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Electryponose - Subliminal Melancholies (Ajana Records 2006) CD
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DeathPosture
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Jul 7, 2006 23:28
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Electrypnose – Subliminal Melancholies
Cover: http://tinyurl.com/fqcqq + http://tinyurl.com/eu6up
Artist: Electrypnose (Switzerland)
Title: Subliminal Melancholies
Format: CD (jewel case)
Label: Ajana Records (Germany)
Cat. #: AJACD006
Distribution: Arabesque
Date: 26 June 2006
Track listing:
01. 06’19” Submarine
02. 06’15” Neverending Story
03. 06’20” Cordial Family
04. 06’14” Mountain Landscape
05. 06’17” Entre Palmeras
06. 06’25” Tripad
07. 07’41” Rozococie
08. 06’38” Bozom
09. 04’47” New Wave
10. 06’00” This Is The Beginning
11. 05’00” 00-16
.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/htmlg (all tracks!)
Review:
Electryppin’…
Out on Germany’s Ajana Records, is the third album by Swiss sound sorcerer Vince Le Barde. This productive, elusive producer released his wonderful 2nd album Le Tireur De Ficelles on Peak Records only 3 months prior to this… The difference of course, lies in Le Tireur De Ficelles being an up-tempo danceable album, whereas Subliminal Melancholies is chilled downbeat stuff… Well, on the surface at least! More about that later…
Ever since his excellent debut album Brain Stretching (ResonantEarth.com 2005) I’ve been a big fan of Vince’s musical output and pretty much everything I’ve heard from this versatile producer has been excellent… Including his very interesting chill tracks released on the two A Magical Journey compilations (Ajana Records 2005/2006) + his highly original chill track Bas Le Masques running at an incredible 193 BPMs per minute closing up his last album… All in all, this, his first downtempo album is destined to greatness… Let’s find out!
Let me take you thru the tracks…
#01: Submarine
As the title suggests, the album kicks off with a submerged, hollow-sounding underwater tune… Its icy cold clinically-distilled ambient music with only a few, subtle beats in the last half of the track… Not unlike the chilled maestro’s CBL and Solar Fields really… Dreamy, eerie and melancholy stuff… The echoing submarine steel and subtle whale songs are the icing on the frosty cake… Awesome!
#02: Neverending Story
Up next is another piece of sonic bliss… The track starts with some seriously cut up alien voices accompanied by a gorgeous melodic lead very reminiscent of the works of Mr. Angelo Badalamenti… Add some subtle Ventian Snares/AFX industrial off-key breaks and cuts, and you’re close to the sound of this sweet track! That’s right; this is deeply emotional, epic stuff… Like a trippier, less sad version of Bluetech with the added odd time signature stamp… Amazing!
#03: Cordial Family
Two such amazing tracks must be hard to top – and yes, the icicle does melt now… Sure, this track has loads of interesting moments... Especially the clash between organic and digital sounds is interesting to observe, but somehow it does move me as much as the previous tracks… Also I don’t quite agree with the high-pitched, squelching noises – not really something I dig in downbeat music that I often use to relax or sleep… Anyway, it’s not a bad track at all – it’s just not as great as the two previous ones…
#04: Mountain Landscape
When I first started reviewing Vince’s music a couple of years ago, I often described his music as ‘highly inspired by the majestic Swiss peaks’. On this track his old inspiration shines thru musically again – and this music is like a nice mountain backdrop with incredible depth and latitude… Nothing too complicated going on – it’s all subtle, floating stuff… Like a step, depp Bulgarian Radi-style mountain (Psynews insider-joke, sorry… ) Nice little tune, though again it’s not a stand-out…
#05: Entre Palmeras
From ice-covered Swiss mountains, it’s time to head south and get between palms! And sure enough, the sun is starting to challenge the cold now, and we’re slowly moving towards sunnier, more progressive stuff… This is very nice, soothing downbeat wallpaper – perfect for relaxing… Yummy!
#06: Tripad
This choon kicks off with some analogue synth exploration that is soon joined by a strange off-key piano melody… All very relaxed and peaceful. Suddenly some subtle radical distortion breaks the mould with AFX-like irregular rhythm patterns + some heavily vocoded voice samples… A clash of two worlds, which you would usually find hard to combine outside of IDM, but Vince does it with the greatest of ease here… And it works and fits the flow off the album… Nice!
