Various - Tribal Matrix

[Mergi]

Artist: Various

Release: Tribal Matrix

Year: 2006

Label: Dakini Records

Cat-#: DAK2117

Rating: 3.4/5.0

 

1. Makyo - Swords

2. Adham Shaikh - Beyond I

3. Aquila - Song Of Laya

4. Taichi Masuda - Si-Lim-Tau

5. Freeman - Obelisk

6. Lumin - Lacyan Way (Irina's Mix)

7. Makyo - Whirling Dub

8. Taichi Masuda - Drum Solo

9. Makyo - Devabandha (Tantrik Laswell Edit)

10. Badawi - Fifth Eclipse Of Dajz Mara (Dakini's Dub)

11. Gus Till - Rainsong

12. Dubsahara - Persiana

 

While this certainly is a satisfying compilation it does have a tendency to be slightly redundant. Track five has been released almost five years earlier, track six appears on Lumins new album on the same label, the Tantrik Laswell edit is taken from Makyos first album and is edited down about 7 minutes to a meager 5 and a half minutes.

 

Swords and Whirling Dub is very typical Makyo stuff, they're not especially long tracks but they deliver nonetheless. Swords is a very nice opening track with it's mindwandering atmosphere, the guitar like instrument throughout (Saz? in sleeve) combines perfectly with the rhythms and the vibe as whole. Whirling Dub is actually more to the point with an ever speeding beat, it's slow slow slow in the beginning but the latter half is trucking along quite quickly. This one revolves more around the dub and a very simple sequence on the Saz.

 

Beyond I (track 2) appears on Adhams newest album Collectivity but is on the album 30 seconds shorter. As usual Adham never fails to deliver complex soundscapes, a fusion of sweet female vocals, dub, tribal elements, nice melodies and once again the Saz. This time the Saz is put to extensive use in the climax

 

Aquila - Song Of Laya does sound very interesting, it's got a very dense dubiness which makes it all soothing in a way. Along with the subtle tweaked synthline and vocals this is great, the downside though is that they fade out even before the 3 minute mark and thusly kills its own purpose, IMO.

 

Taichi Masuda delivers two tracks... the first two that has been released it looks like. It sounds mostly like he's having fun with his new tools, as these two tracks are not much of musical pieces but more asian-like tribal interludes. Si-Lim-Tau is the one with the most atmosphere, a continuos dark single tone synthline throughout the whole track along with the occasional layers of different wind-instruments accompanies the surrounding tribal percussion. Drum Solo is, well, just that. A big chunk of tribal & percussiveness to say the least. Probably fun to sample and use in DJ-sets but could get quite tedious to just listen to as is.

 

Freemans Obelisk is a breaksfilled track with occasional screeching layers. Everything is very looped and simple in structure, it still retains a somewhat cool feeling. This track could've been expanded somewhat both musicwise and timewise.

 

Lumins Lacyan Way sounds like a more busy version of Makyos Swords. Tempo is high, a lot more percussive elements. The instruments are manipulated a lot more. Nice indeed but it has a tendency to make me a bit nervous.

 

I would've liked to hear the 12+ minute behemoth of Devabandha, the version on this compilation is just irritating. It is totally mesmerizing with it's surrounding layers that fades in and out, the dub and subtle tribal elements are great stuff and it's just made to go on forever. But it does not, instead it fades out after only 5 minutes passing by. It's like he tries to say something like, "this is how great things sound on my now impossible to get first album"... "muhahaha".

 

The three last tracks is actually the maindeal of the whole compilation and I must say it's these tracks that makes this compilation worth buying. tracks 10 and 11 are two big tracks that literally takes you on a journey. The Badawi track may be looped extensively, percussionwise it's damn busy but it's all very subtle so it never gets irritating, there's also a sweet guitar layer throughout the whole track. It's somewhat experimental with it's cut-up glitchy sounds fading in occasionally. All in all a great track to just space out to.

 

Gus Tills Rainsong is a great track! It's got a slightly progressive dubbiness, with a subtle 4 by 4 beat. At first the track might seem slightly empty but along the way he uses different layers cleverly to create a very nice atmosphere, strings of various kinds, tribal elements, chants, a somewhat tweaked melody loop that goes up and down the notescale and of course thunder and rain.

 

When Greg Hunter has got his hand meddling in stuff you can hear it immediatly. The Greg Hunter sound is just very different and very strange to say the least. I even had trouble getting myself through the Alien Soap Opera album on Electric MELT just because it's so damn strange in a way (I've got a weak spot for Voodoo Dub though). Persiana is actually quite freakin' great. It's got a nice rumbling bassline throughout, lot's of arabic-like chants and guitar like plonk plonk samples as well. There's always something going on here, and it's of course slightly twisted on occasions.