V/A - Namaskar (Indica Music, Nov 2004 )

[traveller]

V/A Namaskar (Indica Music)

 

Artist: Various

 

Album: Namaskar

 

Label: Indica Music http://www.indicamusic.com

 

Compiled by: Josko & Eduardo

 

Release Date: Nov 2004

 

Cat: INDICD01

 

Total playtime: 75:34

 

Genre: Ambient/Trance

 

Track list:

 

01 Cell - Zaz 10:06

02 Yucatan - Aero 07:07

03 Tikal - Canicule 08:08

04 Altom - Plasma (Shaker Edit) 06:15

05 Tripswitch - Viscous 07:19

06 Scene - Angel 09:32

07 Tikal - Mind Control 09:48

08 Vibrasphere - Peace Of Mind 07:56

09 Cell - Explicit Rotative Movement 09:23

 

 

 

 

Namaskar

 

 

When someone joins his hands and says Namaskar, he actually says in humility, “I bow to God in you; I love you and I respect you, as there is no one like you.” The joining of hands symbolizes the idea that in the meeting of two persons, the Self actually meets itself. Today it’s a respectful way of saying hello in India. Yes, in India. If you say it anywhere else you’re but a pathetic hippie and a drug addict. Looking forward in finding a horse head at your bed?

 

 

So Namaskar, my name is Mr. Traveller and I’m here to tell you about this album. I’m your friend. You may trust me. We at Traveller incorporated© promote releases we find good and on the other hand bitch about releases we don’t. Everything we say or write can’t and may not be used against us at the moderator section.

 

 

Cell (Alex Scheffer) I’m afraid to say I’m not too familiar with. Can’t even place that last name to any particular country although it does give you a hint of the German language, does it not? It all starts with a sound, which isn’t that unusual approach. I mean let’s face it, most if not all albums do. So no points from originality from there. Then to the song. It’s a female voice and she goes like this “Aaaeeeeh, ooooh”. And repeats it a good ten times. It’s elegant in some minimalistic way. Hints of electronic music are all around, but the organic counter part is doing strong as well. The part that is to follow is something I’ve been enjoying quite much lately. But it quite isn’t the time for that just yet for the sample is to be repeated one more time. And just around the corner at the four minute mark the bass is finally in. And where exactly have I heard this sample before? Some tune on Ott’s Blumenkraft perhaps? And that’s not all for also the structure, or perhaps it’s the bass but still there’s something quite Ottish to this all. The first few times I wasn’t too enthusiastic about this tune. It’s not like there was anything wrong with it, more like there was really nothing into it, which of course would indeed come out as there was something wrong with it. But hey, opinions change, now I’m rather fond of it. The beats are chilled and broken. Chilled break beats would be another way to put it.

 

 

Yucatan (Yann Henaff) peninsula I can point out from a map but the artist I’m again not that familiar with. Guitar, bass the beat and the bleeps are all there before you can say “Oh no, that’s the 3rd tune from GMS this week!” 3 times in a row. There’s definetly more edge to the beat in this one and same does apply to the bass too. There’s also a new element here which would be the groove. Before I pretty much ignored this tune for I found it to be faulty the same way as the previous. Then it hit me. Maybe Indica Music isn’t after the most mad, twisted, evil druggish mind- and reality bending compilation out there? Maybe, just maybe instead they just simply wanted to release a quality ambient collection, something for the chilled tribes, something for the hammock people. Not all music has to be mind-altering you know? I can’t point out any real influeces of India on this one. The tune before this had those vocals and the string instrument thingy I took as Indian. This is more like something you could actually hear there, at some beach café perhaps? This tune is something you might find from those Café Del Mar compilations.

 

 

This one (Canicule) I’m proud to say I’ve actually heard before. It was included on Tikal’s “Ritual Cycle” album which was released about 3, 6 or 9 months ago. It’s still by the way holding the “full on album of the year” title in my book. I didn’t see the Indian connection before but now it’s ah so clear. Here we explore the more full onnish ambient approach with the sort of rolling bass line and it’s all good. Then we get the solid 4x4. I call this style Alien Project ambient for the first time I heard something like this was on “The Mystery of the 13 Crystal Skulls” 1st track, 1st Revelation Part 1. Not that surprising that a few months later a man called Astrix came up with a few very, very similar tunes, talking about copy&paste. The groove isn’t left behind, more like boosted really. Tikal is shaping up to be my favorite full on artist. There’s a sample about “Unidentified Flying Objects” which I personally wouldn’t have included in the track, but hey maybe some still enjoy those, personally I’ve had enough. This is a perfect continuum to the previous track and it sure seems like Namaskar isn’t that chilled compilation after all.