#07: Rozococie
I have no idea what Rozococie is referring too… Sounds like the name of an obscure, Polish village, but I have no idea… What I do know, is that Vince is joined by fellow countryman Ajja S.F. Leu (The Peaking Goddess Collective/Yab-Yum) on guitar on this extremely chilled, esoteric piece of mellow downbeat… The added organic flavour of the guitar is a real asset, and this is among the most epic, ethereal tunes here… Very tasty!
#08: Bozom
On this track Vince is joined by some dude called Francois Chabbey on guitars, and another dude called Olivier on didge… More ‘real instrumentation’ is great, and once again they help lift the track to higher levels… This is absolutely lovely stuff… Very sunny, organic and uplifting… Epic, drifting and delicate… Brilliant!
#09: New Wave
“Cris-crossing the Torah, is a code of hidden words and phrases that not only reveals our past and present, but foretells our future. Some even believe that it contains the actual blueprints of the universe.” Whereas New Wave is another extremely unique tune, it has some of those high-pitched sounds that bothered me earlier, so for chilling this is maybe not so good… But as a piece of non-linear, non-conformist music it’s very interesting… We’re drawing even closer to industrial/IDM territory here – the drum&breakz percussion is a dead give away… Interesting track with a fitting length…
#10: This Is The Beginning
Next up is a track with is just as unique as the previous one, but without too many high-pitched sounds… But this is still über-hardcore for a supposed chilled track… The hardcore, distorted, industrial-like stabs are weighed out just right – and the atmosphere here is VERY mechanical-animal like… It’s not quite illbient, but its close… Kick-ass!
#11: 00-16
The final track with the cryptic title is more organic vs. digital eclectic downbeat music… It’s a clash of smooth, slick, floating organic vibes colliding with sharp, electronic, industrial elements… And some guy called Djoul on drums! And somehow Vince manages to make it all sound extremely blissful… I dunno how the hell he does it, but it totally works… A fine way to end this unique album!
With this album I got exactly what I hoped for: A full Electrypnose album that continued the trend Vince started on those few selected downbeat tracks he already released…By that I mean a clash of soothing, floating, mellow organic sounds enhanced with vivid experimentation especially in the rhythm sections… The off-key, often distorted and industrial AFX-like rhythm signatures were already a major factor on his last album Le Tireur De Ficelles, but Vince manages to draw on the same influences on this downbeat album… That also means, that for serious chillage or even sleeping this album might be a little too hectic – but for lucid chilling it’s very good! Sure, there’s a couple of tracks that are not as good as the rest, but as usual with Electrypnose, the quality level is VERY high and the competition for stand-out tracks is fierce! In short all that means, that this in an extremely well executed and very mature album! I dig it!
It’s no secret that I wasn’t very impressed with the last artist album Ajana Records released: the hugely disappointing Endless Universe by Psyfactor… But with this little gem, everything is forgotten… The artwork has also improved at great deal and all in all I’m very satisfied with this… Fans of eclectic downbeat will need to check this out, as will fans of psy-downbeat/IDM crossover stuff… Purists will have to look elsewhere though… I’m not a purist though – and this is another subliminal Electrypnose album… Enjoy!
Favourites: 1(!), 2(!!), 6, 7, 8(!), 10, 11
DeathPosture
External links:
Electrypnose: http://www.electrypnose.ch
Ajana Records: http://www.ajana-records.com
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/713639
Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/kz79j
Amboworld: http://tinyurl.com/eqzzt
Discobole: http://tinyurl.com/hf36w
Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/gzuav
Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/kwqo3
Psybuy: http://tinyurl.com/h7qg7
Chaos: http://tinyurl.com/ejk4g
Ajuca: http://tinyurl.com/fucfy
Juno: http://tinyurl.com/gbvtz
  On really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion... |
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Acidhive
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Jul 8, 2006 02:55
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A great album. After the (for me at least) great Psyfactor album follows this, another good ambient album in the Ajana catalogue. Wonderfully melancholic melodies, deep and trippy at times, this is some fine music. Ajana are starting to become my fave chill label apart from Ultimae. Good stuff! 
Can't understand why you don't like the Psyfactor album Deathposture. You should give it a chance again maybe, listen it some more. Even the artwork of that album looks good to me Oh well, tastes differ.
"Subconscious unravels at the point of death, and all time it has known erupts into a moment. As death extinguishes us, so we become it."
[Esoteric: Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum] |
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Crystal_Sound
Crystal Sound
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Posted : Jul 8, 2006 11:12
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great chill album .
nice atmosphere and sounds , another masterpiace from ajana.
keep the good work !
