[DeathPosture]

Electrypnose – Subliminal Melancholies



Hi-res cover: front + back

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!! 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

[Jeller]

are the tracks comparable to murmures des ombres?
thne iwill like it for sure

[Kabrathor]

not really ...
this album is much more chill- melancholic and melodic oriented.
there is IDM elements and a track running at 180 bpm, but not really as hard as murumures des ombres.
this kind of experiences is a side project of le barde, will have to wait a little to hear more such things.

cheerz

ps :: try to check the chill out tracks here www.electrypnose.ch -> download ... it's a good idea of the moods

[Sawfly]

I didn't expect much from this album, I like his psystuff, but thought this would be boring psychill. I was happily surprised when this was really good

[RAH]

Artist: Electrypnose
Album: Subliminal Melancholies
Label: Ajana Records
CAT: AJACD006
Sonic-Energy.net: http://www.sonic-ene...ent/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…

[Gutty]

i think no. 5 is cool as hell.
his level of production is top notch tho i haven't heard a bad tune from him yet

[frisbee]

its not a bad album, but still i am a little disappointed because i find there is no track in it that is as brilliant as perce oreille form the magical journey comp.

track 10 is my favourite.

[Drosophila]

I liked Electrypnose's release on Peak Rec. earlier this yeah, and had checked some of his chill stuff out before and liked it. So I had some expectations to be fulfilled and I think he did that for me ... I don't find it groundbreaking but still a solid release.
Ajana has done it again!!! I'm still not sure if I like this one best or Psyfactor's Endless Univers (which I really like!!!) of Ajana 2006 releases...

btw DP Ajana is a dutch label same as Trishula Records

[DeathPosture]

Drosophila, on Aug 29 2006, 10:39 PM, said:

btw DP Ajana is a dutch label same as Trishula Records

You're right - Mouka is based in The Netherlands, but Trishula/Ajana founder Rudra is based in Germany!

But thanks for the reminder - I'll remember it for the next time!

[Ajana Records]

DeathPosture, on Aug 30 2006, 02:29 PM, said:

You're right - Mouka is based in The Netherlands, but Trishula/Ajana founder Rudra is based in Germany! 

But thanks for the reminder - I'll remember it for the next time! 

To clear some things up here, both the labels are founded by Mouka & Rudra and where situated in Germany untill August 2006.
We had the company registered in Germany untill recently Rudra left the labels and now the labels are registered in The Netherlands.

Cheers
Mouka

[Time_Trap]

Very nice album, in fact much better than what I expected..
Drifting between atmospheric and melodic ambient soundscapes, to chilly beats, enchanting to emotional melodies and IDM rhythms/elements.

Especially track 09 - New Wave & track 10. - This Is the Beginning have very distinct IDM breaks and generally all over the album you can notice sounds/rhytms that are common in IDM as well. Track 8 - Bozom even features didgeridoo..! Lots of congratulations to Electrypnose for this release, worth buying, very nice fusion of styles that create a downtempo journey..

10/10 from me ...

[Jon Cocco]

IMPRESSIONS

There are a handful of good/great songs here.

Track 2 is great. No. Track 2 is excellent. Neverending Story on this album is my favorite chill track by this artist since PERCE OREILLE.

I like the breaks work with the eerie ambience in track 10 but other than those moments I find track 10 tedious to listen to. Wow, talk about music perfectly composed for the sound of a tragic symphony...that would be track 11 which ends the album...like some haunting/sad tune they could have used (or use) in a Tim Burton movie. I like it.

frisbee, on Aug 15 2006, 05:45 AM, said:

its not a bad album, but still i am a little disappointed because i find there is no track in it that is as brilliant as perce oreille form the magical journey comp.

I agree. Perce Oreille is a great song. It has so much feeling...and among everything taking place... that echoed tune is infectious. Perce Oreille is my favorite chill song by this artist and definitely one of his best.

Also I like when he brings out strong melodies over the streaming sounds and beats as he does at the second half of Oscillate in the Crazy Goblins And Wicked Pixie comp. It doesn't come close to topping Perce Oreille though.

[Jon Cocco]

ELECTRYPNOSE: SUBLIMINAL MELANCHOLIES
2006
FULL REVIEW


01. 06’19” Submarine ... B
02. 06’15” Neverending Story ... A-
03. 06’20” Cordial Family ... B
04. 06’14” Mountain Landscape ... B-
05. 06’17” Entre Palmeras ... B+
06. 06’25” Tripad ... A-
07. 07’41” Rozococie ... B-
08. 06’38” Bozom ... B
09. 04’47” New Wave ... B
10. 06’00” This Is The Beginning ... B+
11. 05’00” 00-16 ... B


Very good album!!!

