of coming across in a long time. three long form pieces on two discs which create a dazzling shimmer in the room, each is designed to stimulate specific aspects of the sapient energic envelope. the first piece creates balance in the system, tonifying the acumeridians, improving chi circulation and aligning systems for a feeling of centeredness. the second then is like an energy pump to get more chi into one's body and aligning the auric fields. the third focuses on the thymus and harmonizes the thymus and heart, reenhancing the way the organs of the body share energy. some of Doctor Diamond's other albums are blissful and pleasurable states. while this album is gorgeous, i must tell you that it does have a medicinal feeling to it not unlike how i've felt after an acupuncture treatment. the processes that this music invokes in the body require energy shifts that can feel odd like one has taken some medicine made of crystalline material. the states attained are most of deep clarity and focus. great acquisition for those who collect crystal music or healing music that is medicinal in effect. THE MODERN BEATS Cosmix Ram Dass & Kriece Waveform, 2008 BULLSEYE WAVEFORM RELEASE WITH CULTURE HERO PSYDELICIST RAM DASS OMG this is a GREAT recording! the spoken word of Ram Dass over technoambient downtempo grooves in the classic Waveform mould. one is taken on an incredible journey of consciousness to consider what an existential position might even look like. enough of Ram Dass's Hinduist vibe is here in the form of chants set to modern grooves to easily cross over to the Asian Underground category for folks who like world fusion with the India motif. Immediate comparisons arise to Terence McKenna's work with Spacetime Continuum on "Alien Dreamtime," but this music is much more varied, fun and journey- like. It also brings to mind "Dancing With Shiva," the collab between Baba Sri Siva and Nataraj, which focuses on specific sanskrit mantras and builds songs around them. "Cosmix" is much more western and accessible to our youth plus has that sort of post- hippy grooviness that Ram Dass brings to his work. a great tryp and very inventive music, deft like Talvin Singh at times, with complex drum sections, but with a solid club bottom end ready for the midtempo room at any rave. the stand out song is the best thing since "Little Fluffy Clouds" by The Orb. "Thoughts" is about "thousands of thoughts drifting by like clouds in the sky." awesome. this album is great fun and danceable, yet has a philosophical side which is thoughtful without being overly serious. i'd buy it again. Downtemple Dub: Waves Desert Dwellers White Swan Records, 2006 Downtemple Dub: Flames Desert Dwellers White Swan Records, 2006 INTRICATE PROPAGATION FIELDS OF GLOBAL DUB I picked these up partly because the packaging was alluring and i liked the song titles. i think i may have found them because people listening to Celestial also liked them. anyway, with a name like "Downtemple Dub," it sounded like something that should be in my collection, don't you think so? "Waves" is the better disc, having some righteous hand drumming and killa dub bass lines. A mix of cultural influences from all over the globe converge seemlessly. the prevailing feel is arabic. it was so amazing that i was a little taken aback when i put "Flames" on, which i thought by being fire would be pretty active. it is even MORE laid back in the pocket with a strong india influence and much more female vocals. the hand drumming is fresh and compelling and one of the stand-outs of the album. it is WAY downtempo, tho. very pleased with these albums, which have a clean well-defined production aesthetic and obviously are well-considered, thughtful efforts. Asian Fusionists into the Dakini label stuff like Makyo, or Celestial, Blue Asia and the like should like this well done electrodub set. perfect for the after hours chill zone. 9-22-08 Shakti Silence Kip Mazuy Bliss Music,2004 Click Here For Bliss Music Website THE ULTIMATE BLISS - NOW AVAILABLE IN HI-FI STEREO Every Kip Mazuy cd is a sonic delight from beginning to end. classically-based, with impressionistic piano as the main instrument(and delightful music-for-airports-like choral voicings,) his first four albums are the closest thing to sonic amrita (the divine nectar) that i have ever heard. the fifth was Ocean Euphoric, which represented a new plateau by dispensing with traditional instrumentation and overtly using brainwave technology to induce ecstatic states. or at least extreme bliss states, which is what i got out of it, never actually crossing over to ecstasy, but certainly experiencing some profound blissfulness. although i just found out about them, Mazuy released this two cd set some time ago. they are they result of travels to india and tibet, where Kip apparently studied the vibrational states of people giving and receiving SHAKTIPAT. while i will not claim to be an expert on this phenomenon, let me describe it to you thusly: most spiritual traditions say that one must disciple with a guru or master. it is often said that one cannot adequately attain the stable paradisal state without the benefit of being taught by someone who already is stable in the state. just being around someone for a while allows one to "feel" how THEY feel. "shaktipat," and here i am giving a reductive, cursory explanation, is the transmission by the guru/master to the disciple/student of the feeling of the Divine. this might be done by causing one's chi/lifeforce to vibrate at the right waveform and then transferring this energy into the other person's energy enveloped. my personal experience in these matters leads me to believe that the visual impression of this energy is bright pink fluid light, like a very high vibration of pink roses. again, this is not an expert description. anyway, these recordings are the results of Mazuy's findings and transposing them into the audible range. the first disc, Shakti Silence, is completely nonmusical. it is like so-called "white noise," simply used to mask unwanted sounds. however, it has a background brainwave matrix that induces the shaktipat bliss state. since it is simply a mild whoosh, this backsound can be used as a vibratory foundation for meditation, lightwork, bodywork and healing activities. it is truly "visionary sound art" and outside of the usual context of music. Mazuy asserts that this can increase the effectiveness of one's meditation ten-fold and by my own experience, i'd say that's about right. the second disc, Shakti Sonic, has the same masquing sound, but also employs a tamboura drone instrument and some other sparingly used instrumentation to create what i must frankly say is the most superior of any tamboura or sandawa drone meditation recording that i own. once entrained by the vibratory state, it was like i was going deeper and deeper into an incredibly pleasurable meditative state, there seemed to be no limit to how far into it i could go (and that was when the recording wasn't even halfway through.) it was like i was becoming ever more still and my frequency rate was going through the roof, even though my heart and breath rates were slow. amazing. afterwards, i felt completely centered and immediately completed all the housework tasks i had set for myself that day with no sense of boredom. it felt great to be alive. you can experience this for yourself. for free. simply click the below link to the bliss music website page that has the sample link. scroll down to the bright blue letters that say click for audio sample. i recommend you right click, select "save target as" and save the one minute sample to your hard drive. then you can select continuous play on your winamp or whatever, splice the track by 3 or 4 seconds and bingo! you have a continuum of shakti sonic which should give you a good impression of the resonant qualities of the recording. Click Here For Shakti Sonic sample page sound meditators need this disc. people looking for music that not only induces relaxation, but also bliss will like it also. while the price is rather higher than typical cds, one gets what one pays for. bliss. also, i have received Mazuy's 2006 3 cd release, The Calling, which i will review in due time, but may take a while for me to understand. stay tuned. Chakra Healing Dean Evenson & Soundings Ensemble Soundings Of The Planet, 2008 Click Here To Go To Soundings Of The Planet website LONGTIME MASTER OF NEW AGE MUSIC CREATES CHAKRA MUSIC a largely acoustic album, beautifully produced, with each song keyed to one of the seven major spinal chakras of the body, plus the last one sounding all chakras at once. Evenson is a revered artist in the genre who has shown a high level of integrity and intelligence in his craft. extremely intuitive, he was working chakras before he even knew that that was what he was doing. these are thoughtful compositions, filled with emotion and healing intent. the target frequencies for the chakras are spot on and everything about this album works from the view of doing energetic work on the human energetic system. people who don't like "new age music" won't like this album, because it is sincerely and loyally true to the genre. and Evenson has been doing this so long that he has proven time and again that he is not in it for just the money, but as a complete commitment to his art. this is evident to anyone who listens to the full length and breadth of his musical works. the soundings ensemble, also, are each respectable musical artists deeply commited to the vision of a world at peace and in love. very effective energetically and peaceful. imagine. Crystal Bowl Meditation Life In Balance The Relaxation Company, 2008 CRYSTAL BOWLS, STRINGS & PIANO CREATE ELEGANT IMPRESSIONISTIC AMBIENT STATE Actually, i'd been expecting and hoping for a recording of bowls only, much like "Sounds Of Light" by Crystal Voices or the old school "Crystal Gong Meditation" cds by the Shargung-La Monks. but quite soon, the piano and flute appear and we are in an atmosphere reminiscent of, and probably influenced by, Deuter. which is fine. but this album works for me more as an ambient album. i'm reminded of the collabs between Brian Eno and Harold Budd, if there was a Deuter higher consciousness motif happening. a repeating melodic figure never seems to emerge, but also my cogitating mind keeps analyzing the phrasing, searching for one. this makes it difficult for me to think of it as a meditation device. it IS, however, pleasant and very relaxing. the harp sings and the angelic presences are nearby. well done. also often done. people who like Deuter or Sayama should like this. i'm calling it good backsound for relaxation, bodywork, healing work. maybe good for tai chi, but too slow for yoga. MODERN BEATS Hong Kong Dub Station Celestial Drum Music Limited, 2003 Happy Valley Celestial Drum Music Limited, 2001 Spirit House Celestial Domo Music, 1998 FORMIDABLE POWER IN ASIAN ELECTRODUB yeah, i know, i'm finding out about Celestial well into their career which may even be over since it is mostly cut-out now....i remember the first album at the radio station where i had a show, but didn't air it because tracking through it, i found it to be a little too disco for my tastes. i won't lie to you: "Spirit House" is pretty much asian disco influenced by Deep Forest and wanting to dance with the techno crowd, but still feeling the allure of disco dance beats. well, it was their first album, finely produced and showing their flair and originality, but i'm actually strongly recommending 2003's "Hong Kong Dub Station," which is a blend of roots reggae dub with asian melodic themes which pretty much beats Blue Asia for danceability and street credibility. i play this at work and everybody stops to ask who it is. "Happy Valley" introduced the dub aspect, and has very interesting compositions although somewhat marred by what i consider to be overuse of "found" sampled voices quipping, quoting and remarking (which is not unusual in technoambient but should always be used sparingly, by which i mean not every song should having speaking voices occuring every minute.) "Hong Kong Dub Station" corrects this problem and subjects the listen to an album brimming over with cultural ambience and traditional tunes dubbed out to irie grooves. the bass kicks. while all three of these albums are good acquisitions, when listened to in their entirety it becomes evident that Celestial was evolving and improving with each release. whether there will be more albums is unknown, but definitely pick them up in reverse order. anyone who loves Blue Asia should check out Celestial. people who like world fusion like Makyo, Deep Forest or Gaudi would do well to find a copy of Hong Kong Dub Station. do it for your roots. 9-17-08 *hey, yo, got cable internet & spent the last few weeks catching up on sounds. a capsule view follows...* Mayanian Fire Dance Brian E. Paulson Music For The Soul, 2008 Wet Canvas Brian E. Paulson Music For The Soul, 2008 A Bumptious Occasion Brian E. Paulson Music For The Soul, 2007 Click Here For Music For The Soul website MULTIGENRE MULTIINSTRUMENTALIST MULTIRECORDIOLIZES Make no mistake: i'm a HUGE fan of BEP & his diverse catalogue of VSA magic. i always mention "Mystic Rain" as as essential Visionary recording that will consistently yield high Light content for the Lightworker. Brian has created a number of albums this last year & i am merely fortunate to sample a selection more or less based on my personal interests.Succinctly: what we have here are three albums composed, performed, recorded and produced by the same individual which all revolve around common themes of Bliss, Fun & Creativity. The album i recommend most strongly is "Mayanian Fire Dance," which is a half hour of fun energy based on a relentlessy optimistic and abandoned rhythm that could be compared to his previous release, "Pulse Of Life" (2003,) but with a good deal of live percussion and certainly more confident in its changes and permutations. It is a midtempo trance dance rhythm, with solos on about a gazillion different instruments and interwoven with all sorts of novel synths effects. Definitely designed for the moving listener, yet still with healing, near medita- tive voice programs. there are Enoesque dissolving metaphors in the breaks, but the rhythm only fades for eight bars or so. This fits in well with my Vacation music motif and is something i would play in transit on vacation. "Wet Canvas" (2008) is more in the realm of modern Exotica lounge music. While having more fusion jazz appeal and sturdy, impressive chops, this album is still pretty laid back pretty much like Exotica meets smooth jazz. But here, again, Brian manages to inlay the music with a Biosonic visionary synth sensibility similar to Iasos' "Bora Bora 2000," so the cozmic is always right there at the threshold of the listening experience. quite enjoyable! The third album in this batch, "A Bumptious Occasion," takes BEP's environment wizardry into the realms of World Beat dance music, where fusion jazz meets african beats under the aegis of a club music aesthetic similar to the "World Beat" phenomenon of the 1980's. Due to this music being uptempo and party-oriented, the performances are more high powered and difficult. As a person who spent many a night at local clubs dancing to World Beat, this is part nostalgia and part danceaholism. After all, i'm Darv of "Darv's Dancing Deal" way back in the University radio days. Exuberant fun and mind boggling synth fx. perfect for the pool party & backyard barbeque. Interdimensional Music Iasos Iasos.com, 2005 (orig. 1975) Click Here For Iasos.com MUST SEE FIRST ALBUM BY THE MASTER STILL PROFOUND EXPERIENCE while relatively short by modern standards, limited by the quality of available production means and perhaps showing the naivete of early works, Interdimensional Music by Iasos has proven itself over decades as one of the foundational albums of the so-called "New Age" music category, highly influential in those realms and still today, but for the lack of clarity of reproduction due to primitive recording ability, still sounds as modern and "with it" as any of his works. Iasos is highly sensitive to angelic frequencies and is blessed with the ability to render them (although quite painstakingly and meticulously,) into our audible range. He also has an interesting affinity for the deities of the Olympian pantheon which is breathtaking once one comes to understand it. I collected this since my old cassette tape never really did adequately present the music, and am most gratified. High grade recommendation for aficionadoes of formal angelic music. Substrata Biosphere Thirsty Ear, 1997 CLASSIC DARK AMBIENT FOR GLORP LOVERS it took me a while to get to this, but when i saw a reasonable opportunity, i decided to hear what it was all about, this BIOSPHERE thing.... ....and it is true quality dark ambient reminding me more than anything of the comfortable swampiness of Tangerine Dream's "Phaedra" release, but also having a sensation of perambulation in nether lands somewhat like "Stalker" by Lustmord and Rich, but certainly warmer with, i think, deliberate references to Eno's classic, earthy "On Land." somber and introspective, but with a beauty understood only by those who glory in the microecosystems of the marshland. yes, this album is a direct descendant of Ambient 3, while still having a rather orchestral feel at times. definite thumbs up for people enjoying the Rich, Lustmord, Alio Die recordings. Polar Sequences Biosphere & Higher Intelligence Agency Beyond, 1996 COLLABORATION BETWEEN AMBIENT & TECHNOAMBIENT TEAMS much like Substrata, but with more angular rhythms as befits Higher Intelligence Agency's tendencies. the environmental theme here is regions of the frozen polar tundras, rather than swamps and marshes, and it works well. while perhaps not as masterful as Substrata, this album is still a wonderful excursion to the areas of ice on this planet. i have heard few recordings get this environment so well, having to draw comparisons with the Residents' "Eskimo" album or the very recent Patrick O'Hearn "Glaciation," which is much more melodic and studiously "studio" than this album, which is actually quite intuitive and has layers that only reveal on repeated listen. 8-29-08 2012: Ascension Harmonics Jonathan Goldman Spirit Music, 2008 Click here for Healing Sounds website AMAZING VOCALS WITH TIBETAN BOWLS & BELLS GOOD FOR JOURNEYING i had high hopes for this album, as its' namesake by Richard Shulman, "Ascension Harmonics," was such a fantastic entheogenic experience of the Christic & Ascensions energies. this is something different. the liner notes tell us that it was recorded quite some time ago and was used in workshop scenarioes, where it received some acclamation. even Goldman admits he doesn't know exactly what it does but that it acts as a kind of extradimensional portal for journeying. the first time i listened, i wasn't analyzing or trypping, but simply being quite blown away by the vocal work. there is no synthesis on this album, so you start going crazy trying to figure out how certain effects could be done vocally. secondly, the multitracking is so dense it is nigh on impossible to focus on any one vocal track. this is all framed by an excellent set of Tibetan bowls, which are either rubbed or faded-in so one doesn't hear the mallet strikes. 2012: Ascension Harmonics is a 71-minute long form piece that is basically a mellifluous drone that is continually morphing with a metallic lustre that produces coronal shining effects courtesy of the bowls and bells. while listening the second time, i realized that the overall vibe of this recording reminded me of a planetary vibe such as i am familiar with in my NASA/Voyager recordings of the outer planets and the Primordial Tones by Joachim Ernst-Berendt. after some fussing with equipment and recordings, i estimated that the fundamental pitch was between a C sharp and a D, but closer to the D. Goldman has made several recordings at C sharp for the base chakra tone. i felt though, that the sound was more complex, reminding me of Berendt's Saturn/Mercury recording which is near C sharp. wearing the headphones with the sound up and my closed eyes facing venetian blinds illuminated by sunlight from outside, i noticed that this album has a constant fluttering which shifts and flows, suggesting a complex interference pattern created by the lack of a clean dominant wave. indeed, i could not relax back into a simple wave state as one does with brainwave music. Instead, i was in a state of constant flux and kaleidoscopic dream machine visuals. although the fundamental was around C sharp, the fifth near G sharp seemed to be mostly involved in the visionary aspect, as if the throat chakra and third eye were intermixing and creating a journeyspace between on the 5th plane. fascinating stuff, very pleasurable and i could see it as good backsound for massage, ritual and group lightwork. Ancient Meditations Gerald Jay Markoe Astromusic, 2008 Click here for Astromusic website CONTINUATION OF DEEP MEDITATION SERIES Markoe has a signature sound which must be considered central to the formal "new age" music category. Classically trained at Juillard and Manhattan School of music, he began his career composing music influenced largely by Mozart, but performed with piano and celestial synthesis, Markoe also developed a fascination with the Pleiades constellation, which resulted in a number of Pleiadian concept albums. Initially, i found his music somewhat stilted and what i considered naive. As time passed, i realized that what i thought was "stilted" actually was a brainwave effect that he must have created intuitively, which allows the listener to achieve a kind of stillness during relatively active compositions. What really grabbed my attention was Gerald Jay Markoe's work in Ancient Brotherhood, a loose knit musical collective co-founded and supported by Markoe which is more involved in Native American musical themes and environments from both the North and South continents. Under the proper conditions, these albums created FANTASTIC entheogenic experiences. This caused me to backtrack to his celestial and angelic albums. Lately, however, Markoe has been putting out some superb active meditation discs solidly founded primarily on musics from Japan and Egypt and influenced to lesser degrees by concepts from Greece and India. (Also, he recently created a healing music album featuring classical synthesis influenced by the traditions of the West and India.) Ancient Meditations is a companion album for the Zen Meditation and Meditation Music of Ancient Egypt albums. The first half is more on the Japanese side and the second half is more on the Egyptian side. The music has synthesis but is primarily created by traditional instruments (or are they samples? i can't tell.) It is active music with rhythm, yet can lead into extremely salutary meditative states. this music would be great for health spas or to add to the ambiance at a hot tub or for yoga. i have also found it quite useful as backsound for reading. anyone who enjoyed the other two albums will like this one. Lisbon Concert Terry Riley Albion, 1995 SOLO PIANO CONCERT BY MINIMALISM MASTER STRETCHES CONCEPT OF WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH A PIANO i didn't know this album existed, but the name Terry Riley always catches my attention and i have been slowly building my collection of his works (also, reissues and first issues are beginning to show up in the last few years.) Terry's best know works were created in the late 60s and early 70s. In C, A Rainbow In Curved Air and my personal favorite, Shri Camel, all featured permutating minimal melodies which i have referred to as "musical mandalas" or "sonic kaleidoscopes.) this album is live performance on acoustic piano only, no echo, tape loop or anything like that. just one man at a piano. and it is incredibly satisfying to hear someone who is so encyclopedically versed in the musics of the world play music that is constant morphing through a myriad of cultural idioms. Raga, jazz, blues, various classical styles all seem to fuse seamlessly into an endless tale of colour and emotion. a blues theme almost imperceptibly takes on the shading of north india classical music. be bop jazz suddenly melts down into impressionistic classical music similar to Debussy. you can't help but be stunned how one pair of hands can do this. incredible. MODERN BEATS SECTION Around The World Senor Coconut Essay Recordings, 2008 THE BEST COCONUT YET WITH HI-TECH EXOTIC & LOUNGE it began as almost an off-color joke by well known Berlin electronic artist Atom Heart, who has been producing electronic music for decades. he created an alter-ego, Senor Coconut, who is the leader of a HOT latin band which plays mambo, samba, meringue, cha cha, and what have you, the trick, of course, being that they are all sampled instruments. the band itself is electronic, but sounds close to acoustic and live. but not. like halfway.... the first album was a wild ride with a bright party like atmosphere, but it didn't stop there: the second album reproduced as latin music classic electronic music by long established electropop band, Kraftwerk. a lot of pop electronic bands have built their work on top of factory preset latin beats. so, to recast their work into actual latin music is no great leap. yeah, right. that is, of course, unless you have some completely insane electronic music maestro programming the entire band using samples and throwing in some wild synth effects here and there. the third album took this even to more crazy lengths by applying the same treatment to the music of Tokyo's Kraftwerk, The Yellow Magic Orchestra, and then recruited the members of YMO to perform cameos on the album. all this stuff is high energy party atmosphere music that is silly and exciting maybe kind of like Pee Wee Herman or John Leguizamo, but also breathtakingly impressive to aficiondaoes of electronica. WOW. this latest album, Around The World, lessens the use of samples and brings in an actual crack latin music band line-up and lets the synthesis sort of play hide-and-seek around and through it. and even more than the other albums, it can get people who don't even really like latin music tapping their toes and doing the dookie. with covers like "Sweet Things Are Made Of This," by Eurhytmics or "Kiss" by Prince, this disc has some instantly recognizable tidbits, while still offering something for the more musically conversant like "Moscow Discow" originally done by Telex or "White Horse" by Laid Back. every new track is utterly different, engaging and charming. the finale is a blow away: a stops-out remix of Les Baxter's "Voodoo Dreams." Baxter was THE composer sine qua non of Exotica lounge music. this final song alone opens up new vistas for the modern Exotica genre. "Around The World" has instant appeal for Brazilian dance halls no doubt, and should appeal to modern day Exotica lounge music fans and high-energy fun-seekers like people who would listen to B-52s (although, of course, it is not rock but latin beats with rock energy. i'm saying if you can't dig this wildcrazy music then, like, you don't know what fun music is. The Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance Various Artists World Music Network, 2006 GREAT COMPILATION OF INDIA'S FUSION FOLK MUSIC i wanted to know more about Bhangra, so i picked this up. man, just about every song is wonderful and the few lesser songs are still quite good and display positive aspects of this burgeoning subgenre. after listening, i realized that the only actual Bhangra music album i owned was Dhol Foundation, although obviously the influences can be heard throughout many artists like Jai Uttal, DJ Cheb i Sabbah, Karsh Kale, Midival Punditz and many more. i am inspired to pick up the companion album Rough Guide to Bhangra. while using synthesis, these musics are much more live and acoustic, but i would think people who enjoy the above artists or artists like Makyo or other Dakini label artists would get into this. educational too. Sirius Sounds Children Of The Bong Planet Dog Records, 1995 SIRIUSLY BRILLIANT EARLY ELECTRODUB ALBUM while recorded in the mid 90s, this album still seems fresh and is utterly enjoyable for people who like the Shpongle paradigm. largely instrumental with little spoken word, this is electric neon dayglo midtempo techno with dub undertones. while having the complexity and angularity of Bluetech, this music also is whimsical and playful like Higher Intelligence Agency. fully florid with intense light vibrations, Sirius Sounds leaves you feeling like you are on acid i kid you not. it is apparently the only album they did and so is hard to find, i think. but it definitely is right up there with the best of electrodub (its' roots sensibilities are perhaps even more earthen because it is from mid90s.) the "Underwater Dub" is truly liquidic. one of the most fun and inspired electro discs i've heard in a while. what happend to these guys? Traffic ABC Blatant Touring, Ltd., 2008 ONCE THEY WERE GOLD, ONCE THEY WERE PLATINUM STILL GOOD when i had a radio show of visionary music, i would often play a pop song as an outro to the next show, sort of a tune to return to normal life. sometimes i'd use an ABC tune about love, or Todd Rundgren or some other artists known for writing songs about transcendental themes in the midst of their popmaking. that is what ABC is doing in this column. hey! it's a good album too! a new line up of great musicians playing in a Roxy Music inspired mode somewhere between the vulnerable introspection of Skyscraping and the grandiose gesture of Beauty Stab. while not breaking any new ground musically, these are tight, well-crafted songs with some wisdom and humor, that are set to get you dancing in the 80s style. i like this one better than the last one, 1997's Skyscraping, which wasn't quite as multilayered. ABC has always delivered intelligent lyrics and well-considered tunesmithing. Even this album has a wise tune: "Lose Yourself." I consider this probably the most successful ABC effort since "How To Be A Zillionaire" and if you liked them in the heyday, this would be a great nostalgia factor with hours of listening pleasure to be had. 8-16-08 Regeneration Shad Diamond, PhD Diamond Crystal Music, 2008 Shambhala Healing Energy and Chakra Balancing Shad Diamond, PhD Diamond Crystal Music, 2006 Click here to go to Diamond Crystal Music MUSIC TO GET A HEALING CODE UPGRADE BY whoa.... i was so impressed with the discs by Doctor Diamond that i reviewed on 8-3 that i had to expand my investigation further with the acquisition of additional sonic data formats: this time the two general healing discs. "Regeneration" because it is new this year and purported to be a mix of healing code upgrades, and the "Shambhala" disc to complement my contingent of Visionary Sounds dedicated to the fabled extradimensional locale. stunned. "stunned" would be the world to describe my initial listens to this material. whereas all the Diamond Crystal Music that i had heard up to the point in time of my review 13 days ago rather comfortably fit with my comparisons to Iasos as highly advanced angelic music, i will have to admit that these two discs and in particular the newer one blasted me so far out of my preconceived notion that i am now scrambling for better similes and metaphors to get my head around what is going on here.... these musics have spiral gyroscopics like Michael Hammer, and some of the synthchording is suggestive of Hammeresque Ascension environments, but the holoarchic 3D qualities of the proprietary crystalline encodings provide a fusion drive through dense configurations of psydelispace. "Regeneration" is an intense download of Superquantum information that seems to awaken one at a cellular level. This may be the most fully realized "crystal music" that i currently own. Even if the listener becomes transic (as happened to me the first time,) this music is SO dynamic and energizing that it feels like one is being filled up with some sort of cosmic fizzylifting drink. This is state-of-the-art 2008 cosmic synthesis. it is what i imagined crystalline music would sound like before i ever began pursuing it in earnest. This album would be on my BEST OF 2008 list if i actually made one. awesome. breaks new ground - - just for sheer crystalline beauty - - in angelic music. "Shambhala" is a half-hour chakra balancing piece repeated twice on the disc. i remember on the second listen thinking that it was rather like Weave's "Ten Minute Chakra" with the addition of a Superquantuum Tone matrix. but better, because this piece does more than simply present the correct tones, it then follows a procedure for HARMONIZING the tones together with is utterly fascinating to observe as it happens AND FEELS GREAT. this utterly knocked me out on first listen. on second listen, i was feeling that i was being communicated with telepathically by beings with healing intention at a great distance, and they actualy did some pretty impressive work on my chronic misalignment. part of this was a process by which defective codes were dissolved, so to speak, and more accurate, nondegraded codes were spliced in somehow. if that makes sense... anyway, these were changes that remained in place long after the recording was over. we'll see... The Infinity Project Raja Ram, Simon Posford and Graham Wood Avatar Records, 2004 (originally Blue Room, 1995) RARE MELLOWIZED SHPONGLE-LIKE COSMIC JOURNEY WITH ALIENS this albums begins like so many Shpongle releases with the heavy implications of the beginning phases of a high dose DMT tryp. there is in fact a journey out to the furthest reaches of inner space for a face-to-face with the Light itself. however this album is also crawling with ETs. particularly in the second half, we encounter at least 3 or 4 star faring vessels and their inhabitants. we are also introduced by geometric fusion to all sorts of peculiar innerdimensional data somehow specific to alien understanding of the Divine. it is all quite strange, overwhelming and dramatic, and yet playful, sensuous and awe-inspiring. very downtempo, tho. almost like Heavenly Music Corporation. if you like Shpongle, you will want this. it is hard to find and can be pricey. so look around. a 74 minute mind-f*ck that will keep you intrigued to the very end. which is rather strange and abrupt.... Talking Stick Medicine Drum Cyber Octave, 1999 OUT-OF-PRINT TECHNO-TRANCE WONDER Cyber Octave has had some great and some definite fizzler discs. this one is great if you like the cybershamanic trance dance style. lots of authentic drumming, homage to numerous shamanic traditions, a wide pallette of production technique and an overall soft sound recommend this album to be picked up by the Dakini label some day.... while definitely a techno album, Medicine Drum has more in common with Professor Trance or Brainscapes than anything else. so if it weren't for the fact that it has a solidly techno spine, if we went by FEEL, then it is pretty much a trance dance album like the aforementioned artists. this album is all about spiritual awakening and common heritage. the shamanic sensibility i would put in the vicinity of electrodub wonders like Phuture Primitive, Don Peyote or Androcell. good party music, good for dance meditation. i give it a solid thumbs up. good for shaking out the cobwebs in the morning. i've seen this on the web for fairly high prices, but looking around a bit should prove worthwhile. i got mine for under ten dollars delivered. 