v/a 13th moon (interchill)

[traveller]

 

V/A - 13th Moon (Interchill)

 

Artist: Various

 

Title: 13th Moon

 

Label: Interchill

 

Cat: ICHILLCD016

 

Genre: Ambient/Psytrance

 

Playtime: 65:46

 

Tracklist:

 

01 Kiwa - Dawn 08:38

02 Aba Structure - Rescue 07:27

03 De-Fex - Another World 06:34

04 Human Blue - Spinnin' Spoon 08:15

05 Taruna - Sacred Tree 07:49

06 Mystical Sun - 2012 07:28

07 Umberloid - Neon Tetra 06:56

08 Kaya Project - Stone Turns Black 05:32

09 Bluetech - Prayers For Rain (In Dub) 06:54

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Maya foretold that on 20th of December 2012 a cycle will end and another will begin. Some believe that it marks the end of this Universe (read Armageddon) and the beginning of another (read a new Big Bang). Others believe that it will transfer mankind into a new level of consciousness. I for one believe that the whole 2012 thingy is utter nonsense just like that Harmonic Concordance crap you might have heard of a month back or so. Yes, nonsense, crap and misguided information. Now you might be like "Yeah maybe that Harmonic thingy was nonsense after all, but the Mayan thingy is real for sure!" May I ask where your evidence are? Don't you find the idea that someone would be able to read the sky and foretell the future ridiculous? Well other future besides the fact that the Universe will keep on expanding also in the future. I mean just think about it. There are billions of billions of billions (and probably a few more) objects (stars, planets, moons, asteroids & meteoroids) in the Universe (and lets not even get started with the whole Multiverse thingy). Who gets to choose which of these effect the destiny of the Universe? It's impossible (without transwarp technology anyways) to see all of them. How can one know for sure that the ones he didn't see don't contribute. I'm pretty sure that the Maya didn't have trasnwarp cabable ships. I for one wouldn't recommend on joining any mass suicide cult thingies, unless of course you happen to be old/sick and the ritual involves thousands of virgins dressed up as princess Amidalas and subcommander T'Pols. So all in all total nonsense (like wmds of Iraq) but never the less a neat mystical theme for a compilation.

 

This compilation's style could loosely be described as trancey ambient. So yes, it's the first time Interchill takes a step towards the dancefloor. But ye shouldn't be afraid for it's not that trancey, more like dreamy. Evil kickdrum is distant. It's still about beauty, harmony, mystery, jungle, sun, stars, sky, destiny, flowers, toes, fingers, love, fear, joy, water, waterfalls, oranges, monkeys, dimensions, distance, light, fire and aliens.

 

The compilation dawns with Finnish Kiwa's "Dawn". The dawn of the "Dawn" is very distant, I guess one could say a little Himalayan. Noises, wind, instument of some sort, bassy kick, rhythm, these are the elements that I, the listener am aware of. A little after 01:00 there's still no point. I mean everything is rather nice, but to tell the truth there's not that much going on, and sure seems like things were to remain the same. Then it rises, that stable kickdrum plus clicking sound thingy is finally here. Going a little deeper with the bassline and the wind is back too. In a way it's hypnotic, in a way it's pretty boring, I guess it's once again time for that magic phrase; "It's all about taste". Nothing groundbreaking or radical here, then again it's just the dawn, maybe things will change as the day passes?

 

Will Aba Structure rescue my high expectations with "Rescue"? The athmosphere seems quite different to the previous tune. I guess this one here represents a bit more of a traditional appproach. Beat, more variated beat, more stuff joining in, otherwise remaining the same. Loopish. Angel like female voice. This tune seems to be lounge orientated. It's one of those "hear the first two minutes and you've heard the entire tune" tunes. I'm not too fond of this approach. Sure it's a bit overexaggerated to say that you've heard the entire tune after the first few minutes but for real there aren't any huge differences in between the 0 to 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 6 and so parts. What I'm saying is that there are hundreds if not thousands of tunes like this out there. Nothing too unique here if you ask me. Okay, maybe I was a little harsh, it's just that quite a few quality chills have been released in the past few months and this tune here is one of those that just simply don’t stand out at all.

 

Let us leave this world behind and travell to De-Fex's "Another World". Gotta love that sample in the beginning, it’s so alien. And ah! "Into another World". There's something oldschool in that melody thingy! I love it. Good old glory days of TIP reminder. It doesn't take much, yet many just simply don't know how it's done properly. I have this Mayan art thingy my mom got me from Peru. Looking at it goes rather well with the music. The expression on that boxy guys face is mystical. And ah, that sweet sample again! Great!

