abasio

Aphid Moon - Elavate

Artist: Mr. Rogers Title: Ooze System Label: BasSTAR, Geomagnetic.TV Released: 2007 Style: Breaks, Downtempo, Trip Hop Tracklist 1 Gangsta' Goose (7:48) 2 Mr. Lemurian (6:07) 3 Space Vagina (8:17) 4 The DMT Factor (6:58) 5 Sparkplug (7:44) 6 Spookey Kabluey (7:08) 7 Bahroo! (8:48) 8 A Boy And His Blob (8:33) 9 Tameron's Cube (8:01) 10 Life (7:17) Ooze System by Mr. Rogers is to be honest nothing like I was expecting. I had only read the description given at Psyshop merely calling this Psytrance. From the cover I was expecting this to be either some hard as nails Suomi or cheesy ass fullon. It might be time for Psyshop to come out of the dark ages and update their 3 styles of Psytrance, progress trance and ambient. This release squarely falls into none of those categories. It is psychedelic for sure, oozing with trippy sounds indeed but it really untrancey! It is too upbeat to be called ambient but the beats are too sporadic and breaky to conform to trance. It is heavy on the bass that reverberates from side to side in headphones and surround systems and for me has a feeling of psychedelic funky hip hop come chilled breakbeat. The first three tracks are decidedly underwhelming, the second having an annoying sample halfway through that makes me cringe when I hear it. After the sample in the third track though things pick up with some great wet synth work lying under some funky beats. There are some nice dark bass synths, trippy samples and light melodic sounds that coalesce into a pretty decent track. The DMT Factor can also be found on the compilation Chilldren Of The Blue Ray - 13 Moons and is where I think my whole feeling of this album being psy hop or psychedelic hip hop started. The bass, the beats and the long vocal sample all make me feel like I am in some funky underground hip hop club. If you think of hip hop as just hip pop rap crap don't get the wrong idea, I think of hip hop as funky and chilled dance music without any caps in the ass. Also even though I usually shy away from drug samples in tracks, this one is just fucked up enough for me to enjoy. The description of DMT is so far from my own experience while being just the same, it's cool. Sparkplug sounds like some pretty regular hip hop with a bassline that moves a little more and a few psychedelic noises in the background. But the beats, lyrics and overall feeling is a little too "normal" for my liking. Spookey Kabluey starts with a funky beat and a reverberating bassline. More sounds come in throughout and it ends up as a busy but fairly average track. Bahroo! is a much more bouncy track with lots of melody but for me som of the melodies are a little on the cheesy side which is a shame as the others are really nice. A Boy And His Blob is a very glitchy track that when in the right mood can really hit the right spot. However the rest of the album does not create this mood and this seems out of place. One for a mix set. Tameron's Cube starts off glitchy too but finds some order more quickly and gets the balance just right to leave the track as some cool funky glitchy danceable chillout. Life is more of a moody lounge track than anything else. It has the odd psychedelic touch here and there but more of an urban atmosphere for late night/early morning reverie. It’s a nice comedown to the album. Recommendation: This album is pretty nice, it is nothing special in terms of quality but the mix of hip hop elements with the psy and electronica is pretty cool. It's interesting to listen to and I found myself listening to it quite a lot at the beginning but it's not a classic and in a relatively short time it gets old and tired. Most of the tracks don't have enough progression so end up sounding too long and I feel the urge to skip them. This album could be cool for chillout DJs though as there are definitely some nice moments here that could go well in a variety of sets.