8-10-08 Lucid Dream Jungle Third Ear Music, 2007 ELECTROSHAMANISM DREAMBOAT FLOWS UPRIVER TO GODDESS-SOURCE i encountered this release whilst perusing Steve Roach's website which, among other things, is a fairly good source for learning about new neoshamanist recordings. Dream Jungle is a project most prominently featuring Dwight Loop, who has a number of Visionary releases, and the voice of Taressa Bell, whose sensuous vocals, chants and whisperings permeate the album with an amazonian goddess energy. the album starts out with a snake charmer horn in the style of Jon Hassell and buffed out afrocaribbean handdrumming. all the synthesis implies jungle and it is a confusion of all the jungles in the world: india, africa, south america, southeast asia -- it seems to place me in an amalgam jungle. a dream jungle. all the songs feature slow technoambient beats, chants of the native americas, and glorpy organismic soundcurrents. one can almost sense the vines growing on the wall of the livingroom. while this album has a very modern waydowntempo techno- tribal sensibility, i can see why Steve Roach likes it and promotes it. it IS influenced by modern shamanic musical ideas and at time does morph into state-of-the-art dark ambient. at times, the sound seems to be the cyberization of the sound promulgated by Roach, Reyes and Saiz in their groundbreaking Suspended Memories works. but even when dark in the middle of the night, Dream Jungle stills crackles with electrical psychedelic energy. i would have like this album if it was all instrumental. i do enjoy female vocals and here we have a very talented AND obviously shamanisically experienced singer. like the recent Lumin with Irina Mikhailova, Taressa Bell infuses the album with undeniable goddess presence. while i enjoy such impassioned singing, it is fair for me to point out that stylized female voicings occur throughout, they are highly impressionistic and involve chanting and intoning. people looking for a DMT-like journey into the jungle of imagination will enjoy this release. 8-03-08 SHAD DIAMOND'S SONIC GEM CACHE Click here to go to Diamond Crystal Music i first discovered Shad Diamond and his Superquantum Healing Music whilst searching through the enormous used record collection of Logos bookstore in downtown Santa Cruz back in 1997. i discovered a pristine copy of his recently released, "Crystal Dreams," cd (1996.) it immediately became a regular feature of my fm radio broadcasts and i soon found a new copy of an earlier recording (1995,) "Inside The Crystal." each disc has two half-hour recordings of crystal music. they immediately became mainstays of my angelic shows and were often the centerpieces of any crystal music sets i performed. Shad Diamond's compositions are super-charged, high intensity angelic music whose only possible real peer would be Iasos. Using a proprietary method of recording sonic analogues of the vibrations of resonating crystals which he has trademarked as "Superquantum Tones," Shad creates a music both sacred and scientific. The synthesis involved evokes spaces of evanescent Light on par with the best work of Iasos, yet one would never mistake it as such, because he has his own unique pallette of effects. One of the most interesting of these is his use of pitch bend to create the impression of travelling vast distances upward or downward, an effect that is simply AWESOME when experienced entheogenically. Also prominent is the use of what sounds to be tuned crystal chimes. Whereas much of Iasos' music seems to be placed in the innerdimensional realms of the Greek Olympians, Shad takes us to realms which seem to be inhabited by living crystalline agencies or energy-presences capable of downloading extremely compact, densely ramified streams of incandescent geometrical living information which does appear from my view to be directly transferred from the central matrix of the Akashic field. this should not be surprising, since crystals and gems are geometrically ordered structures based on universal principles. For years, i tried to find out more about the artist and his techniques. The phone number and PO box on the releases didn't work. internet searches bore no fruit. no new releases were forthcoming. this happens in my game, folks. sometimes somebody releases one or two wonderful recordings, which show great promise for future endeavors, and then *poof!* the artist just DISAPPEARS, leaving the befuddled Visionary Music aficionado to simply sigh in gratitude for what small portion of magnificence was obtained, or to perform recondite maneuvers in the hopes of somehow finding out whatever did happen to that person. such it was with Shad Diamond. even upon moving to Maui in 2003 and having my own internet rig, i could find nothing else about Shad Diamond and gave up on the search as i began developing my now-epic exploration of PsyAmbient and ElectroDub. About a month ago, i started worrying that my two Shad Diamond discs might someday malfunction and i would not be able to enjoy superquantum vibes anymore. i know that in this day and age, we all assume that you can just rip a copy of a cd and burn a new one. this assumption has cost me, big time. i have found that discs which have certain proprietary encodings can be unstable and the very act of trying to copy them renders them useless. i wasn't willing to take this chance with Shad's music & in fact he mentions that copies degrade the superquantum signal (a warning which i have ignored on other occasions and have ended up destroying discs worth up to $75.) Visionary Sound Arts is not a game or recreational pass-time. often, we are dealing with state of the art encoding processes and nascent technology which has only just been created and is still to be perfected. so i went to Amazon, where i found independent dealers selling new copies at very reasonable prices and purchased one of each. it had not occurred to me to search for shad at this time. Well, a week ago i got those new discs and it DID occur to me to google shad diamond and see what happens (part of the joke here is that when one does that, my visionary sound arts interface comes up as one of the few links.) lo and behold, here he has a website and many recordings that i have never heard mention of on the web. needless to say, i selected what seemed to be the most logical discs for my purposes (they are $26 each, which i now consider a mid-range price for cutting edge Visionary music.) they arrived yesterday and i am writing this after a single listen to both. Crystal Heart Shad Diamond, PhD Diamond Crystal Music 2006 Timeless Golden Light Shad Diamond, PhD Diamond Crystal Music 2006 "Crystal Heart" is the third release in the Mystical Journey Series, which was preceded by the two previously mentions releases, "Inside The Crystal" and "Crystal Dreams." While its' sound and harmonic movements are much in identity to the previous recordings - - being profoundly gorgeous spiritualized synthesis at times stately and almost exhibit- oriented like a museum, then at other times surprisingly animated, breathtakingly wild like river rapids - - "Crystal Heart" has a central focus on the heart chakra energies and the musical composition shows a maturity that one would anticipate from a ten-year hiatus. The four half-hour pieces on the first two discs each seem to me to be a certain "take" on a particular crystal's energies (although nowhere is this overtly stated and only one piece, "Obsidian Rain," actually mentions a gem in the title. Each of these pieces seems to be an idiosyncratic hike through an innerdimensional crystalline realm. i use the word "hike" because that is rather what it feels like: definite changes in locale, as if one was exploring in the woods (or here in Maui, in tropical jungle.) This third installment, "Crystal Heart," seems more like a chakra tune-up in which the journey taken is along the contours of one's own heart energy system. The nature wildness of the first two is more subdued here, with more of an emphasis on the celestial/radiational aspects of Heart. Throughout the first piece there is the use of a meadow and creek nature environment with birdsong. The artist is definitely aware of using pitch to stimulate chakra areas of the body, but does so in a gentle way which is not alarming. Much of this first piece, entitled "Heart of Hearts," involves a call-and-response motif between synthwinds and synthstrings and passages of meditative harp. The superquantum tones, as far as i can tell from these early listens, are not particularly "musical" and manifest as buzzes, hums, clicks and other manifestations which definitely have pitch but are not necessarily melodic components. they occur within the nature sounds or embedded within the synthwashes. the melodies are clearly based in classical music. the second half of the piece becomes celestial and rises up into ethereal spaces of cosmic beauty. The second piece, "Spiraling Essence," brings us into a luminous realm where enormous draughts of gaseous Light move in spirals like angel wings. This turns into a rather active, sequencer driven electronica sweet which somehow engages one's intellect with the heart process. the final ten minutes appears to be primarily for consolidating the gains achieved, grounding the heart reality, so to speak. this disc is encouraged for those who collect heart chakra music. or lovers of angelic music. in fact, the trilogy as a whole is a compelling work of modern synthesis. The second album here under review, "Timeless Golden Light," is something i've been looking for for a VERY long time: a sonic representation of the Ketheric Gold. Unlike the other albums, this is a continuum piece which creates an hour-long environment of golden light. there are definite and enjoyable, yet subtle changes over time in melodic structure, but the overall vibe is constant. in this way, it is EASILY comparable to Iasos' renowned "Angelic Music," release and to my mind is every bit as much of an INSTANT CLASSIC: divine nectar in sound form. but it is also valuable as a Light experience. in this regard, i compare it to Marcey's "Anthem To Soul," which is the best device i know of for generating Ketheric White Light. or to Aeoliah's "Light At Mount Fuji," which i have used to great success for encountering the Ketheric Violet or Amethyst Light. up to this point, i knew of a few musics to go for the gold: "Harmonic Clouds" on the Calendula album by John Beaulieu has proven useful but somewhat limited by the musical scale it uses; "Golden Bowls" by Karma Moffet reveals gold, but it is hard to achieve the higher frequency regions and Iasos' "Liquid Crystal Love" has gold but in co-mixture with other gem-like colors. Ultimately, i found myself useing the little-known "Music For Personal Relaxation" on the somewhat obscure release, "Meditation Made Simple" (CMH Records, 1997,) as the closest analog i could find to the true gold. The great thing about "Timeless Golden Light," is its accuracy and consistency in helping the experiencer connect with the Divine Gold. to give this my highest rating as a bonafide work of High Visionary Art hardly does it justice. it is beyond my skill to describe it adequately and thus do i seek lame comparisons. albums like this are what brought me into Visionary Sound Arts. and this particular album epitomizes VSA's core values: the fusion of science and the sacred, the use of sound to heal and remember who we are; the advocacy of regaining our spiritual-shamanic legacy and recasting it in modern terms so that all can understand. if you love Visionary Sound Arts, it is absolutely necessary that you experience "Timeless Golden Light." 7-22-08 Landmass Steve Roach Soundquest Music, 2008 Click Here For Steve Roach Website LIVE CONCERT MIX FROM THE MASTER FINDS US WANDERJAHRING THE SURREAL TERRAIN OF THE UNKNOWN Performed live on the Star's End radio program, this recording, according to me, rather takes the sequencing ideas explored on his 2006 release, "Proof Positive," and softens the edges, making them emotionallly warmer and more reverent, much like his awesome mixes in 2003's "Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces." Much of it is also outback pastorals descended from the classic "Dreamtime Return" australian aboriginal period Steve went through in the late 80s. this is soft, sincere true Ambient music, with rhythm and then with flow, throughout. it seems suggestive of evening and early night moods, not dark like midnight nor murky like late night, but certainly not a daytime mix either. while energized, the mood is also at times contemplative and at other times searching or yearning. the cover immediately reminded me of Patrick O'Hearn's recent, "Glaciation," disc which features more arctic environments. in my mind, there does seem to be a connection of sorts between these albums. "Landmass" covers a terrain which is more desert and allluvial plain. this album is one of my favorite dark ambient releases of this year so far. ADDENDUM: 8/10/08 - - i've come to appreciate this disc far more than my review would indicate. the original attraction i had to Steve Roach was the soft quiet ambient beauty he created with "Structures From Silence" which complexified with "Quiet Music" and then was shamanized in "Dreamtime Return." this album has the soft light of these earlier releases. love it. Balkan Beat Box Balkan Beat Box JDUB records, 2005 Nu*Med Balkan Beat Box JDUB records, 2007 BBB EXPEDITIONARY BAND FOR EMERGING GYPSY PUNK GENRE i've been searching for some eastern european electrodub lately. to a degree, "Ketri" by Lumin has an aspect of this thanks to the vocal work of Irina Mikhailova, but the music is still more Arabic than European. there is of course Marta Sebasteyn from days gone by and Deep Forest's remix of her work, "Boheme," but all that is rather old now and i wanted something in the electrodub vein. well, recently i discovered this group and another which i have not yet heard, Gogol Bordello. this band features an ex-member of Gogol Bordello, who grew up playing Jewish klezmer music with horns. he met the other BBB founder in Brooklyn and they proceeded to create their own version of what is coming to be called "Gypsy Punk." BBB has a klezmer sound grafted onto pretty devious hiphop drum programming. the melodic themes are eastern european and mediterranean, although it does seem that some mexican mariachi is mixing into it at times. this is celebratory, vivacious music which sounds quite modern, has the Beats for street cred and can only be described as what one might hear if a gypsy caravan band, a klezmer wedding band, a mariachi band and the Art Of Noise all dropped acid together. from beginning to end, it is zany fun, filled with amazing surf guitar, tasty horn sections and a manic vibe that can turn any room into a party even if nobody is there. while BBB approaches Senor Coconut or DjMeDjYou for sheer wackiness, the level of musicianship here is quite high and the stylish hiphop beats sweltering in jamaican reggae dub processing effects guarantee that this is far more accessible to listeners unfamiliar with electrofusion styles. the self-titled album has much more of the klezmer sound and dense horn charts, whereas the second disc, "Nu*Med," is a more refined sound with a wider mediterranean sound incorporating even some Spanish motifs. both albums are passionate and inflammatory, perfect dance music for parties where world fusion is permitted and everybody is drunk on ouzo, tequila or manischevitz. 7-12-08 Booster Tangerine Dream Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra, 2008 DOUBLE CD OF SYNTHESIS ASSISTS TO THE NEXT LEVEL TD has been around, in one form or another, for a long, long time. This time out, it is basically Edgar Froese solo, except for two pieces which comprise the piece, "Metaphor," apparently composed and performed by Thorsten Quaeschning, who i know little about, but it would seem from my internet searches has done a bit with TD previously by way of flute solos for 2005's rerecord of "Phaedra" and extensive contributions to 2007's "Madcap's Flaming Duty," including keyboards, drums, guitar, recorder, mixing and mastering. having fallen in love with electronic and Visionary musics as a child, i, of course, came into contact with Tangerine Dream at an early age. our relationship has gone through phases as i fell in and out of love with TD, depending on what was going on. while some love Stratosphear and Phaedra, i gravitate more towards Rubycon and Force Majeure. i can listen to Exit or Le Parc, but they seem harsh and i prefer Thief, Sorcerer and Tangram. i have to confess to pretty much tuning out later TD and the 90s, with Edgar's son in on it pretty much went past me unnoticed except for some of the Dream Mixes, which could be interesting at times and the Seven Letters From Tibet, which should interest chakra music aficionadoes. This new double CD, "Booster," is just like taking a tab when the original dose first begins to wear off, in order to go to the next level. This is like "Exit," if it was done correctly so that it was always pleasant to body and ear, produce with a lush, big & bold mix, and actually grooved. Highly palatable from beginning to end for those who like Berlin school electronic music, TD stays true to its original sensibilities throughout, while taking advantage of modern tech and aesthetics to give the music a presence of grandeur which in previously discs it may have only attained intermittently. New re-recordings of "Logos" and "Tangram Chin" are also delightful not only for clean sound but also the refreshing new interpretations of TD standards. Love it. The first disc is brimming over with midtempo, near danceable grooves that are still solid electronica and completely true to the vibe that is Tangerine Dream. The second disc is more dreamy and impressionistic. I love that the whole thing is tasty, never wandering off into strange weirdness or ponderous mumblings: it is all very high def and staunchly underpins the fundamental aesthetics which make Tangerine Dream the on-going force to be reckoned with. When i was listening to this recording, i kept thinking "ah!: Edgar is showing some influences from Steve Roach." and then thought how poignant this was, that things should come full circle, since Steve began his career as a TD minion of sorts. and then this strong wish that they would collaborate. it would be like what the Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix sessions would have been like if Jimi had stayed with us. ah, well, time will tell. anybody who has ever enjoyed the bold sequencers and kaleidoscopic drumming of previous Tangerine Dream albums should find this quite enjoyable and refreshing. i imagine it looks fantastic under the appropriate conditions. Big Thumbs Up! glad i acquired it! 7-08-08 Archangel Miracle Patrick Bernard Devi Music, 2008 PARAGON OF SPIRIT MUSIC UNVEILS HEART OF THE CHRISTOS This new release by one of the high Adepts of modern mystical music is more sweet vibrations to heal one's soul. Continuing to work with co-producer Robert Lafond in one of Visionary Music's most beneficent collaboration alchemies, Patrick this time works within the western classical music mode and sings in Hebrew and Latin to bring us a judeochristian anthem to the sun, the son of the sun. perhaps the most profound work of strictly Christian Visionary music i've encountered since the Ascension Harmonics by Richard Shulman, this album uses angelic calls and mantra meditations on fundamental chants like alleluia and adonai to produce a wonderful journey of encounters with the major Christic powers. this album is fully devotional and celebratory, featuring numerous heavenly paradise episodes as only Patrick can compose. he also brings harp to the fore on this record, revealing himself as an accomplished harpist along with his other great talents. this is a truly beautiful and energy healing album that i can recommend to all lovers of Spirit and to people with a particular affinity to the Christ traditions. the album comes at an interesting time for me, as i am studying the kabbalistic lore of the son of man and of the son/messiah in Judaism. Visions Clearlight Clearlight Music, 2000 (originally released vinyl, 1978) HIGH QUALITY COSMIC PROGRESSIVE ROCK & ELECTRONICA i had no idea that it was possible to get this disc on CD and have been rationing vinyl listens for decades. it was an automatic no-brainer acquisition when i discovered it was available this is a CLASSIC 70s progressive rock album by Cyrille Verdeaux and crew, who made a number of impressive releases in the 70s before Verdeaux went solo and then began another project, Clearlight Symphony. this is one of those rare discs which stand in the company of only a few other inspired recordings which, if listened to under the appropriate conditions, can transport one into the upper realms of the Aquarian/Atlantean paradises. perhaps the only disc quite like it is Steve Hillage's (with Miquette Giraudy) awesome release, "Green." i think it can also compare quite well with some of the greatest 70s releases by Yes. perhaps not in terms of music virtuosity, but certainly in terms of casting a compelling vision of higher dimensional experience. what i really love about this album in particular is the "Full Moon Raga," which is an actual raga which transmutes electronically into a full fledged cosmic space jam of infinite proportions (and back again.) this one is guaranteed to send the listener to the heart of the spiral crystalline DNA rainbow pyramid tantra Love matrix. Several other songs feature spiralling piano and synths and are quite beautiful and enthralling on repeated listen. the bonus here is that appended to the relatively short six composition album, which runs a little over 37 minutes, there are seven additional pieces, which add another half of an hour, sound more modern and are comparable to Jean Michel Jarre's work on Oxygene and Equinoxe. in fact, they are the best thing in that vein that i've heard since those two albums themselves. almost like "lost tracks." excellent! from the original release, there are two songs sung in French and the vocals have a little too much echo on them. no liner notes explain what the lyrics mean. but besides these couple of songs which are a little ponderous, this album is filled with shining moments of cosmic synthesis and surging galactic space rock. 6-26-08 De-Stress Jonathan Goldman Spirit Music, 2007 THIRD RELEASE IN CELESTIAL REIKI SERIES W/ LARAAJI i took my time acquiring this one basically because of the title and not knowing that Laraaji is on it. their original collab, "Celestial Reiki," exists in a rarefied atmosphere inhabited by few celestial music releases; "Rainbow Dome Musick" by Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy comes to mind and perhaps "Sea Of Bliss" by Don Slepian. the subsequent recordings are more polished, since Celestial Reiki consisted of extemporaneous recordings and a bit more planning and arranging has gone into later works. Celestial Reiki 2 introduced sound healer and vocalist, Sarah Bernson, who participates in this later release, De-Stress. Overall, i enjoy the vibe of this one a bit more than CR2. it seems more gentle and personal. Laraaji is in marvelous form. Naturally, Jonathan Goldman brings the sparkle of personal genius that pulls the whole thing together. I found this recording to consist of three 20-30 minute pieces which systematically touch upon specific somatic resonances resulting in one of the most automatically relaxing discs i own. which is a few.... lots of overtone singing and ethereal zither on this one. furthermore, as is mentioned in the liner notes, there does seem to be a palpable feeling of the INTENT TO HEAL on the part of the performers coming off of this recording. reminds me of other music that have soft healing vibes that are difficult to ascertain precisely HOW they arrived, recording-wise, to that vibe... Music For A Busy Head, Absolute Ambient, Volume 1 Matt Coldrick Green Nuns Music 2000/2001 CHAKRA SUITE SYNTHESIS TRYPPY RIDE FOR THE INTREPID there seems to be a network of artists who were involved with what came to be Ishq. Coldrick is a collaborant with Matt Hillier; they created Absolute Ambient 2. this disc starts at the crown chakra and move down- ward to the base. the tuning is quite precise and i suspect that heightened states of consciousness were involved in tuning them in. the music itself is pure ambient electronica: no modern beats really, but explorational synth tryps to the dub store. i think of this stuff as Paradisal music, a subgenre of celestial, but filled with wild waves of flora, grottoes and hidden ponds and some very interesting beneficent nature spirits. the music conveys a higher octave atmosphere of blissful sweetness that plays across one's nervous system. but this is music that is all about the pleasure states it invokes in one's organism rather than any intellectual pleasures of imagining the artistic performance. one disappears in this music as one fades into daydream. all pulse rates are below that of the average heart rate, so this one WILL slow you down.... Rhythm of Ambiance Robert Anthony Aviles CirclesOfLife.com, 2002 HOUR OF PURE AMBIANCE FEATURING JAS-WAVE FREQUENCIES hey, i don't know what JAS-waves are and i tried to look it up on the internet and couldn't find much on them, but i can DEFINITELY feel something that actually seems to strengthen my body in this 61 minute long single track, which features 12 "movements" which are rather textural passages. sculpted nature with a radiant background bursting through it. the cosmic heart nestled in the bosom of forest and woods. astral wavefields of deep sentience. this is awesome awesome blissful protoambiance with lots of beautiful water and nature sounds and brainwave matrices. it doesn't knock me out, but seems to sustain me in a mid-alpha state. reading, even in this tropical heat, is sustainable for the entire disc. wow! now THIS is Paradise! this disc is part of the Rhythm Of Life series and the booklet describes the others. i might be interested in the piece which is an amalgam of world musics, but i think i might have just gotten lucky and got the best one here! REALLY like this album for just feeling nourished and alert. i have to admit, my opinion might be a little biased because i only had to pay five bucks for it. Between Worlds Don Peyote & Naasko Monroe Products, 2005 HEMISYNC LOW THETA SHAMANISTIC DIDGERIDOO DREAMTIME i recently reviewed Don Peyote's electrodub album which just came out. this album is not like it. it is closer to Steve Roach's dreamtime recordings and features great outback nature sounds, competent didging and understated but impressive and effective synthesis. this music will tend to put the listener in a pretty typical shamanistic trance. it is mystical, evocative with a wide range of truly beautiful location recordings. i found myself easily slipping into cartoonland...and that was just chilling out after work! as time goes on, i'm finding more Monroe brainwave recordings that i really like. this one would be a fantastic tryp. my deep meditations on it have been quite satisfying. the applied brainwave matrix seems to be a natural part of the recording, much like i remember when admiring the work done on Amoraea Dreamseed's "Touching Grace." while perhaps a little pricey for a domestic release, i still recommend this to the dedicated psychonaut and to brainwave aficionadoes in general. the only caveat would be to mention that this is a single 52 minute track in which numerous passages flow by. one will not be able to jump around in the recording to one's favorite sections by means of the typical remote or cd player. other than that, love it and encourage dreamtime explorers to consider experiencing it. Bellydance Overdrive Turbo Tabla Mondo Melodia, 2004 SUPERB MODERN MIXES OF ARABIC AND TURKISH TRADITIONALS the hand drumming on this album is off the hook! very exciting drummer, Karim Nagi, who produced, arranged and performed this intense collection of traditionals from Turkey through Egypt grafted onto modern hiphop, house and techno dance beats. this is a loud, powerful tribal sound that makes one want to rip off their clothes and dance naked under the desert stars, quaffing opium-laced wine from a camel gut skein. the beats are ineluctable and vortex the listener into their inner mandalas of glorious pulsating complexity. perfect for professional bellydancing also, i would imagine. i've been sort of exploring in this area of electrodub, going back as far as Transglobal Underground at least, and recently i've mentioned Oojami, Intergalactic Caravan and various straight up bellydance collections on labels like Laserlight. this is on the same label as Intergalactic Caravan and is tons better i think... BECAUSE while this is traditional music GRAFTED ONTO modern beats (in contrast to DJ Cheb i Sabbah, who sort of molds beats to support traditional music,) the FEEL of the music still has the natural traditional vibe. it still feels pretty acoustic. but man! we are talking THROBBING beats here that move us involuntarily almost. the level of Passion in making this music happen is PALPABLE. if you like Arabic music, this is a great dance party recording. intense, not dainty or flowery. earthy. Musica Yoruba National Folklore Ensemble of Cuba Bembe Records, 1996 TRADITIONAL SANTERIA CHANTS AND RHYTHMS FOR THE ORISHAS, THE SEVEN AFRICAN POWERS as a student of mantra - the use of words to effect consciousness - and also as a divinationist who studied the African Ifa divinatory oracle at length, i have at times acquired music which specifically uses the traditional drum patterns for the Cuban Santeria or Haitian Voudun. while most contained the drumming, the recording and my body's reaction to the tuning of the drums were unfavorable. this album is BEAUTIFULLY recorded and has a fine ensemble chorus singing traditionals dedicated to each of the Orishas, the 7 African Powers of the Yoruba and other African tribes who were syncretized with catholic saints so that slaves in the caribbean could still worship the old ways under the stern glare of the church. african music reminiscent of a time that has all but faded away. it is a series of magical incantations for calling forth these mighty cosmic powers. my two experiences with it thus far were profound and i felt altered in an almost psychedelic way. the air in the room seemed to be acting peculiarly too, but let's not get carried away. i recommend this to individuals interested in mantra and the power of voice, or those looking to experience the drum rhythms of the deities. its overall vibrational vibe sort of reminds me of the classic disc of sufi singing, "Ocean Of Remembrance" by Oruj Givenc. but, like i said, this is afrocaribbean music so it helps to like african folk music, etc. 6-02-09 First Source Wingmakers Wingmakers LLC, 1998-2000 MULTIMEDIA NEOMYTHOLOGY EXTRAVAGANZA It costs as much as a CD, plays an hour of music like a CD, the jewel box and packaging make it seem like it is just a CD, but �First Source� is far from the ordinary commercially available disc. If you slip this into your computer, you will discover almost a thousand pages of written material regarding or found in an alleged New Mexico underground site where extraterrestrial alien artifacts have been recovered, a large array of digital photos of evocative paintings said to have been in the site and an additional half hour of music. As far as I can tell, the music is the work of DJ Free, who is the main mind behind the original act named Soulfood. Free�s early work was along the lines originated by pioneered by Deep Forest and Enigma, but his sound was distinct from them and actually more accessible, more attuned to the airwave categories, New Age or Soft Jazz. Soulfood has actually charted in these categories. To be fair, though his music is fully informed by and easily fits into these categories, Free has been pretty diverse and collaborative in the various Soulfood releases. As a technoambient DJ, I was most attracted to his rock and hiphop based music in the 90s, particularly the 2-CD set, �Breathe,� which did for Native American music what the self-titled Deep Forest debut album of 1992 did for African Pygmy music. Of the many Soulfood albums that I have collected, I can also recommend without hesitation the collaboration with Inlakesh, �Entering Dreamtime,� which remains one of my most repeatedly listened to didgeridoo albums. When the first Wingmakers album, �Chambers 11-17,� came out it had much of the charm of early Soulfood, while incorporating even jazzier elements and modern sounds. All of the albums I�ve mentioned received a lot of airplay from me. As time went on, Soulfood became much more of a New Age music thing and I moved into more explorational territory. But I always kept my ears open for anything good. I don�t think I was even aware of the release of this album at the millenium and the past few years I saw various Wingmakers discs out there, but I was into other things as is evident from the years of this column. I liked Breathe and Chambers 11-17 so much and had mixed feelings regarding so much of the rest of the canon that I was sort of on hold. During one of my more euphoric disc buying sprees, I decided to pick this disc up just to see if there was an interesting direction to follow. Well, there is! People who enjoyed the first Wingmakers album would like this one perhaps even more. While still being activating and a high positivity atmosphere, the production makes this experience even softer, more gentle. The drums are quite African and hiphop, but also classic downtempo, which would make this a good massage disc if one like a modern beat going at the time. As usual, the production is very clean and the performances range from adequate to impressive. Perhaps the highlight is Free�s visionary narrative style of composing as if for daydreams or shrooming. It is like listening to a musical story. It�s an interesting amalgam: various cultural musical influences weaving around a Native American theme, some catchy modern beats and a warm emotional content. While not being too demanding for the listener in terms of trying to comprehend technical ability or compositional complexity, �First Source,� still ends up being great backsound for conversation, communion or casual wanderjahring. This music is beautiful and feels fantastic, but may not fulfill the intellectual need for complexity or virtuosity. Still: it�s a very pleasant ride and all the additional art that can be accessed via computer makes it even better, like buying an easy to read book with cool pictures and a soundtrack for the imagination. Dharpa: Songs From The Dreamtime Will Seachnasaigh Lyrichord, 1999/2006 EXCELLENT COLLECTION OF TRADITIONAL DIDJ MUSIC This artist released a wonderful disc of didgeridoo music for The Relaxation Company entitled, �Dreamings,� which I�ve just had so many great experiences with it would require an entire article to do it justice. It is perhaps my favorite didg album, even though I don�t listen to it as much as others. This is probably because it is tryp-encoded into my neurology? :)) This one is much more austere. The overdubbing is kept very simple and the elements of the sound field are quite discrete, separate. Each of the ten tracks is based on a traditional Australian Aboriginal song and the extensive liner notes help the listener get a view into the soul of this fascinating indigenous music. Anyone who loves the music of the Dreamtime would enjoy this album. I should just indicate here that this is an ancient folk music and, although quite well done, it will probably not appeal to listeners who want modern beats or sheets of synthesis. 