Shaft

Secede - Tryshasla 2005 Sending Orbs, http://www.sendingorbs.com 1. Hospital Requiem 2. Foliage Pathway 3. Leraine 4. The Realms Of Sanda 5. The King Of Sanda 6. Born In A Tropical Swamp 7. Kingdom Of Hearts 8. Friday Fall 9. Terata 10. Shrine 11. We No Longer Need Ourselves Well it's a long time since the release date and I've finally gotten around to reviewing Tryshasla. Reviewing this album after one listen would not do it justice. Since recieving the stunning package via SO (it really is - the artwork is a treat) I've played this at home, walked with it in the woods, spun it on the motorway, listened to it before bed, woke up with it, brought it just about anywhere. So let's break it down, track by track. 1. Hospital Requiem Where've you been? - Let me go - Friend? Paranoid City opens up the album, with harsh drones eventually merging into a soft, lullaby like melody. Soft pads, bleeps, technological noise and drones fill the space. As an opener it's technically excellent, but this one doesn't attract many rotations on my iPod. I find the first few minutes a little difficult to listen to compared to the rest. Solid album opener however, and a great piece of ambient. 2. Foliage Pathway Foliage Pathway is a lot lighter track which is seamlessly mixed in from the last - but at the same time nothing is cut out so that it's easy to spin in your DJ set. This also is a very nice beatless ambient piece which starts off with subtle pads, then a melody which 'attracts' all the other elements in the piece to come forward, bringing up the volume. Again, extremely sample heavy, lush and amazing. There's so many layers here that picking them apart after even heavy listening is difficult. You could compare this to for example Future Sound Of London - after the 'main' piece ends, there's some sort of melody which comes as a little interlude between the next track. This one is played on a glockenspiel, with piano and then boat rowing sound effects. Smooth. 3. Leraine (featuring Kettel) Well this is the track that led me to buy the album - starting off with a windy sample and the melody filtered through a low pass filter. More samples litter this part of the piece, but it's entirely melody driven. Eventually the filter cutoff is released and we get a huge bassline and hiphop like drums. The effect is awesome. Production again here is top notch and as slick as a bucketful of oil. There's so much variation too, and even though the track runs for almost 8 minutes, it doesn't seem like it! Again, we have a beautiful interlude played on some type of synthesiser, it's a filtered pad chord sequence. Very melancholic. Superb track. 4. The Realms Of Sanda Skin burns - The world's coming to an end. This is another great ambient piece. Starts off with what sounds like a busy arcade setting but after a while we do get pads! Again, Lennard has treated us to a huge collection of samples, picturing Sanda in vivid colours. I love the subtle use of the piano here - sounds almost like another synthesiser, but not quite. It's perhaps a little hard to describe this piece, you have to hear it to appreciate it. The girl's voice at the end is incredibly sexy with just a hint of melancholy. I love the little baby squeal at the end, cute! 5. The King Of Sanda This tune is a very descriptive piece. It sounds like you're in a king's castle - which obviously was the point. It's not so much a track you could easily mix as it's just part of the album - it helps to convey the story. And being only 2 minutes it's over pretty fast. So you have monks chanting, brass, a slow steady jazz backing with double bass and generally a lovely piece of music. Thumbs up. 6. Born In A Tropical Swamp Well I bought the album for Leraine, but this track really is the icing on the cake. It's immaculately produced, with monks chanting in the beginning, soft pads and vinyl noise. A beat comes in which is layered with another beat until the main beat comes in. Slow and steady. The track picks up pace midway through, with no change in tempo - but nice melody again played by glockenspiels. The real cream here is right at the end where the drums fade out and some luscious, thick pads take the main chord sequence and turn it into something special - beautiful even. Probably my favourite moment in the album. We then get a short conversation extract which is heavily processed and reverbed - but it fits perfectly. Amazing track - worth the purchase for this alone! 7. Kingdom Of Hearts I didn't use to like this track, to be honest. But it really has grown on me - it's very melancholic with some kind of synthesised choir. It can make you cry if you're in that mood - it feels like you've just lost someone. In addition to the synthesised pads we get some strings which build up to a climax which has reduced me to tears sometimes. Or if not that, I get a very teary feeling. Fantastic tune, it really is. *sniff* 8. Friday Fall In stark constrast to the previous composition, this is a very happy, bouncy, almost drum and bass style piece of music. There's a lot going on here, with some cool acoustic guitar lines. It's a testament to the talent of Lennard - who seems to be able to produce nearly any style of music. I would also consider it a wake up call to producers out there - you don't have to repeat the same style on an album for it to be great. 9. Terata Terata starts off on the piano, but doesn't linger there - soft pads fade in and this is another treat - a fantastic piece of beatless ambient. Well, almost. There's a sort of percussion loop that sounds like the train from the pictures in the album booklet. It's not that long though and may leave you wanting more! 10. Shrine Again, this start off on the piano but we get a lovely little melody here, accompanied by crickets and insects of different varieties. The absolute beauty of this track is when the piano cuts out at the end - turn up your speakers as this next bit is very soft and and heartbreaking. Extremely faint chords in the background which are incredibly beautiful. It's just a heart melter. Stunning composition. 11. We No Longer Need Ourselves This track sums up the album really. It's more positive than Shrine, with kids screaming in the background - and to close, a train passing by in the background. Though it's a little short and you might feel cheated out of a proper length track. However it's a lovely end to the album, and rounds everything up perfectly. So the album draws to a close, again. For at least the 50th time. This album is so good that it pains me to think that only 1,500 copies were pressed - including a reprint of 500 copies! It's a classic in every sense of the word - you could easily have it up there with Lifeforms - it has so many different styles of music fused into a very unique package, with some definite Secede stamp. This guy definitely has talent. For me what this album does is bring me happiness, sadness, joy, and frustration at the fact that it's just over 50 minutes - the sign of it being good though is that I want more. But I am pleased that the tracks are this good rather than being a 70 minute album with some mediocre tracks thrown in. Every track here is amazing in it's own right. And I can't say this about many of my albums. Favourites: 2, 3 (!!!), 4, 5 (!), 6 (!!!!), 7 (!!), 8, 9 (!), 10 (!!!) Note: At the time of writing Tryshasla is out of print at Sending Orbs. Badger them enough and they might hopefully reprint it. Everyone who likes ambient should listen to this album.

