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Beneath the Surface (Native State, 2006)
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furthur
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 16, 2006 04:34
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VA – Beneath the Surface
Label: Native State Records (Canada) NSCD003
Date: 6 March 2006
http://212.227.206.198/cgi-bin/zoom.cgi?nsr1cd003_b.jpg:CDs/nsr/nsr1cd003.html:;
Track listing:
01. 02’26” Irwin’s Conspiracy – The Beginning of Something Good
02. 05’50” Bluetech – Ice Forming on Glass
03. 05’18” Sympath – Amethyst
04. 05’09” String Theories – White Dragon
05. 04’52” Marconi Union – Buildings and People
06. 06’42” krill.minima – CatDinR42
07. 04’58” Nalepa – Porcelain
08. 06’29” Ganucheau - Stillness
09. 04’52” Rena Jones – Aurora Borealis
10. 05’27” Desert Dwellers – Stellar Dendrites
11. 06’32” Bluetech vs. Shulman – Midnight Bloom
12. 06’14” Aerostatic - Continuous
13. 03’13” David Last - Landscape
Label’s Statement:
‘Beneath the Surface’ is an exploration of that which lies just below the threshold of consciousness, where subject and object lose their distinction, and the definitions of the commonplace lose their validity.
‘Beneath the Surface’ weaves its way into the listener’s experience through deep ambient landscapes, crystalline digital beat structures, and lyrical organic melodies over the course of 13 tracks.
This compilation represents a foray into deeper and more delicate ambient structures. Atmospheres are allowed to evolve, textures wind quietly through the background, and inteligent electronics establish icey and foreign structures for your imagination to inhabit.
Review:
Native State records compile another voyage through sound for us, bringing together veterans of electronic music that might otherwise go unnoticed by many “psy-chill” afficionados. As their previous output Left Coast Liquid swept me completely off my feet and left me breathless ever since I first heard it, I could not hide my excitement when I learned that this was going to be released. I have had it for quite a while already and even though I have been enjoying this immensely, I have had a hard time deciding to formally review it. The thing is, the music here is even more complex than on LCL, and needs a lot of attention if the most is to be taken from it.
Let’s go through it track by track.
The American Irwin has been involved in live electronic music since ’96 incorporating drums, samples, and other sounds from modules or computer, accessed via theremin and looped on the spot. Here he presents us with an opener suitable for an epic film. A very desolate piece, but one which hints that the desolateness is not inevitable. A short beatless symphonic adventure.
Healer-musician Evan Bluetech needs no introduction here. Ice forming on glass has that typical Bluetech sound. Flawless percussion work, slowly evolving dreamscapes that do take us to that first freeze-up. Nature goes into a slumber, and with it so do we a bit, at least we have this music to keep us company. The subtle melody and the multitude of layers are very thoughtfully woven into a great minimal psydm song. This would have fit very well onto Sines and Singularities. Not Evan’s best work, but a very worthy effort nonetheless.
Sympath is an all-Canadian collaboration between Shen aka Noah Pred and Native State’s manager Naasko. Here, we get the first song that has a bit more to hang onto. This is also much closer to the standard aquatic dubby chillout, not to say that the song is standard. A piece very suitable for nighttime listening imo, with occasional breaks in the clouds to let the moonlight shine through and show us the foliage beneath our feet. This is definitely one the less experimental and more straight-up emotional pieces from Native State. Nothing groundbreaking here, just very intelligent structuring and a very good song overall.
String Theories is the project of Bay Area string musician Rena Jones and Bluetech. A very tribal beginning to this next installment in the Bluetech saga. More of his sounds being blended extremely well with Rena’s string work. Quickly turns out to be a very melancholic song. Personally, I would have preferred to have a slightly bigger focus here on the instrumental work and less on the dubby percussion, even though the effect of the drums sounding like they’re kept from breaking out of their shell that appears a couple of times is very cool.
Manchester’s Richard Talbot recently released his full-length album Distance on All Saints records under his Marconi Union moniker. Buildings and People is licensed from that album, described as a single unified piece of work exploring images of travel and city living, evoking the feeling of being silently driven around an unknown city at night, observing the activity and life of the urban sprawl from the sealed safety and isolation of a car. With Buildings and People, we go into more upbeat territory. Do not get me wrong, this is still highly relaxing material, but there is a more present bassline, and it is pulled off very well. Sort of reminds me of a lighter Downhill, but less broken. Great atmosphere created here. Definitely amazing for a cold rainy night in the city. Best song of the record so far.
Krill.minima is Dortmund’s Martin Juhis experimenting with clicking rhythms, ambient constructions, warmth, emotion, and pop appeal, having released the full album Zwischen zwei und einer sekunde on the free net-label Thinner. This pive here is very heady, very ambient, very psychedelic, very patient. It takes a full minute for the first beat to kick in, and when it does (in an oh-so idm way), we are not dissapointed. Lots of moods are mixed here, but it stays slightly dark throughout. Yes, a lot of ambient producers have been giving us this style on free net-labels, but they are rarely made with as much feeling as here. It gives you structure to hang onto, and yet leaves you enough freedom to take it wherever you want to. Brain-massage music.
