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Vataff Project - Kalitz


abasio

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Vataff Project

Kalitz

Aleph Zero Records

19 May 2008

Style: Ambient

 

Tracklist

 

1 Orpheus Forest (8:08)

2 Inner Beauty (9:41)

3 Plasticine Bird (Album Edit) (11:26)

4 Kalitz (9:45)

5 Patayasa (7:55)

6 Mist (9:10)

7 Dvabrakia (8:35)

8 UTC (6:22)

9 Orale (8:55)

 

Now Aleph Zero has touted this as something that has never been heard before. Something that is totally unique that really nobody has ever heard before. A big boast by a record label with a great track record of delivering fantastic quality releases but one that had an easy chance of being found lacking. So just how unique is this?

 

 

1. Orpheus Forest

We start off on a mysterious journey with lots of mysterious sounds. Long dark synths, high pitch whirling sounds and what sounds like an old flute being played. It all adds up to one dreamy opening track with an abundance of dark mystery in it. When the voice comes in, dark and, well mysterious it's like you've been expecting it and it has arrived

 

2. Inner Beauty

More mythical sounds in this track with little high pitch blips that conjure images of forest nymphs in my head. The image of the forest is supported by the other sounds which at once sound wide open and dense at the same time. Really like being in a busy forest full of nocturnal extra sensory activity.

 

3. Plasticine Bird (Album Edit)

Plasticine Bird as heard on Midnight Soul Dive on this same label. This differs only from that version in that the first minute is basically the ending of the previous track. Again this is a beautiful scratchy track with long drawn out synth lines and one of those beats that while minimal and relaxed gets your head nodding. Again the secondary synths seem to rain down and give this an unmelodious melody. Very nice track it is even if I've heard it before, as this album is more like one long track, it's quite welcome.

 

4. Kalitz

From minimal ambient beginnings grows a track that is beautiful in it's intricate layers of natural indigenous sounds mixed with trippy electronica. As the title track I think it tries to embody the feeling of the whole album and it succeeds magnificently. It is dark, electronic, forest somewhere in the middle of the world and in our dreams. Listen to this track if you are thinking of buying the album.

 

5. Patayasa

A more random and squelchier number here with big fat wet sounds and glitchy electronica adding a nighttime feeling to the proceedings. But not just nighttime, busy urban nighttime but with an untrapped wide openness to it. Not a metropolis but a lively local city with wide thoroughfares. I instantly think of Sapporo when I hear this.

 

6. Mist

Now with a title like Mist, I was expecting some vague half heard, half seen track steeped in dark early morning fog from which anything, be it a long lost friend, an enemy come for your head or a god come for what ever reason. I was not let down, that's almost exactly what this is but it's even more. Imagine now that the fog swirls about seemingly randomly before you and you have what the light flute and eerie melodies do for this track. Perhaps my favourite on the album.

 

7. Dvabrakia

Here we see a more intense look at the dark forest. Fast yet relaxed synths batter the soundscape from the sides while watery plops drop down and a tribal ritual chant comes in from underneath. Personally I could do without the chants because in my ears they sound like music from the amazonian jungle rather than this dark deserted forest I'm starting to call home. Probably they are traditional Bulgarian songs but for me they are a bit out of place. Fortunately they are short lived but without them for me this track would be sublime.

 

8. UTC

Here the forest seems to have turned into a late summer's evening like the journey is going back in time, we have come through the blackest night and arrived just before where the insects buzz in swarms and swamp the night air so everything feels dense yet enjoyable. Everything about this is dark yet warm, from the beach beats to the soft melodious sounds I can feel the air of a summer's eve.

 

9. Orale

We finish with a sublime piece of ambient which is fitting for any finale. The scratchiness off the beginning leads into a tribal vocal that seems more fitting than before. Instead of conjuring images of forests this vocal pushes images of villages into my head. Picture a small village festival in full swing as the sun sets. The forest nearby adding it's natural weight to the affair. We seem to be at the end of our backwards journey through the dark nighttime forest. If the last track seemed like a warm summer's evening then this is definitely the preceding twilight with a more human yet spiritual vibe to it. Perfect ending for a backwards look through blissed forest time.

 

 

Well, how about that boast by Aleph Zero? Well, this album fits surprisingly well into DJ sets & when I hear it, I'm reminded of work I've heard on Databloem & Silentes so I'm not sure if the boast is truly justified. This definitely has it's own stamp on it though that sets it apart from other releases that have had a similar style. This is for sure a story telling album, as I mentioned in the track by track analysis, this feels like the story of a forest filled with mystical & mythical wonder going backwards through a night during the summer. It's dark but warm. It's wide open yet dense & full of life.

 

Although I have indeed heard it's like before I have never heard anything this good & with such a story that grasps my imagination in this way.

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abasio: your reviews are well written, but I can't make out if this is psytrance, ambient, chillout, IDM, glamrock or classical music. You might try to add some more musical terms in your descriptions.

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