Androcell - Entheomythic

[MattMan]

Androcell - Entheomythic

 

 

Tracklist

1 Endless Wonder 6:47

2 Mysterious Union 7:36

3 Desert Nomad 8:21

4 Ganja Baba 8:12

5 Night Sorceress 9:15

6 Synchromystic 7:37

7 Higher Circuit Experience 7:31

8 Full Sail 7:25

9 Dub Gardens 9:13

 

 

 

That's right. Androcell is back after the last few years of working with Distant System. There are many reasons why this is the best Androcell album yet. The first Androcell album never quite got to me, but Efflorescence impressed me with its super-organic sound and deep, dubby, funky beats. Androcell's 3rd - Entheomythic goes right back into that 'sound', but it's dirtyer, deeper and way more polished. You hear very familiar sounds, but it's just taken ten steps further. I'm very happy with artists that are comfortable with their own sound and are willing to go back and push it in new directions.

 

An album is always good when you play it, go do something else, and then stop whatever you're doing to somehow check to see if you're hearing what you're hearing. That happened 5 times with this album, tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 9. I feel that 'dub' is the best way to label this album, although the tempos vary greatly, making it very dynamic and versatile. Samples are used well and althought they are 'ethnic', they shouldn't bother anyone. Contender for downtempo album of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Androcell]

Buy it direct from the artist on CD or digital download uncompressed .wav or 320kbps MP3.

 

All info here:

http://androcell.com/androcell_news.htm

[frisbee]

after waiting for too long i got this from beatspace...

it's a good album. i like the first half more than the second half but maybe the last few tracks will grow on me.

[abasio]

 

Artist: Androcell

Title: Entheomythic

Label: Celestial Dragon Records

Released: 10 December 2010

Style: Psychill

 

Tracklist

 

1 Endless Wonder (6:46)

2 Mysterious Union (7:36)

3 Desert Nomad (8:20)

4 Ganja Baba (8:12)

5 Night Sorceress (9:14)

6 Synchromystic (7:36)

7 Higher Circuit Experience (7:31)

8 Full Sail (7:25)

9 Dub Gardens (9:12)

 

Celestial Dragon Records finish an average year somewhat on a high note. Tyler Smith makes some wonderful music as Androcell and it has a very recognisable psychill feel to all of it. Whereas most artists have grown away from this sound into more ambient or IDM styles, Androcell has stayed true to the psychill sound while still progressing his sound. I am sure that some people will complain that this is just more of the same but it is good more of the same but at the same time you can definitely hear progression in his sound. The melodies have grown into a more organic, less plasticky feel and there seems to be nicer bass in the album.

 

Some of the samples sound a little bit too much like Shpongle samples though and for me this is a bit of a disappointment. I have always thought that Simon Posford, as good as he is at making music, has terrible taste in samples. For Androcell to start using similar samples is a little bit scary and I hope he doesn't continue down the bad sample ridden route in the future. As it stands now, they are a minor blip in what are otherwise good tracks.

 

There are definitely some wow moments in here too, especially in the second half of the album which is, in my opinion, better than the first half. The weird cut up vocals in the Night Sorceress create a nice atmosphere, very shamanic: mysterious and ethereal. Synchromystic has some excellent synth work which is subtle but adds a really nice layer to the track taking it from good to great. The slower tracks towards the end are also very much to my liking. I'd like to see what he could do if he focused on a more ambient style for a whole album or at least a full album at this kind of tempo.

 

So all in all a good album, it doesn't blow me away like Efflorescence did even though the music here is probably a little better: it is just the timing of the release.

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Androcell

Title: Entheomythic

Label: Celestial Dragon Records

Date: December, 2010

 

 

1. Endless Wonder

2. Mysterious Union

3. Desert Nomad

4. Ganja Baba

5. Night Sorceress

6. Synchromystic

7. Higher Circuit Experience

8. Full Sail

9. Dub Gardens

 

 

 

Entheo...to be within energy.

 

Mythic...well, to be the stuff of myth.

 

Looking at the cover with it's glowing white flowers, elaborate blue headdress, and planet in the background the first thing I thought of was this:

 

 

As most of you know, this is Tyler Smith and along with his Distant System project has produced some top quality downtempo and ambient. Really emotive. I mean, damn his first album was called Emotivision. Now if I am being honest, unlike most of you I wasn't blown away by his 2nd album Efflorescence.