5-25-08 Ketri Lumin Dakini, 2008 INFINITE GODDESS POWER IN THE TURBA CONCENTRIQUE The Dakini label has a trademark sound of which the exemplary is probably Makyo. Like Waveform, this is a vibe particular to the label, but Dakini also emphasizes very skillful drum programming and hand drumming particularly in the Arabic and Indian realms. Ketri fulfills these particulars in every way, with drumming influenced by the legendary Talvin Singh. The music itself seems to be largely of Arabic influence, perhaps Algeria and Turkey...i'm not yet an expert....but i also see in the liner notes influences from eastern europe like Russia, Bulgaria, & Macedonia. it is done quite competently, on a level with Toires, and the various percussive effects are quite possibly the shining star of the instrumentation on this album. programmers and drummers Jef Stott and Michael Emenau deliver a dense, complex drumming environment with solid bass lines adapted to this multicultural fusion music. The presiding vibe of the album is woven by long-time Visionary Sounds writer and vocalist Irina Mikhailova, who i consider a caliber of singer on the level of Natacha Atlas from Transglobal Underground, Jaya Lakshmi of One At Last, or, dare i say it, trailblazing vocalists like Marta Sebasteyn or even Sheila Chandra. a number of the pieces are her adaptations of traditional melodies. A lively recording of a relatively rare cultural hybrid: arabic with eastern european, set in a modern technoambient context. Another inspiring, groovy release from Dakini! Just about every song has multi-tracked female vocals, so be ready for a heroic dose of goddess power. 5-4-08 and then the clouds Grey Area Waveform, 2005 COMPILATION FROM AUSTRALIAN TECHNOAMBIENT PROJECT REBIRTH OF CYBER ZEN SOUND ENGINE IN WAVEFORM VIBE KINDA a series of intelligent electronic downtempo grooves and electrodub roots, these selected tracks sequence together quite nicely and, yes, there is something rosey-grey and zeta*reticulan about it all. in sound and positivity, *and then the clouds* is a fitting addition to the Waveform roster. this music can fade into the background as a groovy kinda space-age vibe, but offers various startling surprises on repeated listen. Some of the songs diverge into strange science fiction atmospheres which make me wonder if perhaps Grey Area may be exploring certain sectors of the Spectrasonics core previously navigated by Cyber Zen Sound Engine. if so, it is a quite remarkable upgrade, since i always found CZSE somewhat disturbing and even somatically unpleasant at times, whereas Grey Area totally has that constant pleasurable expansive vibe which is the trademark sound of Waveform. and the level of craft involved here is an order of magnitude higher than similar technoambient artists like Zero One, Magic Sound Fabric or Pitch Black. and i could be alone in this, but i prefer the overall vibe of Grey Area to that of, say, Sounds From The Ground. but it would be premature to consider this on the level of the Aleph Zero artists or most of the Twisted records artists. but it is definitely impressive and opens up on repeated listen. each piece is like an independent science fiction short story: as i said, a single continuous groove for 3-8 minutes, with the serendipitous and constant morphing typical of much techno, as if every 4 bars an attentional shift is required. this however does keep things interesting and isn't done idly, but seems to follow a certain occult narrative logic. mostly. played at low levels, i could imagine how this music would have a real Ambient appeal: it is very gaseous and spacey, with luxurious waves of beauty and sparkling energy burst here and there. no doubt, this would be a beautiful ride for tryppers who enjoy dub bass environments. i've used it for hiking, reading and kicking back, so far. as a deejay, i would definitely be useing multiple cuts from this disc in my science fiction or UFO sets. i would expect to visit the ET spaceships or a visit from the Zeta's if i tried to tryp on this. :)) Ghosts I - IV Nine Inch Nails Halo Twenty Six, 2008 INSTRUMENTAL NIN DISC COMBINES AMBIENT AND INDUSTRIAL this double CD contains nearly two hours of single groove songs which range in length from 2-3 minute snippets to more developed 4-5 minute pieces. much of it is quite noisy and painful in the way that only Trent Reznor and crew seem to know how to do. i say this in respect for their prowess as much as in warning to the typical Visionary listener that for every minute of Satie-inspired acoustic piano, Jean Michel Jarre sequencing or Philip Glass-like orchestral meanderings, there is a minute of chaos inspired by Eno, Fripp, Bowie, and the entire history of Modern Industrial Music. not really being an Industrial purist or authority of any great scope, i can say that much of this recording could appeal to people who like Aphex Twin. the overall vibe also brings to my mind Brian Eno's "Shuvtov Assembly." but Ghosts I-IV has the full advantage of modern recording technology to have a cleaner, fiercer sound than these other rock and industrial artists. while claimed to have been created in 2 months of furious activity, i'm willing to bet that these were grooves on some groovebox or whatnot somewhere that had been abandoned for release because they either didn't connect with other grooves to make for commercially constructed songs or simply didn't initially suggest further development. typically, a recording artist would trash these to make room for more memory. a friend of mine, when i was saying this, called them "leftovers," and well, yeah that's kinda true, but the leftovers that would be trashed don't undergoe this secondary development where they are resequenced and additional synthwork is added, not to mention the incredible amount of electric guitar which actually is what reanimates these "ghosts." i can see, given the "leftovers" to provide an initial basis, how 2 hours of music could be done in 2 months. (obviously, some of these tracks could have been worked from the ground up at the same time.) this can be seen as a radical, rebellious gesture. upon gaining contractual freedom, the artist shouts FUCK YOU! ALL MY MUSIC IS GOOD!! i could actually see Trent Reznor doing this. in this way, Ghosts could be seen as a kind of concept album: the concept being that those commercial leftovers can also be viable noncommercial MUSIC. so, in a way, this is like giving the industry the finger. it reminds me of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, where (in order to fulfill his contract,) Reed recorded two vinyl albums worth of feedback created by setting up numerous PA systems with microphones up on a sound stage and then turning the volume up so high that the systems began to feedback, then simply walking around and turning the various speakers to alter the interference patterns. so you end up with two albums of oddly permutating feedback noise. GHOSTS however is anything but static. the length of the songs and the radical shifts in dynamics at seque keep you on your toes. being a fully instrumental album, also allows one to daydream floridly. to my amusement, the sticker on the wrapper when i received this release said "Music For Daydreams." now it isn't really that relaxing and dreamy -- it has enough energy to sort of snap one out of it -- but i did have an experience where i was lulled into a trance with it. might have been the Hawaiian heat, though.... while definitely not for the faint-hearted or the listener who doesn't like Industrial or noise-for-noise's-sake, Ghosts is an adventurous, multi-faceted work with strong appeal for the Eno/Fripp/Bowie camp, Industrial fans who can appreciate it's ties to classical as a genre and weirdoes like me who'll listen to anything. 4-27-08 Visions Of Surya Jake Stephenson & Matt Hillier Virtual, 2008 Click Here For Virtual Website ASTRAL VISITS FROM THE SOUL OF THE SUN i don't know if i have this all straight, but i'll try. Matt Hillier is a member of Ishq, the amazing psyambient project whose classic, "Orchid," is available from Dakini Records. Hillier collaborates with Matt Coldrick, who i think is also a member of Ishq but not present on this recording. i assume that Virtual is Hillier's label. This is Virtual's third release so far as i know: the first being "Magic Square of the Sun" by Ishq, and then "Infinite Garden" by Elve (who i assume is a Hillier alter ego.) The soul formerly known as Jake Stephenson apparently collaborated with these guys, but passed on some time ago. so, this one is from out of the vaults, but sounds totally contemporary and comes closest in mood and vision to the first Ishq CD (which i guess is the precedent which Virtual will be measured by for some time to come.) the first thing that hit me was the ASTRAL quality of this music. while being the most pure of synthesis, almost like sonic nectar, and creating Edenic spaces comparable to Heavenly Music Corporation, there is a vibe coming off this recording that reminds me of my astral projections -- that silvery sweet feeling of the spirit planes. it was obvious in my journeying on this music that it would produce paradisal bliss and even intense ecstasies under the right conditions. i definitely felt like i was going to slip out of my body at one point. another interesting item of note: how coincidental IS it to have David Parsons' "Surya" and "Visions Of Surya" released at nearly the same time? as Surya means Solar, or perhaps the soul of the sun, one would think that there would be a fair amount of brilliant radiation occuring on an album about it. well, this album has it in spades, diamonds, hearts and clovers. and i don't mean lucky charms. on several occasions, both in the heart chakra and at the crown, we dive into glorious whorls of silvery gold Light surrounded by blossoming flora and serpentine vines. Parsons could take a lesson here about letting the sun shine in! while retaining an audio identity with the other Virtual releases, "Visions Of Surya" incorporates some of the lusciousness that made Ishq's "Orchid" so fantastic. This makes it probably my favorite Virtual release. that being said, let me say this: Virtual has some of the greatest electronic work being done by the artists emerging from the modern Techno scene. like Kraftwerk, there are catchy beats and melodies at times, but the emphasis is on the organic rather than the mechanical; like Tangerine Dream, there is immersion in humid ecosystems, but these aren't murky swamps at midnight, but marshes teeming with a wild variety of lifeforms flashing all the colors of the rainbow; like Kim Cascone of Heavenly Music Corporation, there is Paradise, but this is unrelenting spiritual nectar with no assays into numerology, deep sea diving or systems theory. an incredible joy for the true aficionado of pure electronic synthesis and for tryppers seeking the next heaven. do visit the website and see what is there! Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations Muruga Booker with Olatunji & Sikiru Adepoju OMS Productions, 1995 INCREDIBLE HOUR OF INTUITIVE INTERPLAY BY DRUM SHAMANS I picked this album up because i was actually present at the studio when it was being recorded, fairly well extemporaneously, by my friendly acquaintance Muruga (who i met through Shaw) and the legendary Olatunji, who i had the good fortune to see at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, a few times, before his passing. one morning, Shaw asked if i wanted to go out to Menlo Park and witness Muruga record his album. not having anything else to do, i agreed and was stoked later to find that Olatunji and Sikiru would be there. i guess i was expecting a large entourage, a buffet table, or whatever press conference, i don't know. as it turned out, it was only the engineers, the musicians and a few close friends...and Shaw and me (well, Shaw and the Murug are close and Shaw and i were close, etc.) anyway, it was such an intimate setting i almost felt a little out of place not really knowing anybody but Muruga and Shaw. anyway, after a short warm-up, Olatunji was like "let's just start recording, we know what to do." what followed was a profoundly mystical recording session where i was in a drumming trance for easily six hours or more. they kept changing drums and patterns, taking short breaks listening to what was recorded, then going back in for hours. i know it says it in the liner notes, but it is true that at the end of the night, we'd been there for i don't know ten hours, we all knew that something really amazing had happened. and then i never got the CD for 18 years because it took them a year to get it out and i don't remember a copy ever appearing at the radio station and i didn't even know the name of the album, etc, etc. and then i forgot about the CD and would just remember this one fantastic experience i'd had. so a few weeks ago, i was wondering what of Muruga's work was available on the net on CD. He has some truly amazing stuff out there and i strongly urge anyone who is interested in trance drumming and shamanistic mind states to acquire "Journey Of The Drums" by Muruga and Prem Das, which is an authentic trance pattern from the Huichol tradition which Prem Das relates with great precision. anyway, when i saw the title, "Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations," i knew that was my long lost album because i remembered when, after a very long jam, Olatunji said, "that's riddem vibrations," and Muruga agreed, "yeah, cosmic rhythm vibrations." i don't know how to adequately describe the work of three great drummers jamming extemporaneously. it is a shifting kaleidoscope constantly rejuxtapositioning beats and patterns. while fundamentally African in sound and effect, there are patterns from all over the world whizzing in and out. the synthesis and voice which was added at later sessions is minimal and only supports the drumming which was done in this one mind-blowing session for the most part. a great listen for drumming aficionadoes who want to hear what happens when you get some world class artists together and let them set the rules, or go no rules. 4-03-08 Surya David Parsons Celestial Harmonies, 2008 YET ANOTHER IMPECCABLE PARSONS RECORDING This artist is one of the Masters of Visionary Music. By his own admission, his work is more like sonic painting then it is formal music. His chosen milieu is Tibetan Mysticism and every recording is saturated with samples from the Himalayan regions that he personally recorded. Much of the synthesis is performed on top of the line Kurzweil equipment along with other state of the art gear. His recent work has more expanded the Vision he has cast than pushed the boundaries into new areas. His 2004 release, "Vajra," appeared on the rave-oriented Groove Unlimited label and had a slightly more modern sound appropriate for chill rooms at raves; because of this, it had an intensity and energizing effect comparable to his completely excellent "Dorje Ling" on Fortuna in 1992. both of these discs create deeply challenging and rewarding tryp experiences. Parsons' previous album, 2005's "Inner Places" on Celestial Harmonies could almost be a companion album to Surya, although i must say that i found it perhaps a little too ghostly and ashen for my tastes, making it more appropriate for simple meditation than for trypping. This new release, "Surya," is much more radiant and of penultimate grandeur. The title word itself means "solar," and indeed the inner places of the various Lokas from the previous album are illuminated and made luscious in this one. The title piece opens the album with a seventeen and a half minute meditation on radiance that lets you know in the first 3 minutes that this is going to be a great adventure. While i much appreciate the work that David Parsons has done with Tibetan mantra and with exploring sheer spiritual power of transformation, it is albums like Surya -- i'm thinking of Yatra, Himalaya and, to a lesser extent, Parikrama -- that are more exploratory of meditation states that attract me the most. The languid pace and deep ineluctable tranciness that are part of his signature sound create highly informative and nourishing meditation states that i believe are superior even to highly scientific brainwave recordings aiming for the same window frequencies. This is definitely dark ambient. Most of the recordings seem to be of the *dead of night* variety: the deep darkness where we suddenly encounter high contrast shining. Parsons utilizes samples of many of the loud instruments from the Tibetan orchestra, but on this album for the most part, they have been manipulated to be pretty mellow: not dramatic like his more active releases. There is a lot of incense wafting through these recordings also, as well as various indigenous bird calls that hit the listener right *there* in the third eye. I should note here that, except for some recorded natural environment on one track, the album is entirely electronic, with all patches custom-made by the artist. my favorite Parsons release since 1999's Shaman. if you have affinity for things Tibetan and the style of Buddhist meditation from Tibet, this could well be a great find for you. Funplex The B-52s Astralwerks, 2008 JUST RELEASED FIRST IN 16 YEARS -- PURE FUN; HOT GROOVES This release deserves a new category to be created for it. I would propose "Technowave." While the sound is updated to our millenial dance music values, the vibe and quirky mix of science fiction with mid20thC kitsch -- stun guns, cell phones, lava lamps and pink flamingoes -- can only herald the return of one of our greatest treasures from the "New Wave" of the 80s. Easily one of their best albums ever, FUNPLEX revs out the gate with a blast straight up the start to whirl us helplessly through the totally zany, fun loving and overwhelmingly appealing spaced-out cosmic dream universe that is the exploding creativity of a band true to its roots while still as far in the future from our here and now as their first *perfect* release album in 1979. The new sound does have the Techno synth edge, but is firmly rooted in the new wave rock genre. Now, i am not the B-52s fan who just loves it all and insists that it is consistently awesome. While i thought the first two albums, "The B-52s" and "Wild Planet" were just amazingly fun albums that i still listen to a lot to this day, i wasn't so stoked with the third album produced by David Byrne of Talking Heads, "Mesopotamia," which i felt was a bit too earnest (admittedly, it did grow on me and i acquired it on CD a couple of years ago.) I thought the next album, "Whammy," was very disappointing, but it almost had to be because drummer and brother of Cindy Wilson, Ricky, died and i also suspected perhaps some cocaine problems in the band so that it almost seemed like a contractual obligation fulfillment album: pretty staid drum programming and a predictability not associated with them before or since then. 1986's "Bouncing Off The Satellites" i thought was the best thing since the first two and it fit in perfectly with me & my crew's "Martini Summer" of 1987. This album is when the cosmic aspects of B-52s really began to kick in and showed them having recovered from the loss of Ricky. Then in 1989, they released the immensely popular "Cosmic Thing," which was produced with a more stripped-down commercial sound and yielded several huge hits like "Love Shack," and "Channel Z," yet even though i couldn't begrudge them the renewed popularity, media attention and of course $dollars$, it still seemed like it was taking effort and too serious. I also felt that it was a step towards normalizing their music, which should never be done under any circumstances!!!!! That's why i liked 1992's "Good Stuff" scads more than "Cosmic Thing," even though Cindy had left the band. Even though the songs were perhaps a bit familiar, the !FUN! which is their hallmark was in there. There were no hits and things sort of went quiet with i guess only the "Hallucinating Pluto" single which was released independent of any album. Then life kind of sucked for 16 years until today when my package arrived and i put "Funplex" in my player, cranked up the headphones to maximum levels and got blasted into an impossible Universe filled with erotic kicks and kinky giggles. Everything about this album screams BEST ONE SINCE THE FIRST TWO!! Keith Strickland seems to be the guiding musical Light and has really SciFied the sound with Electro synthesis which, for a rock album, stands quite successfully with acts usually considered more adept at it like Kraftwerk and Heaven 17. In fact, i bet when William Orbit hears this album, he'll REALLY realize he needs to update his scene. The great thing is: The B-52s always WERE this wild synth vibe so it feels natural. Perhaps the most immediately impressive thing is the guitars: they are FAT! They keep this album solidly Rock. Simply glorious, with great hooks and tasty runs. While the girls' singing is always great, no matter what album, they just really NAIL it here. Makes your heart swell to hear them together again. And Fred is THE MAN. there is only one and he is simply a consummate performer of distinction. you hear his voice and you know it is him and that means you KNOW it is going to be FUN because FUN follows Fred around like a puppy on acid. If you ever listened to a B-52s album with joy or have fond party memories piquantly enhanced by their music, i have to say that exposure to this album will wash the last miserable 16 years away instantly like a bad dream, at least for a few hours. you will get high off the positivity and perfect party power. having just listened to it twice in succession, i think i'll have to wrap this review up and get back to listening to it again. Tribute Steve Hackett Casino, 2007 GENESIS GUITAR VIRTUOSO RELEASES SOLO CLASSICAL GUITAR DISC i'm a big fan of the work of Steve Hackett. though his career has been uneven, his millenial recordings as a fully matured craftsman have been incredibly rewarding for me personally and really just HUGE in terms of the current future of prog. this is NOT a progressive rock album however. this is purely solo acoustic nylon string guitar renditions of Steve's most cherished classical compositions by Bach, Byrd, Barrios and Granados (with a few Hackett originals.) there are moments of profound beauty. growing up, i was quite taken by the solo classical guitar performances of Julian Bream and longed for a similar album by Hackett. this is it. if you like his style or like solo classical guitar, buy it. Expanding Horizon Alio Die & Matthias Grassow Relapse, 2002 FLYING ON BIRDWINGS THROUGH SKIES OF DEEP DREAMING a wonderful dreamy experience of a 2-CD set! surpassing my modest expectations by leaps and bounds, this is another bonafide masterstroke by Alio Die in collaboration. i've let this carry me off into sleep many times and can testify that it conveys that heavenly beauty of one's sweetest dreams and flows through my body so fluidly it is like drifting through a river of nectar to lands of pure pleasure and iridescent imagination. i have read a review complaining of monotony in this album. and it is true that you basically get two full CDs of dreams and sleep. but i would reply that this is an album which is more about how it feels somatically and emotionally than how it appeals intellectually. it is truly one to get lost in. love this album and recommend it to true lovers of dark ambient. don't pay huge bucks for it. you can find it at release records website for like fifteen dollars. i would pay double that, having now heard it, but i've seen it for sky high prices that are totally unnecessary. Hotel Istanbul Blue Asia KICP, 2002 TURKISH WORLD FUSION ALBUM FULL OF SENSUAL SURPRISES this disc brings my Blue Asia collection up to date and what a fantastic journey it has been! contrary to my expectation of harsh percussion and bleating vocals, this is a quite lush lounge album built around sambas and other latin rhythms which have been fused to Arabic music. one song has a pretty wild Sergio Mendes reference! i found myself pretty much being *WOWED* time and again, utterly taken off guard and surprised by how lovely and disarmingly endearing the melodies and production are to me. while the Latin influence is much more pronounced in this release than the hiphop influence (more than made up for in the treatment of select songs on the hiphop compilation Hotel Rechampur that i recently reviewed,) Hotel Istanbul still is saturated with Turkish influences in melody, guest musicians, location recordings and the mojo which makes Blue Asia one of the world's TOP global fusion projects (according to me.) a bit pricey as albums go (doubt you can get it delivered for less than thirty dollars,) i must say that Blue Asia is one of those artistic endeavors that i have no problem laying out the cash for. now if there was only a way to see a live performance.... 3-08-08 Flight Of The Urubus Entheogenic Universal SymBiosis, 2008 FLIGHT OF FANCY PHAZESHIFTING SOARS INTO PSYDELICSPACE very pleased to inform you that the new Entheogenic is out and it rocks! there was some chitchat on the net about a new sound for this duo of psyberwizards, but i think what has happened is that Helmut Glavar and Piers Oak-Rhind have forged a new musical relationship that is the result of the world travelling that they have done recently and a reassessment of their own work to date. i can confidently say that this album will silence all criticism that Entheogenic has fallen off from the top of the game. this album proves it. they are better than the recent Twisted releases. their shamanic authenticity is only matched at this point (to my mind) by the Waveform artist, Phuture Primitive. the previous release, Golden Cup, was experimental in some ways and also the result of their being away from each other for a pretty long time while separately visiting spiritually powerful locations world-wide. on top of this, the album before that, Dialogue Of The Speakers, consisted largely of remixes in which other artists expanded some Entheogenic ideas and Glavar and Oak-Rhind needed time to digest all the wonderful ideas that had spun out from their music on that album. the album *before that* was Spontaneous Illumination, which is a near-perfect electrodub disc. all these things combined resulted ultimately in Golden Cup being perceived as a less successful release (as so many transitional albums.) and after a while, my assessment was that Golden Cup primarily had the disadvantage of the artists being apart for so long. On this current album, Flight Of The Urubus, the amount of time and care spent on it shows brilliantly. Our heroic duosages have created a work that can be proudly placed next to DOTS and Spontanteous Illumination. The signature Entheogenic sound has never been crisper, funkier or more flamboyant. They've incorporated acoustic guitar in homage to Shpongle (well, i say that, but obviously spicy latin guitar is prevalent in south american ayahuasca regions,) plus some tasty electric guitar work of their own device. Astutely recognizing how FAR OUT !! the piano work by Shulman was on the remix album, they've incorporated that idea and made it their own and IT WORKS REALLY WELL. the synthesis on this disc is inspired and passionate. there are moments when the stereo field gets so densely deep with psychoelectronic patterning and the overall mix is so gorgeously sensual that the resulting thrills that course through one's body are nearly erotic! it's almost like you have your own satchel of spice from the sandworms of Arrakis! All this technical stuff aside, the tunes are just plain FUN! most would get the most laggard amongst us out of the seat onto the dance floor. the vibe is strong emotional positivity. at the same time, as on other albums, each song is like its own Ayahuasca tryp, zinging us through fantastic realms of innerspace filled with scintillating swathes of multicolored light and wild jungles of floral complexity. this is the most FUN i've had listening to psyambient electrodub in a long time!! ADDENDUM 4-03-08: another Entheogenic album that got stuck in my walkman! OMG dudes it just gets better and better! love hearing it every time! Les Yeux Fermes & Lifespan Terry Riley Elision Fields, 2007 WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE TO FIND A RILEY REISSUE! Terry Riley is perhaps the late 20thC minimalist classical composer sine qua non. Most of this albums are swirling kaleidoscopes of intricately interweaving organs, harpsichords and synths. he has come as close as ANY artist that i know of to creating *sonic mandalas.