abasio

ah well, Enjoy

Collection 1 : Opening Databloem 2002 Ambient Tracklist 1. The Circular Ruins - Aperture: A lesson in cosmology 2. Mutagene - A Borrowed Skin 3. Spheroid - Imbedded Neptune 4. Kwook - KwookyWorld 5. The Civilised Electrons - Encounter (In an unexplored nebula) This is the 1st CD I got from Databloem, an experimental ambient label recommended to me by a friend. It's not an easily accessible label, it takes some time alone with the music to fully appreciate it but this collection is probably one of the easiest to get into. It's a collection of 5 monster tracks all around a quarter of an hour long. All are very spacey & ambient, varied but all complementing each other. If you are ready to take a horizontal journey among the stars of your inner universe then lie back, turn of the lights & let yourself fly 1. The Circular Ruins - Aperture: A lesson in cosmology Vast & spacey, hints of beats without any beats, quick soft synths all over a massive spacey drone. Lots of psychedelic noises bleep away in the background like new born stars. The beats come in as the mass of noise leaves & we're left feeling more minimal & more maximal at the same time. The best thing about this track is that it is given the space & time to evolve without rushing anything. In the evolution we get bits of melody & a moving through space atmosphere. It's a really good opening. 2. Mutagene - A Borrowed Skin Minimal techy sounds, a bit like a warning system starts us off. The melody ever so slowly teases in before it gets to the front of the track. Under everything is an initially oppressive sounding drone but the ever so slow beats come in & change the feeling from one of oppression to liberation & the track moves. Again this track is in no hurry to evolve, taking it's own sweet time. The melody leaves & when it kicks back in it's ingeniously done , very nicely structures. This is what happens when you have talent & give yourself nearly 17 minutes to play with. It gets very atmospheric towards the end with very big sounds of wide open spaces. 3. Spheroid - Imbedded Neptune This track picks up where the last one left off, with wide open spaces. It's big & loud and reminds me of a spaceship trying to launch into hyperspace but getting caught between the two realities. My brain fluctuates listening to it, up & down &6 in & out & all around. It quietens down into a less chaotic drone with melodies of soft strings under the fierce solar winds. This track can sound noisy & random with little structure & less musical elements than the previous 2. A strange feeling with nice little synths. 4. Kwook - KwookyWorld Whoosh! This track takes off & floats up & up! The intro really feels like a rocket launch, busy then serenely floating up, encountering melody & atmospheric conditions as it goes. The melodies change as we pass through them & as we go the try to follow getting more involved the further we go. We fly away but the melodies give chase & there is a more urgent feel now. After managing to escape we fall down slap bang in the middle of an alien planet. After being greeted by some kwooky creature we are left to marvel at the surrounding alieness. Strange & unnerving at the same time as being wondrous and beautiful. The melody catches up at last & surround the whole planet creating an atmosphere that is hospitable for us music lovers. Very musical ambient. 5. The Civilised Electrons - Encounter (In an unexplored nebula) Another track that really takes it's time. After the chaos & velocity of the previous tracks this one feels even more relaxed float through space. The melody seems to come from the stars & gives us just a gentle push on our way. Barely disturbing our motion as we ride through the outer regions of the galaxy. The melody evolves but just ever ever so slightly but if you listen closely (which you should) you can pinpoint the change. The change feels like we've entered a new realm, maybe it's the unexplored nebula because it feels like wonderment. I wonder what the encounter will be. It can only be the creator in all his glory, smiling at us as we pass through the end of our journey. So, anyone into ambient should pick this one up! One of the best ambient compilations I've heard. It's also a great place to start if you are wanting to explore databloem's music. Go get this spacey atmospheric brilliance.

