Melancholyman
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Posts posted by Melancholyman
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1.Peace (The Calling)
2.Lands End
3.Wake Me
4.Plateau Dedans
5-Perdido Encontrado
6.Caves At Noom
7.Dawning Venus
8.Endless
9.Innerflections
10.Friction Gentle
11.Lunar Sunrise
12.Ciel Ouvert
As you stand and watch the horizon, a beautiful sunset, an airliner passing by in the sky, or looking out your window watching the leaves gently falling from the trees on a dark fresh autumn night, you might have a sense of these objects being far away. And yet all these these objects are in your perception, and your perception is near, it's you, you are in it and it's in you. All these phenomena that you can experience through your perception is in a sense completely near and far away, and this is true. Yet, if you are too look for truth in logic, then this will go against the assumption that any statement is either true or false and that any statement cannot at the same time be true and false. But if it's true that something can be completely near and far away, two opposed notions, then we need to rethink our concept of logic. Because if anyone takes a moment to reflect upon this matter, it will occur to you that this statement is completely logical, consistent and true. What is even more intriguing is that if you reflect upon it further you will realize that it's also false. If you can realize this then you will at the same time realize where truth lies, it lies in that domain of thought and experience that always eludes any classification or categorization, it just bounces back and forth defying any attempt to be controlled.
Der Waldlaufers debut album is an album that centers around the emotional spectrum reached after such a realization that I just mentioned, there is nothing else a person can do than completely surrender to life. This implies an album with a slow pace, which it is. What Der Waldlaufer manages to create with his music is a sense of vast spaces, a sense of being situated in a large dome of some sort, sometimes with an ethnic touch pushing the boundaries out of the dome on to the wide planes of planet earth. The music has a strong connection with our origins, the nature we live side to side with, this means that the music does not convey an sense of boundlessness, although this notion is of course perfectly imaginable.
The music is permeated with this connection to nature, the stillness, the vast fields of green, lakes stretching for miles and miles. This is music that humbles a man. Even so, this permeation of nature is littered with subtle synthesized sounds making it feel fresh and up-to-date. This occasionally pushes the album into a more space ambient oriented tone. So there you have it, nature and space. But this is not all that is represented on the album, acoustic elements occasionally sets the stage for a sometimes more loungy approach. This makes for quite an ambivalence, bordering between nature and the artificial world we all live in. But this two-edgedness settles into a wonderful emotional state, which is due certainly to the intelligent composition of the music.
Der Waldlaufers debut is a slow paced emotional journey, with a strong tendency to depict nature. It's greatly composed in a non-intrusive way. It's aneautiful album well worth checking out, I think most people will be positively surprised. -
1. Langbortistan
2. Dybet
3. H2O
4.Refleksioner
5.Nordlys
6. Hypnose
7. Rejsen
How does an album come to be? Is it just parts sewn together, or is there some connection between them? Are tracks evolving from one another in one direction, from the first sound to a full fledged album, just as the universe supposedly sprang from a first instant and then evolved into the reality we can witness today, maybe the big bang was a sound, a sound that signified the starting point of the symphony that we call life. Or can the tracks interact with each other and the sound that was the starting point, are there mutual relations of supportive creation in between them? I'm not an artist, or a music producer, so I wouldn't be the right person to answer these questions. What I do know is that I have the fullest respect for creative individuals but also for creativity and creation in general, since I don't think creativity or creation solely applies to individuals, that is individual human beings, but to countless other things in the universe as well. So of course I had great respect towards Lauge&Baba Gnohm when I had the chance to follow them on a journey, starting from nothing and resulting in their first full length album. I have had the chance to listen to the tracks as they were made and comment on them, if I had any influence over them I cannot say but it was a fun task nonetheless. This also created a sort of personal relation to the album, watching it grow and evolve into it's final stages, resulting in this album being very dear to me before I even assumed the task of reviewing it, and I urge the reader to take this into account, but I will try to curb my enthusiasm while reviewing.
