abasio

I do believe he's <- highlight spoiler to read!

Well, that's good news

Can't wait for March then :posford:

Minilogue Animals 2CD Cocoon Recordings 23 Apr 2008 Minimal & Ambient Tracklist Upbeat CD 1-01 Yesterday Bells (2:00) 1-02 Cow, Crickets And Clay (7:08) 1-03 Hitchhiker’s Choice (7:20) 1-04 Loud (3:37) 1-05 We All (6:55) 1-06 33000 Honeybees (8:36) 1-07 Jamaica (9:57) 1-08 View Of A Juggling Ball (3:09) 1-09 Giant Hairy Super Monsters (7:18) 1-10 Hypnotized (8:31) 1-11 Animals (7:14) 1-12 In A Distance (7:49) Ambient CD 2-01 Old Water (5:22) 2-02 Windows (4:07) 2-03 City Lights (4:57) 2-04 Six Arms And One Leg (5:54) 2-05 Swamp Op (4:27) 2-06 In The Shade Of The Sun (5:47) 2-07 Stations I (4:26) 2-08 Stations II (4:59) 2-09 Stations III (3:50) 2-10 Even The Wind Seemed In Deep Sleep (6:22) 2-11 Europhonia (8:09) 2-12 Feeling In Spring Beside The Dressing Table (7:42) 2-13 Seconds (Colour & Sound) (6:43) 2-14 Outro (2:14) Minilogue aka Son Kite are back with a double CD. This album was long awaited but kind of came out of nowhere. After years of waiting suddenly there was this beautiful looking double CD. The artwork is very nice & is a good representation of the music, smooth and weird! Upbeat CD 1. Yesterday Bells The first CD starts out like the track title suggests with sounds that are not quite bells but that is hard to describe as anything else. The beat is very relaxed and the atmosphere manages to sound like smooth static. 2. Cow, Crickets & Clay As if it's mixed you can hear the beat & bass of this track in the last 10 seconds of the opener. This is another smooth intro with glitchy noises are kept to the background and the steady beat just flows nicely. The glitchy sounds become more prominent later on being a mix of what sounds like steel drums, electronic cows mooing, sci-fi blips & samples. In the latter part of the track the beat picks up as does the melodic blips that almost seem to play a melody. Almost. 3. Hitchhiker's Choice More melodious from the start this one. The very light simple melody almost sounds as if it is hummed by a robot. The beat is a little stronger now & we are definitely in a techy mood. The electro sounds are disjointed and cool. They play with your head and almost sound acidic. But a smooth shiny acid. Some really nice sci-fi sounds give a retro feel & I picture myself in some 60's science fiction show saving the universe from Daleks or Ming the Merciless or something equally cool. 4. Loud Without being unpleasantly so, the volume does seem higher on this track. The bass is turned up & where my woofer was before sounding smooth it is not rolling with wooden bass static. Very nice sound. The atmospheric background melody is nice as are the muttered samples. The melody when it comes to the front is light but manages to twist & turn interestingly. 5. We All Once again you can hear this track coming in from the end of the last track. A big rush of spacey atmosphere & what in my mind sounds like a stifled warning klaxon gives me a crippled space ship as a setting for this track. Picture a metallic hallway with the main lights cut out but emergency lights flickering on and off. A dark powerful sound seems to push against the edges of my mind like an psychic alien entity trying to push it's way in. The trippy twisted sample feels like they have succeeded & my mind has been torn open ready for the void. 6. 33,000 Honeybees From deep space to right back to nature. Birds sing in the background but they twist unnaturally like we are in some alien forest. As the birds fade a steady beat comes in with some analogue static in the background. Different layers of beats twist the atmosphere as it things are shuffling around us and the could be bird sounds come in and out creating a feeling of familiarity with the unknown. The beats & sci-fi sounds get glitchier as the track progresses adding a lot of energy to track. Even when most of the sounds disappear & we are just left with a few melodic beats you can feel the potential energy & the kick back in is so natural. Great stuff here. 7. Jamaica The beat is tribal, the sounds of sea gull can be heard in the distance & the melodious part in the intro sounds almost magical as if it is falling down from the sky to cover us in a warm blanket. The strong bass sounds 3 minutes in sounds almost watery but like being hit hard by wall of water focused into a small point. Trippy sounds all around us with many different beats all twisting round each other and although there is no direct noises to make me think so I can help but feel like there is a party going on just out of sight but well within earshot. The melody at the end is like a winding down of the energy experienced earlier. Cool funky stuff. 8. View Of A Juggling Ball This is a short Jazzy track, full of glitchy melody and soft beats with a shuffling undertone. The melodic sounds are twisted and warped and the bass is cool and funky. Overall it's a great if a little strange track, I would like to have seen where it went if it was longer though. 9. Giant Hairy Super Monster Points must be given to the best track title this year but also as a standout on this CD. Giant Hairy Super Monster is a smooth cool funky ride through a city a night with the top down. The cool night air exciting your senses, the city lights twinkling like stars & the roar of the engine playing nicely under the music on the radio. This is the only track on the album that makes me want to dance. As I sit here writing I am compelled to bounce up and down. The melody is the nicest on the album to as it shifts up and down playfully, cuts itself up & twists around itself. Just the one layer of melody & and a melodious synth but they manages to feel much deeper. A great track here, best on the album & the best of its style I've heard in ages. Cool, funky, deep, melodic & so so smooth. 