 

 

I didn’t get a hard on about the Altom album. Some say it’s a good release while others tend to disagree. Personally I just choose to shut up for umm, Neurobiotic records is an Italian label and talking about horse heads and umm anyways what I was saying is that his tune was on that album, only this is the “shaker edit”. Continuing where Tikal left we’re still doing the full on ambient thing. There’s a kick, there’s a bass line and the BPM counter is on the red. At 02:45 it sounds like we’re going to some full on orgasm climax with the ever increasing counter, a good 30 seconds later it’s off the charts. Then suddenly we’re back in the ambient, thank god. You’re not supposed to include full on tunes on ambient compilations you know. Then again tricks like that are a lot of fun. Sort of like the first tune on Hallucinogen In Dub. Those damn clock hands are ticking faster than in the original and then they just shut up and the dub is leashed. Only here there’s no dub, more like break beats on top of a hypnotic bass line and then there’s the guitar as well. But where are the shakers?

 

 

Tripswitch was once remixed by the dub maestro Ott so whatever Nick Brennan comes up with has to be if not groundbreaking then at least very, very good. The BPM remains high. The sound is soft but the style is not. It’s not full on and it’s definitely not ambient. It’s more like clubby trance or something. Then there’s a break which yells “it’ll change” and indeed it changes. It changes into even more clubby trance. Call me a weirdo but when I’m promised ambient I expect to hear it. Seems to me like this release is going to miss the people it’s trying to reach. And who are they then? If there’s someone out there who thinks ambient is for pussies but at the same time is sort of tired of full on full on and would love to experience a bit softer side to it, this would so be it! Now I’m not saying this is bad music, only bad marketing.

 

 

Scene (Fabrizio Greco) is yet another new artist. A new artist to me at least. He has to be Italian, at least to me that name shouts Italia. If you ever heard that Mr. Oozo tune with the furry yellow animal thingy music video then you’ve already got a pretty good picture what the bass is like in this one. If you managed to dodge it consider yourself lucky. However it wasn’t the ultra fat bass that sucked in the track, but well let’s not get into that. This is actually quite trippy tune. That’s mainly thanks to the weird noises which come in plenty. The song is definitely going somewhere. As if it has a story to tell. That’s at least how I hear it. I’m eager to hear more of this, very much so. There’s a pattern to the track which remains if not exactly then at least almost the same the whole track. The biggest player would be the bass. It for one remains unchanged. On the other hand all those beeps and other disoriented noises do evolve, while they remain pretty much the same. Actually they change quite much all the time but the transition is always smooth. Just like the track.

 

 

“Expand your mind, Expand your mind, Expand your mind.” That’s what he’s whispering, only there’s also echo to it. It feels so Tikal from second one. Once the bass enters (00:40) I’m so back in Ritual Cycle. Maybe this is a tune that never made it to the album? Tikal has a very grand majestic style, not in the mayhem way but the structure, or well I don’t know how to put it. It’s there to hear. Again this is everything but ambient but I gave up that idea a long time ago. Ah, horns, very much like in that tune “Horn Travel” on Ritual Cycle. There’s also a sample from Fear & Loathing, only it actually works, it’s not just thrown in but more like hidden beneath. You know when you’ve got a image of something good, like for example say Friends telly show. You know it’s funny, and even if you see a crappy joke you still find it funny, after all it’s in the Friends, it can’t be bad. Maybe I’ve developed that kind of fetish to Tikal. I don’t know. What I do know is that I fooking love this. I love this even more than Swedish men love other men or the Czech ice hockey players love their mullets. I definitely see myself listening to this for a long time. In fact the first few times this disc was occupying the holy territory of my flat this was the only tune that was playing. I just couldn’t have enough of it.

 

 

Vibrasphere has a loyal fan base. I surely see the talent in tunes like Manzanilla but still they never made me a screaming teen girl. And talking about Manzanilla this tune has very similar beginning. That is if I remember correctly. Around 02:30 the hope is still high. You know like in Manzanilla it took a long, long time for that majestic bass to enter the game. At four minute mark you get anxious. Is this it? Aren’t they doing their thing? How dare they try something new! Your mind is screaming “FRAUD!”. Then you take another listen and hear the beauty. It’s all good. It’s all good.

 

 

Cell kicked the compilation in motion and now he’s back to close the circle. If the name of the tune “Explicit Rotative Movement” suggests anything it would be something like “You’re in for a pretty repeative minimalistic ride". It’s just like in the previous tune, you’re expecting a sudden change which never comes. However there’s no question why this is the last tune. It sounds so, well last tune. It’s telling you that the trip is over. There is a solid kick here, and the rotative movement is in rotation. There’s some emotion to this. The coolest thing would be the final spoken sample. Man that’s so uber phat!

 

 

Conclusion:

This would be about 40 minutes of chilled full on and another 40 minutes of ambient. The brightest gem would be the Tikal tune and the weak point doesn’t really exist. You know if you ask me, bad ambient compilations don’t really exist. I mean they’re always good, it’s just the way it is. Then on the other hand it takes so fucking much for an ambient compilation to be somehow above it all, a groundbreaking or something. Not even the Backroom Beats or any Interchill compilation for that matter make it to the “above it all category”. In fact the last I can think of would be Spaceship Of Imagination from TIP. And that was quite a few years ago, then again this is only my explicit opinion. So in short, don’t expect this release to change your world or alter your universe or mind or something like that. Just expect to enjoy it. That’s something it’ll definitely not fail to accomplish. Not if your taste is any good.

[seraph]

This looks and sounds perfect. I am looking forward this release definately.