[DeathPosture]

Shulman – Random Thoughts



Hi-res cover: front + back

Artist: Shulman (Israel)
Title: Random Thoughts
Format: CD
Label: AlephZero (Israel)
Cat. #: AlephZ05
Date: February 2006

Track listing:

01. 11’10” Shulman - OMG
02. 06’35” Bluetech & Shulman – Midnight Bloom
03. 07’35” Shulman – Zero Degrees
04. 09’32” Sub6 feat. Michele Adamson – Ra He’ya (Shulman Remix)
05. 07’58” Entheogenic – Spaced (Shulman Remix)
06. 07’06” Omar Faruk Tekbilek & Steve Shehan – Ya Bouy (Shulman Remix)
07. 07’40” Shulman – Look Honey It’s The Vitties!!!
08. 08’42” Shulman feat. Lee Triffon – I Dive
09. 06’21” Shulman – Staring At The Abyss

.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/mo334 (all tracks!)

Review:

Shulman re-animated…

Ever since the release of the debut album Soundscapes And Modern Tales in 2002, the Shulman project (Yaniv Shulman & Omri Harpaz) has been a fav’e of mine… The follow-up In Search Of A Meaningful Moment was almost as good and ever since I’ve followed everything coming out of the Shulman/AlephZero labs in Israel… Yaniv Shulman and his mates have yet to let me down with their hi-quality phat productions… Now it’s time for the third album which seems to have a couple of familiar tracks… Let’s find out what that’s all about…

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: Shulman – OMG
Oh… my … god! Well I’ll be damned if this isn’t the best damn Shulman track I’ve heard in ages… What we get here is floating chill-scapes seasoned with native chanting, Shponglesque sequencing and one trippy melody after the other… The long, floating organic pads are trademark Shulman and they represent everything I love about their sound… This is exactly why I’ll never get tired of psychedelic chill-out… Stellar track!

#02: Bluetech & Shulman – Midnight Bloom
Next up is another collaboration between Shulman and US-based producer Evan Bluetech who recently released his third album Sines And Singularities on AlephZero… And the melancholy Bluetech touch really shines thru on this track – with the added ethnic mysticism courtesy of Shulman… A pretty nice tune, but it doesn’t have quite the same momentum as the previous one did…

#03: Shulman – Zero Degrees
This is pure Shulman now – and on this track there are actually a lot of parallels to the aforementioned Bluetech… The intro is cold, static, numb and totally depressing, but eventually the track evolves into a much warmer, joyous downbeat excursion… Floating ambient with some refined rhythms and harmonic synths… A story telling track if there ever was one… The level of emotions in this one is simply impressive… A brilliant track!

#04: Sub6 feat. Michele Adamson – Ra He’ya (Shulman Remix)
“Bad, bad, bad, bad… Ra He’ya! How do you like it? Yeah! Take all the clothes off. I know you like it! … It goes something like this: Bad, bad, bad, bad boy, go to my room and twiddle your thumbs 'til I come. Don't have to think. Ohh, let's make some noise. I'll let you bring all your toys.” This track was first released in 2004 by HOMmega on the Sub6 CDM Ra He’ya and then again in 2005 by Nice Dreams Music on the Multiple Organisms compilation… Truth being, it was one of my fav’e remixes of the CDM, and when it’s stuff this good, I don’t mind owning it on CD again… This downbeat version is very different from the original and Michele Adamson’s + the dude’s vocals are filtered and vocoded almost beyond recognition… It’s still a great fucking tune… Sexy as hell too!

#05: Entheogenic – Spaced (Shulman Remix)
“And then I promise you you’ll dream a different story altogether…The imagination, the inside of our heads really is the most vast frontier!” This track was released on the Entheogenic album Dialogue Of The Speakers released by Chillcode Records in 2005 and with its deep, playful percussion and soothing atmosphere it was one of the many excellent tracks off that album… And yes, it’s still a brilliant track… Magical even!

#06: Omar Faruk Tekbilek & Steve Shehan – Ya Bouy (Shulman Remix)
This track was released back in 2004 on the AlephZero compilation Natural Born Chillers. Here’s my review from back then: AFAIK Turkish ney master Mr. Tekbilek is pretty well-know in the Arab world-music scene and has had tracks featured on well-known ambient compilations like Buddha Bar and Back To Mine… And now, here’s a Shulman remix – and what a track! This is ambient world music with thick, thick Eastern influences and an overall phat ethnic groove… Reminds me of Asura or Kaya Project at times… Very good! According to Shulman, the instrument played here is some kind of Turkish wind instrument similar to the Indian shenhai… Amazing track!

#07: Shulman – Look Honey It’s The Vitties!!!
And here’s the odd-ball track of the album… Both the title and the actually music, is far off the beaten path… The IDM intro with irregular beats must have the highest BPM rate ever in a Shulman track, and the rich jazzy influences are destined to crack a lot of smiles… Saxophone pads and Elvis-samples… What more could you wish for? A funny, yet totally mature downbeat tune… Sweet!

#08: Shulman feat. Lee Triffon – I Dive
“I dive in the ocean. What an emotion. I dive in the ocean. I see the man wanders all alone. You’re my inspiration. I dive in the ocean. You are everything I need. You are my creation. You are everything I need.” On this epic track Shulman is joined by singer Lee Triffon who has a gorgeous voice… Musically this is floating, melodic ambient with subtle percussion and the emphasis on the angelic vocals… Brilliant, soothing and totally relaxing music that you even your mother or grumpy neighbours will like… Pure Shulman magic!