Longbortistan is an album with attitude, I think that after having released two radically different EP's, Daybreak and Monolith, Lauge&Baba Gnohm found an equilibrium in between those two approaches to downtempo, and made it with an initial self confidence that is reflected on this album. Responses to the EP's were good, although many reactions were that the tracks were very similar in character, but somehow still different enough to be entertaining and not repetitive. This is also the case on Långbortistan, it's hard to differentiate the tracks when listening to the album, but it never gets boring or repetitive, how this is done I cannot say but my guess is subtle elements playing a bigger role than my direct awarness can perceive.
The overall pace is slow, hard hitting, groovy and at the same time very psychedelic. There isn't a ton of complexity fused into the tracks, and this has never been a hallmark for Lague&Baba Gnohm, rather the hallmark is the strong emphasis on melodic content. Lauge&Baba Gnohm manages to fuse this cocky bass driven approach with melodic and ethereal elements, resulting in a very unique album. It's an album that brings to mind mysterious and peculiar conceptions, the true domain of psychedelic experience. As far as my experience has showed, artists tend to have this kind of air on earlier albums, fumbling around in a sort of unknown void, then after time the albums become more and more commonplace in character, I think this is a result of an artist sort of moving into a niche, not as to make an album bad or uninteresting, but that initial sense of mystery is diminished. Långbortistan is an album I would place in that early stage of development and brings about this very appealing mysterious characteristic.
The pace combined with an overall cohesive approach to the music makes it easy to depart on a more contemplative journey, so if you are into that kind of stuff this album will suit you very well. This is not space ambient or anything like that, this is highly beat driven melodic stuff, almost every track has it's own distinct melody and these are more often than not greatly executed, a perfect example of this is Hypnose(T7). The melodies are of the simplistic kind that get stuck in your head, in a good way.
Lauge&Baba Gnohm has made a groovy, psychedelic, melodic and mysterious album packed in a modest pace, resulting in a great first full length album. It's the journey that's interesting not the goal and Lauge&Baba Gnohm has just begun their long walk toward their (supposedly) not yet known niche.
If you like this review please check out my Blog at http://thenoseisperpendicular.blogspot.com/ -
Krusseldorf – From Soil to Space
1. Geometrics
2. Boxing
3. The Cell
4. First Blood
5. From Soil to Space
6. Click
7. Deep Fulgin
8. Tokyo Nights
9. Soe Doe
10. Deep into the Bowl
11. Choclop
12. Zyclops
13. A head under the Towel
After having reviewed Krusseldorf's second album, 'Bohemian groove', I was certain that this was the pinnacle of Simon Heath's career, he could never release an album that would top it. This was the perfect album, there were no flaws, no bad tracks, no mistakes, everything was meshed into something extraordinary. This album was Simon's fifteen minutes of fame, I told myself, and to be honest, how do you top something perfect? Well you can't really top it but you obviously can do it again! And perfect a second time around, is surely good enough for me.
The first thing you recognize is Krusseldorfs amazing production skills, it's crisp, acidic, snappy and the composition never feels misplaced or unconsidered. The composition is worth mentioning, it's a more daring one. Simon is pushing the boundaries a little bit into a more glitchy and at times crazy approach, reminiscent of 'Smokers lounge', only this time it is executed exceedingly better. What is also apparent is the dark, gloomy touch. 'From soil to space' does not have the same emphasis on melodic content as Bohemian Groove did, which was a very colorful album. The color spectrum on FSTS is towards a more brown and gray one, represented on the cover art. Here the center of gravity is the gloomy atmosphere and the glitchy composition. A good way of describing this sonic gourmet dish is the merging between Simon's other project Atrium Carceri and Krusseldorf.
So there's not a ton of melodies but they do appear from time to time. Although not as to make the music veer away too far from it's gloomy tendency, at most it sounds contemplatively beautiful with an edge of sadness. I think that this was a conscious choice from Simon and a good one at that. This album was never meant to convey something happy or elevating. It adds a mature touch, and it makes me regard Simon more as a great composer than a good downtempo producer.