Carbon Based Lifeforms Hydroponic Garden Ultimae 2003 Ambient Tracklist 1. CENTRAL PLAINS 2. TENSOR 3. MOS 6581 4. SILENT RUNNING 5. NEUROTRANSMITTER 6. HYDROPONIC GARDEN 7. EXOSPHERE 8. COMSAT 9. EPICENTRE 10.ARTIFICIAL ISLAND 11.REFRACTION I'm glad that I've finally come around to reviewing this album. I've had it for a long time & I've listened to it so much. It is one of my favourite CDs but I have struggled to put into words the artistic beauty of the sounds we are given here. It's deep, moody atmospheres are sublime. The spacey floatiness seems to have a very real edge. Many of the tracks build images of night time in my head. Sometimes out in nature, sometimes in the city & occasionally in space. 1. Central Plains Two high pitch drones, one slightly higher than the other intertwine around each other into an almost melody. Very slow base pinches come in with dark sci-fi noises in the background, like electronic birds calling to each other. Little melodic touches come in & out and slowly become more prominent & more structured. Finally, 5 minutes in, the beat kicks in & I feel like I'm being chased very very slowly through a city park in the early hours of the morning. 2. Tensor Quicker into a pitchy baseline, more energy straight away. Really quick subtle stabs add to the pace, becoming more prominent changing into a melody & leading into the beats. Although the beat of the drum is slow, it's steadiness added to the rest of the sounds here make me feel like the track is running. Where it's going & why though remain & mystery for me to ponder a while. 3. Mos 6581 How such an amazing album can have a track that manages to stand out even further is quite a feat. This is in my book already a classic. I've listened to it over & over & over again, it's the sort of track that when it's finished I skip the track back & listen to it again. The magic racehorse sample to the infectious melodies that manage to stay fresh no matter how much I listen to them to the police sirens sounding throughout. This track has an awesome felling of dark, mysterious, psychedelic ambient with beats & melody. Feels like I'm inside sin city. Definitely a modern classic! My only problem is that at 7 minutes it's just too short. 4. Silent Running The beats of this track are already in before it even starts, the atmosphere continues from Mos 6581 but has morphed into a much spacier, wide open fields feeling. Like I've left the city & I'm lying on my back in a field of black gold watching spaceships of the imagination. That alien feel continues through the rest of the track & the melody puts me in mind of hyperspace communication. Something like a high pitched flute repeating an S.O.S. distress call 5. Neurotransmitter There seems to be a train, driving through my brain but as soon as it arrives at synaptic central it dissipates into a cloud of lost emotions. The beats bring an attempt to escape the cloud but it's such a vast atmosphere that the more I try to get out the deeper I go in to it. Lost in my own mind. Near the end the train reforms & drives me back to somewhere nearer sanity & the structure of my brain is feeling better. I finally escape the cloud into the emptiness of space with the solar winds on my face. 6. Hydroponic Garden A trippy wet outdoors feeling permeates through this hydroponic garden. A very relaxed start and what feels like a beautiful angel softly calling to me. Nice soft beats & a slow relaxing synth line all float me away into the sky while keeping me grounded among the wonder of nature. The vocalist, now closer seems more like a nymph standing where the angel used to be. Definitely a very nice title track. 7. Exosphere A high pitched spacey drone & strange alienesque bird song ooze psychedelia, such a soft minimal ambient track with a lot of space for your mind to work. i think a lot of boring people will find this track boring but anyone with some imagination will love it. 8. Comsat A little denser again. Melody, beats & voices! Back in the city, albeit in the outskirts of the city cruising around at night. As the track progresses, the atmosphere seems to become more urgent, eases up then gets more urgent again. A night full of troubles. This track really has a movie feel to it. 9. Epicentre (First Movement) A majestic intro & it's long too, after a few minutes it gets closer & spacier but keeps it's majesty. The subtle female vocal, if you catch it, is softly mind blowing. It sounds like it's going to kick up a gear but never does. When I've mixed this into Epicentre (Second Movement) it sounds really nice as it does kick up a gear!! 10. Artificial Island Melody, drop, alien voice, melody, synth, alien voice, distant thumps. It all seems rather random at first but as it progresses all the sounds come together & actually feel properly structured. It's weird for sure & definitely the most abstract on the album. 11. Refraction 1.33 More pure ambient. No beats just natural sounds, cold & dark sounds. The trickling of a night stream, the blowing of a night breeze, the echoes of other peoples dreams. A very light melody brought on the breeze brings with it a dream for me. It wants to take me over into that other realm, beyond awareness & into lucidity. All I have to do is let it, to give in. I always do! Well, if you ever come across this album (you are very luck as it's out of print) then I urge you to buy it. It's a masterful album full of dark night time atmospheres, spacey sounds & psychedelic wanderings. Buying the album is worth it for Mos 6581 alone but it would also be worth it even if that track was not on the album. So it's double worth it. Fantastic album & Mos 6581 is sublime!

Kettel - My Dogan

Plaid - Tekkonkinkreet

Hahaha! Caught out being a shit speller! Or just not paying attention. I've gotten too damn used to Firefox's spell check

Sexy times It wasn't one of mine was it?

Yeah, that's how I felt about that (source) at first but it unfolds over time

No idea! I guess it just came automatically with firefox!

I guess psycho trance is like eurobeat in Japan

Ionizer - I need sunshine

I can't see any ads! Didn't know I had an ad blocker

There are ads up already?

I like spam hat! Especially if I get a hat to where

I actually find silence deafening! Years ago I didn't know the meaning of this phrase but now whenever there is no sounds at all I feel only a really loud oppressive ringing

Well santo, you'll probably like this more with time as your expectations wear off!

It's good innit? You'll just have to wait for the CD I guess

Synaesthesia - Embody

Well, have fun with your music! I hope you don't need too many pills to enjoy it!

Did I just say that? Well, the yellow comp may still be desired by some

So, while in HMV I was browsing through the Psychedelic trance section. There were lots of familiar names that I'm sure we would all consider psy. Hallucinogen, Hujaboy, Raja Ram, Shpongle, Eat Static etc but among these were loads of CDs that could not, I mean they couldn't have been Psy Trance! Look at this picture to see what I mean. I mean, WTF? Eat Static's latest slap bang next to Donkey Trance? I've started feeling that the genre name is becoming misused as more & more psy trance isn't psychedelic anymore Any Thoughts?

I no longer think of it as a genre as so much that is called psy isn't psychedelic & so much that isn't called psy is psychedelic! I just buy what I like! Still not heard this, not been released here yet!

Yeah. Billy Connolly