10. Hypnotized Now this sounds to me like ambient with a beat. The background ambience is so soft & dreamy & it lets me float away. Very monotonous and hypnotising as the title suggests. The beat is very steady & the other sounds change slowly. There are some parts that try to snap you out of your entranced state like the sharp funky synth that slices through every now and again and the sample but overall you can just let your mind drift & images come to you. I imagine something different each time, as I write this I can picture an alien ocean of a strangely familiar colour looking up at an alien sky. Very nice. 11. Animals The title track sums up the first CD perfectly for me. It is what people call minimal but has a whole loud of sounds going on, so it's not cheesy & the melodies are light but it is still very intricate & involved. There are cool funky sounds, shuffling beats, sharp slightly acid tinged melodies and a bassline that runs through your body and makes it tingle. Techy sounds and static glitch come in and out and it at times sounds smooth & other times rough. Great maximal minimal. 12. In a Distance We round of the 1st CD with a very atmospheric number. The oscillating drone in the background feels cold & the sparse beats and lack of melody apart from a light disco sun sounding like the image of twin suns setting over alien mountains. I can picture myself sat on a beach with the tide washing up strange artifacts on to the beach in front of. Fossils come to life & scuttle away and the light from the suns makes a lush warm sound round the cold atmosphere behind me. The first CD is great, it's techy melodious & very intricate. As I said in the description of the Track Animals I never understand why this is called minimal. There is nothing minimal about if you listen it's just not cheesy. It's very delicate & intricate and it is jam packed with sounds, layers of beats & layers of melodies. I feel sorry for those that can't hear them Do they have ears? Not minimal at all! Maximal Ambient CD 1. Old Water Old Water starts with what to me sounds like the sound of bells floating over a lake. Later in the track it sounds like a flute and back to bells but always I get the feeling of an old misty lake. Great ambient start. 2. Windows Windows is a little more melodic at the start and it seems as if it will continue but without quite noticing it strips down to a cold sparse track. Great Sci-Fi sample about finding life as we don't know it twisted at the start but clears up. The whole feeling is cold and barren and a little bit spacey with the big sounds near the end. 3. City Lights This track is more rhythmical with a soft bassline and crackles of static coming in a steady times. Rushes of spacey synths give it a night time edge and what sounds like very sparing use of some ethnic instruments make it feel more earthly. Quite odd. 4.Six Arms And One Leg This one was an instant stand out probably because it is less minimal than the other ambient tracks here. There is a long sample describing a very strange creature. Even though it instantly stood out and has a long sample it has stood the test of many listens. There is much more to it than first meets the eye. Nice relaxed beats, nice simple melodies almost hidden and an atmospheric background drone oversees all the natural sounds. If you listen carefully you can hear the doppler effect of a motorbike riding by. Very good track. 5. Swamp Op Stark sporadic beats and a long simple bass are all we are given apart from a bit of glitch here and there. A Jazzy Sax, rough rusty beats the creaking sound of some ancient door. Sparse as it is it's pretty enjoyable. 6. In The Shade Of The Sun Some more melodic sounds here with very minimal use of what could be a sitar and soft hi-hats as percussion. Something that sounds like a howling beast wails very softly in the background in the first part adding a lot of atmosphere but all background sounds are stripped leaving a weak middle but it picks up with the guitar sounds at the end. 7. Stations I This has such a nice warm melody I want to wrap myself up in it on this chilly December morning. There is precious little else apart from melody but it is one of those melodies that sounds rhythmical. It's quite charming. 8. Stations II The second part is not quite so warm with heavier and colder sounds. The melodic sounds are more prominent but sparse, only coming in occasionally. The beat sounds distant and tribal. The track seems to get darker the further it goes. 9. Station III The third part has the strongest beats and the least atmosphere. I was expecting a continuation of the first two parts with something darker but while it does pack in many spacey and glitchy sounds I just don't feel it. 10. Even The Wind Seemed In Deep Sleep The atmosphere I was expecting is here with dark bells tolling in the background and a darkish drone creating the mood. Some brief jazzy elements make me picture a rundown basement lounge with a single band member making a half hearted effort to keep the spirit alive. A very nice atmosphere. 11. Europhonia A big deep oceanic sound marks the start of this track and the music is deep. Deep and bleak and touching on darkness. A vocal sample twisted so I can only make out European City. Deep dull sounds falling and a glittering melody rising puts me in mind of being under the sea, deep enough to be dark but shallow enough that you can just see the light glittering on the surface. 12. Feeling In Spring Beside The Dressing Table I don't quite get the feeling of summer right away from this track, the intro is more wintry but the melody pushes the winter cried like the first day of spring. Nice warm rhythms with a lingering feeling of cold. Very nice. 13. Seconds (Colour & Sound) The ticking of a clock reminds me that time is running short. The beats keep this feeling and as the track goes on the ticking seems to get quicker and the feeling more urgent. The guitars in the middle help relax it a little and melody is pretty soothing but the ticking is always in the back of my mind. 14. Outro We leave animals with a smooth bright outro. Nought but some melodic ambience to smooth over a troubled mind. The ambient CD is also very nice, more minimal than the minimal CD with lots of spaces between the sounds to allow your mind to fill in the gaps, that's why it can sound so different on each playing. Apart from the tracks that instantly stand out all the tracks grow on you, even the less minimal ones have deeper levels to discover on later listens. A great double CD then, minimal, progressive & ambient lovers should enjoy this one.