Artist: Yagya Title: Rigning Label: Sending Orbs Released: 21 Jan 2009 Style: Ambient Techno / IDM Tracklist 1 Rigning Einn (6:03) 2 Rigning Tvö (6:39) 3 Rigning þrjú (7:02) 4 Rigning Fjórir (3:12) 5 Rigning Fimm (6:40) 6 Rigning Sex (6:52) 7 Rigning Sjö (6:39) 8 Rigning Átta (5:30) 9 Rigning Níu (6:29) 10 Rigning Tíu (7:43) Yagya is out with another album on one of my favourite labels at the moment, Sending Orbs. Now Yagya's first album on Sending Orbs (2nd overall following Rhythm Of Snow on Force Inc. Music Works), Will I Dream During The Process, left me kind of cold. I could hear the quality in the music, recognized that it was well made and well conceptualized but I could never get into it. After 10 or so attempts I left on my CD shelf for a while, tried it again with similar dissatisfaction. I was then going to give this album a miss but after hearing so much praise for it and seeing the beautiful rainy cover I decided to buy this and hear for myself. I am so glad that I did as I connected with this one straight away and after heavy rotation in my CD player and ipod I am still very much in love with this album. It is similar in feel to Will I Dream During The Process? but it has that missing something that I just couldn't put my finger on with that one. Each track is very similar to the others, each one is long and monotonous going more for creating an atmosphere than for catchy hooks or samples. The atmosphere created in the tracks is like that of a grey autumnal afternoon, it's not quite cold yet summer has definitely fled to another part of the world. Looking up at the sky, the prospect of rain looms over the landscape. The album feels to me like a full day in this environment, a day full of showers, hope of clearing up and then more showers. Some tracks are very wet with the sound of rain prevalent, water for me is one of the most relaxing sounds so any music with sounds of the ocean, rivers or in this case rain has in instant advantage. In other tracks you cannot hear the rain but you can still feel it hanging over everything like a bank of dark grey clouds that look ready to burst. Like with most ambient albums this is heavy on the atmosphere, the rain is not the only element at play here. Rigning Fjórir for instance has a lot of urban sounds. There are cars tooting their horns and general hustle and bustle in the background and even the rain sounds like it is falling on the metal tops of cars. There are some nice melodies on offer also feeling wistful, melancholic and reflective. These melodies are always simple and repetitive and can become very hypnotic drawing the listener in to the wet soundscaped world of Yagya. It is difficult to pigeon hole this album, I called it ambient for it has ambient soundscapes and atmosphere and you could easily fall asleep to it. It has beats though and at times I find myself wondering if it would be danceable chillout. The beats and the bass melodies have me nodding along and tapping my foot. I suppose IDM will be the tag as it's from Sending Orbs but I feel more like it is ambient techno. This is a totally unqualified judgment though but that was the first to come to mind and it has refused to budge since. I wont go through the tracks individually because this is definitely a concept album that needs to be heard as a whole and I think I would end up repeating myself a lot, mellow, wet, nice melodies, funky bass, soft beats, rainfall and melancholic atmosphere would all be words I'd want to put in every description. That is not to say thought that all the tracks sound the same. Each one is quite different from the other, like Asian women they look very different but when you come to describe them you'd find yourself using the same adjectives over and over again. In such a great album it's hard to find a standout but I think that Rigning Sex is absolutely amazing. It is the personification (although not a person) of the whole album. It is chocked full of melancholic atmosphere, the bass moves along so nicely and the melodic drones are almost enough to make you weep. The beats sneak in like they have always been there and you have just noticed them and it's heavy on the rain, as all the music leaves we are left just with the sound of rain falling down on our little world. It's the sort of track that begs to be repeated because although repetitive it is just not long enough at 7 minutes, 14 or 20 is a good time. Overall this album is as close to essential as you are going to get in the chillout genre this year (I so hope I am wrong though). It is atmospheric, cool, funky, deep, melancholic and so very good. For me it is the best album of the year so far and it just doesn't seem to get old. I have waited a long time to write this review as I have burned myself before by writing a rave review and then getting bored quickly of it. This though has lasted me months and so many listens already. Only the years will tell if it's a proper classic or not but I think this has a great chance. This album makes me feel glad that I bought the Will I Dream During The Process? despite not liking it one as I am happy I could give double the support for this one and maybe one day that one will hit too.