Working Non Stop !!
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http://www.myspace.com/crystalvlad
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LigaLize
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Jul 9, 2006 18:18
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Ajana Records
Ajana Records
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Posted : Jul 10, 2006 19:34
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Thanks for the nice words here regarding Subliminimal Melancholies by Electrypnose.
If you check out the playing time of track 1 you will see there is a hidden track, all you have to do is rewind from track 1. A little surprise for you all
take care
mouka
www.ajana-records.com |
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le barde
Electrypnose
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Posted : Jul 11, 2006 16:18
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hey Mouka, it was supposed to be a "non-public" information ... 
but ok .. don't worry.
thanks a lot DP (and others of course) for following electrypnose work, very appreciated.
just some precisions about some things ::
track 7, Rozococie is the word "CocoRozie", wich is an american band of 2 girls singing very melancholic tunes. I would say that the last track is more inpired by this kind of music, but i made the "rozococie" track like a "thanks" to them.
track 8, Bozom has another version with much more guitar by F. Chabbey ... i got a sample conversion problem when we recorded the guitars for the first version .. so, in this one there is only the last little harmonic part he plays.
i'll see with Ajana records how is it possible to spread the others version thru the net .. and will keep posted.
also a couple of other tracks have remixes, or previews versions ... will try to give them as well as soon as Ajana is ok with.
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Wizack Twizack
Wizack Twizack
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Posted : Jul 11, 2006 21:53
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PsYcH0naUT
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0
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72
Posted : Jul 15, 2006 01:53
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great work, thanks a lot electrypnose, keep it up
also i have to agree wih acidhive, if you listen closer you will see the beauty in "endless universe" |
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Rah
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Aug 11, 2006 02:58
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Artist: Electrypnose
Album: Subliminal Melancholies
Label: Ajana Records
CAT: AJACD006
Sonic-Energy.net: http://www.sonic-energy.net/core/content/view/279/2/
Tracks:
01. Submarine
02. Neverending Story
03. Cordial Family
04. Mountains Landscape
05. Entre Palmeras
06. Tripad
07. Rozococie With Ajja
08. Bzoum
09. New Wave
10. This Is The Begining
11. 00-16
Subliminal Melancholies is the long awaited second album of Vins Le Barde’s sudden incursion in the world of psychedelic trance as the now renowned Electrypnose. The name makes it clear -or at least hints the idea- we might be dealing with a softer side of the coin from the pieces of his down-beat repertoire we had been listening in scattered locations, all with a very positive response. The specific type of music ranges from ambient tunes, to chill going all the way to his ‘experiments’ in down tempo. These tracks often sound like corrosive, glitchy breaks with muffled kicks and heavenly sounds to mix a weird soufflé, making everything into a fluid symbiosis, breaching that gap between producer and artist. This is the same guy that has no trouble spilling out a mechanic vibes at 150, straight from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in his very worse nightmare. The end result is melancholy, feeling, musical composition without sounding clichéd or cheesy for a second..
Submarine opens in ambiance to the sound of whales communicating in their daily water-cooler conversation about… god knows what. Piano lines are subtly introduced one note at the time as the track takes form. Somewhere around the third minute a beat comes in and the submarine is complete with all sorts of side effects, perfectly restrained as to not damage the actual environment sitting atop, like sound pollution that in some strange way complements this aquatic exploration.
The very first movie I remember watching in theaters (which is a big deal, because I love movies) was Never Ending Story. That same Christmas some family member gave me as a present the sound track of the movie in tape, that literally got jammed from listening to it so many times. I have tried to remember if there are any specific sounds that remind of the sound score and to be honest, I’m not completely sure. I think the main line that comes in about half way might have something to do, but it could be placebo. Either way, I cannot get enough of it, and the interplay with the bass is heavenly. I keep thinking I have heard it before and as such it all makes sense now, even If I can quite put my finger on it. Its magical come-down music and I’m placing a pin in the backburner to play it when that moment presents itself again in my adventures. Big thumbs up.
Cordial Family reminds me a lot of the general mood Ajana presents in his Magical Journey compilations. So, in a way this is all about that sound for me. Mysterious, eerie sounds challenging the notions you can have distress and chill music. In this particular track the high pitchers -like some gun-powder rocket gone terribly wrong- for the first couple of minutes bother me a bit, is not inviting me to listen to this but I carry on. By this point this is exactly what Electrypnose defines as ‘experiments’. Is not down-tempo, is not IDM and is not breaks, its some weird fusion that sits in between. Interesting, freakish family we deal with here.
