shulman - in search of a meaningful moment (aleph zero)

[traveller]

Artist: Shulman (Yaniv Shulman & Omri Harpaz)

 

Album: In Search Of A Meaningful Moment

 

Label: Aleph Zero

 

Release Date: December 2003

 

Cat: AlepZ01

 

Total Playtime: 74:42

 

Genre: Psychedelic Chill

 

Tracklist:

 

1. Inner Selves 11:43

2. The Unexpected Visitor 10:41

3. A Magnificent Void 11:02

4. Consciousness Revoked 10:58

5. Random Lifelines 07:26

6. Mushroom Therapy 08:00

7. Another Paradigm 02:16

8. Instability 12:36

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once upon a time in a reality not so far from ours there was a handsome trancer. He, like many of his contemporaries was facing a battle. This was no ordinary battle for it wasn’t about physical conquest. Little did the trancer know at the time but there was a spell cast upon him.

 

This evil spell originated from the Twisted empire. Most weren’t aware of it but it was told that the spell was originally designed by the evil storyteller duo called Shpongle. Listener by listener Shpongle spread its magic. There was no way to resist it.

 

Meanwhile in the deepest corner of the full on stronghold there was something rather magical going on. Two full onners had forsaken the nation’s traditions, given up the holy full on regulations and rules and were preparing a new kind of weapon. History books refer to it as a weapon of mass destruction and sure from Twisted empire’s point of view the weapon was disastrious.

 

The two full onners had developed a way to fight the evil spell. Little is known about this weapon but they say it had a lot to do with the element of surprise. The other of the two full onners had once before tried to fight the Shpongle magic, but the result wasn’t the best one imaginable. In the end things got even worse when his malicious employer deceived him.

 

But he was powerful, this time he wasn’t going to fail. The mistakes which sabotaged the success of the first weapon were now only a bad memory. Day after day the two full onners prepared, engineered, tweaked, polished and all in all improved the design until one day they felt it was ready to be distributed.

 

Come again..

 

The last Shulman album, “Soundscapes And Modern Tales” was referred to as “a Israeli answer to Shpongle” or something in that fashion anyways. I admit, it was bloody good, but still in my opinion it lacked something. It was as if some of the tracks were done in pretty short periods of time. Well that’s history now.

 

The things that made that album in my opinion “not the album of the century” have here been overcome. While listening to “In Search Of A Meaninful Moment” one can clearly hear that it has taken enourmos amounts of time to prepare.

 

This is no Bic Mac, rather like a eight dish meal. The element of surprise is strong here. You never know what will happen the very next second. You can hear that Yaniv and Omri haven’t really given too much thought to public’s demand, but rather have done exactly what they’ve felt like.

 

But that doesn’t really tell what the album is like does it..

 

Well in a way this is just like the first Shulman album. Then again in a way this one here is totally different. We’ve got lots of bass here that’s for sure. On top of that we’ve got a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Now remove the “little bit” and replace it with “a lot”. Also remove “this” and replace it with “fucking top notch production and state of the art effects”. Yeah you guessed right, “that” has to go too, lets replace it with “weird/alien/yeti/mystical/magical/rainforest/desert/space athmosphere and incredible genious sound structure”. So we’ve got a winner!

 

Now lets talk about the tracks..

 

Innerselves starts from silence and the next three minutes that are to come serve as a intro. Atfirst we’ve got birds. Then we get the wind. Doesn’t take too long and we’ll be there. There? In Yeti’s private little cabin in the Himalays sipping odd tasting beverage of some sort. At some point we start wondering why the walls are moving. Must have been the tea. The Yeti has two heads and three huge toes growing from his palm. One of them is metallic. The fucker seems to be enjoying himself. Circles, more circles, stuff on top of the circles, stuff on top of the stuff, it’s all here (and even a little more).