Artist: Pete Ardron Title: Inside The Voice Inside Label: Cyberset Music Released: 7th April 2009 Style: Ethnic Chill Tracklist 1. Is 7:12 2. Qawwali Roll 7:00 3. I Just Kinda Do Stuff and See What Happens 6:32 4. Scylla Siberica 6:58 5. Ibu-At 4:30 6. Hidden Meanings 7:49 7. Try to Understand 8:02 8. The Long Nosed Bandicoot 6:47 9. Slightly Deranged 5:48 Inside the voice inside is the latest album from Pete Ardron who brought us the fantastic Birth/Re-birth on Liquid Sound Design in 2008 under the moniker Orchid Star. That album was a delight to the ears with beautiful melodies, visual story telling like tracks and a lush atmosphere of serenity. This album, released only on digital format, though is a far cry from that near masterpiece. The music here seems like a cheap rip off of his own style. Very ethnic again but this time instead of going for eastern melodies and mysterious atmospheres he has opted for cliché ridden and in my humble opinion a little bit tacky ethno-chill. It's not terrible per say, except I Just Kind Of Do Stuff And See What Happens which has a horrible jazzy sax running right through it giving it an annoying atmosphere that never lets me fully relax and Scylla Siberica which sounds like a Disney Movie is moving on to a day dream sequence at times. The rest is fine but it is all something I'm sure everyone who might be interested in this album has heard before. There is very little in the way of fresh or innovative sounds just cheesy pop friendly sounds. This might all sound quite enjoyable to chillout fans new to the genre but anyone who has been around the block will know that there is much better stuff out there. This is lacking in atmosphere, flow, storytelling and not a single track creates any visuals in my head which for me is a prerequisite to good chillout. The best track is The Long Nosed Bandicoot which might be worth a purchase as a single track. Some nice nature sounds and a bit of nice atmosphere. I also like Hidden Meanings as it has some moments where atmosphere tries to show itself but even that is not worth buying the album or even purchasing it as a single track. Recommendation: If you buy a lot of music and don't mind average albums that you've heard many times before then you might want this. If you are looking for something new, fresh or interesting then look elsewhere as you'll not find any of that here. If you are expecting an album like Orchid Star - Birth/Re-birth then I am afraid you will be disappointed, that was so good but this is a far cry from that great album. I have no idea what happened to him. Favourites: 6,9 originally posted over at www.isratrance.com in its full negativity

Artist: Various Title: Vampire Sunrise Label: Celestial Dragon Records Released: 6 Mar 2009 Style: Ambient/Downbeat/Dub Tracklist 1 Colourform - Magic Carpet (Ishq Remix) (10:27) 2 Evan Bartholomew - Spirit Happening (4:18) 3 Overflow - Scintilla (7:10) 4 (Val)Liam - As Is (8:50) 5 Distant System - Lost Sequence (9:06) 6 Ishvara - Nomad (Arabian Remix) (9:32) 7 Open System - Rise And Shine (6:56) 8 KiloWatts - Nub (7:36) Vampire Sunrise is the latest compilation on Celestial Dragon Records who have previously brought us Androcell, (val)Liam, Papa Legba, Distant System as well as some old Ishq material and the compilations Portals Of Perception, Intermittent Memories and Future Sound Theory. Definitely one of my favourite labels recently with their nice polished sound I think of as enhanced organica. Vampire Sunrise is quite a mix of styles starting out quite ambient with Colourform - Magic Carpet (Ishq Remix). I wouldn't trust anyone but Ishq to remix his own work and I feel this is as good if not better than Flying Carpet. Not just because the volume is better but because I find it even more visual. Imagine standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun slowly creep above the horizon and into a clear purple sky. Below the cliffs a milky coloured ocean crashes waves against the rocks and whirlpools eddy in the middle distance. Nice naturally alien sounds bubbling away nicely. Next up is Evan Bartholomew - Spiritual. Evan is a producer who has impressed me a lot recently with his more ambient work. I like his Bluetech material but I think it's with his more relaxed music that he shines. This sounds like if Evan played on Celestial Dragon, more melodic and slick than on his Somnia releases yet just as relaxed and it could start you on a journey. Unfortunately it is too short and is over just as I am getting into it. Third on the card is Overflow - Scintilla where the beats start. Nice crisp beats laying nicely under a great piano melody and some funky rumbling bass droning in the background. The beats evolve into something breakier and we have definitely arrived in danceable chillout territory. Nice melodies, cool wet sounds cascading down and a nice atmosphere make a track good enough to follow Ishq and Evan and seamlessly raise the tempo. Good stuff here. Next up is (val)Liam - As Is. (val)Liam released his album Daydreamer on Celestial Dragon earlier this year and this track is reminiscent of the more upbeat tracks on that album. Like someone brought modern technology to the mid nineties and created that sound in this clear crisp way. It all blends together and no one thing is the only thing you are left with at the end. The nice piano melody, electronic melodies and clear crisp break beats and nice soft synth work all play a part. A nice atmosphere is created good for chilling at home or out and about. Distant System - Lost Sequence is next and I have to say although I really like Androcell, the music he has produced under the pseudonym Distant System is much more to my liking. I love the heavy yet relaxed beats, the spacey atmospheres and the whole feeling of being immersed in the music I get from it. This could have been on Spiral Empire yet stands aside from that album in its more grounded on an alien world kind of atmosphere rather than floating among distant galaxies filled with humanity like I felt from Spiral Empire. The melodies feel like they belong on a new Colourform album painting orange and purple skies, yellow oceans and red foliage while the beats keep us ever moving and the background ambience floats us around the stratosphere giving us a bird’s eye view of this alien planet. Softly sneaking in are the beats of Ishvara - Nomad (Arabian Mix) filling the air with warm nostalgia as they are instantly recognizable along with the friendly synth drones and alien atmosphere? This sounds strikingly similar to the original at the start but as the track progresses there are different beats and some subtle use of instruments like flutes that I cannot remember from the original. The drones also feel closer at times, building to a very dense feeling at the end and the beats more of a focal point fitting with the current mood/style of the album. Open System - Rise & Shine starts the final section of the compilation in a more dub kind of style. It has the repetitive mellow bassline, dubby beats and a strange summer quality that doesn't quite feel right. It's not summer as I know it, maybe some alien summer or a dark lengthened eclipse kind of summer. The tribal vocal samples and twisted synths add to this odd feeling like funky little aliens on summer vacation under the shade of the Himalayas. This is a very cool track with a nice atmosphere. We finish off with Kilowatts - Nub which like Kilowatts's album Ground State is heavy on the bass and heavy with the beats. Like many tracks on that album it begins kind of random and feels like it's not going anywhere but by the time it's halfway through it has become a great piece of music, funky yet full of atmosphere. All the glitch comes together into a coherent, memorable track. With some really nice melodies and ambience as well as some really cool deep bassy synths this track sticks in the memory and begs to be played again. A perfect ending track to convince you to give the album another spin. This is a very nice compilation then. I think this might have slipped under quite a few radars. There was buzz about it but nothing in the months leading up to its release. It might not be an essential purchase but it is a good compilation and a very safe buy. Celestial Dragon lovers should really like it. I also think it is a grower, when I first popped it in my CD player I didn't really connect but after giving it some time I find the beauty of it unfold like a sharp alien flower. Well done to Celestial Dragon Records as they are making this year a competitive year for chillout music