* his music is intensely meditative while still being quite activating, intellectually interesting and somatically pleasing. the contents herein are two soundtracks for films made in the early 1970s. the first is composed of two 18 and a half minute long form pieces, the first of which, "Journey from the Death of a Friend," is perhaps the brightest and most accessible of his work after the classic "Rainbow In Curved Air." the second one, "Happy Ending," is endlessly tape looped in the frippertronic fashioning of what i surmise is accordian. the next handful of songs are rather like little candies that one gobbles down each in a few minutes, savoring the flavours and wondering with awe at their differences and uniqueness. i can't say i've ever hear a two minute or six minute piece by Riley, and it is quite an enjoyable sense of discovery. he gives himself greater range in displaying his impressive virtuosity on the keyboard. these shorter pieces are vignette-like: one is bach-like organ, the next has tabla percussion, then something that sounds like an outtake from Shri Camel, and so on to the last piece, Delay, which sounds to be live organ with extended delay on it and turns out to be a solo fest for the adventurous ear. the production is rather spare, as one would expect for film music, but i think the minimal nature of the pieces is rather well suited to small studio sound. the upshot is: if you like Terry Riley, you will certainly be glad this release has been brought back into the world. Hotel Rechampur Blue Asia King Record, 2002 HIPHOP REMIX ALBUM AN EXCITING MULTICULTURAL RIDE!! Starting with riffs that almost sound like Talking Heads in their big band area, this album plunges headlong into an insanely creative melange of music and musicians from around the globe playing in their local cultural idiom into a remix that seamlessly drops in kicking hiphop beats that transcends the mixmasterly visions of the likes of Deep Forest or DJ Cheb i Sabbah, to a new level of exotic sound that i have no name for. It's hiphop exotica. It's exotica where hiphop has become the vehicle and means, rather than the point. perhaps like Chebiji's idea of *DJ science,* where the music retains it's cultural roots and feel, yet is internationalized by those modern beats. the songs are from various of Blue Asia's "Hotel" albums and are instantly recognized as the songs that they are, but also are endowed with urbane vigour by the modern production, mixing and BEATS. i would think that anyone interested in world fusion and cultural crosspollination would be stunned by this exuberant display of creativity and peace through music. Devotion Cheb i Sabbah 6 Degrees, 2008 A REVERENT RETURN TO INDIA - CLASSIC CHEBIJI the first mother india album, Shri Durga, was quite intense, powerful with the strength of the divine feminine. the second album, Krishna Lila, was supremely GENTLE and nurturing, an energy i rather thought of as Radha, Krishna's feminine side. this album's aspect is loving devotion, and it permeates the recording like a fine incense. if anything, the actual *DJ Science* going on here is more impressive than previously, providing deep grooves and foundations of vibration more intricate than the previous albums. i read previously where reviewers thought that his mixing touch was lighter and less present. what i hear is that his production instincts are far more ALIGNED with the music and so his choice are much more natural to bringing out the beauty of the compositions. these are long trance dancing grooves some of which have enough tempo to be on the dance floor. if you do not know this artist's previous work, most of it is spiritual music from India, performed by locals, and he mixes in sessionwork from musicians he knows to modernize it with dance'n'dub beats. the longest piece is the ten minute, "Haun Vaari Haun Varaney," which is an extremely well executed dub adventure which must set a mile-stone for trancedubreggae somewhere. overall, i'm giving this high marks and considering it his best effort since "Shri Durga." the entire captures a peaceful, devotional vibe that is welcome in my home anytime. The Music Of Stars Morris Pert North By Northwest Productions, 2007 available from Buckyball Click here for Buckyball STRANGE VIBRATIONS FROM BEYOND THE GALACTIC RIM i picked this release up just on my knowledge of Pert as a great percussionist who played for Brand X for a while. i thought i'd be getting....well, i don't know what i thought i'd be getting but i thought it would be hand percussion based. this is EXTREMELY *spacey* music that yes DOES have percussion, but also a fair amount of leisurely keyboard, high pitched synth twirlies, plucked piano strings with plenty of delay and pretty much a total lack of identifiable rhythm. space between notes is actually a player in this gambit, so the whole thing seems to be only partially existent. as interpretations of deep space go, this one is quite interesting, particularly since it DOESN'T rely on endlessly droning synths to imply vast distances but rather silence with gradual increases and decreases in volume. the whole thing is light as a feather. on occasion i am reminded of Jonn Serrie. well, Jonn Serrie WITHOUT the endless sheets of morphing sound. but the reverence of pure space is present here as it is in Serrie's work. it is also enjoyable to experience space not as a dark foreboding place but a place which is at times peaceful, at times has activity and at time is luminous. endlessly fascinating how Pert sort of wanders around to different habitats and introduces to the space faring pixies therein. love it, but for people who enjoy very minimal, gentle, yet experimental in tone and color, music. 2-16-08 Skylon Ott Twisted, 2008 ELECTRODUB FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE TRULY TWISTED From the opening acid drone to the shower of sparks at the end, Ott takes us on an inspired sonic journey through state-of-the-art synthpsychedelia. Clearly surpassing last year's Posford/Vaughan release (sorry, guys,) this entirely worthy offering from the workaholic of all technotwiddlers features exciting deep bass grooves surrounded by innovative sound designs carefully sculpted for maximum itations. In this realm, there is the Hallucination "In Dub" album (mixed by Ott,) Ott's own quite impressive "Blumenkraft" release and possibly the release by Slackbaba, "The Beat Goes Om." suffice it to say: this is electronic dub at its' finest. interspersed between these fine depth grooves is wave after wave of perfectly executed space music, which always dovetails back into the bass with a grace and assuredness that must make for fine trypsurfing. while all lovers of modern Electro will find the artistry and obvious care in the making of this recording a treat for the ears and mind, the reggae emphasis of "Skylon" focuses its appeal upon the tastes of those who enjoy the emergence of reggae and dub in the techno regions of music. a guaranteed tryp worth baking! Caverns Of Time Evan Bartholomew Somnia, 2007 A DELIGHTFULLY TASTY SERVING OF DARK AMBIANCE Hovering somewhere between the intricate detailing of nightsounds like Oophoi and the mystical, emotional warmth of Klaus Wiese, Evan Bartholomew has created an engaging, gratifying disc of dream-like continuums which are the perfect day's end to a life in paradise. beginning with profound depths of gratitude and devotion -- dense layers of meditative synth with simple intonation of vowels, this disc takes the listener on a voyage through inner realms of hypnogogic Vision. judging just from the titles of these ten minute plus pieces, it is a descent through the inner levels of the Unconscious, during which personal identity and memory are shorn away as we dive deeper into the Timeless, where we are reborn in radiance only to fade at the onset of awakening. while having the mideastern mystical resonance of Al Gromer Khan, Wiese or Oophoi, Bartholomew has also a grandeur perhaps comparable to venerable synthwizard Michael Stearns. this darkness is energized and luminous. purely ambient: no beats & even the sequenced patterns are wrapped in gauzy luxoriousness. this disc is pure pleasure for lovers of night music. Fracture Arc (Ian Boddy & Mark Shreeve) DIN, 2007 ROBERT RICH'S "BESTIARY" HAS STARTED A GENRE ORGANISMIC DARK AMBIENT HAS CLAWS, BEAKS & FEATHERS ok: this one has drum patterns, creeping/crawling bass lines and melodic lines. Shreeve's great synth programming is a perfect vehicle for Boddy just coming off his recent "lithosphere" collab with Rich. the result is new strange mutations in music prefigured by works like "Bestiary" or the Vir Unis & Steve Roach collab, "Blood Music." the melodic work is clearly decended from Tangerine Dream and stays accessible enough for one to imagine tracks from this disc making it onto the syndicated space music programs like Hearts Of Space or Musical Starstreams. a good deal of this album, while maintaining the beats, is classically influenced much like TD was. the energy level is relatively high, making it acceptable for creative work and reading rather than relaxing and zoning out. a challenging listen for the adventurous who have TD or classical affinities but also enjoy the angular animal gait and sequenced riffings of Robert Rich's recent works. the final near-23-minute long piece, "Rapture," is a swirling dark ambient concoction of elegance, mystery and unknowing. no percussion or even rhythm here, just a slow, sombre twirling through the realms of dream. after ten minutes, this resolves into a wonderful JeanMichelJarre-like sequencer pattern that rounds out this wonderfully percolated evening of night patterns. Beyond Even Robert Fripp & Brian Eno Opal, 2007 DE RIGEUR AMBIENT ACCIDENTALIST DUO SERVE UP STEAMY SONIC DIMSUM TRAY OF LOST ARCHIVES this is a compilation of various grooves and soundscapes from 1992-2006, none of which i've heard compiled else- where. there are no continuum pieces here, but most are relatively short grooves reminiscent of Eno's "Nerve Net" more than anything else. the ambient pieces are short, reminding me of Music For Films outtakes somewhat. the frippertronic loops are pretty intense distortoguitar lines. yes, this is the "weird" fripp&eno, not the understated space synthesis of classics like "The Equatorial Stars," but slinky beats with stuff on them. what kind of stuff? dude.... in an interview, Eno once said that one of the things that he really liked about Robert Fripp was that "he seems to save all of his really WEIRD sounds for me...*smile*" while the Fripp&Eno method of controlled insanity has become more *stream-lined* and *high-gloss* these days, there is still some fun and interesting juxtaposition to be found. definitely sounds for seasoned ears, tho, and since i've been listening to Eno and the rest of it for thirty-five years, i guess it fits right in. as long as you occasionally do a properly ambient disc, guys, ok? Rubycon Tangerine Dream Virgin, 1975/1988 OLD SCHOOL ELECTRONIC BETTER WHEN PRISTINE DIGITAL Regular readers of this column know that i've been on a number of backtrack motifs lately, including the work of Tangerine Dream and long-time TDer, Edgar Froese. I'm actually not the biggest fan of the early TD. Stratosfear does nothing for me emotionally. Phaedra was rather dark and murky, with little dynamics. Although Rubycon does have some murky mud water moments, it also contains some beautiful passages which i think rightly added to Tangerine Dream's reputation as THE electronic project. in retrospect, with the spectacle of the 90s Froese/Froese TD clearly in view, i find this album to have sufficient interest to include it as perhaps my last TD acquisition. i'm enjoying this much more than i did originally on the vinyl and i think the pristine sound of a digital rendering makes all this difference. just so you know my TD orientation: Force Majeure and Froese's "Epsilon In Malaysian Pale" are what i am all about. the recent TD disc, "Seven Letters From Tibet" is an interesting chakra music release. the first release in the "Dream Mixes" series is worthwhile bordering on fun. i also own Sorcerer, Thief and Froese's "Aqua," which i enjoy for idiosyncratic reasons. a time-tested classic release for lovers of popular electronic music and a prototypical ambient recording. a pivotal moment in the history of TD and electro. Garden Of Delight Paul Avgerinos Real Music, 2007 BASS SCIENTIST'S HIGH GLOSS MIDEAST MAGIC Classically-trained bassist and visionary musician extraordinaire Paul Avgerinos rather joins the trend & produces a sparkling new age music release of middle eastern themes which seems most suited for tantric lovemaking. Joined by brilliant and knowledgeable flute and baglama player, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, and long-time synthmaestro Kevin Braheny, Avgerinos takes us on a sensual magic carpet ride through mesopotamia. Each of his albums seem to carry grand ethnic themes. i particularly enjoy his work on the Greek Gnosis with albums like "Muse Of The Round Sky" and the recent and FABULOUS "Gnosis," but he has also done credible work with Mayan themes in the disc "Maya," electroclassical albums like "Sky of Grace" and the gorgeous release, "Word's Touch." while i must again emphasize that this is rightly music in the "new age" category, i find Avgerinos' work to be extremely well-produced, the compositions are masterful and well-considered, and the music feeds one's soul, not just the ears. without comparing the two, i can honestly say that Avgerinos has his own trademark bass environment in the way that Patrick O'Hearn does. if anything, Paul creates music that is more passionate and energized. while his albums may not be consistently excellent, each is a fully realized and valid vision of a mystical way of being inside oneself. although Muse, Gnosis and Word's Touch remain my favorites, this album is definitely elible for the tantra section and if i could get her up here alone with me, this would be a great backsound for the occasion. that being said, this is not simply background music, for it is also well laden with intriguing musicianship. Mother Of The Buddhas Kirby Shelstad Love Circle Music, 2003 SOMEWHERE BETWEEN CHANT AND ROCK LIES PARADISE i don't know why i waited on this one so long. Shelstad's amazing 1998 album, "Dwachen-Land Of Bliss," was so fantastic you would think darv would snatch this one up immediately. perhaps i didn't because i was sort of maxing out on the tibetan/sanskrit chantfest selection. i've got a lot of it. but Kirby Shelstad somehow manages to go beyond chant to something nearly accessible as rock music. the only other project in this direction is the one album as of yet "Mantrica." true: Patrick Bernard and Jai Uttal (amongst others) are famous for blending rock and chant or intoning, but somehow what Shelstad does feels completely natural and not like a hybrid. this album brings in the energy of the feminine divine as Tara so beautifully and clearly that one feels like a healing has occured every time it is played. while based in Buddhistic tradition, this album is clearly brimming over with the energy of the Goddess. soft yet powerful. highly recommended for those studying the mantric effects of the spoken word upon consciousness, but also excellent for people who enjoy Goddess music and for those generally interested in tibetan or sanskrit chant. 1-26-08 Arc Of Passion Steve Roach Projekt, 2008 AWESOME SONIC DESCRIPTION OF THE ENERGIES AT GRACE CATHEDRAL! i was at Grace Cathedral once and feel that Steve is really on to something, to capturing a feeling that is there. this 2 CD set contains some of the finest sheets of transparency that he has ever recorded, pretty much conquering new areas beyond Giles Reaves' "Sea Of Glass." much of Steve's exploration of the realms of Light has used incandescence and its gas-like evenness to illuminate the space. not here. this is sheer shimmering transclucence arching off the medium as if a Venosa painting had come to life. other pieces feature the mandala-like sequencer structures Roach has been exploring recently on albums like "Proof Positive." there are three major longform pieces, each captivating and convincing. some might say this kind of stuff has been recorded before. the operative word is "kind," since there is something about THIS recording that is emotionally very honest and even healing. and the level of production is so hyperreal one feels like a dimensional portal actually IS opening! the entire feeling of the album is intensely sacred and achingly beautiful. Roach's personal humility and gratitude is unmistakably present throughout. work like this reminds me of my great fortune to be alive at a time when humans can attain to art like this. i felt awestruck more than once. this one will take tryppers to the level of full blown psychedelia, where the background becomes pitch black and the colors are beyond neon dayglow into the full prismatic. i pretty much go over the falls and up the rabbit hole on this one WITHOUT any chemical assistance. be forewarned: this music is beyond intense. i can't even think of a suitable word. what words do surfers use for the biggest, most challenging waves? gnarly? no, come on man, i mean a word that doesn't sound like it has manly hair on it. sublime. transcendent. deeply affecting. another fabulous release by the shamanic sound master. Alchemy Of Happiness Al Gromer Khan & Klaus Wiese Tea Time Music, 2006 FORTUITOUS MEETING OF MYSTICAL MINDS HOW this disc got past me, i don't know! it appears to be out there for forty bucks and must have been a very limited pressing. it is an hour long meditative environment perhaps related to Khan's "Almond Blossom Day" and, thence, to Eno's illustrious "Thursday Afternoon." like these other two recordings, "Alchemy of Happiness" is a completely blissful immersive environment that i could only compare to drinking a fine wine laced with hash oil and opium whilst lounging in a jacuzzi filled with rose water and burning nag champa or sandalwood incense drifting in the air. this would be the meditation where one succeeds in drawing the amrita, the heavenly nectar, from the center of one's head and suddenly fulfilling one's destiny with the heady aroma,the enstasy of Total Presence. a luscious gaseous background intertwined by Khan's delicate and ultrasensitive sitar work and gentle acoustic piano notes dropping like drops of crystalline water. the entirety is supported by airy voice work and understated yet ecstatic synthesis. one often wonders what miracles would occur if two Ultimate mystical music masters like Al Gromer Khan and Klaus Wiese -- each of whom has produced an impressive body of meditative and spiritual musics -- were to collaborate to produce something Divine. the short answer is: they fit together just like one thought they would! aficionadoes of either artist are well-advised to obtain this recording forthwith. Carbon Core Lustmord Happy Pencil, 2004 NOBODY KNOWS THE VOIDNESS OF VOID LIKE LUSTMORD intrepid explorers of the outer realms of space need this one. Brian Lustmord is a fascinating dark ambient artist who perhaps sets the far perimeter for DARK in the genre. while perhaps more widely known for the amazing collaboration with Robert Rich, "Stalker," which is devastatingly murky and densely primordial, Lustmord can only be seen as perhaps the prime exponent of DARK SPACE exploration. his ground-breaking album, "Heresy," was composed of recordings of rocks and other thrown objects into mine shafts, abysmal crevasses and other actual deep subterranean spaces. my favorite, "Where The Dark Stars Hang" is a sort of travelogue through intergalactic space with visitations with various different stars, molecular clouds, plasma storms and the like. "Carbon Core" is much like this last mentioned disc, but perhaps even more well-produced and inventive. like being on a hike with someone you can't keep up with, Lustmord takes us to intense underground locations rife with geologic activity, impossible forms of volcanic life and seismic shifting that will make the neighbors think that the house is falling down. it seems like lava is pouring into the room. what a great album! a more musical "heresy." sterling production and a tasty, challenging listen! in the realm of the imagination, there are no limits! people who want some light pop, the de rigeur hip hop beats or whatever some kind of rock reference will have their ass KICKED by this album. it's that good and that off-the-wall. a magnificent artistic achievement, but for special tastes and the nonclaustrophobic. Lithosphere Robert Rich & Ian Boddy DiN, 2005 ACTIVE DARK AMBIENT FOR INQUIRING MINDS i have to admit there is egg on my face because when i reviewed this disc some time ago, a factory error put a Tesuo Inoue "Yolo" disc in my Lithosphere case and i frankly DIDN'T NOTICE and reviewed the Inoue as the Rich/Boddy work. i did mention in the "Yolo" review that i found it curious that the two albums sounded so alike, but i still didn't make the connection until months later when i couldn't find my Lithosphere disc and then, after going berserk through my collection, realizing that i had TWO Inoue "Yolo" albums. so here i am finally hearing the disc SOME TIME later! it's quite delectable. unlike the frozen wastelands of the first Rich/Boddy collaboration, "Outpost," this album is quite taken with the ungainly strides and serpentine slitheriness of Rich's odd and exciting release, "Bestiary," a collection of fabulous sonic critters which somehow connects in my mind with the equally strange and amorphous "Beauty In The Beast" by Wendy Carlos. if anything, this album is more listenable than "Bestiary," simply because it takes more advantage of angular sequencer riffs reminiscent of Rich's work from "Gaudi" and "Propagation." my assumption is that Boddy, perhaps more the master of stygian darkness than even Rich, is providing perhaps the more void-like and oceanic reverse soundscapes and some of the churning chaos mind bubbles that keeps the work brewing with organismic possibilities from one moment to the next. i sense that he also is reverently applying passages of Shining radiance on occasion which suddenly leave the animal body behind for shimmering pools of Light nestled within the Heart. perhaps the creature sleeps momentarily.... this is an album for active listening. it requires one's attention. it will interrupt the wine tasting party. it is not about to let you float off into la-la land for long. while perhaps good in places for shamanic trance dancing, there is no thumping dance beat. there's no "band." you are basically scrabbling through subterranean and aquatic environs with creatures of the most unlikely appearance. while there is no danger that they will eat you, there IS a danger that you might become one of them....permanently.... this is not necessarily a BAD thing. great dark ambient for those who like it on the organismic side! 1-09-08 Watercolors Opium Practicing Nature, 2007 THE BEST DARK AMBIENT RELEASE OF 2007 (THAT I HEARD) i became interested in Opium after hearing his collab with Alio Die. i think this came out in November 07, so it was just fortuitous that i found it when thinking about exploring Opium a bit more. this is great beautiful classically Ambient work that will absolutely appeal to Alio Die or Robert Rich fans. it is night time forest environments, extremely gorgeous, playful and with deep emotional warmth. the album begins with deep staticky risings from the primordial goo reminiscent of Tetsuo Inoue or Ian Boddy, but produced in a comfortable Richian mode. the judicious use of raw noise, however, introduces more abstract space within the medium than typical of Glorp artists. it seems to keep calling one back to the chemical basis of all this biological activity. this leads us into inhabited wetlands and the marshes therein. interesting holographic processings of avian calls and cries. deep marsh, various gaseous aromas rising from the surface. trance ensues as we begin to descend the molecular levels INTO the wetlands. water flowing, and heat... this eventually leads to a campfire and the natural attraction to, yet fear of, bright radiance by the life in the forest....this leads to a totally internal vision of supreme biological Light.... the final 18 minute piece, "the layer down," is rather like an homage to the Eno's vision in "On Land." it is produced in that style, with inventive rhythmic underpinnings and tasty interplays of sound that pull me back to it again and again. while quite modern in its use of disjunction and schism in texture, this long form piece floats comfortably between land and space like a rubik's cube figuring itself out. definitely encourages me to seek out more Opium. truly fantastic 53:35 minutes of detailed naturphilia. Astral Sounds Mark Beshara 2007 Astral Sounds Website click here A TRUE SONIC TRYP INTO BLISSFUL PLEASURE Originally released some time ago in the 1970s, this recording clocking in at a mere 24:27 has stood the test of time and become the ONLY recording certified gold by the RIAA that has NO human voices or instruments. it is computerized sounds designed to stimulate the pleasure areas of the brain. Perhaps as long as 15 years ago, during one of my bouts of extolling the virtues of Visionary music to a perfect stranger, said stranger asked me if i had ever heard "Astral Sounds." well, i never had, didn't like the name and sort of felt this person was simply trying to one-up me, so my ego defense rather dismissed the idea and i did not follow up on the lead. Big mistake. Although rather short, somewhat expensive (i got mine at cdbaby.com for $20) and certainly experimental sounding, this incredible little disc packs a profound wallop of somatic pleasure and (for me) pain relief. the sounds on this disc are hard to describe. the only disc i can compare them to is one that you, dear reader, are probably not familiar with: "The Lost Teachings of Atlantis" by The Children of the Law of One. whereas that disc begins with what sounds like an old 16mm movie projector like the ones we watched movies in school on when i was young and then sails off into swirling ketamine mushroomlands, this disc "Astral Sounds" starts with around 7 minutes of what sounds like a ticking alarm clock which sudden blossoms into a gushing fountain of sounds featuring drones, gaseous liquids, creaking violin-like textures and penetrating bell- like sounds which set off chain reactions through one's body. this thing knocked me out the first few times to the point i couldn't really recall what it sounded like. it's not unfair to compare this to the works of Boris Mourashkin for being very physically affective while perhaps a bit disturbing to one's usual artistic aesthetics. but it definitely delivers the claimed pleasure response and even some mild visual hallucinations. i'm pleasantly surprised and even somewhat taken aback. not expecting such a unique and challenging experience. this is not backsound. if you play it for casual company, they will ask you to take it off. 12-19-07 Diving In Kirk J. Krauss 2007 JUST RELEASED ELECTRONIC CD BY CLASSICAL IMPRESARIO a quite fascinating alpha wave meditational device firmly underpinned by an exquisite classical sensibility, "Diving In," features three suites which seem to be different takes on awakened mind states. the overall effect of the album tends to be a centering of one's energy and focus with mood elevation and mental clarity. one of my favorite things about much of this album is that it stays fairly high register, the first two long tracks rarely descending below the heart, with lots of clarifying effects in the third eye. "Cosmic Arabesque" and "Montezuma" are both wonderful higher chakra stimulations. in both of these songs, a short repeating figure or the simple continuous tapping of a piano key is used as an entrainment principle. it may be repeated to redundancy, but in doing so, one is drawn into the state and the surrounding tonic stimuations seem to key in to actual brain or cranial structures. to some degree, i'm reminded of how certain of the work of Bach has definite cranial effects. the last piece, "Kataward Spiral," is the most complex with more bass end reaching down to the lower chakras. it begins with intricate classical melodies which slowly morph into arabic themes. the last half of this piece then sails off into the sky with a graceful solo piano interlude. being much less ethereal then the previous tracks and much more percussive, this track brings one back to earth to then soar above it in sunshine and lil puffy clouds. as the music fades, one is left with a feeling of grandeur and thankfulness. a wonderful psychoacoustic album i'd be glad to air on the radio! 11-24-07 Peace & Quiet (double cd) Japetus japetus.com 2003 Deep Space Japetus japetus.com 2002 BEEN AROUND FOR DECADES, I JUST FOUND OUT SERENE ASCENSION MUSIC SUPREME IT'S ALWAYS a gas to find an artist with an immense catalogue which one knew absolutely NOTHING about! he's also from Byron Bay, Australia, a continent well represented with native didgeridoo music in my library, but not so much in the modern electric Visionary realm. this is new age aquarian space music much akin to Michael Hammer, Constance Demby or Mercury Max. i daresay that Kitaro is an influence. Peace & Quiet is a 2cd compilation of Japetus' personal selection as some of the best of his 20 years worth of albums. the first disc is more active and flowing with somewhat familiar new age melody lines but in Japetus' own style rather like Raphael. this disc i think brings out his similarities to ascension artists like Aeoliah: well-contructed melodies and arrangements which are deliberately nonchallenging, but rather lulling and focusing simultaneously. the second disc attracts me more, since rhythm and melody are not as produced and these longer piece are quieter and more still. i do love a choice drone continuum. these have some resemblance to Marcey Hamm, another Australian, in her early work and thus, in my mind, to Jacotte Chollet from France, for being dreamy healing fugues. the other Japetus disc i picked up at the same time, DEEP SPACE, turned out to be a really great find! two half-hour pieces, "Starlite" and "Celestial Ocean," are a great analogue synthesis ride through various sectors of cosmic space, much like Hammer but also a bit more electronic, reminding me of little-known electrowizard Erroll Spector. fabulous stuff! (half of Starlite is featured on the disc "Quiet.") DEEP SPACE is a quite delicious release that i would proudly play either half hour piece in its entirety in a radio set. while the album, "Peace," may not be everybody's cup of tea, for it is quiet new age and Japetus considers it new age music and one must enjoy the soft piano and synthstrings and all of what makes light classical ascension music, both other albums are great synthdiscs. DEEP SPACE would appeal to people who like Dr. Jeffrey S. Thompson, Michael Hammer or even Jonn Serrie. Glaciation Patrick O'Hearn PatrickOhearn.com 2007 ANOTHER BRILLIANT OUTSTANDING RELEASE FROM BASSIST NONPAREIL Patrick's albums are always so elegant, so thoughtful and filled with humility, it's an incredible joy to hear them on first listen. you have to forgive him the typical short length of the disc for the amazingly compacted beauty within. This particular release describes austere polar scenes of ice, wind, borealises and mirror-like water. the production is again fantastically transparent, maintaining a simplicity that revels in the momentary glimpse of perfection. most of the pieces are rather short, yet each is quite poetic and detailed in its vision. the shimmering guitars are perhaps even more spectacular than Patrick's classic album, "So Flows The Current," and if you liked that one, you will CERTAINLY like this one. Quite stunning and satisfying. exactly what one would expect after the greatness of the previous three releases. Horiztontal Moodswings Water Music, 2003 FORMER PRETENDER'S DRUMMER CREATES EXCELLENT TECHNOAMBIENT DISC! there is something very blue about this disc and i'm very blue in the aura so of course i like this album. it's soft, intuitive, dreamy, watery, yet has scintillation, shiny sparkles and pedal guitar that melts into the distance. at times there are beats, but never like a DRUM SET banging away somewhere. afternoon country meadow nap music, like. there are swirling sequencers reminding me of Suzanne Ciani, morphpercussion reminding me of Riuichi Sakamoto and yes, deep grooves like what the Pretender might be in full psychedelic experience. bluesy feel here, country touch there. sort of like what Roger Eno, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno were doing together at one time. there is also an India mood that fades in and out with processed karnatic violin. this is way kicked back music for napping, zoning, chilling and otherwise takin' it easy for the working people out there. people who like Ishq or Robert Rich will enjoy this. maybe even Tangerine Dream or Jean Michel Jarre fans could like it. i definitely do. High Rising Sounds From The Ground Waveform, 2006 URBAN SOUNDS FROM FOUNDATIONAL WAVEFORM ARTIST This is their 4th album, i think. we had the other ones at the radio station and it was a little to reggaefied for me at the time (i know electrodub is based on reggae beats played at rock speeds, not unlike ska, but this is a rather recent interest of mine.) anyway, this is the first SFTG i have purchased, as i was curious how they might perform in a less roots reggae milieu. it is indeed interesting. reminding me a lot of the collab between Biosphere and Higher Intelligence Agency, and having the modular simplicity of many Waveform artists like Zero One. these are laidback hiphop beats just a little too slow to cut it at work in the morning, with kraftwerkian synthesis cut to millenial specifications built on top. must be a great acid tryp. there's lots of emotional space and slow transitions to help ya ease into it. yes, definitely high tech designer music much like Bluetech, A Positive Life and the artists mentioned above. done in a downtempo style. if you are like me and like it Electro; if you smile when other people say "wow, that music is really robot;" then this is a thing of beauty to be obtained immediately. Jazzy Chill Out Sacred Spirit Volume 8 The Brave Higher Octave, 2003 COOL JAZZY HIPHOP MESSAGE LIBERATION FROM BONDAGE i wanted to start the column today with this one, but decided to stick with my usual pattern of putting the louder modern beats later unless it is stunningly great. this is by the same person going by the moniker THE BRAVE who did the original Sacred Spirits album based on native american music and then switched to blues oriented music focused on american slavery of africans. this album and its companion that i have not heard "Bluesy Chill Out" translate this music into downtempo jazz hiphop with lots of impressive live performance and dubbed in vocals from great moments in roots blues. the whole thing is narrated by a piano which weaves in and out as if from some bar in the french quarter. the whole thing has the smooth, pleasant feel of the typical Higher Octave album, but this makes it up with great musicianship and an underlying theme of the desire for freedom. anybody who likes Little Axe will appreciate this, and i frankly think it is a wonderful downtempo ride that is satisfying and positive vibe. i guess i come to this with my own angle of enjoying artists like Deep Forest or Makoto Kubota who honor their love of a musical tradition by interpreting it into their idiom. Walkin Target Ashtech Interchill, 2007 GIVING ROOTS REGGAE THE SHPONGLE TREATMENT! this album should turn your head around a little bit. just a little. Ashtech brings in Gaudi for this project in which they take original reggae pieces and produce them in a roots way except for all the UFOsynthesis technology dubbing it all the way intergalactically beyond any place even George Clinton was able to get to. now when anybody asks me "do you have any reggae?" i can say "O YAH, i got SOME REGGAE!." this is a definite must-hear for fans of Transglobal Underground and should be great for confusticating traditionalists who think roots shouldn't be invaded by hypertransdimensional synthesis. 