Omnivox - Silent Sweeper

[Bill]

Omnivox

Silent Sweeper

TimeWarp Records

Tracklist:

1. Silent Sweeper (Original Mix)

2. Silent Sweeper (Nova Fractal Remix)

3. Silent Sweeper (JIS Remix)

4. Silent Sweeper (Lectro Spektral Daze Remix)

5. Silent Sweeper (Cactus Arising Remix)

6. Silent Sweeper (Hypnotic Aboriginal Experience)

"Some things just become real for an unknown reason. Most of the time I am a bit surprised about how my tracks get into existence, and at those moments I feel like I am just a medium through which that music just begins to exist, without me thinking or doing much about it." - Omnivox

 

What Omnivox (Tomislav Crncic) is referring to is the essence of being a true artist. It comes from actual performance of one's music, being truly imaginative and open to the muse of one's ideas and imaginations, not being a slave to preset computer programming in delivering his brand of goa. What Omnivox is saying is that he is merely the vessel.

 

The above statement has been said by countless artists and musicians across the entire span of human history, from Victorian age painters to every passionate form of modern musicianship, from being a sculptor to being a punk rock vocalist. It is the truest determination out there of separating the slave-for-their-art types from the pretenders.

 

Omnivox, then, is an artist.

 

On Silent Sweeper, the artist offers up two excellent tracks, different versions of the same vision, mind you, but two tracks, nonetheless. Both markedly different from one another even while they share the same title. The "Original Mix" delivers trademark Omnivox frequencies layered with heavy, pleasing grooves, patiently moving tempos and some inspired and excellent keyboard squelch and melodies. In all, a goldmine of a track.

 

Perhaps it is only outdone by the "Hypnotic Aboriginal Experience" because that version is an absolute surprise of splendid imagination and a truly excellent delivery of its ideas.

 

"I had it in my mind for quite some time, and since I have a long-time friend who makes and sells didgeridoos, and plays them in his ethnic band ... it was just a natural flow of things to get him involved," Omnivox said. " Seven or eight years ago I was playing a couple of DJ sets with classic retro tracks along with my other friends on didgeridoos and I thought it sounded great, it added another layer of mystical atmosphere. This was just the same story, but taken to another level. That was my idea to slow the original version quite a bit and to add a didgeridoo layer to it."

 

This down tempo version of "Silent Sweeper" is fantastic! The "Hypnotic Aboriginal Experience" is a slow-moving, deeply atmospheric, hard-grooving and, very much so, hypnotic rendition.

 

Of the remixes, each remixer is instantly recognizable for their own distinct styles though two do not stray much from the structural basis of the original while two completely rework it and claim it for their own. Long time fans will immediately recognize the frequencies of Nova Fractal as he gets loud, in-your-face and bombastic on his version, a bit of an energy blast that the original withholds. A good version especially if you come to the EP looking for a dancefloor bomb.

 

The JIS remix gets better over time, perhaps not as impressive to look at it on its first go, perhaps because it plays after the Nova Fractal bomb and gets followed-up with an LSD gem. However, the JIS version is groovy, bouncy, delightful fun.

 

Lectro Spektral Daze and Cactus Arising may as well have been the original producers of "Silent Sweeper" with how impressive their versions are, with how much altering they accomplish from the original, with how nearly unrecognizable their takes become. LSD is always pretty impressive and here is a another fine example of those production skills. Where Nova Fractal, JIS and Omnivox are quite up-front in their sounds, full-bodied and loud for an in-your-face feel, LSD takes a step back, gives the sound a bit of a diluted quality, makes "Silent Sweeper" sound as if it is a space odyssey. This version is a gem.

 

As is the Cactus Arising take. Whereas everything else on the EP is new school with old-school influences, Cactus Arising brings the old-school flavors in abundance, grooving, bouncing and rocking ever-so nicely through eight-minutes of lovely vintage goa. Everything about this one is pleasing and fantastic.

 

Omnivox is the vessel from which some fine art comes forth. Silent Sweeper is a great EP because of it. And along the way, Omnivox, the artist, is joined by four fantastic, like-minded painters of sound that vessel some exceptional art of their own.

 

 

Psyshop

[Richpa]

Lovely release, Tomislav has been improving his sound and production since the Inner Polarity so much that he is probably one of the most recognizable artists here on Balkans, this release is just a testament of his skill and vision. Remixes are just great, a fine selection of remixers who fulfilled the tasks in an unique way. Artwork also looks great, nice tones and cute drawing. Kudos to all involved!

[LunarDawn]

I can only second everything that has been written here

 

Outstanding work, Balkans are getting some grip around GOA lately, doesn´t it?

[Bill]

There's a lot that Tomislav responded with when I sent some questions over to him, A LOT that did not make it into the review. Once I have a minute free to organize it I'll post the Q&A here.

[LunarDawn]

Hahaha, i haven´t sent you my text yet because of the same reason. I have wrote a bible this morning. And it´s not over yet, you´ll have to dig hard!

 

Btw, we´re waiting for full text!

[Bill]

Omnivox Q&A

 

Bless social media, it helps two dudes six hours apart and half a world away from each other communicate pretty easily. I should back up, though. That last sentence gives the impression that our communication was somehow planned and organized. It wasn't at all. What happened is Omnivox received an email through FaceBook out-of-blue from some dude in the States he had never met or communicated with before. I told him I'd be writing a review of his newest EP and if he has a moment would he mind sending back some responses to fit into the piece. I had no way of knowing whether he was out at a gig or sitting at home doing whatever he does with his day or if he was even interested.