Music can be art, and very much so on FSTS. Every listen I just sit and “watch” the music, looking at it from different angles, letting it give rise to different notions and conceptions in my mind, there is always some little detail I didn't notice before. I would like to hang it on the wall but this is of course not possible, it's a piece of truly abstract art. It might be true that a picture says more than a thousand words, and I feel inclined to submit to you that a good album says more than words can ever describe. And this is surely the case with 'From soil to space'.
If you like this review please check out my Blog at http://thenoseisperp...r.blogspot.com/
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Label: Aleph Zero Records
Catalog#: AlephZ15
Format: CD, Album, Partially Mixed
Country: Israel
Released: 31 May 2010
Tracklist:
1. Underwater
2. Choices
3. The way too...
4. See What I See, Hear What I Hear
5. Eggplant Week
6. Friends
7. Coffe
8. Smile
9.My Window
10. Room Of Creation
11. Just Another Night (part 2)
12. Closure
That place really had a big impact on me, so many years have passed, but still I often think about it. The sun is heading towards it's nightly rest, giving away a piercing tone of yellow over the landscape, trees are rushing by, there are cottages littered among the vivid green fields, some manors as well, but they appear with longer intervals. Some horses wander around their relatively vast enclosures, an eagle swiftly and nobly flies through the air into the sun. It's a really fantastic pastoral view that is ever changing before my eyes, that sense of constantly arriving and constantly departing induces a sense of ease throughout my being. Despite this visual symphony that is going on in my field of vision I can only think of that place, I miss it, and as ever more beautiful panoramas are appearing before me, that sense of a place, somewhere, sometime, grows stronger, it feels so familiar. And I realize, it's a place I could call home, yet, baffling as it is, I've never been there, nor do I have any idea of where it is. Some say it's an inherit feeling of paradise, when we as humans lived easily on the grass lands of Africa, but maybe it's not a lost memory, maybe it's a longing, a feeling of travel to unknown whereabouts, maybe it's a destination. Or maybe, the destination, is the journey.
Eitan Reiter is an artist that is not afraid to make exactly the music he wants to. “Places I miss that I haven't been to”, is really not your typical downtempo album, if it is anything it is very unique, mysterious, genre crossing, experimental and daring. Daring because it is so vastly imaginative, original, and extremely varied. Just as when I was sitting on the train and the landscape was constantly changing into something new, Eitans music has that same characteristic, but yet there is still a coherent picture conveyed by the music, just as landscapes just don't go from dense lush forests into dry deserts over no stretch of land. The music varies from elevated, pristine, to modestly happy tones over to deep melancholic vistas and into mysterious unexplored psychedelic realms, this is an album that has a very wide emotional scope. But don't worry, you won't be thrusted into different emotional states, Eitans seems to have realized the dignity and importance of patience, letting the listener smoothly cross from one emotional realm to another.
I more than once find myself asking, “Can this really be called music?” Eitan is not composing complex music, but more sounds sewn together into a subtle sonic tapestry bordering between music and just sound. The varied character of the album mediates a strong incentive to keep a listener interested throughout the whole album, there really is no way in predicting what will be up next. Producing a varied album involves high stakes, the possibility to not excel increases relative to the degree of variedness in the album, and I can quite confidently say that Eitan does excel in every department he's managed to squeeze into this album. To bear in mind is that this is a very hard-digested album, it took a long time before I realized that this was actually a great album. So my recommendation is to give this album a lot of time, and if you already have been listening to this but never really got into it, give it another chance, you might be surprised.
If you like this review please check out my BLOG where I post reviews and other interesting stuff! -
Almost fooled me. It sounded like happy news, but when I saw the tracklist it started to seem more and more unlikely by each track. I was happy at first
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Spandau Ballet - Gold
80:s POWAH!!! oHHH YEAHHHH!