Minilogue - In The Distance Alien sunset! Sitting on the shore watching twin suns go down over the mountains

Minilogue - We All In a crippled space ship in deep space. The main power is off so the lights are down & we only have the emergency lighting flickering on and off

The best thing is, even though they are second hand they are in great condition. Japanese really take care of there CDs. These were labeled as condition B (A being the best) but they are perfect. :posford:

How is the remix CD, I've been looking at this Rewired release but as I own the original Circuit Breaker I've been umming and ahhing over it. How do the remixes compare to the originals?

Minilogue - Cow, Crickets & Clay

Kettel Myam James Part 1 Sending Orbs 15 Apr 2008 Melodic IDM Tracklist 1 The Wombat (3:42) 2 Dolend (4:12) 3 Kroost Kids (5:09) 4 Shimamoto (4:04) 5 Church (3:52) 6 Ende (3:45) 7 Palle's Popsong (4:44) 8 Fishfred (4:23) 9 Twinkle Twinkle (6:21) 10 My Dogan (Tranceparents Remix By Phoenecia) (4:42) 11 Church (Remix By Secede) (8:23) Although this has been one of my favourite albums of 2008 & I have had it for a long time I haven't been able to find the right words to review it. But as it is such a strong album I must somehow get the words to come out. If you have listened to My Dogan then you might have some idea of what this album sounds like. For me Myam James Part 1 sounds like a direct progression of that style. It's not quite the roller coaster ride that My Dogan is but it has a similar style to the melodies albeit with sharper production. 1. The Wombat Straight into the beat, it sounds like it could have come from My Dogan with the sharp acidic melodies and laser edged sounds. The melody sounds both exciting & melancholic at the same time, not a feeling often pulled off well but Kettel has done a great job with contrasts. The beats shuffle nicely throughout the track playing under the melodies nicely. 2. Dolend Similar shuffling beats and another acidic melody in Dolend but this time the melody has more of a medieval quality, like I'm a watching a jester performing for the king, dancing & telling jokes, having fun but all the time you can see the sorrow in his eyes. Even more than the first track this one is a contrast, it's fun and melodic but quite sad. Especially when the melody changes near the end I get a morose feeling in my head. 3. Kroost Kids An instant standout for me here. The melody starts small then comes in like someone has just remembered to turn up the volume. The melody itself is softer, more like bells but it has different layers all sounding like soft choruses of bells. The main melody kicks in after about a minute & it is one emotional monster. So negatively joyous, like when you love a sad movie. The ending with the choir of voices is so beautiful it makes me stop in my tracks every time I hear it. 4. Shimamoto A big shift with the feeling now as the atmosphere completely changes, back to a more upbeat My Dogan feel with swift slick beats, acidic melodies layered over each other. Much happier music with a spring time feeling, everything is more melodic, more energetic & just brighter. I prefer the darker feeling of Kroost Kids though 5. Church Another stand out here with melody right from the start, I prefer it when the melody comes in before the beat & not vice versa. The first melody is soft & bright but the second one is sharp & acidic, it almost stabs through the matte beats & tears apart the softness of the first melody. There is a lot of atmosphere created by what sounds like a twisted representation of a church organ in the background. Muttered voices top off a great track. 6. Ende Distorted wailing drones start us off before a soft floaty melody plays & some light indistinguishable vocals. It's all very ambient & dreamy. No beats, just melody & atmosphere. It feels like floating up through the trees, passed the green, brown & golden leaves up for miles without ever reaching the canopy. Passing civilisations of tree dwellers on the way up, living here miles above the Earth's surface. 