Cheers Andy! DLing now

:clapping: :clapping:

Classics are definitely more poetic! Classical poetry is really nice! I think my main problem with classical literature is that it is all written for the stage and in a time where people just went on and on and on and on about something without pause for breath which in this day and age just seems to be ridiculous! My favourite classics are from just over a hundred years ago rather that 100s of years ago. The writers had more of a literary audience in mind. I loved Flatland by A. Square

And you got it right so the next question is yours!!

Nobody going to answer my question? It was my turn!!

I think a mix of whta both you guys are thinking is better, sometimes you need to listen to the full album to get the right context, sometimes you need shuffle to get some random (but often just as good or even better) context. Dont limit yourself, hear everything as much as possible is the way!

Wow guys, that is some great self control you have! I have none of it! When I get a package full of CDs I open one and put it in the CD player straight away and while that is playing I open all the others and make sure all the CDs are there Then I make sure all the CDs are facing the right way in the case and then I listen to them all. They remain in my living room pile until which time I feel it is neccessary to move them to my DJ room and I can put them into a mix or leave them on the shelf of the damned

If you can find someone with similar tastes to yourself then it's a great find

Subheim - Approach :clapping:

Nice! Great albums all of them Enjoy!

I'm not a big fan of samples, they are very hard to get right but I think a lot of pie people have managed it. Some tracks have great samples, Genetic - Trancemission springs to mind as does Kaaya - Circular Sanctuary and Pleiadians - Moon In Your Window. Those samples really helped the tracks, fit well with the music and were not the focal point of the whole fucking track, nor were they repeated over and over again. Samples I hate are Nystagmus (ALL) as they are the focal point of the music, go on far to long and stand out too much, for me. Shitty drug samples, when done well drug samples can be done but most just sound like 13 year olds just discovering unsealed pills in their older sisters bag! My god 1200 Mics - This Is A Joint has we don't need no control & This is a joint samples which are repeated over and over again. Pure Hell

After being screwed royally by the corporate machine I think it's time for some Reggae! Brother Culture was lying infront of the stereo and is on now but I think there will be a need for Bob soon

Can't see Matt Coldrick wanting to make a fullon album to be honest