 

The Unexpected Visitor is a story of its own. As you open your eyes you find yourself floating in high orbit. The earth is still down there. Running out of air? Nevermind, you can hitchhike to that odd yielding color sifting spaceship of psychadelicusine. As you find yourself a comfy place to sit at the band starts playing. They’re still doing a cosmic soundcheck, after all their gear exists in another timeline. Then a man walks on the stage “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a unexpected visitor”. The paranoia starts to rise as you find yourself thinking wheter you’ll be thrown back to the vacuum of space or not. The narrator keeps on talking “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Raja Ram”. Raja steps on stage, there’s a small cheer and he starts doing his thing. You feel proud about the fact that you happen to represent the same specie. The band is wobbling around the stage. There seems to be a dispute of some sort at the bar. Oh nothing big, a member of the band just had a tripple whiskey. As he returns he begins his solo. You ofcourse have no idea what so ever what his instrument is called, never the less it sure sounds neat. Raja joins in again. Marvelous! But that’s not all. As the band comes a cross a criticall timesift and the music is about to stop you hear a sound which sounds like a.. well you don’t really know what the hell it sounds like. Never the less there’s suddenly a guitar on the stage. It’s being played buy some being from another dimension. You can only see the guitar. “Breath taking eh?” You turn around to see who the hell it is that it talking to you. “Yeti! What are you going here?” He passes you the bong and says “it’s the incarneted King” Whooop, Yeti’s gone. The track is now like halfway done. Raja sounds like never before and that band isn’t bad either. The guy on the keyboards is staring at you. Ah yes, pass him the bong! Now he’s all settled to do his magic, lay back and enjoy.

 

Suddenly we’re back on Earth. Seems like it’s Sahara, then again might just aswell be the Gobi desert, how the hell am I supposed to know? There’s not much going on. “A magnificent void” all around you! All you can see is sand and more sand in every direction other that upwards, there you can see a billion and two stars. The Milkyway has never been this beautiful. Suddenly there’s music. It’s hypnotic to say the least. Then out of nowhere, there comes the female chorus! They’re sort of like levitating maybe 5 or so meters below you. Ah yes, you seem to be levitating aswell. So lets take a swim in the air now that we’re at it. Takes a minute or two but suddenly you master the art of manuevering in the air. That chorus is giving you “how to” in binary. Don’t resist, take it as it comes. Ah lets chill for a while, takes lots of strengh to fly for more than five minutes. The chorus is gone, only one has been left behind. She’s beautiful, her voice in angelic, have you seen her somewhere? Wait a minute, wasn’t she working at the bar? You find it difficult to concenrate, after all her voice is, like I said, angelic. The chorus returns.

 

As “Consciousness Revoked” begins you don’t know where the hell you are at. Sure seems like you don’t even know the “you are” part because it somehow seems like as if you don’t even exist. Oh well, don’t let a little thing like that bother you, I’m sure it’s just that tea you had at the Yeti’s place good twenty or so minutes before. Don’t let the fear get you though I’d suggest to watch out for that CHINESE DRAGON THAT’S COMING STRAIGHT AT YOU!! As the dragon eats you things go really weird. Noises seem to reflect from the dragon’s stomache and they sure are coming from every direction/dimension imaginable, watch out, you’re in for a real mind fuck.

 

Weird. You find yourself at a bazaar of some sort. Dripping sounds can be heard just around the corner. Wasn’t that Raja Ram? Simon Posford seems to be here too, he’s recording those sounds with his microphone. “Hey you!” A two headed creature shouts. Well the other head anyways, the other is talking with the King. She continuess “Are you looking for Random Lifelines?” “Random Lifeliness?” But wait, she’s gone already. Just as you start to realize that you were talking to Queen Elizabeth you start to hear music. Sense of time pretty much being gone you still sort of know that you’ve been here for a while already, maybe for five minutes? It’s calming. Then again, what else could you expect from a band which consists of five mummies?