7. Palle's Popsong Back with the upbeat My Dogan feeling here with the acidic melodies playing a cheerful tune with trippy beats shuffling very quickly along with them. Some strange sounds later on like half heard voices and other urban noises. The track kind of lacks direction & just kind of ambles along randomly but maybe that is meant as the title is Palle's Popsong. The vocals become very prominent at the end but no more understandable. 8. Fishfred Another great atmospheric track here. The first melody sound like it's played directly on the piano but this melody stays forever in the background and a sharper melody plays over it. Both melodies contrast & compliment each other. Later on in the track there are some big but short rushes of sound giving an almost majestic feel to the music, almost. 9. Twinkle Twinkle Another standout for me is Twinkle Twinkle, the melodies have that nice melancholic edge to them & the beats are sharp and steady. The melodies move nicely lifting my feeling up then pushing it down. The voices that come in around with around 2 minutes to go are always later than I expect so I spend 2 minutes waiting for them, the anticipation & then let down is exquisite but then when they finally do come in it's a very satisfying end to the album proper. There are 2 remixes after the main bulk of the album though. 10. My Dogan (Tranceparents Remix By Phoenecia) This remix of My Dogan is dark and atmospheric, the dark bass that dominates the first part sounds like it could describe an army of Orcs from Mordor in The Lord Of The Rings. The feeling is very very different to any of the preceding tracks and it gets even further away in the second half when it just turns into a dark glitchy playground of creepy sounds and disguised malice. Weird. 11. Church (Remix By Secede) This remix by Secede starts with more vocal samples before the main melody crashes in, is joined by it's bigger brother, they dance together for a while turning round and round each other. The vocals come in but they are longer and more drawn out than the original which would be a good way to describe the whole track, it's like a longer more drawn out version of Church. Not like Secede has just looped together parts of the track but the actual sounds seem to be drawn out. Interesting remix. So while this is not the roller coaster ride that was My Dogan & while it manages to have less flow than that roller coaster ride it is in fact a very good album. All tracks are good with the standouts being excellent. If you liked My Dogan then you should definitely try this album out. If you are new to Kettel then check this out (& My Dogan) if you are in to nice sharp acidic melodies, IDM beats and a lot of feeling.

It is a difficult one because most artists that released a lot dropped in quality especially towards the end! I agree with P(sy)ayam, Solar Fields started out pretty good & his albums have gotten stronger and stronger. His upbeat album was fantastic too. But overall I'd say Gus Till Everything released as Slinky Wizard was amazing!!! Zen Lemonade made a great album, The 2 albums Gus Till Best of the Rhino Years were mind blowing, BUS was incredible & morebusinesslinkyouthere didn't get the attention that it deserved, brilliant album really. His chillout albums also are amazing from Dub Shadows to Electric Oceans & his recent Aquana - Stillness Vol.1 is top notch stuff. Everything he's done has been incredible for me. Gus Till FTW :posford:

:posford: :posford: :posford: Very nice stuff on here

I have had a successful day today so far including a little shopping in Yokohama where I picked up and Both great finds that I have been looking for for some time Ambiant Otaku is also the original pressing too :posford:

Bluetech Phoenix Rising Somnia 2008 Downtempo Ambient IDM Dub Tracklist 1 My Dear Friend Kronos (7:22) 2 What The Night Reveals (6:19) 3 Kingdom Of The Blind (Third I Mix) ft. Alyssa Palmer (5:21) 4 A Delicate Mystery (New Life Mix) (7:49) 5 Riding The Sky Elevator (7:56) 6 Phoenix Rising (8:54) 7 Invocation (The Fire Within) ft. Alyssa Palmer (7:14) Just before Bluetech is going to release an album on Aleph Zero he releases an.....album on his own label Somnia. It's been called a mini album and an E.P. but it's pretty much a full length album. Over 50 minutes long it's longer than many artists full length albums, 7 tracks most over 7 minutes it's an enjoyable journey. The music also deserves a mention, it definitely has the Bluetech sound we all know & love but it seems much more raw & dirty. It has lost the only thing that I didn't like about Bluetech's music on his previous albums, it has lost the ultra clean production. The production is still top notch don't get me wrong but now it feels warmer and more analogue. 1. My Dear Friend Kronos My Dear Friend Kronos starts with a playful melody & some shuffling beats, another melody higher in tone rings out & then the beats kick in. Nice relaxed & dubby beats give this a really sunny feeling. It still feels chilly though like you are flying high above the clouds. So bright & warm inside surrounded by cold atmospheres. It is a very nice start to the album, scratchy in places and sounding very real. The layers of melody are nice & some are subtle in that you don't notice you are listening to them until they have already been playing for quite a long time. It's one of those tracks that make you effortlessly pay close attention to what is happening. 2. What The Night Reveals The next track has a much stronger bassline, speed it up & crank up the volume it could be a D&B bass. As it is it's dark & chilled yet funky & alive. The pipes play glitchily and kind of blend or warp into other sounds as they progress. The beat is even dubbier than the first track and when combined with the bassline it feels like some real dub but with a better combination of sounds in the melodies & sharp glitchy sounds in the background. What The Night Reveals is too many the perfect sound in between dub & psydub. It is more interesting than most dub I've heard but never gets cheesy like a lot of psydub does. Great stuff. 3. Kingdom Of The Blind (Third I Mix) ft. Alyssa Palmer I heard the original of this on Max Chillrom & I was blown away. It really made me look forward to this release as it had the most delicious trippy melodies that skipped & moved very quickly up & down while reverberating side to side. The remix doesn't sound much different than the original and after listening to them back to back I can't really spot any differences. Maybe it's the positioning in the album or different mastering or the fact that it was the first time I heard it but I tend to like the one on Max Chillroom a bit more. Alyssa Palmer's vocals are nothing to fear either as they sound more like another electronic instrument than a vocal. Without focusing you might not even notice them. 4. A Delicate Mystery (New Life Mix) This is the sort of sound I have come to expect from Native State Records, it has cool IDMish beats, a tight bassline & subtle layers of melodies coming in and out. This track really is delicate, on my first listen it sounded pretty average but once you get passed the beats & the bassline & listen carefully there is a whole world of sound underneath them. The melodies intertwine brilliantly & some of them echo like they are being played in a cavern. When the sounds cut out halfway through & kick back in it sends an amazing chill down my spine, just the way I like. A great cool melodic IDM track. 5. Riding The Sky Elevator Riding The Sky Elevator has more energy with more tribal beats & long rushes of atmosphere falling down as synth drones in the background. It's more minimal than the other tracks but that just adds to the charm of this track & to the overall feeling of the whole album. The music moves less & is more focused & entrancing. The melodies are lighter but no less intricate & it is overall more atmospheric for it. It might not be the most instantly gratifying track here but it will grow on you given time, decent speakers or headphones & no distractions. 6. Phoenix Rising The title track has the most prominent melody, simple yet fun. The beats are scratchy and the synths are toned high but fall down like a sonic shower. They warp a bit as they come passed the beats & melody though adding a nice atmospheric touch. The melody remains simple throughout and doesn't change but the work with the beats & the glitchy sounds around it make it seem as if the track is progressing nicely & when the bassline comes in playing the same tune as the melody it all seems to fall into place. It is possibly a little too long for a track with little variety in it but the melody is a very enjoyable one and as the whole album is pretty varied you don't notice or mind so much. 7. Invocation (The Fire Within) ft. Alyssa Palmer We finish with quite a Jazzy track. The piano sounds very loungey as do the beats which trip along nicely in an almost marching fashion. The music gets more freestyle as we go along with high pitch funky sounds & long drawn out vocals that do not say anything (thankfully). There is some good atmospheric background ambience created by the vocals & soft drones but the beats & glitch define this track more. This is very different from everything else on the album, more urban & socialite than the others. Not my favourite track here but quite nice in it's way. If this is meant to be a teaser for Bluetech's forthcoming album on Aleph Zero then it has done a fantastic job. I am really looking forward to that. If he calls this a mini album can we assume that the "full" album will be a 2CD? Also as I said above this isn't really that mini, it's over 50 minutes and there is a lot of variety in it that it seems to be even longer. Some of the tracks are instantly gratifying while some need a bit more time to get into. So buy it, give it some time & if you like Bluetech or any of the Native State compilations you'll probably enjoy this.

