|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
review by Bill Binkelman Here's a solid collection of assorted styles of downtempo, glitch and electronica-type ambient music from a label that is starting to make a name for itself. The artists on this compilation hail from Europe, Japan, and North America. The variety of their respective offerings (all of them residing comfortably in the downtempo theater) makes this an appealing, even near irresistible, collection for any fan of electronic rhythmic ambient music. My favorites from the thirteen tracks include the following: from Norway, sirk's "the wizard of Tallinn" which is trippy in the extreme with cool wavery synths and rapid fire percussion all wrapped up in a rosy glow of good cheer; from Canada, kush's twelve minute (!) long undulating synths, tasty guitar loops, and kinetic beats of "911" that morphs into a solid chill-out tune with all kinds of goodies thrown into the mix as well as world beats a plenty (love the multiple layers of percussion, including some Gamelan tones!); from the US, canartic's "moments of bliss pt 1," a true downtempo selection with spacy blooping and bleeping matched by thumping bass, snare drums, and backwards-looped synth strings and a sultry female wordless vocal; also from the US is a cool glitch ambient track by antifade, called "prince jellyfish," with somber piano, melancholy bell tones, skitchy beats, and all set to shimmering with some deliciously darker synth work. Listing my favorite tracks is purely an academic exercise, though, since nearly every song here offers up something I like, whether it be the big-time foot-tapping rhythms and sparse melodies of UK's dub child on "chema dub" or the old-school ambient dub "tossed and spaced II" from Japan's spacepod, which folds in what sounds like a sampled koto alongside percolating beats and lush undercurrents of keyboards ("pt 1" of this track, which is earlier on the CD, is a drifting ambient number and is a lot more minimal with muted rhythms). The album's liner notes state "downtempo is a fluid sense of tempo, sound, genre and place. it crosses borders and backgrounds. i have found mystery, beauty and drama in this area of music that is unique." To that I'd only add, "Damn straight!" Hands down this is one of the best ambient collections from last year and if you like beats and electronics, you got no reason to avoid the obvious. Grab yer wallet and commence buying this CD. Highly recommended! |
|