10-29-07 The Regions Between Alpha Wave Movement Harmonic Resonance, 2006 TASTY COLLECTION OF FORGOTTEN ELECTRONIC MEMORIES While ostensibly clearing out the attic of old tracks, Greg Kyrluk has actually brought together a very palatable palette of aromatic textures fondly laying homage to his venerable electronica roots. Some Tangerine Dream here, Kitaro there, even Ozric Tentacles! People fond of traditional ELECTRONICA via Berlin and Tokyo will find this a savory treat. While this is out from the the archives, with perhaps even a slightly detuned guitar here and other slight marred phraseologies there, this still remains a totally enjoyable release and i recommend it to AWM aficionadoes and those looking for REAL electronica in this slapdash world of technoerotonica. The Last Days of Gravity Younger Brother Twisted, 2007 NEW RELEASE FROM SHPONGLE MASTER! if you are a Shpongle fan, look no further. This is a collab between Simon Posford (Hallucinogen AND the better half of Shpongle) and Benji Vaughan (aka Prometheus.) It's their second joint effort. a relatively mellow effort, the production is a lot softer and more emotionally available than their respective music projects. there are songs with lyrics and singing. to be sure, there are still some jagged electro-edges mixed in here and there for the sheer drama of it all, but on the whole a very satisfying release, curing my Shpongle jones well up. (and there does seem to be a sort of influence by The Cure mixing into the melodic lines here and there.) now if you haven't heard this kind of music, i don't know if i can explain it well, but it's very intense. it's an electro mix of club and dub but as if they brought in the loony tunes cartoon characters to be in the band and then went down a rabbit hole to set up the bandstand in wonderland. everything is bent and twisted and melting and exploding and giggling. and you can dance to it. Endless Rhythms of the Beatless Heart Shulman Alpha Zero, 2007 RAISING THE BAR ON ELECTRODUB PRODUCTION!! all the other composer/producers in this genre are going to have to bow down to this album. it is brimming over with a whole textbook of strange and wonderful things one can make happen in an automated recording studio. Yaniv Shulman and Omri Hamraz, who i believe are based in Tel Aviv, have laid a slab of plastic on the mixmaster baseboard that is completely stunning in the adept use of electronics at a level that will have to make Posford even gasp, PLUS they have engaged a large array of other musicians, including highly skilled players of traditional acoustic instruments to create a wild and exciting melange of musics from India, Greece and Arab lands with jazz and the "revolutionary hi tech sounds" of their electronic dance music oeuvre which i fondly refer to as ELECTRODUB. this is awesome stuff and the first half of the album is highly energizing while the second more contemplative. anyway, it goes without saying that this is a strong contender for best electrodub release of the year!! Elderberry Shiftglass Loop Guru Elsewhen Records, 2006 -SUCCESSFUL UPDATE OF CLASSIC 60s PSYCHEDELIC ROCK INTO CONTEMPORARY IDIOM yes, i do have a few albums in my collection that could be considered contemporary attempts to recast psychedelic rock in a modern form. actually, XTC's wonderful releases under the pseudonym "Dukes of Stratosphear" turned out to be pretty cool and listenable in the long term, but still quite derivative in their emulation of Beatles, Yardbirds and so on. The Future Sound of London tried their hand at it with "The Isness," but it fell rather flat, ending up sounding like an Alan Parsons album without the Alan Parsons songwriting. this album actually does seem to transcend its influences to create something strikingly reminiscent of 60s psychedelic pop, but without fawning homage to old stereotypes. the liberal use of hip hop beats coupled with moments of amazing candy glazed ambiance, plus the fact that there are 20 tracks, so one is constantly being morphed out of one wonderland into a completely different lala land, give this album an immediacy and refreshing distractedness that result in something very charming, very hip and easily listenable. there is beaming mood of positivity that is infectious and the overall energy is good backsound for activities like housework, exercise or goofing around. a lighthearted and playful album perhaps too fooling around for serious people or people who like angry political music. but it really makes me want to dress up paisley. 10-23-07 Waves Of Light Jonathan Goldman Spirit Music, 2007 PERFECT AMBIENT RECORDING WITH HEALING POTENTIALS Every once in a while, an album comes along that reminds one of what the original attraction that drew us into this refined space of Visionary Sound Arts was all about. This is a 72 minute long-form continuum composed of the slowly perumtating soundings of 9 custom made tuning forks. It is a delicate, rarefied atmosphere that one can only compare to such illustrious recordings as Brian Eno's "Discreet Music," or perhaps Michael Stearns' "Jewel." all 3 of these recordings adhere to the basic commitment of Eno's meaning of "Ambient" when he proposed it as a formal music category in the liner notes of Ambient 1: Music For Airports. these recordings "tint" the environment in which they are sounded with a subtle mood or sensation. there is no melody, but simply the waxing and waning of pure tone or simple voicing. these recordings produce a very relaxed, contemplative space which facilitates inner peace. Where "Waves Of Light" differs is that these tones are produced by tuning forks which are struck and then faded in and allowed to naturally fade out. On occasion, a single strike is allowed to sound which gives an interesting twinkle here and there. these 9 Holy Harmony tuning forks were specially cut for Goldman according to the Sacred Healing Code frequencies suggested by authors Dr. Joseph Puleo and Dr. Leonard Horowitz in their book "Healing Codes of the Bible" and in private conversation with Goldman. These frequencies, which some claim to be the Solfeggio tones of the original Creation. the tones are said to have healing power. I bought a copy of the aforementioned book when it was published back in the 90's. i found it to be a bit of a ramble, with unsubstantiated claims (i'm just remembering my impression of it.) after a rather extensive gloss of the text (which means i didn't read it word for word, but for information,) i felt that the only interesting thing in it for me was the actual claimed frequencies. at that time, i didn't own a tone generator and, so, couldn't produce these tones myself. my research ended there & sold the book off. well: stoked. Goldman has done a wonderful job here & i can state that i experienced distinct healing shifts that started at about 6 minutes in and RECURRED every 5 minutes! by the end of my first listen, i felt much more aligned in my anatomy and the next day there was definite improvement in my particular malady! if you liked Discreet Music, buy this. if you are looking for a nonrhythmic, nonmelodic healing meditation device, this one provides an elegantly simple yet highly focusing environ. PURE, TRUE AMBIENT WORTHY OF THE SUMMIT OF THE GENRE. Drum Beats of the Pacific, volume 2 Hula Records International, 2002 BEST RECORDING OF POLYNESIAN DRUMMING I'VE HEARD while this costs like twenty dollars for half an hour, this highly activating album has a strong warrior energy, a *joie de vie* that will get your blood pumping and make you want to take a couple of dancing laps around the bonfire. as exciting as the RealWorld album of the Drummers of Burundi, this features excellent examples of the drumming of the various islands in the Pacific. great production values and a relentless surge of positivity and courageousness make this a tasty acquisition: a definite must for the Exotica collector, high priority for drum shamans and basically great for anybody who wants to shift the part into high gear! bloody fabulous! (according to the producer, this disc is a refinement of volume one, which has been discontinued and i couldn't find it anywhere.) 10-16-07 Ange de Guerison (Angel of Healing) Patrick Bernard (Bernhardt) Devi Communications, 2007 ANGELIC MUSIC MASTER CONTINUES FINE WORK WITH LAFOND I have already openly stated in this column that i will follow Patrick in any musical direction that he chooses to explore. This is because his music has played an integral role in my own spiritual development and the widening of my awareness. his early, quintessentially classic works were followed by an adventurous period in which PB engaged numerous spiritual forces and revealed a common reality which they all share. several albums ago, he renewed his creative partnership with Robert Lafond, who helped him with his first two, near perfect, angelic albums. this is their third effort in near as many years. as usual, their is a synergy between their talents that is most gratifying to enjoy! this new album, titled in english, "Angel Of Healing," appears on the cover to have 12 songs each describing an angel of a certain value like peace, happiness or love, or archetypal objects like the sky and the earth. listening to it, however, we find that the entire album is a meandering suite of interlocked repeating themes which rather play up certain aspects of the different themes as one would look at the different aspects of a well-crafted jewel. the overall feeling is loving and angelic. while the music is dynamic in the sense of ebbing, flowing and swelling, it is also very stable in conveying a gentle healing sensation through which the language seems to mantrically convey different healing agencies. the entire piece is sung in PB's native language of French, which while not having exactly the reputation of, say, sanskrit, tibetan or hebrew, for spiritual mantric effects, i would daresay is one of the world's most beautiful languages to hear or speak. PB has another all french album which is the most personal of them all and perhaps not one of his most successful. this latest release however, actually seems to focus on using some very beautiful words from french which on repeated listening DO have mantric effects that are noticeable for being pleasant and relaxing. i'm no savant when it comes to translating french, though i did have a few years of it in grade school, but if i read correctly, Patrick attributes the music in this album to a direct influence from the Archangel Gabriel and his minions, which makes sense since typically Gabriel is regarded as the angel of Love and water/emotion. whoever the influence, this is a great album for healing meditation (as i just got through using it for) and for backsound for the healing arts. Heaven and Earth Char-El Char-El, 2000 Worlds Without End Char-El Char-El, 1996 TWO OVERLOOKED, BUT SUPERB, ANGELIC RELEASES I picked up Worlds Without End many years ago and immediately fell in love with it, but couldn't find his other work. then, i saw we had Heaven and Earth at KKUP when i was deejaying there, but i didn't see any way of acquiring it through my regular sources. even now, it seems the only way to get these basically out-of-print discs is through Backroads Music and even then what happens is Char-El burns some high quality CDR's for you. But the music is some incredible, highly electronic angelic music comparable to the soundheavens of Canadian Andrew Forrest, but even more brightly electronic, some- where between Jean Michel Jarre and Iasos. it is fantastic stuff ideal for supercharging the energy-body and the imagination. Heaven and Earth is a 2-CD set. The first Heaven disc is brightly electronic like Worlds Without End. The second disc, Earth, has an actual band with bass and drumming which owes something to Tangerine Dream, but is clearly played from the heart with very talented musicians. people who love Iasos are going to need these wonderful albums. i just hope Lloyd at Backroads doesn't mind getting orders for this difficult to acquire artist. tell him Darv sent ya. Supernatural Saafi Brothers ZYX Music, 2007 ACE ELECTRODUB OUTFIT RELEASE THEIR BEST YET these guys put together a unique blend of riddims and synthesis that is hard to describe, but delicious to behold. obviously oweing a bit to reggae, but entirely electronic, these are spicy mellifluous grooves perfect for the beach, pool or kegger. imminently sociable vibes with sensually blissful chill zones, this stuff induces a free-floating hedonistic well-being that intimates a sense of fun and play that's hard to beat or even aspire to. these guys give you what others are trying for but end up being too relaxing to be social or too activating to be mellowizing. the Saafi Brothers hit the perfect balance! Max.Chillroom Various Artists Newland Music, 2007 LLOYD BARDE OF BACKROADS PRODUCES A BEJEWELLED COLLECTION featuring top-notch electrodub impresarioes like Bluetech, Sounds From The Ground, Zero One and Shakatura, this disc serves up a swirling smorgasbord of sonic delicacies that easily puts it on par with similar compilations in Dakini's Sky Dancing or Ultimae's Farenheit Project series. get this: the last piece is a Shulman cut remixed by Ishq! that's how cool this gets! these are all previously unreleased hi-midtempo cuts that are actually danceable or at least groovable. they are not ambient pieces and in fact quite sparklingly electronic in feel and timbre. most have quite inventive solid bass spines and unpredictable curvatures that can be quite tasty. for those of you who didn't get a word of what i just said: the music on this disc is contemporary electronic reggaedub stylings produced by some of the premier knobtwiddlers and synthwizards in the game. every cut is choice and suitable for airplay or the chill room. while this acquisition was a toss-on in my order from Lloyd (at his suggestion,) it has got to be one of my happiest toss ons ever! people into the Waveform label's sound, or who just like contemporary designer music, this one has not a fizzler on it. ozOne zerO One Waveform, 2007 SOLID RELEASE FROM MODULAR ELECTRO DESIGN MUSIC PRO Of the three technoambient discs i'm review in this update, this one is the most electronic in the Kraftwerkian sense. the beats are mid to downtempo, so this is music to get kicked back by. also like Kraftwerk, Zero One doesn't clutter the audio field with a superabundance of percussion effects. there are fewer sound objects (albeit most with heavy effects that make them seem like a lot - Kraftwerk does the same thing.) at times, only two patterns (with their effects) play off each other while the max is typically 4 or 5. at a slower tempo and with less going on, the music has more emotional space (and hypothetical space, where your brain would simply assume the implied unending fractal.) this is odd, because the expressed emotions, while moving in geometric electrogrooves like Higher Intelligence Agency, another Waveform transmission, are somewhat edgy. To wit: we start out with a couple of poppier electro tunes which are about robots (us) that need to be fixed. they are downstream in the flow from the big hit, "Fluffy Little Clouds," by the Orb, but definitely in the more technorobot music i've been recently exploring by artists like The Pleiadians or Prometheus, but as i said quite downtempo probably slower than Bluetech. kind of like Kraftwerk speeds. the third piece introduces some Arabic vocal stylings, which is kind of trendy now i guess, but then suddenly Zero One hits you with a number of serious technoambient SPACE pieces, almost like after Kraftwerk built the soundUFO, Klaus Schulze kicked them out and started driving it. after several impressive star drives, things get a little Arabic again and then the album ends with a longer, more anxious, piece titled "Future" and the odd "OK," which features a very young child saying, "i'm okay." all releases/transmissions from Waveform tend to have a positive vibe that is almost seductive. people who have enjoyed previous Zero One efforts will not be disappointed with this one. people who like the euro electro sound and also the contemporary production values is receives would probably like ozOne better than Saafi Bros. or Max.Chillroom, as they are both much more in the world fusion realms and dense with percussion and various effects like zingers, curliques and twizzlers. this album DOES have some quite inventive electric effects and the solid production one comes to expect from Waveform. perfect music for doing homework, having intellectual conversations, or lieing on persian rugs whilst wrapped around a bong. 9-22-07 Green Planet: Vietnam "Chimbay, l'oiseau s'envole" Composition & Direction, Oliver Renoir Milan Records, 2001 Green Planet: India "Le miroir des cinq rivieres" Milan Records, 2001 SHIMMERING PARADISAL SOUND TRYPS two discs of an apparent "Green Planet" series, of which i am also anticipating the acquisition of "Green Planet: Nepal." it would appear that this is a project in which each disc has recordings influenced by a certain cultural area, played with authentic instruments of the area, with very intriguing local nature and town recordings, yet produced for a certain music industry market (in this case, it seems to me to be "new age" production in the Tokyo style.) perhaps i was attracted on the superficial speculation that Green Planet might have any similarities whatsoever with Blue Asia, which i adore. well, yes, in that the acoustic performances are impressive, the compositions are thoughtful and at least avoid insipidness, and both recordings are very somatically pleasant and would definitely take one to a tryptaminic paradise under the right conditions ;) although staying pretty strictly close to the classical forms and not innovating fusionbeats or jazz stylings, there is a sense of freshness and sincerity which i think makes these recordings stand out a bit from the usual new age fare. in fact, i am enjoying these increasingly more on repeated listenings! that being said, i should adjure that emotionally these could be a bit maudlin for some, since not much is going on here except luxuriating in lush paradisal beauty, but for those of us who are preoccupied with free-floating hedonism, there is definitely plenty of sensual pleasure to be enjoyed in these recordings. Scriabin Symphonies (Complete) The Philadelphia Orchestra, conductor: Riccardo Muti Brilliant Classics, 1991 COLOR MUSIC OR ABSTRACT IMPRESSIONISM? Russian classical composer Alexandar Scriabin, a millenial composer at the beginning of the 20thC, was obsessed with composing music that would describe and attempt to induce mystical states. he also was an early color music theorist. known for being musically extravagant exuberant and extraordinary, the shocking dynamism and florid tonality of his work made him a visionary of future sci-fi film music in a way. i pretty much only like the impressionists of classical music like chopin and of course particularly debussy. while i rather like Mozart's more romantic compositions, i adamandtly confess to rather NOT liking Beethoven or Bach. so there are my credentials. i know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about what i am talking about when it comes to classical music. still, i find Scriabin fascinating just for the sheer braggadaccio and overweening ambition of trying to describe mystical states. this reasonably price 3-CD set features the 3 Symphonies (the third being titled, "The Divine Poem," and requiring multiple listens, it is so amazing) and also his well known "Poem Of Ecstasy" and "Prometheus: The Poem Of Fire." this is very dramatic, enthralling stuff that somewhat demands one's attention. if one then listens to, say, John Williams' Star Wars classical music, one thinks "man, somebody was doing this BETTER decades and decades previous to our modern sci-fi classical. wow." this is mysti-fi classical! it is fair to call this abstract impressionism. it's that marvelous. Drumming Steve Reich Deutsche Grammaphon, 2003 (orig. 1974) CLASSIC MINIMALIST EPIC RESTORED TO LENGTH & DYNAMICS I remember back in the late 70s, when the appearance of *sine qua non* albums like Brian Eno's "Music For Airports" and Steve Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" seemed to indicate a watershed moment for the musical genre now named Ambient. right in the flush of the "new wave" in rock, we find this whole other sensibility, in some cases finding artists releasing albums in both fields. funny how 3 decades can pass right by to the contemporary scene which is much more scientific and, hence, calculating to a degree. and, indeed, true to form, this is a lengthy, exacting piece on 2 CDs at around 50 minutes each. there are 4 sections each about 25 minutes long. each of these has its own internal logic or "hue," if you will. i remember hearing this album for the first time on scratchy vinyl that my high school friend who liked experimental music had acquired. the first section is played on small tuned bongos. it is the distillation of the journey that Reich had just made through Africa learning drumming. the bongos are just small enough to be more percussive than resonant, which sounds unfamiliar and almost annoying at first. one becomes lost in the permutating patterns of various rhythms played on top of each other. the next three sections move in a similar fashion, exploring the permutations of drum patterns through a series of instruments: marimbas with voice, glockenspiel with piccolo, and in the final section all intruments together. these sections have a shimmering beauty quite similar to Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" and i'm sure anybody who thinks that album is fabulous would enjoy this one and probably listen to it more than a few times. that being said, this IS a long and involved PROCESS MUSIC which moves slowly yet inexorably to its logical conclusions. it is a low-alpha headspace which i had no trouble using as backsound for reading (well, until the last 15 minutes which are pretty intricate and give one pause....) it is a trance inducing musical PROCESS in which room is not given for improvisation, but each player can modify inflection a little for cohesiveness. these slight adjustments have an improvisational feel to them. a music of subtle flavors and strange changing hues in which the vibe is an extended pleasant drone which results in a comforting emotional muddle which is sociable, yet also somehow very private. like an extended group conver- sation with new friends! not for everyone, but certainly an important achievement in 20thC minimalist classical music and part of the first stirrings of Ambient in artists like Reich, Eno, or Terry Riley. this 2003 release also restores the recording to its full length and original dynamics. bravo! 9-16-07 Chakra Healing Energies Alberto Grollo Oreade, 2006 EXQUISITE ELECTROACOUSTIC WHIRLWIND THRU CHAKRAS As an avid collector of chakra music, i am always on the look-out for an artistic endeavor created by someone totally unknown to me. it is always interesting to hear each artist's "take" on the energies of the traditional 7 chakras of the spinal column. as is obvious from this column, i have a natural predilection towards music that is dynamic, adventurous and passionate. for me, this is the difference between banal "new age" pabulum and esoteric visionary music. for example, Deuter isn't new age crap: his sound IS HIS sound. the hundreds of artists who have lifelessly copied his sound like a neolithic person makes a stone tool identical to the tool they are copying are, by and large, crap. "new age" music gets a bad reputation by playing it safe and trying to just be pleasant, happy music with no guts and no soul. then one finds a disc like this. distinctly Aquarian in tone but with disarmingly charming melodies and a flair for counterpoint that gives it a deserved comparison to the recent "Gnosis" by Paul Avgerinos. like that album, this is brimming over with crystalline contrapuntal guitar work and sensual synthesis. the lower chakras are grounded with clever percussion work and the whole album seems to flow seamlessly upwards. and the energetic affects in the resonant chakra areas of the body are quite pronounced and pleasurable, blissful even. i can tell that experiencing this music entheogenically would result in a rainbow crystal bliss experience. all around impressive: compositionally, energetically, emotionally and with thoughtful musicianship. this album supports my current working thesis that Oreade is now a label name that can be trusted to develop quality artists in the Aquarian and Ascension genres of Visionary Music. Healing Energy Gerald Jay Markoe Astromusic, 2007 SOMEHOW THE MIRACLE HEALING ENERGY GOT INTO THE MIX Markoe is quite a phenomenon in Visionary music. His on-going "new age music" advertising campaign must be making him quite wealthy since his classically-based music inspired by the Pleiades is a long-time commercial best seller in the industry, as are also his specifically "Angelic" recordings. the production deliberately makes them sound categorically "new age" and Markoe's style of playing is quite stately, nearly stilted at times. when first encountering his work 20 years ago, i immediately wrote it off as new age pabulum. well, a few entheogenic experiences of his work altered that opinion dramatically. i still am studying his music trying to understand how he does it, how he creates unique energetic states. in recent years, Markoe's work has expanded into more shamanistic motifs with a number of native american music influenced releases which are superb. even more recently, he has released fantastic albums which create culture-specific meditative headspaces often using traditional tunings. in this regard, he has so far covered japanese zen, ancient egypt, celtic druidism, and the vedantic headspaces of india. this new album is a full-circle return to his classical roots, featuring the music of telemann, schubert, bach and yogananda, as well as two original compositions. while not specifically christian, it does seem to have the classical Ascension kind of vibe. what is interesting here is that a holy person in Brazil named John of God has overlaid this recording with his healing energies. i have other recordings which claim to do this sort of thing. now, i know that we are a part of the supposedly smarter and enlightened modern West, so if one asserts that some kind of spiritual energy was recorded on a CD, it must sound sort of kooky. what i CAN tell you is that i was experiencing intense healing feelings from this recording and was knocked out flat the first listen. during that trance, i heard a voice make a brief statement. regardless of what one might think of this claim, i do find this to be an enjoyable Markoe release that fans of his classical work will certainly enjoy. i think it would be great backsound for healing work where classical is appropriate. One Mark Ciaburri Woodstock Multimedia, 2003 WONDERFUL MEDITATION DRONE RECORDING BY MAUI ARTIST 67 minutes of blissful acoustic interweavings around a tamboura drone. this music AUTOMATICALLY creates a space of peace and comfort perfect for moving or still meditation, bodywork and healing work. with the wondrous guitar of Bruce Becvar throughout, support by percussionist extraordinaire Daniel Paul on tamboura and tabla, and a number of talented acoustic musicians, Ciaburri, on keyboards and percussion, leads us through the fields of bliss on the fifth dimensional transition area. there are so many harmonic opportunities within this music that we dematerialize and waft through unending seas of golden power. awesome. fans of Becvar and particularly his "Magic Of Healing Music" set will love this, as will fans of Patrick Bernard's instrumental work. Dean Evenson fans can dig it too. for me, this music has the ketheric golden power of the Oneness. the warm liquidic/gaseous shimmering evanescent yet metallic gold philosophical that One encounters every now again in the high regions where the amethyst ray and the Light Divine comingle. 