But what do you think of the last 2 tracks that are totally missing from your review?

Motionfield Optical Flow Somnia 2008 Ambient Tracklist 1 Embrace (7:29) 2 Nightwalk (6:48) 3 Stormsinger (5:53) 4 Optical Flow (5:32) 5 Midnight Metro (6:27) 6 Childhood Playground (8:09) 7 Shine (5:53) 8 Horizon (6:24) I have been buying everything from Somnia, Evan Bluetech's sleepy ambient label but I must admit that this release I bought just to have it all. I am very glad that Somnia brought this great artist to my attention because as soon as I put this CD in my player I was treated to a sonic treat that has managed to stay cool & fresh through a lot of listens since I got it. 1. Embrace We start our journey with an embrace from a soft melodic track that feels like a safe haven in dangerous urban sprawl. The light melody seems like a warm blanket which is in deep contrast to the rest of the track which is cold like an empty street with wind blowing through it. Something sounds like a siren wails in the background & a deep drone blows like a winter wind chilling to the ear but all through these sounds there is the warmth of the melody like being wrapped up in a sleeping bag, feeling all warm when everything else is cold. This is a very nice opening track to the album, beautiful, melancholic, cold yet comforting. Great stuff! 2. Nightwalk Soft sounds from a cello or double bass add a slight jazzy element whereas the oscillating sound over the static filled waves add a kind of dark empty feel like a post apocalyptic city. The piano adds a nostalgic touch adding to both the Jazziness and the desolation. I imagine a skyrise city like Tokyo or New York, the streets empty on a cold winter's afternoon. No people occupy the streets only trash blows in the wind. Cars are abandoned, windows boarded up and a cold wind blowing between the skyscrapers through the deserted roads. It's all very simple but effective, I really enjoy the use of piano in this, the contrast to the glitchy drone is great. 3. Stormsinger We get a little more percussive with Stormsinger, the beats are steady but soft & underneath them is the sound of some aquatic mammal or sea bird sounding it's displeasure. It is all quite musical even if it manages to sound like nature's natural glitch. The melody on the piano is pretty melancholic, a feeling accentuated by the long deep drones that come in & out in various different tones. Some dark, some lighter, some rising some falling. I get the impression of suburban America here. Sparse green lawns, identical houses, identical people with identical kids playing with identical toys. The sort of place that breeds freaks because to be different is to be outcast & the music just manages to bluff it's way through to maturity before it escapes. 4. Optical Flow The title track has some not so pleasant high pitch sounds that seem to cut through the rest of the music and slice open my brain. In certain moods I don't like them but in some moods they help tenderise my brain & when the soft IDMish beats come in with the floaty melody it's exposed to the elements & taken away on a journey. High above the suburbs on a cloud looking down at myself as I stand in the garden. The sort of track that sounds like I've taken something that distracts my attention, lifts my consciousness into a slight astral projection, just far enough so I can have the out of body experience but still see myself as I interact with my life. Great track for times when you can handle high pitch acid slices cutting into your head. 5. Midnight Metro More IDMish beats a bit more prominent this time give this a more urban feel than the few suburban pieces that just passed. Once more the melody is nostalgic, wistful & melancholic. It gives the feeling that redundancy is as normal as repeating yourself unnecessarily and that repetition is needed in everyday life. It gives me a sense of normalcy, of walking down an empty city street just after first light before everyone starts their day. The serene sense of isolated peace is nice, the melody wraps itself around me as I walk down the street headed home but enjoying the journey rather than focusing on my destination. 6. Childhood Playground With a title like Childhood Playground one might expect a nostalgic look at past hangouts of our formative years. Indeed we are treated to a very nostalgic sounding track. It sound the most thoughtful so far, the long cold wind drone, the melody on the piano & the scratchy IDMish beats along with the brief sharp sounds that slash through the atmosphere like a dark yet burning hot blade. Imagine a swing set next to a bench with a slide somewhere close by but no kids at all. One swing falling apart, only attached by one chain, the mud covering the seat of the other. The bench overgrown with weeds & the slide being covered in mold & mildew, the wind the only thing that moves, one swing scratching the ground while the other drips last nights storm onto the mud beneath it. Nice track, it has a good feeling all round but ends a little too abruptly. 7. Shine Stronger beats yet again which sounds kind of bamboo in their sound, vocals where the voice sounds like it is something being shouted as you travel passed in a vehicle very quickly, the Doppler effect distorting the sound at each end. The lush sound of rain falling on city streets & houses paints the opposite picture in my head as the track title. I can see grey city streets with water flowing down the gutters, I can see grey clouds up ahead & people in cars rushing by, splashing me with water & laughing. As they get closer the joyous sound picks up just as it fades out after they have done the damage. 8. Horizon Horizon finishes us off with a strong inner space feeling. It is very introspective & reflective. The melody is almost unmusical yet it is definitely melodious, it just has melodic sounds but no tune. The deep melodic bass punches through the atmosphere like a rubber sledgehammer & the beats as sporadic as they are add a sense of disorder to the atmosphere. Everything seems to be very wide open yet it all seems to fill the space inside yourself. An inner horizon as it were, expanding the chasms of your deepest inner minds. It's a good ending to a great album. This is a great album, it is my favourite so far from Somnia & that includes the new Bluetech album. It's melancholic, reflective, deep, urban, sub-urban and floaty. The piano is a key factor in all of the atmospheric wanderings. It feels Jazzy & melancholic at the same time and when it is combined with the cold glitchy background noise it really sets a cool atmosphere and by that I mean cold & funky at the same time. If you like Somnia then you probably trust Evan's choices and will check this out anyway. If you don't like Somnia you might still like this as it's more IDMish with some cool beats & great melodies than the more ambient stuff that has come before it on this label.