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ITYM Skylon.
lol, thx, need to edit that haha. That's the proof I have no idea of what I'm talking about
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You can read my thoughts on my blog. http://thenoseisperpendicular.blogspot.com/2011/03/ott-mir.html
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Good review usling
Very nice for a first review. LOL@Trance2MoveU review -
I think the single is boring and uninspired, sry.
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Label: Fluid Audio
Catalog#: fluidaudio007
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: 31 Jan 2011
Genre: Classical, Electronic
Style: Neo-Classical, Downtempo, Experimental
01. Acoustic Tale 1 (Introduction) (8:30)
02. Acoustic Tale 2 (5:19)
03. Acoustic Tale 3 (4:21)
04. Acoustic Tale 4 (With Danny Norbury) (7:18)
05. Acoustic Tale 5 (8:45)
06. Acoustic Tale 6 (6:37)
07. Acoustic Tale 7 (Inspired By Franz Kafka) (4:54)
08. Acoustic Tale 8 (Dedicated To Sergei Rachmaninoff) (5:08)
09. Acoustic Tale 9 (7:28)
10. Acoustic Tale 10 (6:21)
11. Acoustic Tale 11 (Appendix) (4:09)
This album is a tough nut to crack. Mainly since I am not used to review this kind of music, namely modern classical, neo classical, ambient or whatever name you wish to put on it. My first encounter with Field Rotation was on the compilation Hope, also released by Fluid Audio, he also made an appearance on Imaginary Friends by Ultimae, both of these appearances was with Regenzeit, altough with two different versions of it. This track with it's different variations is without doubt one of the most amazing psychedelic compositions that has reached my ears. It's up there with the greatest of the great within the psychedelic movement.
Naturally the encounter with this wonderful piece of music raised my attention towards this artists, and it was with great anticipation I awaited his first album Licht und Schatten released on Fluid Audio. A great album, but sadly none of the tracks on this album could compete with Regenzeit. I thought it was strange when Field Rotation claimed that Licht und Schatten was probably the last electronic album he would release, but this only shows that nobody knows anyone better than him or herself. After having listened through Acoustic Tales it becomes clear that Christoph Berg is more at ease creating music with a strong emphasis on acoustic elements.
As the name implies this album is a nexus of different tales, and the album does convey an emotional story from start to end. Overall the music is quite abrasive, gritty, dark and contemplative, but at the same time amazingly beautiful with a great use of elongated violin strings. I love emotional music and if artists like Solar Fields, Krusseldorf, Bluetech, James Murray, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Shpongle and the like can be seen as to create some sort of emotional psychedelic sci-fi stories, which is by no means anything bad of course, then Field Rotation with Acoustic Tales can be seen as creating that classical dark and gloomy fairy tale that you can find in old dusty books hidden in an old mansions cellar, it's an emotional journey that brings to mind more ancient conceptions. Even with this strong contrast towards downtempo music I just mentioned, Field Rotation manages to keep some of that psychedelic sense shown in Regenzeit and Licht und Schatten, this is especially apparent in acoustic tale 2, it can also be find it acoustic tale 4 and 5.
It's obvious there is a lot of thought and work behind this album, it only takes a glimpse on the packaging of this release to realize that. And sadly most you you reading this might never see that package since it's already sold out. I will not go into interpreting what the packaging and all it's contents could mean, I'd probably get it wrong anyways. The album is sold out but, I want to urge everyone and anyone to get a hold of this masterpiece no matter what. I don't know if it will be released in digital format but we can always hope, otherwise I guess you know what to do
I have started a blog where I will mainly publish musical reviews, I'd be happy to get some visitors every now and then.
You can find it on the following adress: http://thenoseisperpendicular.blogspot.com/ -
Why all older great artists of psy/goa now make some gayish melodic commercial shits... Are they become bored of making music? So why they continue making with no sense or wish?