The Mountain Landscape of melancholy swirls with gliding sounds from the beginning asserting a catchy line and baleful energy decrescendo that keeps getting more and chilled as the timeline runs its course. Call it good meditation music.
Entre Palmeras is slightly deceiving. It’s supposed to convey a tropical feel of Palm trees, sun and probably the ocean in the background, but I don’t get that dubby taste. Perhaps only the really heavy bass marked with the signature glitches around the edges and the distant voices. Around half way through there’s some synth action, bare piano lines but I’m still not being transported to the Island. Let’s drop that mental image altogether and focus on the music here. Unfortunately the track is not grabbing me.
Tripad a return to what Electrypnose does so well, that gothic, magical feeling in the harmonic structure to create the psychedelic sound score for the new Munster’s family show. It’s detailed and especially designed to grab you from the beginning, as the piano takes us through. In the middle we find some chirping sounds that remind me a lot of the door bell in my house and I keep looking to see if someone is actually ringing. Well executed, I like it.
We have reached the 7th chapter with Rozococie and that is good news. Along with invited artist Ajja Leu they have placed forward an amazing piece that puts a lot of attention on the guitar solos on top of a chill beat. It reminds me a lot of Canartic and his album Headphone Test released last year. It’s got that blues-y guitar the chill atmosphere, the hints of Carlos Santana circa 1970’s, for me post-rock music should be ALL about this. If you are going to hear simply one sample in this album, make it this one. And Vins, bring Ajja back we want to hear him working in something Electrypnose again.
The collaborations continue in Bozom, Olivier (didgeridoo) and Francois Chabbey (Guitar) from Water Lily continues giving new life to the Electrypnose experiments. By association this one conveys more of an eastern vibe. Each one brings something valuable into the track making a composite of influences, which is why psychedelic chill out can get so exiting at times. There so many ideas mixing in the pot together that is very pleasing to hear something work. This is barely digital in sound, heavily marked by the organics, focusing on different elements to build trance states.
New Wave goes back that same 1700’s post-gothic feel accentuated by the piano (or whatever they call those instruments at that time) and gently pushes gritty jungle-esque, fractured, break core rhythms with noir pads. Interesting…
This Is the Beginning goes deeper into full-time glitch-break mode of mechanical proportions on top heavenly pads that strike a sense of machine-made Armageddon, highlighting that sweet point before they blow it all to hell. There isn’t much interaction of elements, it’s all very minimal, but it’s supposed to be a beginning and it works well as a good set opener. If you manage to beat match a long intro on this, it can work wonders.
00-16 is something of a recapitulation of what we just heard. I could type “magical, eerie, glicthy, mysterious” all over again but man, wouldn’t that be boring? So I’ll just say it encompasses the feeling of the album quite well and places a golden ribbon at the end to leave you feeling rewarded.
I had the opportunity to play this album for a high-brow, classical music connoisseur (one of those folks that feel extremely proud of having the entire discographical collection of Beethoven) who happened to study in Berkeley at some point in the sixties. After playing the album for him for about ten minutes, he looked at me back and said nonchalantly “Are you trying to hypnotize me to sell me something later?” Coming from him, that was huge compliment. So let’s look at it that way, Electrypnose is trying to hypnotize you to sell you something. What? A window into what his subliminal melancholies sound like. And it’s a fascinating world down there…
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Faust
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Posted : Aug 15, 2006 19:24
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Great album! There were some melancholic tracks on previous releases of Electrypnose, but whole album of such tracks was a surprise for me! Dark atmosphere in trance tracks and on this album too is on of the reasons why I love Electrypnose's music. |
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parapsyched
Scratch 22
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Posted : Aug 15, 2006 20:54
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great album !!! nothing else to add.
less words . more music....
a mind expanding journey.... it`s been a long time since i heard an albun that a whole jouney from beggining till the end.
thanks electrypnose !
if u dig deep enough u just might reach the sky...
"dream is destiny"
http://www.scratch-22.com |
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Ganeisha
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Aug 17, 2006 15:12
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((( MOKKSHH )))
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Aug 17, 2006 18:11
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Goddess of Chaos
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Posted : Aug 18, 2006 22:42
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Phenomenal work dear Sir 
"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace" |
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ganjagil
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Posted : Aug 20, 2006 15:17
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