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. 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. 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 awe