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Sattyananda Abducting Aliens Audio Aashram Tracklist: 1. These Beings Are All Around Us 2. An Alien Lullaby 3. Spaceships Appearing In The Sky 4. Witnessing The Hatching Of An ET+Human Egg 5. Abducting Aliens "A lot of Sattyananda is inspired by ET and paranormal events and information. ET life and outer space has been a fascination since I was young. It’s a fun and interesting subject. My outlook on the subject matter is pretty broad, I always look at this side of life with an open mind. I definitely believe in the existence of ET life and paranormal energies. I guess every artists takes inspiration from what kind of experiences and knowledge he or she exposes themselves to, what excites them. For me personally it’s a fascinating subject and a great trigger for both fantasy and reality stories. I find it super exciting and real good food for thought." - Sattyananda The cover of Abducting Aliens describes itself as "Darker shades of ambient music for the extraterrestrial listener." It's a perfect encapsulation of what's in store with the following five tracks. Sometimes it's melodically gorgeous, sometimes it is deeply intriguing psybient sound patterns, sometimes it is mind-bending dark experimentation and other times it is gently rhythmic alien chill-out music. The wonderful thing about Abducting Aliens is the psybient has a nice subtle variety so that nothing comes off as droning noise or sleepy soundscapes. The marquee track here depends on a personal preference as two tracks reach greatness on emotional and mental levels. If melody is your preference then do not miss "An Alien Lullaby" - the gorgeous chimes late in this track move the classification from deep intriguing ambient to lovely down tempo chill pretty effectively. Very easily, this is a piece of heaven (or, more fittingly, a piece of magical star dust,) that holds up extremely well over repeat listens. However, if you don't mind having your mind twisted with odd experimentation then the exquisitely bizarre and mentally wrenching "Witnessing The Hatching Of An ET+Human Egg" will leave a deep impression. That title fits the sounds inside perfectly, deliciously odd and dark ambient experimentation that makes it a great sonic journey. The samples, too, are perfectly used as the sounds of giggling children sound malevolent and emotionally disturbing. Abducting Aliens is one of four releases by Sattyananda thus far in 2015 (the great Sonic Mandalas is also reviewed here), following two releases in 2014. Apparently, though he has been producing down tempo and ambient for about 15 years, and a lot of this material has been unreleased over the years so he's unloading a ton of it now. Good! This is the third release I've heard by this gifted Indian producer and none of them have been short with quality. Bandcamp

Sattyananda Sonic Mandalas Audio Aashram Tracklist: 1. Open Reflections 2. Heady Messages 3. Other Planets 4. Twisted Realms 5. You're Safe 6. Things We Share Our Planet With 7. Sonic Mandalas Indian producer Sattyananda first came to my attention with his great album Mind Expansion in 2014. A techno friend, surprisingly enough, approached me with it and suggested I give it a whirl, thinking it would be right up my alley. She was right and this year's Sonic Mandalas reinforces my opinion of his work. Whereas Mind Expansion tended to rely pretty heavily on samples, very much reflecting the producer's fascination with shamanistic rituals and extraterrestrial life, Sonic Mandalas relies heavily on the music itself and the approach is beautifully realized. Most of these tracks are slow in unfolding, patiently building toward higher tempos. In many of these moments the introductions are often decidedly ambient, carefully arranged and gorgeously effective. When the tempos gather themselves up into a down tempo range the impeccably delivered beats, grooves and rhythms are subtle, chill, deliciously relaxing. Sattyananda has a skill for tapping into alien frequencies, delivering odd sonic sound structures without going overboard on the weird aspect, keeping almost all of these tracks on a friendly and awe-inspiring level. There is little more to do than to let the gorgeousness of the opening trio on "Open Reflections," "Heady Messages" and "Other Planets" wash over you and the magic becomes obvious. "Twisted Realms" is a bit more memorable on the groove and melody fronts and my choice for the finest of this bunch. "Things We Share Our Planet With" becomes a bit more liberal with samples than the rest of this bunch but even those are kept to an agreeable minimum, as smart-talking philosophical interludes that enhance the musical message without detracting from the sonic spell itself. As a conclusion, the title track, like the majority of the album, is very fine psychedelic fodder. Aptly, Sonic Mandalas are mini-universes of rich and captivating sound and, on the whole, an exquisite artist album. Sattyananda