 

The replies came, though, and I think they're gold. Here on this forum we're blessed to have a wide network of producers and label heads within our midst. Rarely, though, do we get to see the nuts-and-bolts of what goes into a release or even what goes on in the artistic mind itself. It's funny, we hear one of the producer's voices constantly while we're listening to their music, but we don't often get to hear the voice they speak with.

 

As a quick point of reference pertaining to one of the answers given, Tomislav released his first album "Innerpolarity" as Vox in 2007. You can dig back into the Psynews archives to read the review of that one.

 

Many thanks Tomislav for the following insight:

 

1. What does Omnivox mean?

 

Omnivox: "If we literally translate Omnivox, I guess that would mean something like an omnipresent voice, but that was not really the idea when I chose that name. At that moment, I just needed a new name because my sound changed drastically (which you can easily check for yourself - the sound from my Inner Polarity album in 2007 and my next album Fragments Of Evolution from 2013 is drastically different), but I still needed to have an existing connection with my previous name. So, after a couple of weeks of thinking about it, Omnivox turned up. And I think it is a pretty good name now"

 

 

2. Why name the EP Silent Sweeper?

 

Omnivox: "Silent Sweeper was a working name for the track which I started writing a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I can't really remember why I chose that name, but that's the way it goes with music .... some things just become real for an unknown reason. Most of the time I am a bit surprised about how my tracks get into existence, and at those moments I feel like I am just a medium through which that music just begins to exist, without me thinking or doing much about it. I hope you know what I mean."

 

 

3. Great group of remixers. How did they all get involved with this project & how did you choose who would remix the track?

 

Omnivox: "The remixers were chosen by a good friend of mine, Nova Fractal, who suggested an EP with two my versions of the tracks and his remix. At some point, we both just came up with the idea to make a remix EP with more artists, because it was something quite new, and it would make a bigger impact than only two artists. I didn't chose any of the artists, Nova Fractal did, and it's definitely a good thing he did so - I barely know any of the other artists, and I am glad now that my track now has remixes by artists from all over the world. Nova Fractal, as a manager for Timewarp records, definitely knows many more artists than I do, so he chose the artists which he felt would contribute to the whole thing."

 

 

4. Did any of the remixes surprise you? And, if so, why?

 

Omnivox: "All remixes are high quality work, and I can't really say that I'm largely surprised by any of them. I expected something different and good, and I definitely got it."

 

 

5. Great cover art, love the graphic novel feel, was it chosen for a reason?

 

Omnivox: "Thank you about the comment on the graphic work, I will tell my friend you like it that is a pretty similar story as with the music itself - I have seen the drawing on my friend's profile (he draws comic books at his spare time), and fell in love with it that very moment. Basically that's it, sorry if you wanted a special story behind it, since there isn't one I love this hand-made stuff, done in pencil, it feels alive and organic."

 

 

6. Did you do the Hypnotic Aboriginal version of the track?

 

Omnivox: "Aboriginal version ... well, I had it in my mind for quite some time, and since I have a long-time friend who makes and sells didgeridoos, and plays them in his ethnic band, whom I also helped a couple of times with some technical issues, it was just a natural flow of things to get him involved. 7-8 years ago I was playing a couple of DJ sets with classic retro tracks along with my other friends on didgeridoos and it was great - I thought it sounded great, it added another layer of mystical atmosphere, and the crowd loved it too. So this was just the same story, but taken to another level. So, basically, that was my idea to slow the original version quite a bit and to add a didgeridoo layer to it, especially since I don't know if anyone did it before. And the sound of that thing is just great!"

 

 

7. What's next for Omnivox?

 

Omnivox: "Well, I have a couple of parties to play and promote some new killer tracks first! I will have my tracks released on a couple of compilation in the next couple of months (hopefully), but other than that, I am working on concept and tracks for my upcoming album, and that will take some time. In the meantime, I don't have any plans for my own releases - I got quite a bit of work done for the album, and that will be my next step. And also I'm getting my skills polished in the process, because I want the album to sound as good as possible, and that means a lot of going back and forth."

[Aspartic]

Winners of this EP for me are the LSD and Nova Fractal remixes. Superb in every way.

Hypnotic and futuristic from LSD and aggressive from Nova.
And Timewarp is my favorite label at the moment. Bad ass kicking goa power!

[Trance2MoveU]

Great review.

 

Normally an EP with remixes of the same track is a bit of a no go for me as they all tend to sound the same, but it's not the case here. The original track is a superb blaster layered with melodies and loaded with dynamism. All the mixes are great and not carbon copies. As mentioned the JIS remix is the one that suffers the most as it had to follow the original and Renato's take. Still a great track on it's own, just gets a little lost.

 

The LSD remix is a stellar companion to the original and probably my favorite here. Powerful and lush it rockets through space leaving shimmering melody trails in its wake. And because Cactus Arising follows LSD he suffers the same fate as the JIS mix. Good track on its own, but the victim of poor placement. Closing things out is the didgeridoo based slow version at a lengthy 12 minutes. The slow, plodding beat is hypnotic and a quality comedown from the speedy stuff without sacrificing the lovely details. This is a great EP and I can't wait for his next album.