DVD sound would be cool. Not interested in interviews etc, all I want is the music to talk for itself :posford:

Motionfield - Optical Flow :posford: Feeling very relaxed

Jikkenteki - Flights Of Infinity Tamlin - Spectrogram Ra - 9th Artifakt - The Magus Various Artists - Opus Iridium OOOD - Fourthought Kino Oko - Alphabetically Divided Highway Anakoluth - Dwelling In The Void M.E.E.O. - Highlight Me Please Procs - The Lonely Land of Tada Minilogue - Animals all very psychedelic for me. I've not been buying much upbeat music recently either so I'm sure there are more

Only put it up yesterday I put all mixes at my site too btw

Pan Electric & Ishq About Time Absolute Ambient.com November 2008 Ambient Pop Tracklist 1 Clox (3:25) 2 6 Minute Festival (6:00) 3 Being There Pt1 (6:40) 4 Being There Pt 2&3 (12:36) 5 Metronomique (5:07) 6 Neverland (14:22) 7 Everchange (7:14) 8 Forever (9:45) Being a big fan of Ishq for a long time & in fact loving just about everything that Matt Hillier has gifted up with, having loved last years debut by Pan Electric and remembering the greatness of Elemental Journey which was the last time I heard Matt Coldrick & Matt Hillier collaborate I was of course very much looking forward to this release. Sometimes two great artists struggle to work together as well as they do alone but I've heard these two do such great things before that I had butterflies when I first received the packages. Initially I was disappointed to tell the truth but thankfully this is a grower & it seems to get better & better with every listen. 1. Clox We start of with what sounds like church bells ringing & are quickly into a steady beat & funky bassline. This track sounds very much in Matt Clodrick's Pan Electric summery cheerful style. The little plopping rhythm and electro pop melody create a warm feeling. A little on the pop side, I could see this appearing on mainstream albums like best chillout vol.26, but it's well produced and acts as a nice short intro. 2. 6 Minute Festival With this track of exactly 6 minutes we start to see a tiny bit of Ishq's influence, it still has the Pan Electric feel, it's pretty beaty and has that acoustic atmosphere I so enjoyed from the Pan Electric debut Conscious Pilot but it also seems to have a deeper ambient atmosphere. The sample is short & sweet, sets my mood into that of an old movie, it hits my sweet spot as I am obsessed with time myself. This track manages to have a darker feel to it. There is something lurking beneath it's joyous facade like one man in a festival of hundreds of shiny happy people with a glum expression. Interesting track for sure. 3. Being There Part 1 Another step forward in the trippy stakes. The little runs of soft acidic melody run up and down through the track, sometimes sharp & metallic, sometimes dull and wooden. The dreamy melody is accompanied by a soft drone that could be a tribal flute that comes in every now & again. It's one of those sounds that is so enjoyable that it has you anticipating it. As if they new this they have it morph in from other sounds. The sample which is longer than I usually like samples but it's definitely in the background adding to it's trippiness. The content of the sample hits my time travel loving senses with a monologue of some time traveler from early last century. The track seems like a mix of both Matts, both atmospheres are blended extremely well with Pan Electric's acoustic summer being mixed with Ishq's darker ambient feeling. 4. Being There Part 2 & 3 Seamless from the first part but I instantly know it's changed as the chilled synth line cuts through my conscious thought like a silk knife. It slides through but feels oh so good. The melody that comes just after it is really nice, beautiful like Pan Electric deep like Ishq. It is really a joy to listen to as its ever changing, subtle nature manages to stay fresh in you mind while not letting you remember what it sounds like. Just perfect for a melodic track of this nature as they always have the danger of getting stuck in your head & ending up annoying you, this one will not! The synths change too as they get sharper & oscillate on higher frequencies. The mood gets more melancholic as the track progresses