abasio

Various Artists Future Memories Interchill Records 22 Feb 2008 Dubby Downtempo Tracklist 1 Eat Static - Sands Of Time (8:42) 2 Ultimax - Noir (6:25) 3 Radiate - Witchkraft (6:36) 4 Phutureprimitive Ft. Alyssa Palmer - Deeper (7:22) 5 Mauxuam - After B4 (6:15) 6 Tripswitch - Lyra (7:57) 7 Solar Fields - Jeezlh (9:09) 8 Snakestyle - Neutral Buoyancy (6:56) 9 Carbon Based Lifeforms - Reaktion (5:55) 10 Cell - Spinning Whale (7:09) Looking at the tracklist for this compilation I suddenly became very excited. With artists such as Solar Fields, Eat Static, Tripswitch and Cell expectations were high. So how did such a great tracklist work out in reality? I've been disappointed in the past by so many great artists on the one CD but still, it's hard not to get excited. 1. Eat Static - Sands of Time Eat Static start us off with a typical Eat Static sound. That's not meant to say it's boring or uninspired but that it just has that delicious Eat Static stamp of other worldliness that they manage to put in even in their summery and loungey tracks. The track is in fact quite unique with a spine tingling middle eastern melody, phat beats non sci-fi samples that manage to still sound extra terrestrial. Pretty much like the whole track, non sci-fi but sci-fi. Go Eat Static 2. Ultimax - Noir Ultimax, an artist completely unknown to me has produced one of the best tracks on a compilation full of very talented artists. They manage to get a nice blend of melody, glitch, beats and atmosphere. The whole feeling is warm and relaxed yet somewhat expectant as if something is about to happen. There is a break down with glitchy sounds, Japanese ramblings but with the English sample "It gets claustrophobic down here" everything kicks back in and all expectation has been reached. Interesting and enjoyable stuff. 3. Radiate - Witchkraft Another artist unknown to me delivers a nice smooth bassline driven track. The style reminds me of a cross between Massive Attack and Off The Sky. Massive Attack's bass and the curious glitch that Off The Sky does to make it sound smooth and enjoyable get rough around the edges. Not too obvious samples don't really add anything for me but don't get in the way either. The track manages to pick up energy throughout with kicking off, venting the pressure just before it would have turned into non-chill. 4. Phutureprimitive ft. Alyssa Palmer - Deeper The vocals of Alyssa Palmer add a kind off cheesy element but it's within my acceptable levels of cheese. The rest of the track is exactly what I want from dubby psychill, fat basslines, busy yet relaxed synths. Trippy beats and a near floating atmosphere. I'd prefer a vocal free track but this could be one to enjoy with non psy mates. 5. Mauxuam - After B4 An excellent if slightly forgettable track by Mauxuam. It's not the sort of track I think about if I'm creating a playlist or doing a mix but it's a really enjoyable track to listen to. It's got big bass and lots of glitch. I'd love to hear a whole album from this guy as I know I'd love the album without being able to pick out favourites. Another benefit is that whenever I listen to this compilation I'm always pleasantly surprised when I get to this little number. No melody, no hook so it stays fresh. 6. Tripswitch - Lyra This was definitely one of the tracks I was anxious to hear. Tripswitch's tracks on compilations since his outstanding debut album Circuit Breaker have always left me wanting more and this track does not disappoint. The dark underlying bassline, smooth percussion and glitchy tech sounds give of the impression of an enormous machine seen and heard from the inside. When the melody comes in it's almost magical. So soft and seemingly comes out of nowhere but lays down the foundations so the piano can come in and feel integral. Lush track. I need a new Tripswitch album. 7. Solar Fields - Jeezlh Solar Fields continues to amaze me not just with the quality of his music but also the variety of styles he makes so well. A lot of artists excel at sounding like themselves and sticking doggedly to one sound but while Solar Fields has a definite style of his own the variation in his tracks is great. This track has more of a vinyl static feel to it mixed with an odd tribal feel, mainly from the percussion, along with some spacey goodness and down to earth basslines. The melody sounds like it is played on a flute adding an ethereal quality to an already atmospheric track. Solar Fields manages to twist the sound though so sometimes it sounds more like a keyboard and others like a flute. Solar Fields never seems to disappoint and he hasn't disappointed here. Great track. 8. Snakestyle - Neutral Bouyancy A much more relaxed track with minimal sporadic beats, long ambient synth drones and lots of random stuff going on. That is the first half, the second half however takes all there elements and weaves them into a more cohesive track. The melody comes in like glue and the beats become steady. Nothing mind blowing here but pleasant enough music. 9. Carbon Based Lifeforms - Reaktion Melody right from the start. Short stabby acid synth melody followed by a lush melody that sounds serene and beautiful. The bassline plays a melody and there are little melodic blips all around. Under all that is a nice trippy beat creating another very nice CBL track. 10. Cell - Spinning Whale Steady beats and hints of atmosphere only for the first two minutes but after the first sample the melody kicks in and at the same time the atmosphere of the track gets much deeper. After an unassuming start it quickly turns into one of the best tracks and a great way to round off off the compilation. This compilation is somewhere between good and great. There are some great tracks on it and even the not so great tracks are still pretty good. It doesn't flow brilliantly though. Whereas an artist album and well compiled compilations give me a sense of traveling on a musical journey, with this I just feel like listening to good music. I feel like the compiler has taken his favourite tracks and just slapped them down. The music in itself is all good but recent compilations on Ultimae, Aleph Zero and Chill Tribe seem to have been crafted into a journey that I just don't feel here. Worth the money but not essential.