8-25-07 Trancetrip 3D (DVD) James Lawrence Headtoys, 2007 Click Here for Trancetrip.com TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC TAKES ON NEW MEANING!! The original Trancetrip VHS is long out of print. i'd been waiting patiently for it to be offered for sale, but it was consistently unavailable. i'd just found the listing on-line and had never seen it nor knew anyone who had (except for the rare review listing on-line.) with all of these wild DVDs i've been acquiring lately, i thought it was rather de rigeur to have some 3D in the collection & Trancetrip seemed to be in the direction i was interested in exploring. after a couple of years of lookings, i saw that James Lawrence had released digital video and that was much more to my liking! Ordered it immediately. For full 3D effect, one must wear one of the two pairs of apparently typical cardboard 3D glasses included in the DVD case. i say "apparently" because these lenses actually have two DIFFERENT stereoscopic principles at work: one is the ChromaDepth effect, which creates different depths from the listener according to color; the other is a color refraction process identical to the lens processes in the glasses included with AV3X, which Chris Oliver has dubbed "Kaleidovision" and which creates multiple copies of the tv screen, so that it appears to be surrounded by screens duplicating its picture. The wild thing is: the farther you move from the actual tv screen, the more kaleidoscopic the designs become! The actual 3D effect is done with planes of color -- red, green, blue -- which appear to be at different distances from the viewer. I found that without the glasses, the picture is still very aesthetically pleasing but more of a background effect than something one would sit and watch. one thing i like is the extremely bright neon dayglo glows such as one gets on very high entheogenic levels. the picture are someone archetypical mandalas and patterns that are familiar and pleasingly so in that way, which are also highly detailed and when one puts the glasses on they create a stunning living breathing tryptych very reminiscent of the moving walls of electronic cartoons one gets deep in the psilocybin trance. in fact, Trancetrip DVD looks more like high level mandalic fusion Light trypping than any other video in my collection. what is also fascinating here is that as one approaches the tv screen, you get more and more intricate detail on the actual screen, but as you move away from the screen, the multiples of the screen increase in number until it is like a wall of screens in front of you! these create huge patterns of energys some of which seem organic, others are obviously cybernetic and then again others seem totally mystical and angelic. The music is also totally air-worthy electronic music that must owe something to Klaus Schulze, but is millenial in sound, feel and production. while each being a sort of sonic rotating engine in the Schulzian manner, there is a lot of emotional movement and intellectual interest as each moves through time. there is also a variety in mood from song to song. as far as DVD original soundtrax go, this is one of my favorites and one i could listen to without the video portion. in fact, i did on numerous occasions, just because what was happening on audio was so interesting i needed to cut the video feed, which is quite intense, to give the audio my full attention. by cut the video feed, i mean "close my eyes." This video and the music are very bright and electronic and therefore perfect for the ambient room at a Rave or for exploring the codes of the DNA sequence entheogenically at home. This is intense stuff and will not appeal to people who don't like bright light and the incessant rave pulse (this is not techno dance music but electronic music in the modern electro mode.) on my first viewing i was tranced out, basically asleep, for about 10-15 minutes DURING the video. Two hearty thumbs up and a snap of the suspenders to Trancetrip 3D. i look forward to collecting all of the widescreen Trancetrip series when it is released in December. definitely looks like the electric colors and the scrolling tryptychs of high psychedelia. show it to mom! Spotworks Scott Draves Spotworks.Com 2004 CYBERNETIC FRACTALLIZATION OF HAND-DRAWN MICROORGANISMS SYNTHESIZES NEW SPECIES OF VISUAL ART Ernst Haeckel was a German born biologist and naturalist (1834-1919) whose live was so extraordinary i suggest you pop by the Wikipedia listing for a moment: Click Here For Haeckel Wikipedia listing Among other things, he specialized in the study of single celled marine life forms called Radiolarians. He drew a series of plates featuring these and other marine life forms in a favorite book of mine, "Art Forms In Nature" (New York: Dover, 1974.) this link goes to a page that displays many of the the plates: Click For Pictures Anyway, after looking at all of these amazing strangely beautiful LIVING forms that were drawn by hand by a man looking into a microscope at the millenium into the 20thC, one begins to realize that there is a beauty in Life at once easy to recognize and appreciate while still completely Alien to the Human. i mean, living Faberge eggs, indeed.... Well, Draves scanned these images and took them into cyberfusion. the images are replicated, spiralled, multiplied, torqued, recursified and metasynthesized into a roiling brew of burbling strangeness. it is quite exotic and different from any other headcandy video i own. for more than one reason. there is history of science in this. there is the flabbergasting reality that these are representations of life forms that actually exist. there is the whirling stonedness of it all. and i mean SERIOUS whirling. one effect used a lot in this video is the liquid clockwise whirl. it does create a kind of dizziness. when one looks away from the tv screen, the brain is still compensation for the whirl with a COUNTERclockwise whirl in the visual field of its own. so the center of your vision is turning no matter where you look. i'm sure many a rave deejay has had great fun watching people on psychedelics in the room watching the movie for a while and then suddenly lurching around or falling down as they turn to leave. i must confess at being somewhat annoyed with this effect at times. it is much like how the room keeps spinning after one stops spinning around. but all in all, a worthwhile work of art especially if one knows that what they are seeing are actually life forms! the music has more gravitas then most of my reviewed DVDs. i'm going to call it heavy electrodub in the style of Bill Laswell (who i think does play in some of this music.) it is definitely music of the underground urban rave culture, so it is hip and shamanistic. there is no churchy sanctimoniousness on this album, but rather the world fusion dub irie ites. i'm down. the videos are also presented as dub mixes, so there is a sensibility here of getting the vibe in the mix. yes, i'd say this is downtown gritty urban warehouse shamanistics on the sound. SO: this is an intellectually stimulating, ground- breaking WORK OF ART. it is not trying to put you in a meditative state. well, maybe a trance state. it isn't trying to be highest grade CGI insanity. SPOTWORKS seems to be a sort of fable attempting to open the viewer's mind about the awesome mystery and nature of Life. it is done in a style that would be appropriate to urban rave culture. if you check out some of the plates on the link that was provided above, it will become evident how amazing they would be all fractallized. The Light Body John S. Banks & J.J. Hurtak Academy For Future Sciences, 2004 CREATOR OF ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS VIDEO & AUTHOR OF THE KEYS OF ENOCH TEAM UP FOR ANGELIC YANG DOWNLOAD Having just put together the separate DVD page, i discovered that i never reviewed this disc which deserves notice and high time i did. Banks with his dream-like CGI magic is guided by the voice of Hurtak on a planet-wide tryp to the centers of ancient spiritual power in Egypt, India, Tibet, the Andes and the Yucatan. it's a 30-min video that makes a lot of allusions to innerdimensionals and space-faring beings without actually coming out and saying it. There are 4 different soundtracks: they all have the same music but a different lecture. one thing that would have made this a better disc is if one track was music only because some of the music is actually pretty decent Mount Shasta style new age cosmic rock. i played this for my mother when she was visiting. she fell asleep after 5mins and woke up 5mins before it was over. i remember that happening to me at my first angelic evocation. perhaps it is a way we have of processing information coming to us on channels we don't admit to ourselves. i could see playing the video portion with music from another source and the video could actually stimulate interesting conversations because there is so much footage of sacred places around the world. because it is John Banks, the whole production has a dreamy, ethereal sense of narrative movement and transition. i'm sure people who enjoy Banks' other works would like the video portion of this DVD. people interested in the Keys of Enoch and J. J. Hurtak's work in general, as i am, will find what he is talking about interesting. i said he was lecturing, but actually it is more like prophesying. there is definitely an angelic vibe that comes of the whole production and that is what i would expect in visionary gnosis. can't say i really understand the whole Hurtak thing, but there does seem to be a Lightworker energy involved. 8-20-07 Overtones - Voice & Tambura Michael Vetter Germany: Wergo Schallplatten, 1983, 1984 Out-Of-Print LONG OUT OF PRINT MASTERPIECE BY VETERAN OVERTONE SINGER When considering the prime exponents of modern overtone chant and singing, most aficionadoes of this subgenre might immediately think of David Hykes and his Harmonic Choir. surely, Hykes is the prime exponent of overtone chant, particularly when we discuss influences. Many of us will also think of Jonathan Goldman, the world's major sound healing recording artist non pareil. while certainly skilled at overtone and subharmonic chant, Goldman's emphasis is primarily the use of sound to induce Divine or therapeutic states and not focused on the subtleties of producing melodic content with overtones *per se.* In this regard, Vetter, a long-established world class chanter, may be the earliest overtone singer of international repute. and while he hasn't released as many works as Hykes or Goldman, the few i have been able to acquire are absolutely fantastic and ranks with Hyke's best. I first discovered Vetter's work through a fortuitous acquisition of "Ancient Voices" by Michael Vetter & The Overtone Choir (Amiata, 1992,) the only work by the Overtone Choir that i know of yet still perhaps the easiest of Vetter's works to obtain. while comparable to Hykes and his choir, "Ancient Voices" has a certain "i don't know what" which makes it distinct and, to my mind, more mystical and mysterious. Hykes tends to work within the rubric of the established Abrahamic traditions and generates spiritual atmospheres endemic to them. Vetter's work seems more astral and shamanistic. i recently was able to obtain a copy of his "Nocturne" (Amiata, 1993,) which is solo work and much darker music, as the name of course implies. it is four pieces which alternate solo voice (in a subharmonic style but more Latin and Greek than Tibetan or Japanese, although Vetter was himself very involved with Japanese buddhism and the influence is in the tracks) singing over tamboura with tracks that are solo RECORDER. we're talking 10 minutes of recorder in each of the two tracks. i can honestly say that Vetter's performance on this woodwind changed my mind about the range of expression occasioned by the recorder. these woodwind performances are based on the melodies he invented while using the instrument to put his daughter to sleep. the first time i listened to it, it was late and the recorder knocked me out into delta lalaland. i actually tried to stay awake, but it put me down. "Ancient Voices" i would call de rigeur for serious collectors, while "Nocturne" is more for those seriously interested in use of voice. The current disc reviewed here, "Overtones," took me years to catch up with. It is an absolute stunner. Much like "Nocturne," it is solo voice over tamboura, but this is mostly Vetter's vocal chords maintaining a drone with the tamboura, while he manipulates the overtone sequence into various melodies. it is simply amazing, the most dexterous solo performance of pure overtone i have ever heard. and when his vocal chords begin to carry a melody and the overtones are harmonizing with it: holy cow!! anybody willing to accept overtone singing as singing worth listening to will just be stunned by what he amply demonstrates is possible. I very favorably compare this to Shiela Chandra's "A Bone Crone Drone." this album is basically the male counterpart to that album. a tryp involving both discs would very likely be a life-changing proposition. While hard to find, this is an extremely worthwhile recording of solo overtone work that for me trumps most of Hykes albums for sheer spiritual information. High priority item for overtone singing specialists. 8-19-07 In The Om Zone Steven Halpern Open Channel, 2007 Click For Inner Peace dot Com SOLID CONTRIBUTION TO OM MUSIC BY ONE OF THE OLD SCHOOL NEW AGE MUSIC MASTERS if i may be so bold: steven halpern is to new age music what brian eno is to ambient music. while there are clearly more quintessential new age artists who entered the oeuvre earlier than Halpern -- Deuter and Iasos -- Halpern pretty much presented himself as new age music and his early releases are successes at the level of pure theory. "Spectrum Suite," a new age classic in anybody's book, is a wonderful early manifesto of western chakra music. the follow-up album, "Zodiac Suite," is worth mentioning as a book-end album for Spectrum Suite. they both have the tradmark Halpern electric piano with various tinklings around it. like early Eno, there are some harmonic problems that date these as early explorations in electronic sound healing. i still own them on vinyl. that was my first new age acquisition, given to me by my mother the year it came out on vinyl. i didn't really like it at the time. well, how was it going to compete with Genesis, Yes and Gentle Giant? anyway, my point being that Halpern has been there in the back of my mind with new age music ever since i was aware of it. i own some not a lot of Halpern. i enjoy his albums of spiritual essence. much of the earlier material seemed more about comfort and secure feelings. i highly recommend his dynamic angelic music release, In The Key Of Healing (part of the Healing Music series from The Relaxation Company, 1996.) perfect ketamine audio representation. I also own "Gifts of the Angels" (Open Channel, 1994) which is a compilation from various of his enormous canon and decent angelic vibes too. Also, "Music For Sound Healing" (Open Channel, 1999) which has Georgia Kelly on harp and has some good healing music moments. OK: THE NEW ALBUM. this is actually quite good OM music for yoga, bodywork or contemplation. perhaps there are better albums for straight, formal meditation on the OM, but this one has rhythm, singing and even riffs off of the old Lennon/McCartney "Tommorrow Never Knows." the production reminds me Jonathan Goldman's sound, which is fine by me and the actual basic OMing matrix on the cd feels great and is interesting. the five minute meditations are puncuated by half minute sections of tibetan singing bowls or japanese temple bowls. the second half of the album gets increasingly grooved out. the last two cuts are "Om Nama Shivaya" rather than the OM the rest of the album has done. another 9:20 of strict ambient OM would have been better. by grooved out, i mean the addition of a substantial amount of hand drumming, rattles and the like, not drum machine. 8-09-07 Tropical Meditation Mark Ciaburri Real Music, 2007 Click Here To Read Webpage On This Album A HAWAIIAN AMBIENT MEDITATION DISC!! Composer Mark Ciaburri had a vision here in Maui in which he experienced the melody that the birds were all singing to and how the wind and waves and everything sort of sighed along with the natural melody. i've had similar experiences and in fact have been at the beach near my house here i Kihei where i listened to the ocean waves until i got the tonal pitch & then intoned OM at that pitch. soon, birds gathered round and began to sing with me. anyway, Ciaburri set out to try to catch this experience in music. it's really well done and i think pretty well catches the hawaiian tropical thing better than most recordings supposedly about it. most somewhere fall prey to harmony motifs that evoke the caribbean, asia, or india. a few reveal tahitian or maori influences, which is ok because it is still oceania, but i've been hoping for something that can be hawaiian without the caribbean reggae thing or the country slide guitar thing. Ciaburri's music, of course, is not without influences nonHawaiian, and does reflect a sensibility shared by other locals like Oceanic Tantra (Raphael & Kutira,) Anugama or Daniel Paul. it is a beautiful mauian vibe that is easy to get when here and can be heard in all of their music. Ciaburri does a beautiful job of capturing this in performances by Bruce Becvar, Daniel Paul & Priod on Sarod and Berimbau which are aesthetically outstanding and meditative simultaneously. he also invites a native hawaiian, Charles Ka'upu to chant/sing in the hawaiian language. this results in a totally magical and pleasurable experience. an intensely spiritual maui hawaiian vibe. Immersion 3 Steve Roach Projekt, 2007 Click Here To Go To Steve's Website UNDYING SAGA OF LONGFORM AMBIANCE three disc set in a tasteful large sized fold-out digipak. each disc has a single continuum of music over 73 minutes in duration. these are wall of synthsound environments similar to those on his acclaimed "Mystic Chords and Sacred Spaces" set, but even more sedate. the first piece, "First Light," does in fact GLOW. it shimmers divine essence much like the aforementioned MCSS set. the next 2 pieces -- "Sleep Chamber" and "Still" -- are cyber- shamanic dreamtime sleep pieces that are closer to the classic enoesque environments roach explored in his second spatial period. very quieting and sedating vibrations here. as the third installment in the Immersion series, this set takes the immersive headspace into more reverent climes. people who have heard the previous discs in the series should have a good idea what to expect. his website was offering a good price when i got this one. savory but for serious lovers of quiet non-narrative ambiance. Fever Dreams - part three Steve Roach Timeroom Editions, 2007 TAKING THE ELECTRO EROTIC PULSE CURRENT TO THE MOONSHROUDED BORDERLAND OF METASENSE this latest edition of the series which began with some very cool pieces featuring Patrick O'Hearn on Bass updates the series into the more modern sound that has been developing for some time perhaps beginning with On This Planet and the collabs with Vir Unis, to continue with Light Fantastic and Core, on to the recent Proof Positive. ok: this is very dense and intense like Core, but SLOWER; drifting into high delta/low theta spaces. very primordial ooze and glurpy. 2 discs. the first is 8 cyberelectro slither pieces. an 18minute piece, an 11 and a 10, then quite a few in the 6 to 8 min range and one under 5min, so it is a changing environment that is quite intense and cybershamanic. by that, i mean it is more a fusion of electrooganism than the primal shamanism with many acoustic features that are a Roachian trademark. these are time- transforming soundworks that definitely distort one's perception of temporal passage. anybody who liked Core would like this i think. the second disc is a 73 minute longform piece that i'll have to call dark ambient and is relatable to Steve's previous releases, Slow Heat or Possible Planet, but i found this latest piece intellectually interesting throughout and with a narrative underpinning that i found quite thought provoking, mainly dealing with ideas of genetic mutation and bioradiation transforming structures. or so it seemed to me. Fever Dreams 3 is an altogether impressive electronic rendering, quite surpassing its predecessor in quality as a single release (altho there is just something GREAT and endearing about the collab between Roach and O'Hearn at the beginning of the first in the series; one can only wonder what a collab over in Patrick's idion would sound like!) these are intriguing theta-range electroacoustic darkambient sounds suitable for lounging or deep listening. i tried to play it before opening at work, but it was really too slow for any socializing except for what goes on around the coffee table. that being said, this is quality work for aficionadoes who like it glurpy, primal and organismic. Healing Massage Llewellyn & Robin Butterfield New World Music, 2000 CLASSICAL SOLO PIANO OVER RELAXING SYNTHSTRINGS i bought this because there ARE a couple of Llewellyn discs are think are solid - including his excellent Reiki Gold (Paradise Music, 2005) which i find to be one of the best angelic albums in the last 5 years. this disc is in the Mind, Body Soul series of recordings offered by New World Music (which one has to be careful selecting from because there is rather a lot of bland new agey music in their catalogue.) Llewellyn had another release in this series in a collab with Ann Clinton titled, Crystals, which was borderline newagey at times but had some very tryppy crystalline moments that forced my hand to include it in my crystal music with the likes of Shad Diamond, selected quartz crystal bowl recordings i own and the Crystals release from Healing Therapy Music. by the way, these "collaborations" Llewellyn has with Robin and Ann appear to be that he does the music and they write the booklet, make suggestions regarding the music and help clarify the presentation of the material. i don't think it is actual musical interaction. well, this disc falls in that "bland new agey" category, unfortunately. it is solo classical piano over comfy synthstrings and intentionally low interest. the melodies are familiar and the whole thing rather geared towards feelgood soundgood. each piece flows smoothly out of the ending of the previous piece, so this is a great continuous backsound for actual massage work. and perhaps the unchallenging nature of the melodies works in its favor as backsound. getting a massage to this might actually be kind of cool.... Ocean Waves Doctor Jeffrey S. Thompson The Relaxation Company, 2007 HI TECH OCEAN WAVES WITH DELTA SLEEP MATRIX UNDERNEATH you get exactly that. now, i collect ocean recordings so i like to think i know good ocean from mediocre ocean. it is not the quality of the recording as much as the WAY the waves are breaking. this is very tasty stuff! with the delta matrix, this carries me solid into sleep everytime and not having music but my love my ocean & me is nice. no synthesis or whatnot, just waves. good sleep disc, great surf. Intergalactic Bellydance Galactic Caravan Ark 21, 2004 Click Here To Go To Bellydance Superstars O YEAH, SOUPED UP BELLYDANCE WORLD FUSION! very arabic in sound with quality singing. very bassy and great additional hand drumming. in the realm of Transglobal Underground or Oojami more than, say, Makyo or Chebiji. sexy slinky riffs great for the boudoir or the Dance. medium tempo magic, mostly, with sampled oud here and didgeridoo there. the feel is more ethnic than techno. in fact, it is not technofied like Oojami at all, very fusion and earthy. a cool remix of a Steve Stevens (former wildman guitarist for Billy Idol) song is also included. quite pleased to have this in the arabic belly- dance section. goes well with Natacha Atlas. Quick Mentions: Holy Harmony Jonathan Goldman with Sarah Benson Spirit Music, 2002 TUNING FORKS CUT TO THE HEALING CODES OF THE BIBLE with accompany choral harmonies enchanting the name Yod Heh Shin Vav Heh. "an ancient name of the Christ." definitely impressive recording of tuning forks (which i love listening to and there isn't enough of it out there.) Goldman is possibly the foremost healing chant recording artist out there and his output of the last five years is AMAZING. not to mention of his entire career! while perhaps for more particular tastes -- these "healing codes of the bible" come from a book of the same name which i owned at one time and found somewhat incoheret, but it DID have these codes, yes?, & so one wonders.... -- well Goldman went to the trouble of tracking down the entire series of pitches and cutting tuning forks to them and it is an exotic tuning that people unfamiliar with odd tunings or microtonality might be taken aback by. but the vibe is good, reminding me of John Beaulieu's Calendula which features regular intervals but also some pythagorean tunings. on top of this is the chorus and people who have difficulty with the jehovah, yeheshuah, yeshua, iesua or jesus energies will not be too suited to this experience. i find it enjoyable and can say that i felt some intense healing shifts about 50-60minutes into the 72minute continuum on initial listen. there is certainly a Christic feeling inherent in this recording. suitable for sound healing purposes, especially with people who are comfortable with Christic energies. deep sound explorers will also find the information contained in the tones of interest. Timewind Klaus Schulze Revisited Records, 2006 originally released 1975 MILLENIAL RE-RELEASE OF CLASSIC INCLUDES OVER AN HOUR OF PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MATERIAL If you are looking for classic electronic music which absolutely helped define the genre and set the bar for stellar work, you need to check out Klaus Schulze. While i usually say one should get the compilation 2CD set, "The Essential," Timewind is probably one of his most popular releases, here remastered into a scintillating gem of production AND now able to run its complete time without having to flip the vinyl over! sweet. this is a VERY BOLD electronic sound, rotating sequencers that make my neighbors jump when i've got it on HEADPHONES, so be aware: this is strong medicine. Schulze is a leading exponent in electronic music and aficionadoes are expected to have at least one of his albums. so get with the program. 7-17-07 + i've been remiss these last five weeks.... a vacation & illness, death and some mortality issues...here's what i've been audioscanning + Dai Ko Myo Akshara Weave Etherean, 2007 4TH OF REIKI SERIES CONTINUES UPWARD GRADIENT Weave is really on to something. Each of the albums in this series is a sonic representation of a Reiki energy, its name, and its visual symbol. Each album is over an hour long continuum of a synth-based drone in a certain key around which, over the course of time, overtone singing and chant use phonemes derived from Reiki tradition intertwine with soft beats, chimes, bells and other effects, all of which fade in and out slowly creating a dreamy, drifting atmosphere. This particular disc is keyed to the heart chakra with a languid theta rhythm which is extremely pleasant and relaxing but i'm struggling to maintain the focus to write this review. anyway, if it's heart chakra, i'm usually in! And what a wonderful way in this is too! crystal clear production and skillful programming of the synth voices make this manna for the flesh. feels great! i went back over his other albums and made a comparison in my mind between this series of music and the CLASSIC healing music set, "The Magic Of Healing Music" by Bruce Becvar and Brian Becvar from an idea by Deepak Chopra. it features three cd's -- Vata, Kapha and Pitta -- which sonically represents the three doshas of ayurvedic philosophy. i think it not unfair to make this comparison even though the two projects are quite unique in their own ways. the reason being that the differences between albums in their respective series HAVE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE TWO SERIES. this is quite fascinating for a sonic explorer to notice how the energies created have similarities and subtle differences. i'm collecting Akshara Weave's Reiki series because they are GREAT sound meditations. i feel that each album is more impressive and skillful than the previous release. now seeing them in contrast has really helped me understand what he was doing in the first two. healers and those who are looking for quality heart-oriented recordings will love this. Angel Love 2 Aeoliah Oreade, 2005 WORTHY OF BEING SEQUEL TO THE CLASSIC LOVE DISC i've been on an Aeoliah backtrack these last few reports. this is probably the last one in this current motif. clearly, i have a great love of angelic music. this is mainly because in years gone by my most profound ecstatic blissful joyous enraptured awed moments occurred with it playing. think of it this way: angels are not simply nonphysical embodied spirits or dream phantasies; one way of thinking about them is as emotional states that YOU are capable of experiencing. our more noble feelings like thankfulness, humility, generosity, care, sincerity and so forth we could also call beneficent or angelic emotional states. among other things that they most certainly are! angelic music describes these feelings and evokes them in the listener, amongst other things. the greatest angelic music does this in a curious peculiar way that defies immediate analysis but actually has to be hung out with for a while in order to understand better if not completely. each composer brings a sensibility and consistency in output which is unique. Aeoliah is a seasoned master of these arts. his music is firmly based in the classical tradition and therefore i consider him to be in the Ascension tradition on a collegial footing with greats like Iasos, Michael Hammer and Constance Demby. this album is the work of a seasoned master. whatever reservations i've had about certain Aeoliah discs, and he has A LOT of them, i can only laud this present work as a treasure that would have to share the shelf, even if there were no other Aeoliah albums, in any serious angelic aficionado's collection. let me say this & by no means putting this album down: it is very classical as most Aeoliah is, it will not appeal to anyone who has contempt for "new age" music, it will not appeal to anyone who is suspicious of music "trying to manipulate" them into a good mood, but for anyone looking to quaff a carafe of the nectar of bliss, check it out. The Light Beyond Jeff Pearce Hypnos, 2001 To The Shores Of Heaven Jeff Pearce Hypnos, 1999 GUITARS ONLY SOUND MATRIX OF SOFT LIGHT i collected these two older albums because they are solid classic ambient in the glassine eno realms created only with effected guitar and no not like fripp but more like keyboardist harold budd if he played guitar and tried to sound like david sylvian from classic down to earth but incandescent mists and slowing turning crystals. very good stuff for reading, writing, conversing or contemplating vistas of awareness. both albums have lots of light of varying intensities and never really get DARK like one would expect a Hypnos recording to finally do. brighter even than Numina. sometimes it is almost like Iasos' "Angelic Music" or something.... an easy comparison of these works would be to Steve Roach's "Structures From Silence" or perhaps John Foxx's "Cathedral Oceans" but this is way mellow and unchallenging. that's why i like it. Purifying Fire Lustmord Soleilmoon, 2000 THE DARKEST OF THE DARK WITH AN ALBUM OF DARK FIRE if someone asked me to name an essential dark ambient album, i would immediately answer the collab between Robert Rich and Lustmord, "Stalker." it doesn't get darker than that. it can get more terrifying like scary buddhist demon mara stuff like, o i don't know, O Yuki Conjugate, You ARe The Illusion, Klaus Schulze's Babylon and of course David Parson's more harrowing buddhist nightmares or more deep space like, as with Lustmord's amazing "Where The Dark Stars Hang." His best known work was "Heresy," where he found mine shafts, deep caves and subterranean grottoes and rolled boulders into them and other strange stuff. This album is intergalactic space much like Where The Dark Stars Hang, but there's all kinds of recorded FIRE everywhere that makes no sense but must be flabbergasting under the appropriate conditions ;) I like it, but you really have to like it deep dark and a touch scary. but if you are exhausted from avoiding the Void, some Lustmord therapy might be just the ticket! Corridor Of Mirrors Prometheus Twisted, 2007 2ND OUTING FOR TECHNO WIZARD AMBITIOUS UPGRADE our only rock consideration in this outing is from the label that brought us Shpongle, Ott, Younger Brother and Hallucinogen. Prometheus is Benjie Vaughan, who seems to have a thing for robots becoming living organisms. His first album, Robot-O-Chan, was a bit more linear than this recording, and seemed to portray the vexation and confusion of robots awakening to self-awareness. This new release sees the artist's abilities and concepts becoming more intricate and i imagine that he, like me, has spent a lot of time getting Shpongled. his game has risen to the level. this disc is therefor a quantum jump from the previous, but still with that computer will you stop it? edge from Robot-O-Chan with shades of Kraftwerk and android-sf. yes, kids, this IS science fiction music. yes, most of it is hard techno, designed to get the ultraneon lights streaming behind your retinaes and the bioluminescent electric helix slithering through your hypthalamus like some sort of dayglo tryptamine trance. and the robots HAVE invaded the dance floor! this album will be great for anyone seeking their next Shpongle moment likewise psyambients and electrodubbers will appreciate this. 6-09-07 Atlas Dei Daniel Colvin, visuals Robert Rich, sound Atlas Dei Website click here VISUAL POETRY!! LYRICAL SIGHT&SOUND ODYSSEY!! What sets this amazing DVD apart from the other Visionary videos i've reviewed in this column is its fusion of thought-provoking images of the enigmas of cosmos, evolution and sapiens. Set to new surround mixes of the darker and geometric sides of VSA Master, Robert Rich, this disc causes one's tv screen to burst forth with a relentless kaleidoscope of motion paintings in which the canvas is constantly being morphed into new related ideas. There does seem to be a narrative movement of sorts from the primordial origins of the cosmos, through the development of ever-more complex systems to the emergence of sapiens, the self-reflective organism, and its impending self-awareness. This is like watching an ANIMATED PAINTING, as the artist adds layer upon layer of forms upon each other. By the end of this 93 minute journey, my brain was frothing over with ideas and questions about our existence. While only a few of the musical pieces here are new material, exclusive to the Atlas Dei video and its CD soundtrack, and a large amount of it is from his recent, "Electric Ladder," CD, the edits are tasteful, the remixes bring many pieces into much sharper definition, much of the new stuff harkens back to Rich's more geometrical period, which i love. the entire soundtrack flows smoothly with beautiful transitions and it definitely feels like Colvin painstakingly timed the video movement with the music. no small amount of thoughtful consideration went into the making of this very enjoyable piece of art. I would even go so far to say that much of the video is very complimentary to Rich's music to the point that it seems one can finally see it without having to be in trance or trypping. As an additional bonus, the commentary track which can be selected for play with the video features a very imaginative and entertaining conversation between Colvin and Rich as they view the finished movie in the studio as the machine is crunching the final mix. Cutting edge thinking on aesthetics and creativity! This video was done solitarily by Colvin, at home, using state-of-the-art Macintosh computerized video equipment. As such, we get an early view on the next generation of CGI that will be available publicly. It is AWESOME!! Some shots have as many as a HUNDRED different layers. if you ever saw the film of Picasso painting a painting in time lapse photography, so we see how he covers over previously painted areas to the point that the entire painting changes its look several times before he stops and says "this is it." you can imagine what we have here, but in very sharp computer images. another way to say it is this is like if one of Dali's paintings became animated, except not with the confusion and mania of Dali, but with a sensitive mind that is well versed in symbolism and archetypal theory, and also has nearly a quarter century of working with imagery. the kind of mind that would find kinship with an artist like Robert Rich. my highest recommendation to people who like intelligent dark ambient or to visionaries seeking inspiration. Touching Grace Amoraea Dreamseed Monroe Products, 2006 ANGELIC DIDGERIDOO BRAINWAVE SYNCHRONIZATION!! Dreamseed has been releasing these great recordings that somehow bridge the Koure of Turtle Island's Dreamtime with the VedoAbrahamic's Angelic Realms. it is very cool. The first release, in collaboration with River Freedom, titled "Didgeridoo Dreamtime," is continually my favorite didg album. just off hand, i'd say it is because it has an emotional warmth that i can only compare to Sheila Chandra's "A Bone Crone Drone." it is quite tribal and follows the course of a perfect summer day from sunrise through to the dead of night. the second release, "Future Memories," took this Dreamtime Tribalism and opened up its energies with synthesis that has to be considered to be classic Angelic in harmony with master composers like Iasos, Raphael, Hammer and Aeoliah. This new album, formerly released without the underlying brainwave entrainment matrix (courtesy of the Monroe Institute,) and titled, "Antahkarana," continues the upward spiral in Dreamseed's musical growth by combining the Dreamtime-Angelic mix with bonafide Hemi-Sync patterns developed by the leading institute studying out-of-body-experience and inner planes navigation. and it works beautifully. these matrixes are capable of syncronizing the two hemispheres of one's brain when using headphones. they are much more compatible with the music on this recording than what they did on the recording i reviewed two weeks ago (tho i'm not complaining as the resultant effect was still very interesting.) it works perfectly here. the matrixes are introduced and tuned in such a way that it feels natural. the music is inspired. there are moments of beauty and awesome power. the use of voice is magical. the feeling throughout is peaceful, reverent and healing. much of the percussion is hand held, played with great sensitivity to the mood being described. then the brainwaves kick in and you go right to Vibe. ADDENDUM: after five more weeks of listen to this severak tunes a week, i can honestly say that it stands as one of my best acquisitions of 2007 to this point. the recording really has levels to reveal on repeated listen! i've achieved some very positive headspaces on this recording and now think of it as one of the inner core group of recordings of "spiritual essence." if i was ever to do a full dedicated ritual, angelic evocation or "psychic seance" ever again, this recording would be in the opening line-up of vibrational matrices. 