with a deeper and spacier sound more reminiscent of Ishq but with an earthy middle eastern feeling that is unshakable. This and the preceding part are among the best chillout sounds of this year. All in all Being There is over 19 minutes long but with it's evolution & movement it never gets boring. Go Matt, and Matt! 5. Metronomique Getting a little funkier now with a definite Pan Electric feel. It's fun it's pretty upbeat and has that beach playtime feel. Sounds of light electric guitar and synths that play a cool summer melody give this it's playful edge. This track would be perfect for a early summer day at the beach before it got to hot but warm enough to expose some flesh. Pretty cool if a little too short. 6. Neverland A much softer track really brings us down from the energy of the beach party to a hammock somewhere nearby, like you can still feel the taste of revelry but it's just a memory as now the cool sea breeze blows over your skin & you can look up to the sky watching the clouds in their various shapes pass you by. The melody is very wide with huge holes in you can see the ocean through, the sound of the electric guitar is nice and relaxed and fits in well. The samples you can hear are so distant as to almost be a dream. 4 and a half minutes in the beat arrives and has brought a case of beer and a couple of spliffs, very relaxed and dreamy and the energy manages to pick up while still remaining in the relaxed vibe of hammock drinking beach weed! As it is a 14 minute track it has a license to completely change atmospheres & this track manages to get much darker almost without you noticing it. It's like you've fallen asleep on the hammock to have nice warm dreams only to wake up & it's already dark. The moment of panic ebbs away as you realise it's still warm & you are surrounded by the beauty of familiarity, friends & loved ones, sand & sea. The last 3 minutes are more melancholic but still beautiful with all the sounds slowly fading away leaving just the drone to end on. Very nice! 7. Everchange Probably the most poppy track on the album. The "Everchange" vocals are quite cheesy & the electric guitar much more involved. This probably will appear on mainstream chillout albums but it'll be among the best on them in this reviewers humble opinion for while it is cheesy & poppy it has this underlying edge of psychedelia that when you first hear it might not make itself so apparent but give it time, listen carefully and there are very nice trippy sounds to enjoy. The vocals at the end, Nature's only promises everchange almost crosses the line into making me want to rant about cheese in chill but just balances itself on that line without quite falling over. 8. Forever The nigh on 10 minute track missing from the back cover (printing error or hidden track I don't know) is a perfect example of the 2 styles of Ishq & Pan Electric. It sounds both summer acoustic & deep and trippy at the same time. It has that summer beach vibe going on but it sounds like you are experiencing it from Atlantis, underwater but civilised, tropical fish mingling with people enjoying the serenity forever. It's a very relaxed ending to the album, the acoustic guitar is played sparingly and the dreamlike bubbles of melody that appear at the end just float my feeling to the surface of the ocean into the dying evening sun. Excellent stuff! This album is a lot longer than it seems and I'm not just talking about the track missing from the back cover's tracklist, while listening to this you get the feeling that just about 30 minutes have passed when in reality about an hour has passed. It really is about time, you can make it go more quickly with this album, it's dreamy, it's summery (kind of think the release was a bit late to be honest) and at times very trippy. Part beach chill, part ambient sometimes poppy sometimes deep & psychedelic and the contrast is one of the most psychedelic elements of this great release. This is the sort of release that psy-heads can enjoy but also their non psy friends, their non electronica friends and maybe even their mum could enjoy. It is definitely a worthwhile purchase. Essential if you like Matt Coldrick or Matt Hillier & recommended even if you don't.