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V/A Relaxed Journeys (Chill Tribe) 2006
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blueOrb
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
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1698
Posted : Dec 8, 2006 10:34
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DeathPosture
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : Dec 30, 2006 17:02
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V/A - Relaxed Journeys
Cover: http://tinyurl.com/y4csk3 + http://tinyurl.com/wvw6v
Artist: Various
Title: Relaxed Journeys
Format: CD (jewel case)
Label: Chill Tribe Records (2006)
Cat. #: CTRCD02
Distribution: Arabesque
Date: September 2006
Track listing:
01. 08’28” Altitudes – Altitude II
02. 08’43” Nada – Earthgarden (Jong Remix)
03. 09’09” Adham Shaikh - Indu
04. 07’34” Digitalis - Noodles
05. 09’09” Jong – Unexplored Depths
06. 07’51” Makyo – Nothing Is Real (Sensual Mix)
07. 08’01” Solar Quest – Tokers Dream (Remix)
08. 08’22” EldarLife – Gone Gong
09. 04’00” Circular - Ambulo
10. 08’36” Saafi Brothers - Multiverse
.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/swm8a (all tracks!)
Review:
Shanti chill…
From Norway comes the second release on Chill Tribe Records. The brainchild of collector, DJ, reviewer, webmaster and Discogs-persona PKS (Per Kristian Slagsvold). The seminal release Quality Relaxation catapulted onto the scene in 2005 and still holds up as a very lush chill-out compilation. One of the best released in 2005. For the follow-up, PKS has outdone himself in lining up some of the biggest, most sought-after chill-out producers. The track list is absolutely impressive. Let’s begin the journey.
Let me take you thru the tracks…
#01: Altitudes – Altitude II
“Childhood and adolescence, well everything, is about preparing for life that was gonna start later. And I suddenly realised that life wasn’t gonna start later. That it had, you know, it starts at dot and happens all the time, and at any point you can grasp the range and guiding your own destiny!” Altitudes was a project started for the first Chill Tribe Records compilation Quality Relaxation. Yannis Kamarinos (Jaïa) & Gabriel Masurel (Blue Planet Corporation) conjured up a highly experimental tune. Upon their return, they’re joined by French producer Johannes Regnier (Silicon Sound) forming what can only be described as a French super-trio. The track starts with a quote by legendary Pink Floyd member Roger Waters – talking about the inspiration for the track Time off the album The Dark Side Of The Moon. This track soon morphs into a psychedelic, highly melodic piece of percussion-rich tribal ambient… Floating grooves, spiralling melodies and soothing soundscapes… Not as unconventional as the first Altitudes track, but still very, very good… The talks about an upcoming Altitudes album makes me smile. Can’t wait for that to happen.
#02: Nada – Earthgarden (Jong Remix)
The now classic chill-out track Earthgarden was released 3 years ago by UK duo Nada (Humphrey Bacchus & Russel Davies). Messing with a classic is always risky business, but French producer Jong (Jonathan Garnier) takes on the challenge… And succeeds! The main melodic leads from the original are still a vital part of the track which has been spiced up with an urban, inner-city serrated edge… I’m still enchanted by the beautiful instrumentation here – and the clash between classic organic ethno-chill and upfront digital urban downbeat is refreshing. Lovely track!
#03: Adham Shaikh – Indu
Next up is Canadian composer, producer and sound designer Adham Shaikh. A very productive producer with releases on all the major ambient labels… This track is the first ‘epic’ one – meaning that it has the best flow and direction thus far… Every little detail is part of a bigger scheme, ultimately resulting in a very tightly-knit downbeat track… Style wise we’re heavily soaked in native Asian music… Hindi singing and chanting (by Gemma Luna), tribal percussion and a heavy dose of lush synth exploration added to the mix to ensure a safe passage. Best track thus far. Simply amazing!
#04: Digitalis – Noodles
Digitalis is one of many aliases of tai chi disciple Sebastian James Taylor (Shakta, Somaton, Kaya Project, etc.) And on this track we get the experimentation that we missed out on in the Altitudes track… This is a wobbly, experimental piece of musical knit-work… Lo-fi, pitched-down EDM with heavy pinches of ambient and chill-out… And sadly that sounds better in writing that it does in real life. Sure, there are interesting passages and bits & pieces here… But as a whole, this seems too fragmented and too incoherent to retain my attention. Not bad, but not that great either.