When he was new artist music was better, more complexity and better ideas, quaility too. Now they just made without any of those things, just for money. So now i should make something and release for junkies and so-called new age hippies, specialy for girls that says "I listen psy trance, best music ever! Best people come there, but feelings... yeaaaah! Om Namah Shivaya, Boom Shankar, boooom Ganesh peaaaaace!". For me those ppls are uneducated and illiterate peasants of modern psy/goa scene. Thats same think like Ferrari made new car, best looking ever but can go only 100 km/h. So who will buy it? Just some cavemen or someone who have never drived or had car before and they think they have best car ever!
They are using phrases and thinks they didnt know what they are before they started listen to best music ever. They dress fluo hippie clothes, some funky things too, they are all alices in wonderland, everyone have own wonderland. Debilism of psy scene.
So Talamasca makes music for new age alices in hippielands. If you read this you will understand why you dont need nothing new from Talamasca or most new releases from legendary artists.
And now dont go against me that i dont respect him. I really dont respect him or his music like before because he dont deserve.
PS. But he deserve one hairwash, thats for sure
I'm an uneducated Alice in hippieland!
And btw, just lay off the hate mongering, it just presents you as an immature teenager... -
Wonderful! Cheeeeeeeese!
I think Epic Transition is a much better track though. Wonderful! Cheese for breakfast, is there any other way? -
I haven't got into this album deep yet, although my impressions this far is that it's a weak Solar Fields album. Unite is terribly good though. I am with you on 2005, what's that all about? But honestly I think that as artists, you can make maybe one or two albums total during your whole career that are masterpieces. I think it has to do with a certain time in your life when you are really connected with life, or things beyond life or whatever it may be, God, dunno...take your pick
What I mean is that during that period of time what you create becomes so connected with "this" that it inevitably becomes a masterpiece. I think that James Murray will never make anything better than Where Edges Meet, I hope he proves me wrong. And for Krusseldorf, Simon Heath I think he perfected his talent with Bohemian Groove. I mean honestly, listen to Bluetech, Prima Materia and Elementary Particles, those two albums are such wonderful depictions of the psychedelic experience, to my ears he hasn't done anything after that that comes even close. To me it seems that this is just how things work, some period in your life you have that "thing", eh :s and what comes out of you during that time is wonderful, and I actually don't think or believe that a person can reach that place twice in a lifetime. And, Field Rotations new album coming up seems to be one of those "in touch with thing" albums, but regenzeit on Hope is WONDERFUL...eh..wa whatever... -
One of a couple great chillout releases during 2010 (Galaxy, Psyfactor...). This album holds a very high standard all throughout, more emotional in-your-face than relaxed, but the talent behind it is undeniable. The first track is a classic in my book.
Which are those albums from Galaxy and Psyfactor? I'd be very interested in checking them out! Thanks
edit: sry of course I can check discogs....anyways... _S:S
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It's from philosopher and spiritual entertainer Alan Watts. Be sure to check out his lectures on "Out of your Mind", great stuff.
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It died along with the old Off-Topic subforum. Anyway, welcome.
LOL
Welcome, I'm a downtempo fan and not so into Goa, but I still visit this forum almost daily.
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Yes, it seems they softened out. Can happen to anyone, even Solar Fields' Movements album suffers by the same problem. Soft albums are good, but there's already too much of them. We've got Enya and Yanni for that. CBL's time is too valuable to waste.
The reason why I listen to the music I listen, is also because it sounds like not from this world. But this mellow music sounds very much like from this world. It could represent Earth on solar system convention.
If the music is in this world, or in your perception of things, then how can it be from another world or even sound like it's from an other world, aren't all things we experience from the world we live in, however peculiar?
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I fear this will be just my cup of tea lol
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yeah good review man..
i highly enjoyed the album.. a little more acidic than I thought it might be which is neither a plus or negative. I still think I like the first part of the trilogy the best. I hope soon I find the time to listen to all three in sequence on my nice hi-fi...... probably not though
Yeah that would be nice, but if I am not on some "substance" I loose interest even in an 80min album. But on special occasion I think that going through all three albums in a row must be a blast!