#09: Shulman – Staring At The Abyss
To finish things off we get a virtually beatless ambient piece… So yeah, we’re reeeeeeally chilling out now although the track does have peak moments with more action… The liquid-link is evident and generally this is another one of those journey tracks that Shulman does so well… A sweet, relaxing tune, but not as captivating as some of the previous tracks… Still a nice way to finish the album though… ;o)

After the release of this third album, people were quick to condemn it because of the three previously released tracks… And in all fairness, I think everyone would have preferred all exclusive material… But when stuff this good is ‘re-cycled’ I can’t really get worked-up… All three tracks are wonderful and they deserve their place besides the new Shulman tunes that we also get here…

The new tunes seem more diverse musically than what we heard on the first two albums, but they are all very good and very Shulmanny! And when it all boils down to the most important factor, the music, I think most people would agree that this is a VERY fine collection of downbeat tunes… The quality level is impressive as always and I even like this better than the Bluetech album… I’m not sure how well I like the androgynous person of the cover, but hey, the fish rocks!

To conclude, this is a wonderful album that’s almost as good as the previous two… My respect and admiration for Shulman is greater than ever and I’ll recommend this album to all fans of eclectic, diverse, well-produced, psychedelic downbeat music… Enjoy!

Favourites: 1(!!), 3(!), 4(!), 5(!), 6(!), 7, 8(!)

DeathPosture


External links:
Shulman: http://www.shulman.info
AlephZero E-Flyer: http://www.aleph-zer...hulmanFlyer.htm
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/630496
Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/ngkk9
Amboworld: http://tinyurl.com/qcew4
Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/oysdm
Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/nv7yq
Ultimae: http://tinyurl.com/pushk
Wakyo: http://tinyurl.com/nnuby
Chaos: http://tinyurl.com/ruhxe
Ajuca: http://tinyurl.com/n9ath
Juno: http://tinyurl.com/q558c

[abasio]

I liked almost evrything on this album. the tracks are great except the 1st minute of "Look Honey It’s The Vitties!!!". When Im relaxing to downbeat stuff it just has all the noises I don't want to hear.
All the rest of the tracks though are all great BUT they just don't flow together for me as an album. But hey it's RANDOM thoughts AY!

[travbrad1001]

WOW, this album is fantastic. I love all the tracks, with OMG being my favorite. This is Shulman's finest album yet in my opinion, even if there are a couple remixes. The tracks don't flow together that great, but that doesn't make the music any less amazing.

This is definately the best album i've heard so far this year, and it's going to be difficult for anything to top it. The album is just so chilled out, yet very psychedelic at the same time. Some chill-out isn't really that trippy, but this has heaps of psychedelia mixed in with a perfect chilled-out ethnic atmosphere. The music is just so incredibly soothing. If i had to describe it in one word i would say "bliss". This is the most emotion I have felt from any music in a long time.

[Charlie]

I was only recently introduced to Shulman (thanks to Psynews) and immediately fell in love with In Search Of A Meaningful Moment so I bought his first album, Soundscapes And Modern Tales, which I also found excellent. Consequently I had very high hopes for Random Thoughts but those hopes were not satisfied. It's well produced and technically excellent but it's not very musical and ultimately I feel a rather generic attempt at ambient-trance, particularly compared to his previous albums.

[euchkuh]

thats strange, I've posted here before yet my post cannot be found.
Anyway, great review, and I agree with almost everything written.
I find this album very unique and interesting, yet it didnt completely satisfied my expectation due to the fact that I liked "In Search of..." better.
However, it's one of the best ambient albums I've heard and I'm sure it'll be tough to top it as the best of 2006.

favs: 1(!!), 2, 3(!), 4, 6(!), 7(!)

[kabamaru]

Charlie, on Mar 20 2006, 05:00 PM, said:

I had very high hopes for Random Thoughts but those hopes were not satisfied. It's well produced and technically excellent but it's not very musical and ultimately I feel a rather generic attempt at ambient-trance, particularly compared to his previous albums.

As much as I love Shulman, I'll have to agree with Charlie on this one...

of course, we already knew that this one was not destined to be the third Shulman album but just a compilation of various works. So, lets hope its just a hiccup...

("I Dive" is a blissfull chill track though!)

[Riton]

Good ambient but nothing that amazing... agreed... had higher hopes for this rls..

[blueOrb]

The Journey Man Project, on Mar 26 2006, 09:16 AM, said:

Have to agree with Charlie and many of the others... a very average release, it shows the complete possibility of how generic psychedellic dub can get. It is a compilation of what I see as filler tracks, maybe one or two of these are amazingly good, but wish he'd released tehm on compilations and let us wait for a proper album. The progression of musical talent between his first two albums was amazing, but somehow this album leaves me cold. It has been a big turn off for me, and could easily effet my buying a third proper album. Whoever said this is beter than the Entheogenic release last year needs heir ears check (joke). But seriously, probably one of the most dissapointing releases I've heard for a long time..

Its funny how 2 people can perceive things so differently cos I would say the exact same about the entheogenic album ...

back on topic

I simply love this album ...my review

[SeaFeel]

mmm...well well well....High Quality ambient chill album!!!Nothing to say about it! I cant stop play this disc every day!!!Wonderfull ambient thoughts!!!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED...
if you dont have yet!