#05: Jong – Unexplored Depths
French producer Jonathan Garnier returns with one of his own productions here… And what a positive surprise from this newcomer. This is highly spiritual, ethno-tribal world music… Lush, plush and really sexy. The Hindi singing is neat and the instrumentation is spot-on. A lovely piece of floating, chilled downbeat with more than a few psychedelic influences… Sweet!
#06: Makyo – Nothing Is Real (Sensual Mix)
US-born, Japan-based producer and label boss Giovanni Fazio (Makyo) is another chill-out legend. This track was already released in another mix, but this one is the sensual one (as the title suggests, duh!). What we get here is less complicated, pure downbeat music… Floating ambient soundscapes forged by an array of synths and dreamy pads… The female vox are nice and subtle, but doesn’t really lift the track into higher dimension. The production is impressive, but as a whole this track seems a tad on the trivial side.
#07: Solar Quest – Tokers Dream (Remix)
“Cosmic vibration!” Solar Quest (George Fleming-Saunders) is another ambient (and acid-techno!) veteran with about a gazillion releases under his belt… But this is pure, Indian-flavoured ambient dub – absolutely soaked in sitars, tablas, gongs and whistles…Very enchanting and very mellow. This is the kind of music that goes well with chillums, incense and vivid imaginations. Turn in, tune on and cop out! Shanti-shanti! =)
#08: EldarLife – Gone Gong
“I separated the bedrooms, so that I had a separate bedroom and I ended up fitting locks on the door. The only way I could actually get a good night’s sleep or have any sense of ease if you will or relax to get four or five hours sleep, was to be able to make sure that door was locked!” EldarLife is the chill-out outfit of Norwegian producer Eldar Von Essen (in PhasePhour) who also had a very nice track on the first Chill Tribe Records compilation. This track has a mystic aura surrounding it – deep, dark and pulsating ambient music which asks more questions than it answer… Very enthralling and deeply mesmerizing. Very original and very, very cool.
#09: Circular – Ambulo
Circular is another Norwegian act. This time a duo who released their first album in 1997. I’ve never heard of them before, but that’s the joy of having a highly knowledgeable ambient connoisseur such as PKS sharing his personal favourites. This is the oddball track this time around – running for only 4 minutes, this is glitchy, yet minimal, techno-ambient without beats… Experimental, emotional, fragmented. A sound collage with a sharp contrasts. Very interesting, but works more as a transition tool than as an individual track.
#10: Saafi Brothers – Multiverse
The closing track is by the Saafi Brothers (Michael Kohlbecker & Gabriel Le Mar) – another legendary chill-out act… And what an epic chill tour de force this track is. This is pure, unfiltered, beatless ambient forged by the psychedelic wallas themselves. Organic, floating, dreamy soundscapes morphing from the deepest recesses of space… This track will be your companion into the spirit realm… It’s beautiful.
Just as Quality Relaxation was, this compilation is a very impressive collection of fine tracks within the downbeat genre… We get both percussion-rich melodic tunes and virtually beatless floating ambient here… The flow is better this time round, enhancing the ever so important journey feeling.
The quality level is impressive and I like the vast majority of the tracks here. There are no bad tracks here, and the few less-brilliant tracks are easily outweighed by the many brilliant tracks. PKS surely knows his music and once again he has managed to collect and compile one hell of selection of tracks. The very nice – and fat - booklet with info on all the artists is just the icing on the already mouth-watering chill cake. A no-brainer purchase for any fan of eclectic, smooth downbeat music. Enjoy!
Favourites: 1, 2(!), 3(!!), 5, 7, 8(!), 10
DeathPosture
External links:
Chill Tribe Records: http://www.chilltriberecords.com
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/671259
Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/tss4b
Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/y5nkul
Discobole: http://tinyurl.com/vw4wy
Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/y4nqmo
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/vhzhh
Wirikuta: http://tinyurl.com/stxte
Wakyo: http://tinyurl.com/slo5m
Juno: http://tinyurl.com/yxvqes
  On really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion... |
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