Great melodies, beats, emotion, ambience/atmosphere. Some of these tracks are mentally provoking. It's interesting. I really like his work on this album. It's very different from what I'm generally used in the downtempo genre. Lots of feeling and thought seems to have gone into this one. I really like the variety of songs here. From ambient/chill, to downtempo, new agey/chill, breakbeat/downtempo. He even ends the album with a sad (almost tragic sounding) yet beautiful downbeat/ambient piece to conclude the moody opening ambient one. I'm generally not big on breakbeats and although I'm glad he limeted the album to of them, I really like them both. How he created these songs, what he placed around the breakbeats are great. Having these two (tracks 9, 10) tracks makes a nice variety too. Both are good, maybe one or both is great!


In Conclusion, Electrypnose: Subliminal Melancholies is my most favorite downtempo album by a main artist in 2006. It has a handful of good and great songs on it. This is moody, at times sad (opening song) or surreal like stepping into a fairytale or dream (track 2, 6), album. And some tracks are more driven in the beat or beats (Tracks 3, 8, 9, 10). There are no bad or average tracks here. Track 4 and especially 7 are both slower and less engaging and catchy compared to others to me. Overall Subliminal Melancholies isn't a masterpiece but a follow-up to this style has that potential. This album is like a breath of fresh air. Some of the work here is excellent. I love it. My friends love it. There's atleast one or two songs that I consider superb for the downtempo genre. I could go on and on. This is easily one of the top best downtempo and electronica albums of 2006.


Favorite songs: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11.


B+

[Gnome]

Im really impressed.
Not just because of the quality of the whole package but also because of his two IDM tracks New Wave and This Is The Beginning,with the second one being a flawless track.
If he ever decides to release an IDM album in this style i'll be the first to buy it.

[advance]

I just love Tripad! What an amazing ambient track... gives me such unadulterated joy when its finally built and exploding! Love it!

[Jon Cocco]

One of the TOP best downtempo/chill albums of 2006 deserves to be brought back up to the top.

Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/kz79j

Updated on 1/5/07.

I listened through his album again today. Track 2 and 6 are really something here and track 5 almost sounds like goa in slowed down motion to a degree, those melodies.

This artist has potential to make a masterpiece. If this guy creates a Down-Tempo follow-up sequel to this one with songs as great and superb (and/or better i.e: amazing, innovative, groundbreaking if possible, stunnning!) as his Top BEST stuff here, (and ever) it is very possible.

I was not impressed by his other (dark psytrance) album released earlier in 2006 (less engaging, gripping) but after hearing those melodies in his work on the song Oscillate on the Crazy Goblins and Wicked Pixie comp, I'm convinced he can make a far more ambitious, imaginative, wild, layered (melodies!) dynamic, catchy, and kickass dark psytrance album also!

The balls in his court. What's next. Down-Tempo, dark psy or something else. I'd think he'd want to take a break from downtempo and release some singles before launching another album so soon. This artists can make a masterpiece. He's very talanted.

More [superb] songs like and beyond tracks 2 and 6 here, and Perce Oreille found on 2006's "A Magical Journey" comp would be very impressive. I love these songs!!

Electrypnose's Juste Pour Toi track on 2006's Future Sound Theory comp sounded very good or great based on the sample I heard.

[pedro]

It is good to see a regular-speed psy-trance artist choosing not to making typical ambient trance when it is time to slow down. And Electrypnose almost pulls it off completely. There are some great tracks in this album - particularly 2, 6 and 10. But there are several mediocre ones such as 3, 4, 5 and 8.

All in all, I would recommend this album and am encouraged by its attempt to be somewhat different.


Pedro

[LiqViz]

One of my favorite ambient/chill-out albums of the year.... big fan of Electrypnose since being blown away by his live set, chillout and trance...

[blueOrb]

this is a very good chillout album with lots of dark moments ...iam really digging the purely electronic chill vibe ajana records is emitting!

[abasio]

I didn't really like this when I first got it. It was one of those albums that I could tell was quality through & through but didn't grab me!
Listening to it again quite a few time over the last few days though has made me appreciate it a little more.
& Tripad is an amazing track. Love it