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Depths Of Despair - False Sense Of Security (Spiritual Beings)
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traveller
IsraTrance Senior Member
Started Topics :
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3803
Posted : Dec 5, 2003 15:27
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Artist: Depths Of Despair (Shahar Melamed)
Album: False Sense Of Security
Label: Spiritual Beings
Release Date: November 2003
Total playtime: 75:55
Genre: Psychedelic
Tracklist:
01 Passive Aggressive 06:11
02 The Burn 07:18
03 Patient 06:20
04 Voluntary Disapearance 06:27
05 Obsessive Compulsive 07:17
06 Repeating Patterns 05:33
07 Madame Venus Se Faschera 08:28
08 End Of The Tunnel 07:03
09 Bipolar Mood Swings 07:40
10 Between Black & Grey 07:15
11 Dawn Of Despair 06:21
I’m not the biggest nor the most accurate electornic music encyclopedia around so I have to admit that before I came across this one I had never ever heard of Spiritual Beings or Depths Of Despair. Thus I chose to explore and have now acquired a little data. This seems to be Spiritual Beings’ second release and apparently the guy behind this spins at Haifa’s Luna club as a resident chill-out dj, so he should all-in-all know his shit quite well.
If the frontcover was to reveal what the album is like we would have one harmonic trip ahead of us. But then again, maybe it’s that unknown which waits us at the end of the pier. Everything here says underground. Perhaps it’s that tiny print on the inner circle of the cd which says “recordable cd” or then again it might just as well be the “non factory cd” sign on the backcover. But underground is good, right? To make things short and keep to the point lets talk about the music for a while (or two).
I’ve now listened the album thru quite a few times and have created more or less settled opinion of it. Basicly what we have here is a experimental psychedelic IDM album, some sort of bizarre breed in between psytrance, IDM, drum n bass and dub. Doesn’t sound too bad does it? Unfortunetly the album isn’t exactly my cup of coffee. See I like my music emotional, psychedelic, innovative and perhaps crunchy. To tell the truth this album is emotional, psychedelic, innovative and crunchy. So how come it’s not my cup? Well here it’s the subtle differences inbetween sounds and composition that create the tracks. My coffee is usually made with clear noticable differences. Say you could taste both, the sugar and the milk, here however it’s all blended. In the end the result is more or less the same, but the way it’s acquired is radically different.
There are no tracks that really stand out from the rest so in my opinion one could say that the album has a straigh path it follows from the very beginning till the very end. There are moments that give one (me anyways) serious chills. Waves run down my spine, thoughts fly, you know what I’m talking about, right?
The beginning of “Passive Aggressive” is like paregoric medicine. It’s so smooth, so calm, yet barren, eerie, ghastly and perhaps just a little bit depressed. Well it’s not only the beginning, but the whole track, it’s just that once the breaks truly enter they tend to attract one’s focus. Every now and then the breaks reach violent states and the basslines aren’t that far from furious either. The ending is another dosage of that medicine the doctor prescribed.
“The Burn” begins with orchestral strings. They come with tiny bits of cheerfulness. Alas! They’re gone now. Bassline becomes dominant. It’s like the foundation the rest will be build on. The beat is very static in some deep bassy way. It’s all about scales here. I guess you should reach a state in which the scales would disappear. The kickdrum is furios! But so is the bass! Spooky piece of sound is what we have here too. I could imagine one couldn’t bare this under the influence of psychedelics. There’s this finnish word which could describe this track in an outstanding way. It’s like when you are in the state of getting “the fear”.
Be a patient patient. You’re in for a treat. “Patient” is good medicine for the psyche “the Burn” caused you, the patient. It’s still spooky, but in a bearable way. Or well, actually it’s not. It’s rather deep tune if you really manage to dig in. I really dig the melody which can be found a little after three minute mark.
“Voluntary Dissapearance” is a step closer to more easily recognizable melodies. But take my word for it, one step at max! The part which begins from 02:30 is one of those moments I was talking about earlier. I get some serious chills everytime I go thru it!
“Begin to focus on listening to this album.. let me be responsible.. allow this.. to surround you.. object of solitude” That is the spoken sample which begins “Obsessive Compulsive”. As it ends a fragile music box melody thingy appears out of nowhere. Magical moment. Again one of those “moments”. Creepy! Some awfully distorted kickdrums do some series damage to your ears. Then strings, I’d say it’s a guitar, but feel free to pick your instrument. You can almost sense that something violent is about to happen. But ah, it’s beatiful! Some of those noises just sound simply wrong! They almost hurt your ears, but I guess that’s the point..