7-17-07 Voodoo II Robert Drasnin Dionysius Records, 2007 47 YEARS LATER: THE ULTIMATE EXOTICA SEQUEL!! I just went through a pretty long and involved rediscovery of Exotica -- composers like Les Baxter, Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman -- and did happen upon the first "Voodoo" album,1960, which is possibly the quintessential Exotica release, even though Drasnin pretty much tossed it off and it nearly was lost to posterity but for a vinyl-to-digital transfer by Dionysius Records in the mid-90s. and a fine job they did. This new album has everything one could ask for in a millenial Exotica release. While being more complex, that is: having more depth in instrumentaion and placement in the sound field, Voodoo 2 remains absolutely true to the aesthetics of the genre, meticulously charted and performed and retains the emotional warmth and beauty of the initial release. BRAVO! and the bolero exotique was the cherry on top. after going through my Exotica Intensive over the last year, this seems the perfect capper: a new release just as i've collected the stuff i liked! someone owning no Exotica and just wanting credible background could buy the 2 Voodoo's and call it a day. nearly. The Very Best Of The Far East Various Artists Demon Music Group, 2004 2 HOURS 20 MINUTES OF AMAZING FAR EAST FUSION!! My Visionary travels through the inner planes of Exotica led me to the Millenial works of Makoto Kubota and his group, Blue Asia, detailed elsewhere on this site. I've become very interested in global fusion being performed by artists from the far east. Blue Asia has a single track on this release, from their album in collaboration with Vietnamese artists. But this entire set also includes downtempo fusion and technoambience from artists with homelands in Indonesia, Japan and Okinawa, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. The entire thing is at or near Kubota levels in terms of high gloss production and skillful musical performances. A lot of the production has an aesthetic sense comparable to the classic asian pop jazz group, Hiroshima, who did quite well commercial back in the late 80s and early 90s. This is to say that there is the sugary crystalline clarity of asian pop which borders on our western concept of "easy listening." but i would staunchly defend this music against that appelation. maybe i'd lose. but this music holds my interest, holds surprises and unique little jewels-in-the-desert, plus each successive track is out of a cultural milieu distinctly different from its neighbor tracks. diverse and engaging; if not consistently excellent, mostly so. two discs: the first titled, "Sunrise," and composed of more rhythmical and rocking cuts; the second titled, "Sunset," and more folky and ambient (no, not folky like country-western (except maybe the obvious country influence in Okinawan music,) but folky like the country they come from.) this double-cd can be found for around fifteen dollars. Realms Of Grace Aeoliah Oreade, 2005 COME AND GET YOUR LOVE! RECENT RELEASE BY ANGELIC GREATNESS FILLS HEARTS This disc features 2 half hour continuums of heavenly atmospheres which induce deep relaxation, feelings of contentment and gratefulness, and can facilitate healing episodes. my first two listens were near ecstatic by the 23rd minute! These are quiet, rippling, incandescent mist environments that drift us through the bright world with moments of discovery and tenderness. Intellectually, they would probably just sound like droning gas, because they are very subtle, not meant to be played loudly and are more about how the energy state FEELS than about producing fleeting tricks to appease the restless mind. this is music to sink into and disappear within. some of his best continuums since the wonderful meditative "Light At Mount Fuji" release. Thermal Transfer Vir Unis & Saul Stokes Hypnos, 2002 FIVE YEARS OLD BUT VIR UNIS FANS WERE STOKED This came into the radio station just around the time i was moving to Maui, so i didn't get much time with it and never acquired it as i win in and out of storage and the Vir Unis thing really started after i got set up in the Islands. but MAN i was MISSING OUT. this is a very active percussion driven electronic album on par with Unis' works with Steve Roach or James Johnson. totally interesting bass lines and atmospheres. and a good energy pump for concentration or activity. not meditative but busy beehive. it almost seems like molecular, cellular and insectoid behavior is being explored simultaneously. this is pretty high energy stuff. almost like the label, Hypnos, renowned for deep dark Void ambience, considered this for its sublabel, Binary, which specialized in bright, energically brash electronica, but decided they wanted it on the main label. it's that good. seriously, this is in the Eno Weirdness realms and you might want to have an interest in organismic music and the intersection of machine and organism. i think it is brilliant stuff. Red Sector A Speeds Up Alio Die Son-Dha Relapse Records, 2001 IF YOU WAIT LONG ENOUGH, ALL BIZARRE THINGS WILL HAPPEN In an unusual departure, Steven Musso (darkambient composer "Alio Die")known for liquidic organismic music and awesome collaborations with other artists of the first water, joined Andrea Belluci (AKA "Son-Dha") in this perplexing cross-pollination. Son-Dha appears to be doing the drum programming of beats in the industrial and dark techno realms, while providing drone fundamentals. From there, it is anybody's guess who is doing what. a delicious melange of odd creatures which could never possibly exist. the album is generally positive in feel -- happy, playful -- there are some aggresive drum patterns at times that give it an edge at times. This album has industrial rock beats with some hand drumming on what sounds like clay drums. It is dreamy mid-tempo, but definitely bass lines come and go and the snare snaps ya once in a while. the other side is Alio Die, doing his ambience and melding in collaboration. i guess it is like the Robert Rich and Alio Die collab, "Fissures," if there was a modern rock thing happening. or there might be a fair comparison with Omicron only this stuff is much richer. when i played it at work, the young anarchist rock guy thought it was cool. hey our tastes do intersect outside of rap and jazz! cool! actually, he likes Makyo too. 5-25-07 Radiance Aeoliah Monroe Products, 2006 I'VE IMAGINED THIS POSSIBLE ALBUM BEFORE: AEOLIAH'S ANGELIC MUSIC WITH A BRAINWAVE ENTRAINMENT MATRIX OVERLAYING IT The mix works great and i'm actually rather excited about the prospects of getting more technically accurate with these concepts. since the matrix was overlayed onto the music, not recorded within it at the original sessions, the two work together by approximation more than total coherence, but it still works! i can only imagine what if the Doctor (Jeffrey S. Thompson) built the brainwaves into the music as he has been doing lately. wow. the music on this album is at least in part borrowed from previously released stuff, but it is a pleasurable mix and there is enough new material (to me) to keep it interesting. o man, my relationship with Aeoliah goes all the way back to the early 80s at the university FM station in santa cruz. he has a ton of music, much of it EXTREMELY sweet. i was always attracted to his earlier efforts and i still like "Inner Sanctum" best (maybe because it sounds most like Iasos,) but "Majesty" is excellent also, and the zen meditations disc, "Light At Mount Fuji," is a quintessential meditation recording i would strongly recommend to anyone seeking an angelic/zen meditation device. This album, "Radiance," has the benefit of being a collaboration with The Monroe Institute, one of the premier organizations promoting out-of-body-experience and increased intelligence. Their hemi-sync process is world renowned for reliably inducing mindstates that facilitate cognition and psychic ability. i played his most popular album, "Angel Love," on the radio so many times i never owned my own copy. recently, i bought one and was amazed by how FINE the headspaces it brought me to were. this has started an Aeoliah motif for me. i am also about to listen to his 2005 album, "Realms Of Grace," which is 2 half hour pieces (i usually enjoy long form angelic music more than shorter pieces because the energy has time to really build up a particular aromatic essence. i see also he has a 2007 release, "Divinaura," which i may pick up if i like this next listen, though it appears to be shorter, more pop-oriented work, but is getting solid reviews. Ascension Jacotte Chollet MultidimensionalMusic, 2007 DIVE DEEP WITHIN THE UNCONSCIOUS AND INFUSE YOURSELF WITH THE SUPERNAL LIGHT An amazing soul journey to the subquantum reality Click here to see full review Morph The Cat Donald Fagen Reprise/WEA, 2006 BEST RELEASE SINCE GAUCHO If you had played me this entire album without telling me who it was, i would have guessed Steely Dan before Donald Fagen. It would seem that there is an utter lack of Walter Becker in this release, but you could never tell from the songwriting, guitar work, or the vocal or horn charts. This is hands down the best solo work of Fagen. i've been an avid listener to Steely Dan and the Fagen and Becker solo work since The Royal Scam in 1975 forced me to admit that they were on to something. Not that i didn't know who they were of course. Because, in the early 70s, nobody listening to popular rock music was going to evade Reeling In The Years, Do It Again or Rikki Don't Lose That Number (i know i skipped Boddhisattva, but it wasn't as much of a smash as these others.) Aja and Gaucho were near perfect albums, in my opinion. suddenly, it was all over! wah!! then they return at the millennium with a good album, albeit somewhat studious ("studiofied,") and then a more energetic live sounding follow up album. er, there was some packaged live disc in there i basically ignored. now this.... hey! it's great! darvy likes it! the production work, particularly the depth of the recording field, is the most articulated since Gaucho. the vocal harmonies more glorious than the other recent discs. and lyrical topics are timely: suburban decadence during war, airport boarding searches, and could it be the hurricane katrina bridge crossing incident? the "not in my neighborhood" thing? yes, we have the de rigeur paeans to women and references to drug use, and the sardonic, jaded world-weariness that the mere sound of Fagen's voice evokes is evident and thoughtfully worked out. another well-crafted effort from a musical artist whose fine aesthetic sense and compositional ability always produce an intriguing listening experience. Sacred Massage Soulfood Soulfood.com, 2004 GOOD BACKSOUND FOR TANTRA & LOVEMAKING I really loved the first Soulfood album. I still think it is right up there with other great worldpop releases like the first Deep Forest or Professor Trance & The Energizer. The "Breathe" 2-CD set is fabulous. I also like DJ Free's first Wingmakers album, "Chambers 11-17." Checking my collection, i see that i have SEVEN other Soulfood albums. wow, i'm a maniac.... this album is relaxing but also activating, so NOT for stillness. the music is romantic --- lots of saxophone and you know what THAT means --- and given a warm intimate production mix typical for popular new age recordings trying to crossover to light jazz. while there is the bluesy sensuality typified by slow sax, this music incorporates a significant world music sensibility (as Soulfood always has done.) anyway, if i ever find occasion to be snuggling in bed affectionately with a woman, this could be very decent backsound. so i'm recommending it for that, heterosexual cuddling, rather than massage or meditation. well, tantric sexual massage, ok. (ADDENDUM: in case you don't know what lots of saxophone means: it means sex. and you know what that means...) 5-16-07 Inspiration Jacotte Chollet MultiDimensional Music, 2007 THE FIRST OF EXCELLENT 2CD SET OF PURE GENIUS Amazing Ascension electronica setting new pace for 21st Century. If the classic Jean Michel Jarre Equinoxe/Oxygene music became angelic music with a quantuum twist, THIS is what it would sound like! Click here for latest MultiDimensional Music review Dai Ko Myo Weave Etherean, 2007 FOURTH VOLUME IN PRESTIGIOUS REIKI CYCLE While people familiar with this series of Reiki music might feel that it is just more of the same in a different key (and they are partially right,) i feel that each successive disc has shown increasing skill in the medium and frankly this one is a huge step forward. but perhaps this is because we're finally using the medicine that really gets at my particular ailment. In the liner notes, it is suggested that the first Reiki energy conducts primarily to the physical body, while the second is to the emotional,the third to the mental and this fourth one to the spiritual body. as a part of this healing work, the presiding theta wave is encoded to an octave of the heart chakra and you know i'm all about that! While the first two albums in this series seemed to be energetically similar, the third one seemed clearer with a better used of overtone chant. this fourth release in my opinion shows an even better skill in this regard and the production is crystal clear. while my body has always responded positively to this recordings, i'd have to say it is ENTHUSIASTIC about this latest one. Weave's Reiki music unfolds very slowly and is conducive with a quiet, meditative state. The melodic movement occurs over long periods of time to the point i can't compare the melodies of the different albums. but i'll tell you this: if you are looking for a healing album absolutely well-considered in terms of healing music theory, which utilizes the state of the art in recording technique, overtone chant, and sacred geometry expressed in sound, besides just being overwhelmingly gorgeous and somatically pleasurable, this is GOOD STUFF! Reiki enthusiasts will surely want this but all people interested in therapeutic music can find value in it. The main thing is to realize that these are disc-long continuums of sound that have "movements" in the classical sense, and are therefore appealing to the body and the emotions. intellectual analysis is going to get bored pretty fast. these "movements" are different but not dramatically so. fantastic backsound for massage or meditation. Ibiida Lahaa Video DVD by Bart Hawkins Original Score by Craig Padilla BartHawkins&CraigPadilla, 2005 TITLE FROM WINTU LANGUAGE: "I AM GOING INTO TRANCE" This beautiful hour-long DVD features gorgeous cinematography of natural phenomena enhanced with sparing use of computerized imagery to create a deep theta experience. While not as magnificent as the scenes of Timeless, another recent mind-altering nature DVD, the imagery here creates a more shamanic mood and looks for magic in its vistas. The time-lapse photgraphy is incredible and the lightning storm is completely jaw-dropping even on repeated viewing. Hawkins makes use of a vertical split-screen mirroring technique which creates awesome deific forms that mushroom completely beyond earth proportions. The music by Craig Padilla will absolutely put the listener in a deep theta state and stands on its own without the video imagery. It is a sonic mandala soundworld which spans the entire hour with a dense yet spiritual aroma. I find myself putting this disc in to hear the music every bit as much as to view the video. This is well considered synthesis and tasty at that! Very pleased with this acquisition and recommend it to tryppers and people looking for video mind expansion with more nature than wild computerized fractillization. 4-29-07 Immersion 3 Steve Roach Projekt, 2007 Go To Steve Roach's Website click here GOOD NEWS INDEED: SUPERB 3CD RELEASE BY MASTER i've been following the stellar works of soundshaman Steve Roach for many years and am consistently impressed by the thoughtfulness and high quality of his releases. i have in other reviews analyzed his career by artistic period and by genre innovation, where he sometimes literally expands a genre single-handedly. this time around, i'm just going to laud the genius of the current release without trying to place it in the context of his overall oeuvre. each disc is a 74 minute long form continuum piece that creates a rarefied atmosphere and then subtly shifts it, keeping it interesting, for the length of the CD. these three environments are in keeping with recent works like the "Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces" series, but the glassy, crystalline spaces remind me of the classic "Structures From Silence" and "Light Fantastic." sheer beauty delicately conforming to the highest ideals of prototypical Ambient aesthetics. the clean production is stunning, the vistas of inner Vision some of the sharpest focus in his canon and the nonlinear, time transforming qualities are of an order of Skill that only a truly advanced audio Adept like Steve can accomplish. that being said, i should emphasize that these are non-narrative sound environments, which means that they are meant for experiencing on a sensual intuitive level. anyone who needs to visualize fingers busily playing music is going to get bored here real fast. for the rest of us, this is like having dessert for one and a quarter hours. *lol* the handsome limited edition (1,000 copies for website only sales) 3 disc DVD-like folding digipak case is a work of art in itself and at the price his website is asking a real deal for connoisseurs of spiritual Ambience. The God Perfume Al Gromer Khan Aquamarin Verlag, 1991 ANOTHER AGK RELEASE FROM THE DISTANT PAST and the one i've been looking for forever. I first became aware of Al Gromer Khan with his "Mahogany Nights" disc released by Hearts of Space in 1990, which had the brilliant classic piece, "Taj." over the years, i've bought something like twenty more of his releases, always hoping that he would explore the luscious droning ecstacy of that piece further. there were times he came close: i'm thinking particularly of "Almond Blossom Day," which really is Brian Eno's "Thursday Afternoon" recast into Khan's trademark Paisley Music. He released nonrhythmic albums like "Konya" or "Music From An Eastern Rosegarden" which proceeded along similar lines, but really were different in tone and mood. okay, great, then i find out 17 years later that the year after "Mahogany Nights," 1991, he put this album out which IS the extension of the "Taj" paradigm into an entire, extremely beautiful, album. Al Gromer Khan's music is derivative of North India classical music, but is quintessentially modern, particularly with the extensive use of synthesis. one of my favorite aspects of his work is his sparing use of sitar, a nuance here - a flourish there, to build magnificent meditative environments. i consider his spiritual affinities to be more of the Sufi or Tantric varieties than what we typically consider to be Hindu or Vedic. no paeans to Shiva, in other words, but rather the simple emotional intimacies of the Sufi and the sensuous reverence of the Tantrik. all praises. love this record! Atoneness Rick Nation Foreign Realm Records, 2002 CONTINUUM HEALING AMBIENCE LIVE DIRECT-TO-CD Bought this on a whim used because of the beautiful title, sacred geometry mandala on the cover and the composition titles. Turns out, it is a well done effort to provide a healing environment with voicing and pitch. no beat frequencies or subliminals used. this 2CD release has one composition on each disc. the first is "Land Of Light And Shadows;" the second is "Forest Of Forbidden Memories." like the other two discs i'm reviewing today, it uses a considered interplay of Shine & Shade to get at Shadow material and help the listener integrate it so it can be owned and released. there is quite a bit of change and movement over the course of each CD, so even though each piece unfolds across the entirety of a disc, there are numerous movements which can provide pretty impressive contrast at times. as live performance, it is doubly interesting, though i must indicate that there are some production problems here and there, mostly hiss and crackle, which are not particularly distracting, but noticeable. a solid dark Ambient release with healing qualities. 4-11-07 Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants Compiled by Elizabeth Tatar Smithsonian Folkways, 1989 AN ACADEMIC SAMPLE OF ABOUT AS CLOSE TO NATIVE HAWAIIAN MUSIC AS WE'LL EVER GET Great for the serious student who wants to learn new chants. Very sparse old early 20thC recordings of voice and hand drum. More for study than enjoyment, but comes with chants printed in booklet. Silent Light Jacotte Chollet MultiDimensional Music, 2000 SWEETEST AND MOST LOVELY SLEEP DISC I OWN This is a long drink of lavendar nectar to be sure! Nourishing and comforting. Like slumbering in a bed of fragrant flowers. Click belower for full review: Click here for latest MultiDimensional Music review 4-2-07 Sonic Immersion Constance Demby Sound Currents Studios, 2004 Click Here For Constance Demby's Website LIVE RECORDING OF DEMBY PLAYING THE SONIC STEEL SPACE BASS, AN INSTRUMENT SHE DESIGNED AND SCULPTED As i began this entry, the final strains of the closing meditation music, the only track of synthesis on this album, is fading gloriously away. That is how impelled i feel to write this now. Imagine a large gong that emits complex thunderous sounds that resonated into the 7 chakras of the spinal column and cranium, depending on where one frets the gong with a large bow. You get the idea. Actually, the Sonic Steel Space Bass is a metal sculpture that almost looks like a space age wet bar from some mansion's high-tech pool area. A long arcing rectangle. Guiding the listener in a soft spoken voice which introduces each chakra session and provides elemental imagery, Constance Demby gently strokes magnificent megachords from this reclining obilisk that clear and attune the chakras with a power rarely found in recorded healing music. i personally experienced intense shifts in the upper 3 chakra areas. Understand: this is 7 6-minute pieces of crashing sound like a large gong, but much more mellifluous and faceted, rich in overtones like a monochord instrument such as the tamboura or the sandawa. There are no melodies per se in these pieces, although the mind may isolate such if it cares to from the utter surfeit of sound. The last piece is symphonic space music in the assured Demby styled and quite magnificent may i say. and WOW the healing potential of this music is incredible. it's like having your system sandblasted with pixie dust! this is for doing meditation and inner energy work. people looking for composed music with dexterity and aplomb will be bored at that level. i however am amazed at its potency and recommend it has an energy clearing and healing device. Creation Jacotte Chollet MultiDimensional Music, 2000 The name of the album is CREATION, and that is indeed what it is about. feeling creative, thinking creatively and creating realities. so it is quite active and energizing, while at the same time being very suggestive on a visual level. MUST HAVE album for those who love angelic synthesis!! Click below for full review. Click here for latest MultiDimensional Music review 4-1-07 Deeper World Mystical Sun MysticalSun, 2007 Click Here For Mystical Sun website ANOTHER ABSOLUTELY TOPNOTCH RELEASE FROM FAIRLY MYSTERIOUS SYNTHESIST You say the new Mystical Sun is coming out and i say, "i'm there." that's how it is. this is only the third release, and with 5-6 year intervals between discs (the first two aren't dated, so i'm estimating:) the first, "Primordial Atmospheres" in the mid 90s and the second "After Materia Cloudland," which must have been around 2001, this artist takes time to craft very remarkable technoambient recordings with strong shamanistic and magickal properties. reclusive and wise, Mystical Sun has released sonic jewel after sonic jewel, may it continue forever, so be it. This album starts with some highly intelligent high energy pieces that are in the electrodub general domain but really only Phutreprimitive comes close. This really is in its own peculiar world that can't be easily described. oweing some to native american shamanism, some to the egyptian current, Mystical Sun sort of is like the Castanedan Don Juan of Electro. serious. The later part of the album becomes very electronic and ambient, but this disc really does work the areas of Shamanic Power. 14 tracks move adept through regions of the Underworld that provide deep Insight to intrepid explorers with the courage to go deep within. Three of the tracks were previously released on "After Materia Cloudland." This includes the classic, "Something Very Pure," now just "Pure," which is a classic in spiritual downtempo in my book. Beyond Silence Alpha Wave Movement Harmonic Resonance Recordings, 2005 Click here for latest MultiDimensional Music review 3-18-07 Ritual Path: Illuminated Manuscripts 2 DVD John Banks (Visional) w/Fritz Heede (Music) Artek Images, 2006 SUBLIME COMPANION TO ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS ONE! While quite similar in overall Vision to the first DVD, this one completely suceeds in disclosing the Vision of the Paradisal, as well as showing awareness of one of the main,er, criticisms of the first release, which centered on the use of script (the written word, but mostly appearing to be in some Elvish dialect or the Heavenly Script of JJ Hurtak's milieu.) The use of lettering here is basically absent; it seems more hieroglyphic and amorphous and isn't done as much. I must say, there a lot of video footage here. Nearly two hours and twenty minutes, although 71 minutes is the "Environmental Loops, which are better than in the first release, which recycle much of the imagery contained in the 57 minute feature, "Explore The Path." If you, dear reader, have not seen any of Banks' video before, it is hard for me to describe. It is flowing changing scenes of natural Paradise interlaced with sacred geometric architecture & sweet ancient rural homes which seem to meld into the landscape. It is presented as if a book had opened and begun to tell its story of heavenly life in moving pictures. Painstaking attention to detail on the part of the artist has kept the vibe of the Vision in delicate harmony with the natural vibe one gets when viewing natural landscapes. During more geometric ritual interludes where mandalas emerge, the scene can look a bit modern although it is always merged with essences of ancient wisdom. The pace, however, never accelerates to that of modern techno videography. It is always leisurely and angelic. A good deal of the music features voice. This includes an enjoyable piece titled, "Waterfall Ascent/Descent," sung by the inimitable Jon Anderson, of the now classic cosmic progressive rock band, YES. Most of this is Goddess/Druid oriented and gentle global fusion which reminds me of Earthtrybe or Troika. Which is to say in more popular terms that it has affinities with, say, Enya or i dunno Dead Can Dance maybe. Some of the "Environmental Loops" have some quite appealing true Ambient music. In fact, these Loops are more like visual Ambient than practically anything else i own. Each one sets up a delicious natural environment that has little videomagic jewelled moments sparkling here&there. And then it just keeps the vibe going endlessly. I think each loop is 4-7 minutes long. It is quite plain that Banks has grown as an artist. This is evident in the INTRICACY of certain moments. Overall, however, there is no radical departure from the first DVD. As an aficionado, i am pleased to include this with IM1 and my other Banks video with JJ Hurtak, "The Light Body." I'd really like to see Banks take his videomagic to heavenly realms and incorporate even more sacred geometry, esp. the Golden Section spiralling mandala. Jacotte Chollet Invisible Presence Click for MultiDimensionalMusic dot com 1991 LIGHTWORKERS LOOKING FOR VIBRATORY INFORMATION should check out the entire series of discs by Jacotte. This is music which can actually revamp one's bioenergic field into a more harmonious state. i'm not kidding. This release, "Invisible Presence," improves the listener's connections to their Higher Self, Holy Guardian Angel or what have you "Inner Teacher." Since i've 10 of these discs to discuss, i've created a separate Jacotte page you can go to to read the full review. I'm doing this to be fair to other artists who have only one or two reviews a year. Click here for latest MultiDimensional Music review 3-9-07 Renaissance Jacotte Chollet, 1994 Click for Multidimensional Music dot com HOLY MOTHER/FATHER DIVINE!! THIS IS THE REAL THING!! After 2 years of going to her website and thinking about it, i finally acquired all 10 cd's from French visionary sound artist, Jacotte Chollet. This is some of the most intensely PHYSICAL and overtly HEALING synthesis i have had the pleasure of experiencing. I am not going to rush through these discs, but study and learn from them, so i will give you reviews as i assimilate each one's offered alignments. Multidimensional Music, as stated at the website, is designed to basically reset one's energy-body (the various energic sheaths, or"auric fields," along with other energetic structures and ultimately the physical structure itself to the original pattern of cosmic wholeness. Smirk if you will, but i tend to agree that that is what is happening here. Less than 30 seconds into listening to this first disc in the series, "Renaissance," i felt like i was coming on to an entheogen, complete with the initial anxiety and subsequent dilation of my personal consciousness. This first piece, "Liberte," features the adept use of swirling harp with sequenced synth and strings. At the same time i am feeling a strong, entheogen-like rush to a new level of awareness, i am feeling a deep aesthetic