Evan Marc + Steve Hillage - Dreamtime Submersible 28 Entheogenic - Kashmir Day Trip (Kuba RMX)

Not much of a journey is it? Are you usually the sort who brags about stealing? Are you chav scum?

Evan Marc + Steve Hillage Dreamtime Submersible Somnia 2008 Ambient Dub Tracklist 1 Intention Craft (10:56) 2 Hypnagogue (8:49) 3 Alpha Phase (9:34) 4 Theta Phase (8:48) 5 Delta Phase (8:04) 6 Hypnopomp (10:04) 7 Resurface (10:43) This is one of those albums that can easily slip by unnoticed. For me at least it was not instantly accessible. My first few listens were too casual & it came across as boring & monotonous to me. I am glad I blindly bought it as probably the samples would have put me off. After more listens though & giving each listen more time & focus, getting rid of any distractions helped, the beauty of this album really unfolded & I was enraptured. 1. Intention Craft Straight in with a spacey atmosphere powerful yet mellow bass melody and light funky beats. For such a light bouncy track it manages to keep its aura of deep spacey ambient very well. Such contrasting moods play well on the senses and while the elements that make the head bob remain pretty constant, the brain stuff evolves nicely with melodies that are light and sharp over the deep drones and the bassline complementing them brilliantly. Lots of nice little touches in the background like the soft stabs of synth near the end that only became noticeable to me when I really focused on the music. 2. Hypnagogue A more cluttered track is Hypnagogue. The bass once again sounds really funky like the chill out room at an underground 70's club but the atmosphere seems tighter, less spacey and more chaotic. Ordered chaos mind you because it never descends into unbearable noise nor does it even get annoying. It just seems busy in a relaxed way. Like when you look at someone who should be really hectic but they seem to glide around serenely and wonder how they cope so easily with so much to do. Cool stuff all round, I especially like the relaxed alarm sound that sounds through the latter part of the track. 3. Alpha Phase So smoothly into this track that it could almost be a continuation of the previous offering. The slightly danceable rhythms are a little quicker, the atmosphere is less cluttered and more scratchy like old worn vinyl. Quarter of the way in the beats become sharper and more involved giving us a more acidic feel, the emergence of a bubbly sound actually puts me in mind of a science lab experiment with beakers full of boiling acid. A strange but powerful image that melts back into my darkened lounge with people slumped on sofas involuntarily tapping their feet and nodding their heads. 4. Theta Phase The beat doesn't let up on the transition to Theta Phase but the sharper sub beats have receded only to be replaced my lighter, quicker and stabbier ones. More of a spacey atmosphere now with some long drawn out sci-fi sounds that start in the foreground but then oscillate further and further into the background. I find myself losing my conscious thought listening to these, following them as they disappear and just as I lose them they appear back in the front in a slightly different form. This is one of the trippiest tracks I've heard in a while. The way the sounds move around, grab my mind and slowly pull it away from me is great. It makes me feel like I've smoked too much weed and I'm kind of losing the plot. Very impressive for just a piece of music to achieve. Definitely one of the best tracks this year. 5. Delta Phase For me it seems like the trippy subtlety of the Theta Phase has become more obvious and up front in Delta Phase. It is not without its own subtlety though and while the foreground has a lot of sharp acidic synth drones scything down and down, the background has subtle versions of what has been up front in previous tracks. Little plodding bass and tiny rings of treble. Semi melodious drones and ore electronic. I think this fluid changeover is so well done that it speaks volumes of just how well made this album is. 6. Hypnopomp The bass deepens and the synths are soft and warm. I'm reminded of Disco Suns by Bus and they add an almost summery quality to the music. Not scorching temperatures on the beach summer but more 6am in the morning, already light and already pretty warm. The rest of the track tries its best to keep this feeling with warm melodies and warm little sounds coming in and out. It is at once different from the rest of the album and most definitely an integrated part of the whole story. 7. Resurface Resurface starts with a sound that climbs and falls like its running up and down stairs. The ambience underneath it gives me an impression once again of being in space and I'm left with this odd image of stairs running up and down the cosmos. Much more ambient with no beat but running rhythms and playful melodies. Its a nice way to round off such an intricate album with a really intricate ambient track that accumulates energy throughout without letting it build up to any point where you think it might blow. A perfect example of this whole album, smooth and unclogged. This is a really impressive release. The strength and depth of every track is amazing as is the variety of the music that all fits into to the puzzle perfectly. The intricate soundscapes that lie underneath funky rhythms is fantastically done. On the surface this may even appear dull, monotonous and boring but once delved into it is in fact one of the most varied and interesting albums I have. Fantastic work by these two guys I urge anyone who has ever thought about maybe getting this to do so and to anyone that got it and dismissed it as dull to give it more time and more focus.