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I've listened through this once and my first impression is that this album is not really an improvement from Last Resort, more of a continuation on the same level. More listens required though.
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I really appreciate your reviews; usually the very super descriptive track-by-track ones turn me off - and only make sense to me anyway after I've listened enough to the album myself.
Professionally done, thanks dude!
Thx, always nice to get positive feedback.
The album is really great!Cheers!
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Krusseldorf - Bohemian Groove
Label: Beats & Pieces
Catalog#: BNP001
Format: CD, Album
Country: Israel
Released: 08 Feb 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: IDM, Downtempo, AmbientTracklist:
1. Forest Fever (8:06)
2. Insectoid (4:57)
3. Inbound (5:52)
4. Nobs (5:57)
5. Bohemian Groove (7:21)
6. 5 Pointed Star (6:12)
7. Goose Beat (6:19)
8. Prayer Of The Big Band (4:42)
9. Growhouse (5:21)
10. Orion (5:02)
11. Mushroom Soup (5:43)
12. Pouncer (5:52)
13. Teachings Of Old (6:10)
I love artists where you don't have to think about the quality of the release, these artists inherits such a skill in artistic production of music, so even if they come up with something radically different than anything they've released before, you know that you can shove it into your cd player and be sure that if you don't like it at first glance, it's not the music doing anything wrong, it's you not understanding what the artist has accomplished.
One of the these artists is Swedish based music producer Simon Heath, aka Krusseldorf or maybe more known to some under his alias Atrium Carceri. Simon is one of those artists that possesses tremendous production and composition skills, even when he is using sounds that may not appeal to ones own taste, these sounds are so cleverly put together that it's impossible not to like it. I repeatedly find myself engulfed by the composition, totally missing the music experience as a whole.
The first release under his alias Krusseldorf was 'Smokers Lounge'. Smokers Lounge was a fresh breeze when it hit the market, it was a release where new ways of producing was tried out, new ideas implemented, the outcome was a strong album with some magnificent pieces of music as in tracks as Glugg and Death Notes. What Simon did was to keep and stay true to the essence of these remarkable tracks, fuse it with a more overall positive vibe, reducing the complexity of the tracks for a more laid back and enjoyable listening experience. In my opinion, this is much better suited for a ”smokers lounge” than the previous album. As a whole the music is very soft, with slow groovy and dubby basslines, often accompanied by light and intricately composed melodies. This is a reoccurring feature of the music, being very light or airy in atmosphere, almost sweeping through your mind unnoticed. Even so, having a very light atmosphere the feel of the music ranges from joy, to a sometimes more gloomy approach. There are elements of lounge, ambient, downtempo, psychill, IDM, Dub and even some flashes of neo classical. It's a great mix, and it's done so well that everything seems to blend into a new cohesive genre, we may call it “x-tra everything”! Bohemian Groove is a seamless ride from start to finish, a polished ride through the art of musical creation, a perfect mix between complexity and simplicity, melody and composition, melancholy and joy. Simon might actually have managed to achieve the deed of creating an album in the spirit of the “middle way”. Because that is exactly where Bohemian Groove puts you, in the middle, there are no extremes, no absolute values, positive or negative, just a continuous curve with a modest amplitude, yin and yang.
Simon is an artist in the true sense of the word. You can literally hear and feel the love for the creations process in this album. There is no doubt about it. The music flows with ease through your mind, just in the same way as everyday experience does. Summer is knocking at the door here in the northern hemisphere, and I can see no better way to celebrate it than giving this musical treat a spin in your cd player, or a decoding in your ipod.This review was originally written for and published at Chillbase.org Head over to read more reviews, download free releases and more!
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nice review...
I love all the releases from CBL
thx!
Lauge & Baba Gnohm - Langbortistan
in 2011
Posted
Thx! Altough the blog is sort of updated quite seldom. But I will also post the reviews I write there here. So you won't be missing out if not visiting, maybe some offtopic jaga like fractals