 

"Spinnin' spoon" is rather odd title for a tune in this compilation for no matter how hard I try I can't seee a connection inbetween a spinning spoon and the whole 2012 Mayan crap. I'm sure "Human Blue" had his reasons. The BPM is 130 here and this is for sure the tranciest track on the compilation this far. The kick is dominant, not distant. Poor little flocking background sounds, they've got so much potential but the evil kick doesn't let them be. Repeative track, can't say too much good about it. Well it's uplifting, see I always find the positive things!

 

Me having a severe overdose of music I'd say it's better to have a break..

 

And back in business..

 

I've never been too big fan of Taruna but you never know. The beginning of "Sacred Tree" is somewhat spaceship like. Then there's this sample saying something about a new level of consciousness. Believe it or not I dig the beat which begins shortly after 01:00. And gongas.. geniuos. Heretic, but not for long, the good ol regulator kick is here. But yay, the bassline makes a difference. Synth, effects, 140bpm, I guess you could call this psytrance. Unlike in full on and progressive the kickdrum doesn't regulate/dominate things here. This tune goes well with the theme. Towards the end you might recognize some familiar sounding flutelines..

 

Mystical Sun's "2012" is up next. What we have here is futuristic lounge music with some crisp effects served as a sidedish. Can't find too many bad things to say about this tune, then again I can't find too many good things to say about it either. Sure the beat is nice and all and the wah wah guitar isn't bad either, but where the hell are the melodies? I know, I know, melodies aren't big of a part of this genre (lounge again), never the less to please me you've got to have melodies.

 

That being over and all it's the time for by far the brightest gem on this compilation. Umberloid is Mr. Ott’s and Mr. Barker’s collobration. I'd guess Mr. Barker did the fabulous bassline(s) here and the rest was left for the dubious dub virtuoso. I must say that this is till day my fav "Ott" tune. It's a bit more Shponglish than Blumenkraft and a bit more psychedelic than those few Gargoyles tunes and a bit less organic than the whole In Dub thingy. "Neon Tetra's" beginning is a little Indian influenced. We've got this manipulated female voice, indian beat and some fabulous backup synths. Then it's already time for the marvelous bassline to enter. 01:17 marks the "real" beginning. What's there to say. It's all here, GIVE ME A UMBERLOID ALBUM, RIGHT NOW! Those "transformers" samples are sweet, but then again, everything here is sweet.. purrrrrrfect. Suddenly the whole Shpongle saga only being a trilogy (hopefully in five parts though) doesn't sound that awful..

 

After a tune like that you'll need a miracle (or two) to keep the quality up. Kaya Project’s “Stone Turns Black” begins slowly. Drums, more drums, growling background noises, a string instument of some sort, and finally one of those Indian (native American) chants. Very rhytmic, the beat isn’t the weakeast link here for sure. If you ask me this tune is too repeative, the flavour is great, but something here lacks strongly.

 

Bluetech will be the one ending the cycle this time. They’ve chosen to use “Prayers For Rain (In Dub)" to do so. The beginning is rather promising, atleast we’ve got something electronic here. The “melody” sounds very emotional. Can’t say anything bad about the effects either. This is more like it! Maybe it’s just my speakers, but the bassline is pretty weak. Soon there’ll be a electro piano of some sort. Didn’t see it coming that’s for sure. It does a few solos. This is almost like reggae, though the lyrics have been replaced with computer stuff. The “melody” from the beginning chooses to return. Nice tune..

 

So not that good of a compilation? Well yeah, sure seems like the review came out that way, but well, it’s bloody good music for real. It’s just that some of these tunes aren’t ment for analyzing, they’re just simply ment to be. Again, bloody good music, perhaps even a little genre defiant. Definetly differs from the “mainstream” stuff.

[Guest CosmoNaughty]

Sounds like it might be good to me, I like the ambient dance idea a lot of chill out stuff seems to be just turning into bad jazz, dull electronica or too noodly for it's own good shpongle soundalike....I like trance based music that is psychedelic yet groovy enough to dance to if you want to and lush enough to chill if you want to. but you dont find much of it nowadays.

[shpongled]

Just got this CD..... IMO it's definitely the best chill compilation of 2003.