This is a CD I am really hoping to review soon but I've only had it a few weeks. Listened to it a lot & really love it but it's not ready for a full review yet. Hopefully in the next week I will as it is really really good

I don't mind the 4/4 kick drum, it's just that that's it! There are no intricate sub beats or rhythms or if there are then they are drowned out. Other psytrance albums may have the same beat but it doesn't overly dominate & this allows the rest of the music room to breathe. In my opinion this album lacks breathing space so all of it's potential is stifled by the kick drum.

I'd like to officially complain to the suntrip team. How the hell do you expect me to save some money if you keep releasing such high quality music

Yeah it's one of those stupid phrases that so many people use but never really think about & it's one that really annoys me. You can't compare A to B! A is much better. I think you just compared them there mate! Can I ask you a question? Didn't give me much of a choice there did you? You've lost your keys? They'll be in the last place you look? No shit sherlock, I'm not going to continue looking after I found them am I? There are so many

Broken Summer Tracklist 1. Omni Trio - Ocean Driver 2. Legiac - Tretz Dizm 3. Kattoo - Place 6 4. Plaid - Headspin 5. Kilowatts - Azure 6. I Awake - Leaving The Known (Featuring Planet Boelex) 7. Boards Of Canada - Happy Cycling 8. Trentmoller - Moan 9. Nalepa - Porcelain 10. Minilogue - Feeling In Spring Beside The Dressing Table 11. Vataff Project - Kalitz 12. Electrypnose - Neverending Story 13. Solar Fields - Swimming With Stones 14. Subgardens - Asleep Clockmaker 15. Vakuum Sounds - A Journey After A Snakebite 16. Ghostfriend - Moist 17. Kettel - Mwoeb 18. Plaid - White's Dream 19. Aphex Twin - Rhubarb 20. Ian Ion - Sunshy 21. Kettel - Wim Hoffman Not all IDM but there's a lot of it in there & as it's such a vague genre some might argue it all is

If you want to send them to me, I'll PM you my address & then I can get started on a Jake Stephenson mix