Yeah. Nice gallery you got there, too.

You know, I do believe I've taken a picture exactly like that.

But a few days ago you showed us some stepp pictures of skinny girls, yes? You can buy a replacement cable for peanuts if you lost that one. You know what I think? There are no such pictures.

Moved to Artist News & Label Announcements.

Yeah, definitely. Smoked Glass and Chrome is very sample heavy, but the production is so exquisite that the vocals perfectly fit the track. IMO sample CD vocals are waaay too over used.

Nice. Yeah I went to this place, don't know whether it's a chain or not, but they had some decent albums as low as £3. I thought 3 was enough, didn't want to blow loads of money on 10 or more.

1 + 2 sound really good. Not too sure about the Ott track, but his track with OOOD is pretty sweet so perhaps the rest of the album will be a little more varied (hopefully different to previous works).

Some bargains I picked up for a fiver apiece... * Radiohead - OK Computer http://www.discogs.com/release/83182 * Kosheen - Resist http://www.discogs.com/release/40282 * Groove Armada - Vertigo http://www.discogs.com/release/210596

Thought you stopped recommending music to him.

I think the releases are digital only, so not a big plus for me... But I may try them out. You can preview/buy here: http://www.fsoldigital.com

Great news. I still can't believe they released the 'best of fsol' as it has no new tracks/remixes etc. Not good enough for someone with almost their entire discography... I will definitely check this one. Cheers for the heads up!

You get overly excited when recieving CDs. Kid in a candy shop, eh?

I like that one. Would work better if they dropped the frame and the huge text, and used something more subtle. But yeah, it's pretty funny.

Can we please stick to REVIEWING the album?

Sending Orbs is a brilliant example of a label that produces quality music + quality artwork that 'fits' with the music. Secede's Tryshasla is contemplated beautifully with the CD artwork. But you're right, never judge a book by it's cover.

Best fit in General, I think.

Yeah, I mixed it for doing some studying. I've done some nice mixes with beats in them, I just wanted something a little less beat heavy. Thanks for the feedback!

Ah well I don't mix per se. This was done roughly on a computer... but if/when I get proper equipment this would be the sort of stuff I'd play. Thanks! I took the photo this afternoon and liked it a lot, so I used it as the cover.

As Gnome said, be best checking their sublabel Hymen Records, you can get that from the same website. Sending Orbs releases are brilliant, and new Kettel/Secede collab album, Secede album and Yagya album this year. Fantastic

Well actually I meant Hymen Recs, but their mail order is combined with Ant-Zen's. The Kattoo album is fantastic (Hang On To A Dream), so I may on the lookout for more of their stuff.

Anything from Sending Orbs. http://www.sendingorbs.com You can also buy some good idm from ant zen, however their shop is a little outdated and doesn't have samples/online cart etc. http://www.ant-zen.com Also, check out my latest mix, it contains a nice selection of tracks that you might want to have a listen to. Leave some feedback if you like, that'd be grand. http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=45670

[ Focus ] Just been toying with the idea of a mix to help focus energy into everyday tasks. I handpicked these tracks out of my growing collection, this is no kind of label playlist! Featuring tracks from quality labels such as Merck, Sending Orbs, Chill Tribe, Ultimae, Poker Flat, Ninja Tune, Toytronic and more! Graphic design + photography by myself. Have a listen! http://www.sendspace.com/file/73u3m9

IMO, Shpongle is not a chill band in any sense of the word.

Actually it looks pretty nice. Not that I'm getting a copy.