Steve Nalepa is a West Coast software developper who had a beautiful and one of the most experimental tracks on Left Coast Liquid vol. 1. This is for me the stormer of the compilation. Who knew drone music could be so danceable. If this does not put you into a state of trance, nothing will. Magnificent melody, intelligent sound design, beautiful organic undertones to very electronic sonic landscapes. Music created on foggy mornings on an ocean coast. It definitely takes its time to develop, but the wait is well worth it, because once bliss comes, it takes over one’s whole being. Wow.
  Load Universe into Cannon. Aim at Brain. Fire.
www.ganesha.ca |
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furthur
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : Apr 16, 2006 04:34
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Bay Area film musician Matt Ganucheau has been writing electronic music since 1998. With stillness, he treats us to a desolate desert landscape where life is well hidden at first and then breaks out into a dance once the moment presents itself in the form of shade or rain. The sound is crispy clear, but I fear that the idea has already been done before. Reminds me of Mum, but in a different genre of music. All the necessary ingredients are here, but that is exactly my problem with it, it needed some unnecessary component to distinguish the song. Not a standout, but a very good piece of music. And then everyone crawls back into their hideout as the sun comes back up.
Virtuoso Rena Jones, whom Native State has introduced to us on LCL is about to release a full-length sometime in the summer of ’06. If her singles on compilations are any indication, the album will be a must-have. Aurora Borealis begins sounding like the soundtrack to a spooky film with children playing in the first scenes. Is in a similar vein to the earlier Marconi Union song, in that it would wonders on a rainy sleepless night aimlessly driving around town. The irregular percussion work, which is so easy to bungle up passes the test with flying colours. Very very well done.
Santa Fe’s Amani Friend is another Native State regular with his Stellar Dendrites taking us deep beneath the surface. If you watched the HBO original series Carnivale, you might be asking yourself if it was not Mr. Friend that was writing their music. One cannot help but imagine oneself in the middle of a central American dusty plain with people fleeing the poverty. Only you cannot bring yourself to leave the spot you are glued to, and keep going further and further beneath your surface. Very original, very relaxing, and very engaging piece of music. Better than his output on LCL in my opinion.
Bluetech and Israel’s Yaniv Shulman had this piece released on Yaniv’s latest album Random Thoughts as well, and it was one of the most mesmerizing pieces on that album. Very hypnotizing and entrancing without losing that touch of experimentation. More digestable that a lot of the rest of this compilation, Midnight Bloom adds a more human and organic touch, what with Alyssa Palmer’s amazing singing. If anyone ever tells you that you listen to background music, just put this on for them, and it will change their mind about electronic downbeat music forever. Very trippy.
New York’s sound designer for children’s programming Michele Darling seems to have written this without her Aerostatic partner Terry Golob. Another great droning ambient piece here that comes from a Hub Culture DVD entitled Antarctica. Honestly, I find the production here of a lower level than the rest of the compilation. The beat sounds somewhat muffled. Nothing really wrong musically with this one, but nothing special either, much less interesting than most of Native State’s choices.
New York’s electro-organic musician David Last has a full-length album The Push Pull released on the underrated and very psychedelic downbeat label the Agriculture. He offers us the closer Landscape, another grandiose-sounding ambient piece that does not reinvent the wheel at all, but is a suitable and soothing end to this very visual compilation.
Well, this is no Left Coast Liquid, but it is still a very good compilation in a similar vein. Native State continue to cross boundaries in bringing us hghly psychedelic music from all over the place. The regular artist roster is very solid, and I cannot wait until Rena Jones’ album on Native State.
The artwork here is much better than the first time around. Suits the music very well and is very tasteful. Recreates the mood Antix was going for with TCD.
There was one weak song here for me, no. 12. The rest are all very good, with no’s 5,6,9, 10,11 standing out, and 7 completely out of this world.
Overall, I give it 8.4 out of 10.
www.nativestaterecords.com
Load Universe into Cannon. Aim at Brain. Fire.
www.ganesha.ca |
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blueOrb
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : May 1, 2006 16:59
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wow thats a great review man ....
iam mid way track 3 "sympath - amethyst" ....all i can say is woah!!!! this is some truly beautiful music ....really eager to know what's next for my ears  ....
iam gonna float with this one for the next 55 mins .....
New mixes on
http://soundcloud.com/blueorb
Older Mixes on
http://blueorb.podomatic.com/ |
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MercuryFall
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : May 2, 2006 18:15
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furthur
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : May 2, 2006 18:58
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Quote:
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On 2006-05-02 18:15, MercuryFall wrote:
ordered it through psyshop, but order refused... unavailable..... 
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available here:
www.nativestaterecords.com
Load Universe into Cannon. Aim at Brain. Fire.
www.ganesha.ca |
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Rui Ferreira
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : May 4, 2006 16:46
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Quote:
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On 2006-05-02 18:15, MercuryFall wrote:
ordered it through psyshop, but order refused... unavailable.....
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Amboworld still have it available
www.amboworld.com |
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elektric sheep
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : May 6, 2006 10:42
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Saiko Sounds also stocks this brilliant release.
Track selection flows smoothly. Really loved Sympath, String Theories , Marconi Union + Shulman vs Bluetech ( the combination of these two giants absolutely works...Bluetech is a master of melody & Shulman is master of sound design)
Also checked out the Marconi Union album -Distance which i found at allofmp3.com (i would like 2 know if this service is cool being soooo cheap?).
Looking forward to Rena Jones on Native State, she makes touching music. |
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