Well, when I was young, up until about 8 years old I was only listening to other people's choice of music. Namely my father's so I was initially exposed to a mix of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison , The Beatles, The Kinks and the like as well as fiddley diddley Irish crap. When I was gifted a walkman of my very own I listened to Michael Jackson tapes and the Blues Brothers' Soundtrack. When I was 9 I was given some mix tapes including a 1988 house mix by Sasha. It was my first foray into electronic music & I never looked back. During the early 90's I didn't know where I my heart was within the electronic genre. I listened to House, Rave, Gabba & even Happy Hardcore (embarrassingly). In 1994 though my whole journey was changed when I heard Project II Trance at a friend's house. I bought my first compilation shortly after which was the first of the Order Odonata series. The following year I got my first album, Hallucinogen - Twisted. My musical journey was now on a track & leading somewhere. I went to my first live which was Eat Static (who by chance I am listening to as I type this:)). In the last 14 years I have never lost my love for Goa although it has been joined by other equally as lovable styles. Mystery Of The Yeti & The Infinity Project - Mystical Experiences brought me my first ambient experience. Before these I has completely written off ambient as a total yawn fest but these amazingly trippy albums took me on journeys no upbeat albums could. It was music that really filled up the space between coming down from a night at a club & being able to sleep as well as lazy sundays at home. I got into all the minimal & progressive psy only a little. They have always been genres I liked lacking many artists I thought were good. However, Flying Rhino Records from 1998 kind of sums up the sort of type of trippy prog I like. Over the years I fear time has caught up with me. My body has lost some of it's energy & my brain has started working a bit more. My music tastes have become more chilled & more trippy. I never thought music could get more psychedelic than what I was listening to in the mid to late 90s but when I got into ambient & ambient trance I was once again blown away. Ishq, Ultimae & then Databloem opened a whole new world of sonic landscapes for me to explore. Right now I am lost in a sea of sound, enjoying every last wave to extremes I never thought possible. I am in love with music in a way that I'm not entirely sure is healthy but it is not something I am about to give up.

I missed all the promo garbage! I knew it was going to be a more downbeat album so all I expected was something similar to the opening & final tracks on De:Classified. Having listened to this a bit more now I think I like it even more. There is depth in there that I didn't notice on my first listen.

Love this quote! Are you not yourself comparing them? Either way I prefer Pleiadians! FOL was such a great album, it blew my socks & toenails right off it did. For me dimension 5 is more galactic & often took me on deep space journeys whereas Pleiadians is more nut fuck in your head rip out your reality type stuff.

Lauge - Sundays

Am loving the Solar Fields' track here Makes me want a new album

I guess if you don't like long drawn out ambient then you are going to find this boring. Juno Reactor have always one to explore many styles so it's only fitting that they should have an ambient album too. Ambient doesn't have to go anywhere. It's not all about the destination it's the journey that counts sometimes.

Project II Trance By the time I got to 3:57 of Genetic - Trancemission I was hooked on Goa & knew I would be needing more & more. Mystery Of The Yeti Before this I thought that proper ambient was super boring but this took my mind on voyages I had never imagined were possible. This coupled with The Infinity Project - Mystical Experiences which I purchased shortly after really made me appreciate ambient & set the scene for me too enjoy more & more minimal & even beatless stuff I remember dozing to The Answer & in the semi sleeping state I could hear the music & it affected my dreams. I remember in the dream I was in a small spacecraft or maybe just a pod floating through the outer reaches of the solar system. The sense of being very far away from home was intense & very very real! Since then I always sleep with ambient music on & it seeps into my dreams & molds them into a rich tapestry of images

Yes very much. Gonna be blasting that out for a lot of mornings I can tell you np Juxta Phona & Off The Sky - !Escape Kit!

Kino Oko - Alphabetically Divided Highway

Kino Oko - Alphabetically Divided Highway I liked this one a lot. I thought the style throughout was good & that each track was varied enough to keep me interested & wanting to listen to it again. Better than the first IMO Tamlin - Spectrogram Fantastic first few listens to this. Really nice old school feel mixed with some modern craziness. Lauge - Sundays Just beautiful. Soft & enchanting. Eat Static - Back To Earth This was nothing like I was expecting. Quite loungey but very cool Juxta Phona & Off The Sky - !Escape Kit! Very trippy bizarre ambient Opium - Watercolors Nice soft descriptive ambient, the sort of stuff that needs to be focused on, then it will take you around the universe.

Tamlin - Spectrogram :clapping:

Opium - Watercolors