appreciation of this music: a really sweet production which reminds me of my favorite Jean Michel Jarre recordings. Classically beautiful, majestic and fully realized. Then, the Marcey-like harp strummings begin to entrain me into a blissful emotional reverie and so begins a graceful descent into a mid-theta state where i am already noticing very powerful healing energies and becoming less alert. This transition occurs relatively rapidly and by minute 6, my anxiety at the rapid change of state is completely gone. The harp swirlings become wider, higher, deeper. Slowly, an ascent is made to a more alert low alpha region and i am able to pay more attention to where the music is affecting me physicaly (actually, there are numerous places but i suppose one zeroes in on a particular area according to one's temperment.) I realize that this is a heart oriented piece that is also stimulating the higher chakras. The second piece, the twenty-minute "Transformation," By minute 3, i am on a steep gradient into a delta state and basically asleep before reaching minute 5. But dreaming floridly, experiencing intense visuals (and this is without chemical assistance, mind you.) A vision comes to me in a dream indicating the root area of my chronic physical pain. i am shown EXACTLY where the problem is, but realize that there is some work to do to be able to unpack it. this music is very much like Michael Hammer and i can stateconfidently that Jacotte and Michael have overlap in their work accessing the identical energies. Michael tends to be very shiny in his work; some gaseous trimmings at times but usually sheer brightness. Jacotte definitely is describing the same, but also has this intriguing dreamy, soulful aspect melded with it. These energies that they are accessing i refer to as "Ascension energies," which are aligned to the higher dimensional realms of the ascended masters and naturally on by direct route connections to Divine. i mainly point this out because there are numerous valid Divine musics. Patrick Bernhardt, for instance,through his use of sacred mantra esoterically travels established Vedic, Abrahamic or other Shamanic routes which also lead to Divine. David Parsons is an excellent exponent of Tibetan Buddhism in his music. Ascension energies i would have to say are based in the tradition of Christ. My experiences interacting with this reality lead me to believe that this is in the esoteric Spirit of the Greek Gnosis and the Christos, which is inclusive of the Jesus, but also includes many other figures representative of Sacrifice, Forgiveness and Healing. These are the Ascended Masters of the fourth sphere of the Tree of Life who are a pretty multicultural group. The basis of this knowing is the realization that we are all creatures of Love and beings of Light and that Oneness of Creative Being infuses all, making us all innately of the Universal Oneness Love Being simply called Christ. Each figure in this Celestial Holarchy is a representative, an embodiment, of a certain ability or way-of-being of Divine. I consider the music of Ascension to be markedly different from, say, the quite Catholic nature of the works of Richard Shulman or traditional liturgical singing (even though repopularizing overtone singing) of David Hykes. Even Angelic composers Raphael or Aeoliah tend to familiar themes in classical music. I should mention here the great work in ACTUAL Greek Gnosis music by Paul Avgerinos. But this Ascension Music transcends its cultural underpinnings, isn't predictable from the familiar, and gives us the freedom to notice how it is affecting us! The 10 minute third piece entitled, "Expansion," begins with an palpable wiggle in the third eye which builds into an interesting Enoesque environment that is quite distinct from the previous two pieces. by the beginning of minute 2, i'm feeling distinct SHIFTS in my head as, so it seems to me, the cranium adjusts to the sound envelope. i am also getting strong vibrations in the base chakra and the soles of my feet are tingling; soon, my entire right foot from the top of the ankle down is tingling. (later, i remember the injury 34 years ago.) my spinal column seems to be charged with an inner radiant flow thateasily passes down the length, removing small blocks in the inner cord. following this, a definite emphasis on the upper two vertebrae and it seems their relationship is harmonized. the wild thing is: this all seems so precise, yet it is obvious that i'm zeroing in on only SOME of all the effects going on in this display of coherent sound. the final minutes seem to return to a focus on the third eye itself. i am now quite alert and feeling energized. a high alpha, even possibly low beta state. then it fades.... The last piece, "Renaissance," is a third eye work-out. photonic swirling is ricocheting inside my cranium. for eternity & it feels great! by the end, my head feels clear and i seem much more focused in my attention and more Present. I found this recording to be a profound energetic experience. On repeated listen, completely new aspects keep leaping out with each listen. if i close my eyes, i get recognizable Visions. i've been sleeping more deeply and my dream life has become more active. more on THAT later! if i was to try to qualify it, i would say this disc is about being OPEN TO CHANGE. I am always looking for music of Spiritual Essence. it is one of my fundamental motives for being so involved in Visionary Sound Arts. to my mind, the artists who actually achieve this are rare and of the highest order of expression in Sound. Music is the Language of Emotion. it is our way of communicating states of Being that one could possibly be in if one CHOSE to Feel that way. (and why not? since it feels great!) among these artists, of whom *imho* Michael Hammer, Patrick Bernhardt, Iasos and Jeffrey S. Thompson are signature exponents, i believe we must include Jacotte Chollet (and this after hearing only 2 of the 10 cds!) My main recommendation is that if you are going to buy one of these discs, you may as well buy the set, because you are going to want all of them. ....i'm just sayin'..... Terry Riley In C Bang On A Can Cantaloupe Music, 2000 OKAY, OKAY, SO I TOTALLY LAGGED PICKING THIS ONE UP.... ....but you have to admit that this is a veritable blast from the past.... Terry Riley is THE exponent of Minimalist Trance music. While my fave, "Shri Camel," (1978) is not his best known work, i find it to be one of the most perfect sonic mandalas that i own, and definitely on the desert island list. 1969's "A Rainbow In Curved Air" is his best known work, i should think, and deservedly so for the title piece is eminently pleasurable and sweet (the other, darker piece "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" being more discordant with, if memory serves, prominent clarinet. The title track being more than worth the cost of the entire disc! The year before "Rainbow," 1968, Terry released "In C." A continuum piece consisting of around 20 repeated musical phrases juxtaposed against each other in a permutation of all acoustic instruments. The glory of repetition in music would have to wait, in my opinion, until 1978 -- with Steve Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" and "Shri Camel" -- to bear such magnificent fruit. That same year, 1978, Brian Eno released "Ambient 1 - Music For Airports," which singlediscedly brought the term, "AMBIENT," into the vernacular of modern and postmodern music. I bring this up because both of these albums have received postmodern interpretations by Bang On A Can, and the reason this is a GOOD thing is because ALL of "In C" and the great HALF of "Music For Airports" are what i call "harmonically challenged." In other words, due to aesthetic tastes on the part of the original artist, the pieces have an amount of dissonance which challenges but does not overwhelm the intrinsic classical harmonies within the piece. Bang On A Can produces the piece to be radically beautiful by postmodern Ambient genre standards. While this was very impressive when done with "Music For Airports," the results here are nothing short of METAMORPHOSIS! I always found myself turning the volume of the original "In C" down. It was a great conversational background. Good for late night musings, those long brilliant conversations over a bottle of wine and incense, sandalwood or nag champa, burning. Perfect for reading. Although for me "18 Musicians" superceded it. Frankly, "In C" became one of those long lost vinyls with a bit too much surface noise due to its quiet nature, and somewhat unsettling, almost annoying in its continual insistence to not be perfectly classically beautiful, yet more a bit of an historical document than the kind of listening pleasure that came later. and hence not a priority acquistion. Thanks to Bang On A Can - - beautiful production, inspired acoustic performances, and an ecstatic edginess very in touch with our millenial sensibility -- i can now completely relax in the awesome intricate chaos of the pure genius of "In C" with my body never cringing. The affect of this peace has transformed from the sedate mysticism of the original to the urgent sacredness of this interpretation. If you liked any of the other albums in mentioned in this review, i should think you would quite enjoy this one too!! 3-2-07 Click for review of MAKOTO KUBOTA and his accomplices BLUE ASIA 2-17-07 AV3X Volume 2 Christopher Oliver AV3X.COM 2006 NEW FEATURES DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE AV3X, not the least of which is the sharper detail of the animation and the ability of the viewer to enable/disable the strobe light. AV3X-2 and the improved version of the original both have these capabilities, PLUS they are both in widescreen format, which is awesome. AV3X-2 is very much a companion feature to the original video, but i believe that i perceive development in the abilities of the artist to handle this medium, which results in subtler, hard to describe emotional response. there also seems to me to be a greater emphasis on communal movement, as if we enjoyed windows of awareness into the ecologies of hyperphysical souls. ALSO VERY COOL ARE THE "KALEIDOVISION"(TM) GLASSES which come with volume 2. these look like the 3d cardboard glasses that people wore to theaters to see movies some decades ago. but they aren't 3D glasses, instead they prismatically extend the tv screen so that one sees a ring of tv screens around the actual one. so it is somewhat like looking at a wall of tv's. this greatly increases the power of the visual input! watching the regular picture, the strobed picture or the kaleidopicture each have their own rewards. interesting... For those of you unfamiliar with AV3X: it is a state-of-the-art computer-generated animation dvd with a synchronized light-sound brainwave entrainment matrix which produces profound states of relaxation and trance. while it can be used for meditation and is sold as such, i consider that aspect of it to be more useful for experienced sound meditators than novices, who would be better directed to brainwave music scientifically keyed to specific measured meditation frequencies. but this baby sure will smooj yer aura down and give you a clean wave to work with! The graphics are kaleidoscopic also, neither narrative nor leisurely, we are plummeted from submicroscopic to transgalactic levels in moments, then scree down in seconds to the quantuum level to suddenly occur transdimensionally and so on. sometimes the ride becomes quite rollercoasterlike (esp under the right conditions.)i never tire of them really and always find something new or at least see something as if for the first time. I don't recall anybody explicitly mentioning this, but AV3X can also be used as a "dream machine," where, while the strobe feature is enabled, you simply keep your eyes closed and sit close enough to the light source to illuminate your eyelids. after a while, your brain will begin trying to interpret the visual input, much like what happens with brainwave machines. under the right conditions, your brain will make the pictures and geometric figures. The first 3 sections of music have the most angelic overtones of the entire series. In particular, the third section, entitled, "Ascension" is a near-17minute piece that i would play in its entirety on my radio show if i still had one. Baby Sleepytime Christopher Oliver AV3X.com 2006 AN HOUR OF SLEEP MUSIC - YEP, YOU GUESSED IT - FOR BABY. What i like about this cd is that it is very subtle. Just gently roiling water and a barely audible delta signal. great backsound for reading, announcing, etc. funny that i find it somewhat energizing.... i have another sleep music for baby cd that the entire visionary dept at KKUP aired back in the nineties. aired too much frankly, but we loved it. it is named "Transitions 2" (Placenta Music, 1990,) a one hour continuum, it features a pronounced delta sound which is supposed to recreate the aortic rush of blood in the mother that the unborn human hears in its predawn slumber. some angelic synthstrings and voices. ocean waves. like my recent "Ultimate Nap" cd from the Doctor (Jeffrey S. Thompson,) it pretty much forces you into a delta state. this disc is much more gentle than that. it is more like a uniform masking watersound that one would have very quietly in the background. it provides a comfortable feeling somewhat like having a soft breeze flowing through the room. this is one of the great assets of this recording. it is very unobtrusive and doesn't make any sudden moves or changes. it is interesting that i find this cd somewhat energizing. i keep listening to it trying to find out why it doesn't immediately knock me out. my theory is that i must be synching in with an alpha wave characterized by the swirling water. usually i am chilling out, reading or - as i am right now - typing or writing. by the end of the disc, i definitely feel calmer, more aligned and ready to do something. just checking my state now, i must admit to some drowsiness. since i'm one of those people that typically gets 3-4 hours of sleep a night and finds 6 hours to be near luxury, perhaps i'm not the most qualified to judge. anyway, this one is swirling water and waves with a gentle but powerful delta matrix. people who collect sculpted water&waves will want a copy. 2-10-07 Hotel Bangkok (aka "Thai Style" - same disc!) Blue Asia King Record Company, 2006 JAPANESE PRODUCER MAKOTO KUBOTA IS MY NEW FAVE MIXWHIZ!! Blue Asia is a group originally formed with him in the late 90's, but Kubota has been around since the 80s -- and i'm just finding out about him. What a wealth of backlog for me to get! Blue Asia has recorded a number of albums, each of which takes a focus on a cultural area of the far east or mid east. The four person group then invites very competent musicians familiar with the local music to record with them. While the musical themes that they take up are often traditional, through the DJ science of Kubota, these ancient motifs are spun into a totally modern technoambient hybrid that really IS "asian underground." The work stands on a par with ANYTHING that Cheb i Sabbah or Makyo have done. The production values are obviously cognisant of greats like William Orbit or Deep Forest, but Kubota is really on to something here. He's not a "Westerner," this is music that really has grabbed the music by its roots. The tuning is that of the local cultures. The mix is so high gloss, i'm sometimes tempted to compare it to the best productions of Steely Dan. The performances are absolute high caliber from the hand-played percussion (there is apparently some drum programming, but i could swear that i'm hearing quite a bit of sophisticated hand work) to the precise and amazing vocalists, the entire album from beginning to end is a sheer sonic delight! Now, you might ask, "what does it sound like?" It sounds like Thai music that drank psilocybin tea and took over the midtempo room of a rave. However, the synthesis is tastefully placed as a complement to the human performances and rarely in the center of the mix. I have an album by Rama IV titled "Silk Mind" which i reviewed sometime ago and is a Deep-Forest-like mix of asian and rockbeats. It's a great western Thai pop album. Also, i'm reminded of Jalan Jalan's two albums, "Bali" and "Bali Dua." This album completely blows them out of the water! The compositions themselves probably make immediate sense to Thai people, but to westerners these are strange, entangled things, easy to dance to but hard to immediately understand because everything is SO different from the watered-down drivel we've become accustomed to: the just intonation is a different vibe from our equal temperment, the vocal styles put "scat" singing to shame, the complex breaks defy our typical formulaes. you have to listen. but throughout, the mix is so LUSCIOUS, the performances so INTRIGUING and the compositions themselves so impressive that this stuff HAS to win over anyone who has been listening to and enjoying trance dance or world fusion, and those into psyambient or electrodub are more than likely to dig it. and i don't see how anyone who likes Deep Forest, Makyo or William Orbit Strange Cargo 3 could ever not immediately love Blue Asia. These recordings are not inexpensive. I paid 33.49 for this at Amazon and at Far Side they range from 30-40 plus shipping. I just found Amazon.co.jp, where i was able to get four sent from Tokyo for i think about $80 (i'm terrible at dollar/yen conversions.) a few links follow for your perusal. I LOVE THIS STUFF!! -- a perfect transition for the Exotica Project! FAR SIDE MUSIC BLUE ASIA PAGE BLUE ASIA LISTINGS AT AMAZON JAPAN OMG More On Kubota & Blue Asia @ My Exotica Project! Click Here and go to bottom of Exotica page Angkor Kelly David Rocky Mountain Records, 2006 Kelly David's website A BAFFLING RELEASE OF DARK AMBIENT WHICH EXPLORES ANGKOR WAT. i LOVE modern hybrids which reach out to mysterious places in the far east and describe visionary music around them. As David Parsons has done for Tibet, Kelly David is here doing for Cambodia and the Khmer mysteries. The sound is much more towards Robert Rich and Steve Roach, however. it begins with temple bells sounding in some ancient temple surrounded by lush forest, but soon the plant sacraments kick in and we slip out of our body into primordial astral spaces inhabited by divinities whose houses of worship now support entwining plant life, vines and ferns. These are old forgotten deities who still live in the stones and rocks of the temple areas. thus begins a long journey through a forgotten Underworld, where the energies and currents still run deep. while void-like, the music surges and bursts with barely contained devic powers from some long byegone age. this is music for deep, late night trance. as such, it compares favorably to rich/lustmord "Stalker," the rich/roach collabs or alio die. the album was mastered by Steve Roach, who has been a longtime supporter of David's work, and Steve's work is to great effect particularly in the last third of the album. ...and the beat goes om... Slackbaba Liquid Records, 2006 ANOTHER SKILLFUL ENTRY IN THE ELECTRODUB GENRE. This album was a top seller in the category for my main distributor, Backroads, for 2006. Lloyd told me about it right when it started maxing but i ended up adding it on as an afterthought. It's a strong album, using the same mixology and sound as Shpongle, Shulman, Entheogenic and Ott. It's definitely more on the Shpongle side, elaborately setting up wacky goofiness and then streamlining into transtellar spaces. There's the DE RIGEUR Terence McKenna voiceovers, the insanely mindbending cyberdelia and the deep dub bass... If there is anything that sets Slackbaba apart from other artists in the genre, it might be that there is a preference for a somewhat more acoustic instrument mix, somewhat like recent Shulman. It is also joyous like Adham Shaikh, not like the more shamanistic and serious work being done by Entheogenic or Phutureprimitive. This could tide you over if you are impatiently waiting for the next Shpongle or Ott. I've been enjoying repeated listens but i think my addictive qualities are more on the Entheogenic tip. All in all, a fun wild tryp worthy of the term ELECTRODUB. Seventh Wave System 7 Hypnotic, 2002 STEVE HILLAGE AND MIQUETTE GIRAUDY ACHIEVED IMMORTALITY WITH THEIR CLASSIC ALBUM, "RAINBOW DOME MUSICK" but that was total Aquarian space music, no rockbeats. Hillage and Giraudy subsequently formed System 7 as what i can only describe as a Techno project. The classic 2-CD "Fire and Water" is a terrific, acidified mid-tempo technoambient release. It was true techno but not hard slamming electricity like the standard fare, but with nuances and Hillage's firey synthguitar work, but overall very synthetic in feel. "Seventh Wave" is the likely succesor to "Fire and Water," several albums having intervened but not as good. It begins with a few true techno dance pieces that actually challenge one's physical state a bit, but soon the music begins to mellow out and gets pretty interesting as it Ambients. You should like "Fire and Water" before thinking about getting this though. It does have the techno edge. Hillage's guitar performances are quite enjoyable, but i should warn that they are swathed in synthesis, so don't expect any riproaring solos like he has delivered in solo outings. 1-31-07 Kamasutra: The Essential Surajit Das Oreade, 2003 JUST FOUND THIS INSTANT ADDITION TO THE TANTRA FILES! What a great find of some very enjoyable sitar over a mix of raga and nearly angelic music. Five well-considered pieces which traverse a tantric interlude from initial attraction through hooking up, intercourse, climax and afterglow. but not in some western build-up of tensions that are released at the climax, but a steadily increasing intricacy of relation that deepens into a bliss state. The final 15-min afterglow has a languid rock beat that reminds me of those long slow conversations one has after making love, rather than the endorphin pass out syndrome. This album really gave me new respect for the Oreade label, which in the past few years i have found some real quality recordings on. i'll have to take a look at their catalogue now. This would be a great album for a lovemaking session. Very India, impressive musicianship and tasteful, emotionally accessible music. I found it to be wonderful as backsound for reading. 1-28-07 So many new acquisitions to discuss! I begin with more Ambient works and move towards rock-oriented stuff as the column ensues... Autumn Continent Between Interval Spotted Peccary, 2006 VERY IMPRESSIVE DEBUT ALBUM OF GORGEOUS DARK AMBIENT in the genre of Steve Roach soundworlds founded in releases like "Light Fantastic" or the collaborative, "Ambient Expanse." Perhaps there is something of Robert Rich's luscious sequencer work on discs like "Geometry," or Roach's early studies in rotating sequencers. Clean, state of the art sound and continually interesting - i am very happy with this acquisition! ;) While, in my opinion, most of the music i've heard from this label is uninventively derivative, Between Interval is the first i've heard which conveys a distinctive sensibility within its chosen derivation. Void, gaseous vapors, deep six sonic endeavors, yet at times very earthy and robust. There is some serious Tangerine Dream influenced work that is as good as anything from Alpha Wave Movement or Global Communication. There are long Void-like pieces that are shimmering and quiescent. Between Interval(Stefan Jonsson) is off to a great start and i would think that people who liked the Roach/Rich collaborations would enjoy this. More! More! Gamma Meditation System 2.0 Dr. Jeffrey S. Thompson The Relaxation Company, 2006 I RAVED ABOUT THE FIRST ONE AND ENJOY THIS ONE EVEN MORE! It is much Lighter and angelic than the first one, which tends to the more dream-like and earthy. This is a wonderful entrainment MEDITATION device and i give it my highest and strongest approval! The Gamma brainwave frequency range is much higher than Delta or Theta ranges, which can easily be tapped out with a finger or a hand drum, or Alpha ranges or even low Beta, which can be played with drum rolls. The particular frequency window in Gamma that these composition aim for is the measured shared brainwave rate of Tibetan monks during their Compassion/LovingKindness meditation. 40hz is a higher harmonic of 2, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 20 hertz, so this disc actually does have all four ranges. obviously, 40 hertz is so delicate that to achieve resonance with it, one must be rather still and "ramp up" to it along the aforementioned vibratory pathway. Once you achieve a harmony and awareness of 40hz, you will be in resonant sympathy with anyone else holding that vibe. You will also recognize the pitch and feeling of it: that it is a vibration beyond the capacity of your CNS and hence is vibrating specific structures in your system. This is for you to find out which structures i mean ;) i'm including an Amazon link where you can buy both discs together for a VERY reasonable price! Amazon Gamma 2CD set click here Distance To Zero Paul Vnuk Jr. + Oophoi Hypnos, 2006 DEEP AMBIENT SKIMMING THE LIP OF THE ABYSS It doesn't get darker than this. I got it to hear what Oophoi has been up to lately, since i've always found it enjoyable. A continuum piece spanning nearly an hour and divided into 3 movements, we find ourselves deep in an Abyss - not just Void because we can tell we are a long way DOWN - where unfathomable secrets and occurances are slowly absorbing and annhiliating each other. long slow drifting in&out of pockets of electromagnetism. another well crafted release from Hypnos. OF COURSE, there is nothing "new" going on here: this is deep dark ambient in the classic sensibility and loving it. this is one of those albums i would love to sleep to. Invisible Gold David Rosenbloom Pogus Productions, 2000 A CD RELEASE OF A CLASSIC OF BIOFEEDBACK MUSIC Highly quirky and original, my body responded to it very favorably. Basically, it is 4 experienced performers wearing EEGs. Their brainwave activity measured in 4 basic ranges effects the output of their 4 respective synthesizers. Each performer can hear their own and the other performers output. This is done by running the EEG output through a computer which predicts what the performers responses in the measured ranges will be and modifies the music if the response is the one predicted. so, it is a truly cybernetic music. But somehow, it seems like you can hear their brains thinking and reacting to each other. Fascinating. A 1977 performance recorded by Michael Brook. World Of Sleepers Carbon Based Lifeforms Ultimae, 2006 SUPERB FOLLOW-UP TO DEBUT SURE TO PLEASE WHOEVER LIKED THE FIRST! This album is just great from beginning to end. Electronica with down-tempo rockbeats which is very likely to entrain one into Delta. I usually trance out quite rapidly and have fallen asleep, it is that pleasant and involving. There are some more active moments and interesting use of linguistic components. The sound is thoroughly electronic and we might have to eventually call this Electrodub, since it is obviously cognisant of the cutting edge. I have to again mention Alpha Wave Movement as a comparison. Of my recent rockbeat acquisitions, this one i consider to be farthest out on the cutting edge. really just a masterful release. Emotivision Androcell Celestial Dragon Recordings, 2004 ANDROCELL MOVES TO THE UPPER REGIONS OF MY ELECTRODUB FAVE LIST *wow! ~ your aura is really fantastic!!* Pleasantly surprised by this recording, which i expected to be weaker but turns out to be just as good or perhaps BETTER? than the new one. In sound and sensibility, Androcell comes closer to the vibe of Entheogenic than anyone out there. Intelligent, fully electronic and endlessly quixotic, i started having addiction problems similar to "Dialogue Of The Speakers." It begins with a freaky lil # titled, "Purple Aura," which lays out a party atmosphere that blossoms into a serious dub bassline and synthcrystalbowl tapping right on the crown chakra. Ultraviolet lotuses unfold, floating upon the royal purple sky ocean. "Dub Crystals" follows with a pretty strict reggae beat, but surrounded by a shimmering glass indigo rainbow sea. the beings swimming here twirl in order to travel and these twirls produce whorls that expand into the chanting benevolent froth. *the Ultimate game is to feel REAL GOOD* then the navel bass is emphasized as we join in tribal community of dreams The third piece definitely pulls us into serious trance with "Soul In The Machine," with more of an emphasis on the heart. The synth lines get complicated and we start losing track of where we thought the music was heading. voices in some other language. i'm thinking it's some south american dialect, shamans maybe...feels good... ....then we get into some electronica much more in the chill direction. very euroelectronic, splice-manipulation of spoken word, in "Molecular Sunrise;" deep dub bass with sinuous growth patterns around it with "Plant Life;" to the "Hash Bazaar" which is actually a happy-go-lucky number with all kinds of cranium twisters that are mind-bending-in-the-extreme. "Rapture Of The Deep" is a bit downtempo from the previous and probably would be a focus track for me if i was still discing the spins. Very oceanic throat & crown track which conveys the unusual feel of the 5th plane but makes it fun like swimsurfing. buddhisattvic threesixties on the waves of bliss. each track has taken us progressively deeper and now we have merged with the Deep.... then, ew somebody didn't hit the bong right....dude! "Hindu Kush" snaps you out of it with some serious third eye jaggies and an arabic melody that gets real crazy real fast. an electro beat. what? arabic kraftwerk on acid? whoa. huh, maybe it was a hookah. that fruit & tobacco is quite a combo. ok, whatever was in that smoke is kickin' in...an extended trance dance jam.... the last piece, "Fungus Garden," is a languid, very slow piece that calms the energies down and lets you sort of find your feet again. if i'm not mistaken, the voice is african and singing a praise of Yemaya, one of the major goddesses. then you begin to enter the Garden to meet the Mother of the Earth.... This is modern dub-influenced technoambient which i call Electrodub specifically tailored to psychedelic experience and what a ride it is! if you like Shpongle, Entheogenic, Shulman, Phutreprimitive or Sounds From The Ground, i would think you'd find this worthwhile! This was a backtrack motif, since i acquired the new release, "Efflorescence," a number of months ago. Collectivity Adham Shaikh Sonicturtle, 2006 SHAIKH CONTINUES HIS WORLD-FUSION ODYSSEY. I like this one better than the previous "Fusion" album. Shaikh loves acoustic hand-done drum playing and it is prominent and profuse across this album, which skips around the world's music cultures in a sort of montage of tribal beats. For people who enjoyed Professor Trance and the Energizers, this is where you could be now! Exactly in the genre. This music is powerful dance music, very activating and for joyous bodily movement. Each successive piece seems to be better than the last, so the album not only held my attention, but i actually began to pay MORE attention during the last third. As a long time Shaikh fan, from the days in which he was pretty strictly experimental electronic, i can happily report that this is his most successful hybrid dance release. Elixir Kaya Project Interchill, 2006 GLOBAL FUSION TRANCE DANCE ALBUM WITH GREAT GUITAR WORK. This album mixes African, Arabic, Indian musics in a danceable modern way which reminds me of the mix Karsh Kale uses, only this has softer edges, gentler bass kick and a predominant use of intelligent guitar. It begins with African beats reminiscent of old school "worldbeat" with mid-range woodwind. Following this, the song uses instruments from India over an African dancebeat with marimba, but there seems to be an air traffic controller guiding you in to a landing in London? or is it the pilot? anyway, set the controls. The third song, "ghasi ram blues," is one of my favorites, featuring some sweltering cajun blues guitar over a complex African-influenced asian massive beat you'd expect from Talvin Singh. The singing is some gritty down-home from someone you can tell has been there. This song reminds me of what i liked about Euphoria. i'd welcome more of it. but, no, we're quickly whisked away to more asian-massive influenced by India which builds into full-out dance workouts for the modern club floor eminently comparable to Kale, with the most intense song featuring the always brilliant singer Irina Mikhailova. this climaxes with the title song, "Elixir," featuring Omar Faruk Tekbilek, which is distinctively Egyptian and anthemic at that. the last three songs, things chill out a bit with a strict dub number, then my second fave, "the flow," which featurings some beautiful guitar work. The last song is also laden with guitar, rather an end of day piece with shakuhachi. the entire recording is tinged with hybrid nuances from various cultures, seamlessly weaving in&out under the masterful hand of guitarist/composer/producer Seb Taylor. if you are into global fusion or trance dance, this is great stuff. Click here for reviews prior to 2007 Return to Main Page