“Repeating Patterns” might not be a perfect name for a track because it sure sounds like the track is going to be all about repeative patterns. Come to think of it it doesn’t sound that bad. Things are pretty sharp here. The kick is so clean! Lovely effects. Fancy things for sure! And a loveable melody! Nothing that repeative here if you ask me. But still, something lacks here..
“Madame Venus De Faschera” has another emotinally charged beginning. My guess is that this would be a thousand times more difficult to create from scratch than some average full on tune. Things go a little groovy once the bassline enters, didn’t see that one coming! If any of the tracks were to stand out from the album I guess then it would have to be this one. This is my cuppah! The ending is quite melancholic. Loads of fancy effects here too. Actually this one reminds me a bit of that "Billy The Kid" tune from Ott's album.
In the beginning of “End Of The Tunnel” there’s this spoken sample which sounds awful lot like finnish. To me it sounds like he’s saying “mitä sä teet tääl?” which means “what are you doing here?” After that things go fast. 180bpm baby! Well maybe a little less, never the less really fast tempo here. The style reminds me of “Koneveljet” (aka Brothers In Machine) if you’ve heard of them. There’s this neat Indian like vocoded female voice which appears at the magical three minute mark. Soon it sounds more like a instrument. Bring it on! Vocoders are near my heart! Melancholic is proper word again..
“Bipolar Mood Swings” begins with static hi-hat driven drum n bass beat. Suddenly it’s all silent. Not for long though, now we go on with the synthline. Going up, up, up, down, down, down,,, the scaleism approach is strong here. Go on for a few minutes and it sounds like a totally new track. Some of those vocoded female vocals can be found from here too, yay! Super melancholic! A bit too weird for average trancer that's for sure..
“Between Black & Grey” Phased synth wave thingy goes on for about a minute. Then we get something rather Himalayn. This tune might aswell be called “A Melancholic Yeti” or something in that fashion. Some of the melodies here are very, very violent.
The corner stone of our civilization, the piano, is the instrument which has been granted the right to begin the final chapter of the album, “Dawn Of Despair”. As we pass the two minute mark things remain calm. Sure we’ve got a hi-hat or two but that’s about it. Give it 45 seconds or so and you’ll get the kickdrum. The tempo however remains low, something like 70 perhaps? As the track advances it becomes clear that there’s not going to be any more musical advances, just chill and enjoy!
As I stated before, not exactly my kind of coffee, never the less it's definetly a quality release. If you're getting tired of ordinary music why not try something a little bit extraordinary?
  "The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program."
- Larry Niven |
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Ketelf
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
103
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Posted : Dec 21, 2003 03:34
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You really say it all my friend...
I just want to state that the track Passive Agressive is for me the most special one in this album...and that this is just the kind of sound i was in need for my dj sets...
See you around...
Be well...
" Happyness lives not outside of us,where we generally look for her,but inside of us,where we rarely find her... "
www.en-sof.org / www.node3-records.com
http://www.myspace.com/souljackers01 |
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spirituabeing
Started Topics :
4
Posts :
5
Posted : Jan 12, 2004 01:19
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Candy
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
184
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2273
Posted : Jan 18, 2004 11:18
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I am very impressed! Didn't expect such innovative sounds from this c.d.
Shahar is the chillout resident at the Luna Club in Haifa for Bionics, I always enjoyed his chillout sets, but this c.d is really outstanding.
He mixes d&b, breakbit, dub and much more.
Very recommended.
Majority is never right!
"Without music, life is meaningless."
-Friedrich Nietzsche |
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Reconstructed
Started Topics :
4
Posts :
166
Posted : Jan 19, 2004 01:31
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I really like this album too. It's moody, innovative and has some real killer grooves. No recycling of styles here, Depths of Despair has a feel of his own.
I think Shahar is someone to really watch out for in the future! |
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spirituabeing
Started Topics :
4
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5
Posted : Feb 2, 2004 22:43
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dawn21682
Depths of Despair
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
212
Posted : Feb 12, 2004 04:54
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thanks for the kind words you guys...i put a lot of work into this album(nearly a year and a half..).so glad to see people enjoying it.
just dropped by to say theres a now a page with chunky samples of ALL ELEVEN album tracks.great to listen to it while making a nice sandwich.
you can find it here:
http://www.soundclick.com/depthsofdespair
laterz,
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TiMMY
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Apr 6, 2004 23:10
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