 

 

Ease up Coco, I just didn't think it was as great as everyone else did.

 

Celestial Dragon Records out of Hing Kong has has some very strong releases such as Spiral Empire, Vampire Sunrise, Intermittent Memories and Vital Signs most recently. So you know this label can bring it. Or, well, not bring it as it is supposed to be relaxing.

 

 

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about. Umm, minus the offensive slur to women.

 

 

Endless Wonder- I love flutes that evoke a spiritual feeling. You get that here with it's wavering and fluttering as tribal percussion guides you on the journey. The dubby bass is deep as synths parade above in a shimmering show. Chants, soft sounds, and just an otherworldly groove. Great track to open.

 

Mysterious Union- Ooohhh, a didgeridoo! Bring in the shaman with his wisdom and the aboriginal feel is unmistakable. As a tribal breakbeat unfolds more chants flow with the beat. Delicate sounds dance slowly above that ever present bass. Really vivid presentation as I got caught up, especially with the arrival of the supremely melancholic...what is that, a violin? Superb!

 

Desert Nomad- As if there wasn't an already ethnic vibe here, this track is named Desert Nomad. Booming drums set the stage for a trek through the vast unyielding sandscape that promises mystery. Ethereal pads float like wispy clouds as the electronics engage in a tribal dance. The dubby beat bounces as our solitary man travels through strange communities each with their own unique style. As Abasio intimated in his review, you can hear the Shpongle like sounds, but I didn't feel they were overdone here. A very descriptive and mysterious track. I felt like I was traveling across Egypt. Loved it.

 

Ganja Baba- "You should try smoking more pot. It's not a drug, it's a flower. It has healing properties."

 

Oh yeah, I'm in. Well, I would've been in over a decade ago. The slow methodical beat with the vocal is funky and hypnotic as hell. More Shponglese spoken here and I would've preferred a different sound. The Arabic feel of this track is overwhelming, very afternoon in the desert amidst comfortable temperatures as the wind blows. Someone took too big of a hit though because he is coughing. I really enjoyed the combination of real world instruments and electronics. Great stuff!

 

 

Really makes you wonder why California is bankrupt...

 

 

Night Sorceress- I'm a sucker for that flute of sadness as it's got so much emotion behind it. This track is quicker in tempo and loaded with chopped up vocals again in the true Shpongle tradition. Too much for me. I didn't get the same connection as I did with the other tracks. There is already a guy that makes Shponglese tracks. His name is Shpongle and he has already put out a few albums. A little copying is flattery, more than that is plagiarism.

 

Synchromystic- "If you look too hard you can go mad, but if you continue to look you become liberated."

 

This is slower with a meandering modulated synth that doesn't really have any direction. The 2nd half of the track impressed me with the violin solo in the Rena Jones mold. But on the whole, this wasn't my cup of tea. If I said it sounded way too digital and cold compared to the other tracks would you understand?

 

Higher Circuit Experience- This sounds very post apocalyptic with the vocal computer sample as an eerie pad rises. The breakbeat dub sound is alive and well with squelchy sounds and a digitally modulated flute. Very mystical sounding with a nod toward the future as a squirty synth twists this way and that. The break in the middle is funky as the bass drops and returns. Clever. I think he does a good job here balancing the electric sound with the sounds that convey a spirituality.

 

Full Sail- Full Sail...and there's the sound of a boat creaking. Get it? I will say one thing, he has his finger on the pulse of some funky grooves. Tablas thumping against a breakbeat is always cool however I don't see how this fits with the overall theme of the album. I mean what the f*ck, I feel like I'm in medieval Ireland with that flute. Total switch, how did this track get in here? Not everything is as it seems...

 

 

 

Dub Gardens- This is a downtempo track with big dubby bass. Tribal drums and chanting are the order of the day with a vocal that I cannot understand. Think of it like...after a long day of drinking and dancing with friends, you are invited to the shoreline where there is a ginormous bong waiting just for you. It is very mellow with hallucinatory organ sounds and the presence of nature all around. Not bad at all.

 

 

 

This could've been a revolutionary album, but unfortunately it didn't maintain its initial momentum. As Abasio mentioned, too many Shpongle touches, and I thought it veered off course. If I mention another artist's name this many times, you have to wonder. Unlike Abasio I preferred the first half to the unfocused 2nd half. It seemed as if he was going for a mystical futuristic theme and then the wheels fell off. He has a great talent for breakbeat and dubby vibes and he is awesome when it comes to the passion that the ethnic sounds can deliver. It was a nice listen and I'm glad I got it, but I don't think it was essential.