 

Suddenly the bazaar is gone, yet you’re at the same place. This isn’t a holodeck is it? The mummies are gone too. But where’s that music coming from then? Almost feels like drum n bass. Time to dance for a while or two perhaps? As you think of that a hundred or so umm.. beings appear out of nowhere. Everyone is dancing like there’s no tomorrow. This is far from traditional dancing though. Apparently the band has managed to get a Indian chanter here too. Now if you could only see the band. Oh well, don’t let the little things bother you, just join the crowd. It’s raining mushrooms. The Yeti is here too. He's mumbling something about "mushroom therapy". That metallic toe has transformed into a bong. Everyone is smoking mushrooms from it. Sure go ahead, join the queue, but do yourself a favour and don’t stop dancing. A little over five minutes have passed now, this seems to be the peak. The music isn't transforming into psytrance is it? Ah yes, you hear the regulated kick. Well you see it too. How could you not see it, after all it’s floating right above you. No, don’t touch it! Oh too late, you shouldn’t have done that. The tune starts collapsing. I’m glad we have that chanter guy. He’s doing his best to rescue the rhythm, show the band the way so to speak of. Well not much to be done, it’s all over now.

 

Another Paradigm. Seems like that tea is finally starting to wear off. But the ride is pleasant, nothing to worry about. Time to think about what has happened this far. Been one hell of a trip eh?

 

Ah yes, you’re lying at your own bed. You can see your room. Everything looks so familiar. There’s a relaxing piano on the background. But wait, what was that? Ah must have been nothing. Fall asleep. No what’s that? Ok granted, the Small Grey Creature sitting next to your bed is sort of interesting. He’s singing to you. The band is here too. “Here” however isn’t your room. We’re looking at Mt. Fuji, the sun is rising, the band from the ship is here too. Best gig of their entire career is about to end. They’ve even got the Small Grey Creature. Killer collobration if you ask me. It’s all orange, the spirits of Mt. Fuji have casted a spell of some sort over the band. They all glow in a elegant goldish shade. That foxy lady from the desert is here too. The guy behind the keyboard has had his share of whiskey, just wait, it’ll be the solo of his life. Six minutes have gone now. The drummer joins the play. BEAUTIFUL! The drummer is high! He’s showing off with his skills. The guy behind the keyboard looks anxious as he’s emtying that bottle of whiskey. How much longer can he hold on? The drummer has five hands, he’s playing in a way no man can. Almost nine minutes gone now. Small Grey Creature is giving evertything he's got. The keyboardist is shakeing! He looks furious. The last sip. Here he goes! Can you see him? Ofcourse you can, the spirits of Mt. Fuji are holding him and his gear in the air. Ah yes, everything is orange. Well he passed out, but it was the solo of his life. Everyone’s cheering! “We want more, we want more!” Finally it’s all over, been a long journey, time to sleep now, wont forget this one in quite some time.

 

And..

 

Very inspiring music to say the least. Extraordinary review (right ?!?) for extraordinary album. That’s all folks, like I said earlier, we’ve got a winner. Do yourself a favour and don’t miss this one.

 

10 x "thank you" for Yaniv & Omri

[Guest Lepton]

Don't know about the music but the "extraordinary review" is way to long to hold my interest.

[traveller]

yet another ADD case..

[Lemmiwinks]

something which has such a long review has to be good, I'll buy 10!! ;-)

 

 

SMI²LE

[Guest Grahf]

thanks for the indepth review,w traveller, though honestly i skipped the play-by play bit to preserve the element of surprise. Suffice to say if you took the time to write that long of a review it must be as awesome as you say it is!

[Guest peaceful warrior]

Thanks Traveller! Another great review by you! Finally a review that matches the music that inspired it in its imagination and psychedelic trippiness! I have always enjoyed your reviews. Thanks.

[Guest a-eom]

wow wow wow woooooooooooooowwwwwww

just got this a short while ago and i want to say that this album is so fucking good. its absolutly amazing a perfect sonic trip !!!!!

dont miss this 1

[Guest rx7style]

Sometimes I would say your reviews are more like creative literature, but they tie in your feelings, emotions, and listening experiences with the music which is good and bad. But all in all, you're good at what you write. Whether it's the best review or not, I'm not one to judge...

[Guest grahf]

dear me, it seems i missed something surprising by skipping the said play-by play. liked that raja ram bit... i'll read the rest after i get the album.

[Guest Phage]

Picked up the CD from Saiko Sounds...Definitely an improvement from Soundscapes and the best ambient-psy in 2003 IMO.