 

 

Psyshop

 

Beatspace

 

Saikosounds

 

Goastore

 

Mdk

[healium]

I like the 2nd half of the album better than the first but overall this is just very generic enthno-psychill or whatever you want to call it - very little originality, may as well just call it "Shpongle Remixed" or something.. Track 5 or 6 or so sounds so much like Shpongle the way the distorted "gnome voice" samples are used that I felt embarrassed listening to it..

 

What's with all the cliched samples and sound effects in the ethno-chill music these days in general? Have artists no way of making ethno chill NOT sound like a Shpongle knock-off??? Shulman and Ott have their own thing going in the ethnochill genre, I respect their music for sure - but the rest of these ethnochill artists ought to just start over from scratch..

 

And flutes - why flutes of all instruments? Sure it's a pretty sound but come on - there's heaps of different instruments and palettes of sound that could be used..

 

Can't they combine enthic elements with entirely different elements or at least some fresh ways of sampling and distorting vocals and such? As soon as this album was halfway through the first track I thought "Oh no, not this same old style of music again!"

 

I bought this album because I was VERY impressed with this artist's work under the "Distant System" moniker and figured that for sure he'd have some novel spin on ethno-chill, but I was woefully mistaken...

 

Very much look forward to another Distant System album though that is for sure!

[DreamWalker]

I guess I'm gonna have to be the odd one out here and say that this album definitely deserves its place next to Emotivision, Efflorescence, and Spiral Empire.

 

Initially I was in agreement with the general consensus that this album seems a little too generic and Shpongle-ese to deserve a high rating, but now that I've listened to it and chilled out with it a good number of times, I have to say that this one can really grow on you if you let it.

It's too bad that if an artist makes a psychill album these days that they have to be inevitably compared to Shpongle.

 

The bass is the highlight feature of the whole album for me; it is so deep, hypnotic, chilled-out funky, and infectious. It holds the whole thing together; it is the heart of Entheomythic.

 

This album has more of a night-time sound than his other works, with more meandering melodies and a darker vibe. It may initially leave you craving more of his brighter stuff, but let it grow on you, get in the mood, and judge it on its own merit; you just might come to the same conclusion as me: this one is a keeper! Perfect for late-night relaxing and journeying.

[Androcell]

I guess I'm gonna have to be the odd one out here and say that this album definitely deserves its place next to Emotivision, Efflorescence, and Spiral Empire.

 

Initially I was in agreement with the general consensus that this album seems a little too generic and Shpongle-ese to deserve a high rating, but now that I've listened to it and chilled out with it a good number of times, I have to say that this one can really grow on you if you let it.

It's too bad that if an artist makes a psychill album these days that they have to be inevitably compared to Shpongle.

 

The bass is the highlight feature of the whole album for me; it is so deep, hypnotic, chilled-out funky, and infectious. It holds the whole thing together; it is the heart of Entheomythic.

 

This album has more of a night-time sound than his other works, with more meandering melodies and a darker vibe. It may initially leave you craving more of his brighter stuff, but let it grow on you, get in the mood, and judge it on its own merit; you just might come to the same conclusion as me: this one is a keeper! Perfect for late-night relaxing and journeying.

 

Thank you, Dreamwalker.

 

For those of you who may not know, you can still pick up this album direct from the me on CD or digital download (uncompressed .wav or 320kbps MP3)

 

All info here:

http://www.androcell.com/androcell_digital_download.htm

 

Also, for those who may be wondering about Distant System, I am currently working on new DS material and have launched http://www.distantsystem.info as the new, official artist website.

 

Digital downloads of Distant System music are available there as well.

 

My humble thanks to you all for your continued support!

 

Peace and frequencies,

Tyler

[BraneFreeze]

Pretty good album. Best tracks for me were Desert Nomad, Night Sorceress, Synchromystic, and Higher Circuit Experience. Night Sorceress and HCE (second half) do sound like Shpongle, but so what? They're still good tracks.

 

I wanted to like Dub Gardens, since I'm always on the lookout for psy dub and enjoyed Dub Crickets and Dub Crystals from prior releases. However, the singing is really annoying and goes on forever. Maybe I'll just cut off the first 5 minutes and save the rest.

 

7/10 mostly based on the best 4 tracks