abasio

It is a difficult one because most artists that released a lot dropped in quality especially towards the end! I agree with P(sy)ayam, Solar Fields started out pretty good & his albums have gotten stronger and stronger. His upbeat album was fantastic too. But overall I'd say Gus Till Everything released as Slinky Wizard was amazing!!! Zen Lemonade made a great album, The 2 albums Gus Till Best of the Rhino Years were mind blowing, BUS was incredible & morebusinesslinkyouthere didn't get the attention that it deserved, brilliant album really. His chillout albums also are amazing from Dub Shadows to Electric Oceans & his recent Aquana - Stillness Vol.1 is top notch stuff. Everything he's done has been incredible for me. Gus Till FTW :posford:

:posford: :posford: :posford: Very nice stuff on here

I have had a successful day today so far including a little shopping in Yokohama where I picked up and Both great finds that I have been looking for for some time Ambiant Otaku is also the original pressing too :posford:

Bluetech Phoenix Rising Somnia 2008 Downtempo Ambient IDM Dub Tracklist 1 My Dear Friend Kronos (7:22) 2 What The Night Reveals (6:19) 3 Kingdom Of The Blind (Third I Mix) ft. Alyssa Palmer (5:21) 4 A Delicate Mystery (New Life Mix) (7:49) 5 Riding The Sky Elevator (7:56) 6 Phoenix Rising (8:54) 7 Invocation (The Fire Within) ft. Alyssa Palmer (7:14) Just before Bluetech is going to release an album on Aleph Zero he releases an.....album on his own label Somnia. It's been called a mini album and an E.P. but it's pretty much a full length album. Over 50 minutes long it's longer than many artists full length albums, 7 tracks most over 7 minutes it's an enjoyable journey. The music also deserves a mention, it definitely has the Bluetech sound we all know & love but it seems much more raw & dirty. It has lost the only thing that I didn't like about Bluetech's music on his previous albums, it has lost the ultra clean production. The production is still top notch don't get me wrong but now it feels warmer and more analogue. 1. My Dear Friend Kronos My Dear Friend Kronos starts with a playful melody & some shuffling beats, another melody higher in tone rings out & then the beats kick in. Nice relaxed & dubby beats give this a really sunny feeling. It still feels chilly though like you are flying high above the clouds. So bright & warm inside surrounded by cold atmospheres. It is a very nice start to the album, scratchy in places and sounding very real. The layers of melody are nice & some are subtle in that you don't notice you are listening to them until they have already been playing for quite a long time. It's one of those tracks that make you effortlessly pay close attention to what is happening. 2. What The Night Reveals The next track has a much stronger bassline, speed it up & crank up the volume it could be a D&B bass. As it is it's dark & chilled yet funky & alive. The pipes play glitchily and kind of blend or warp into other sounds as they progress. The beat is even dubbier than the first track and when combined with the bassline it feels like some real dub but with a better combination of sounds in the melodies & sharp glitchy sounds in the background. What The Night Reveals is too many the perfect sound in between dub & psydub. It is more interesting than most dub I've heard but never gets cheesy like a lot of psydub does. Great stuff. 3. Kingdom Of The Blind (Third I Mix) ft. Alyssa Palmer I heard the original of this on Max Chillrom & I was blown away. It really made me look forward to this release as it had the most delicious trippy melodies that skipped & moved very quickly up & down while reverberating side to side. The remix doesn't sound much different than the original and after listening to them back to back I can't really spot any differences. Maybe it's the positioning in the album or different mastering or the fact that it was the first time I heard it but I tend to like the one on Max Chillroom a bit more. Alyssa Palmer's vocals are nothing to fear either as they sound more like another electronic instrument than a vocal. Without focusing you might not even notice them. 4. A Delicate Mystery (New Life Mix) This is the sort of sound I have come to expect from Native State Records, it has cool IDMish beats, a tight bassline & subtle layers of melodies coming in and out. This track really is delicate, on my first listen it sounded pretty average but once you get passed the beats & the bassline & listen carefully there is a whole world of sound underneath them. The melodies intertwine brilliantly & some of them echo like they are being played in a cavern. When the sounds cut out halfway through & kick back in it sends an amazing chill down my spine, just the way I like. A great cool melodic IDM track. 5. Riding The Sky Elevator Riding The Sky Elevator has more energy with more tribal beats & long rushes of atmosphere falling down as synth drones in the background. It's more minimal than the other tracks but that just adds to the charm of this track & to the overall feeling of the whole album. The music moves less & is more focused & entrancing. The melodies are lighter but no less intricate & it is overall more atmospheric for it. It might not be the most instantly gratifying track here but it will grow on you given time, decent speakers or headphones & no distractions. 6. Phoenix Rising The title track has the most prominent melody, simple yet fun. The beats are scratchy and the synths are toned high but fall down like a sonic shower. They warp a bit as they come passed the beats & melody though adding a nice atmospheric touch. The melody remains simple throughout and doesn't change but the work with the beats & the glitchy sounds around it make it seem as if the track is progressing nicely & when the bassline comes in playing the same tune as the melody it all seems to fall into place. It is possibly a little too long for a track with little variety in it but the melody is a very enjoyable one and as the whole album is pretty varied you don't notice or mind so much. 7. Invocation (The Fire Within) ft. Alyssa Palmer We finish with quite a Jazzy track. The piano sounds very loungey as do the beats which trip along nicely in an almost marching fashion. The music gets more freestyle as we go along with high pitch funky sounds & long drawn out vocals that do not say anything (thankfully). There is some good atmospheric background ambience created by the vocals & soft drones but the beats & glitch define this track more. This is very different from everything else on the album, more urban & socialite than the others. Not my favourite track here but quite nice in it's way. If this is meant to be a teaser for Bluetech's forthcoming album on Aleph Zero then it has done a fantastic job. I am really looking forward to that. If he calls this a mini album can we assume that the "full" album will be a 2CD? Also as I said above this isn't really that mini, it's over 50 minutes and there is a lot of variety in it that it seems to be even longer. Some of the tracks are instantly gratifying while some need a bit more time to get into. So buy it, give it some time & if you like Bluetech or any of the Native State compilations you'll probably enjoy this.

But what do you think of the last 2 tracks that are totally missing from your review?

Motionfield Optical Flow Somnia 2008 Ambient Tracklist 1 Embrace (7:29) 2 Nightwalk (6:48) 3 Stormsinger (5:53) 4 Optical Flow (5:32) 5 Midnight Metro (6:27) 6 Childhood Playground (8:09) 7 Shine (5:53) 8 Horizon (6:24) I have been buying everything from Somnia, Evan Bluetech's sleepy ambient label but I must admit that this release I bought just to have it all. I am very glad that Somnia brought this great artist to my attention because as soon as I put this CD in my player I was treated to a sonic treat that has managed to stay cool & fresh through a lot of listens since I got it. 1. Embrace We start our journey with an embrace from a soft melodic track that feels like a safe haven in dangerous urban sprawl. The light melody seems like a warm blanket which is in deep contrast to the rest of the track which is cold like an empty street with wind blowing through it. Something sounds like a siren wails in the background & a deep drone blows like a winter wind chilling to the ear but all through these sounds there is the warmth of the melody like being wrapped up in a sleeping bag, feeling all warm when everything else is cold. This is a very nice opening track to the album, beautiful, melancholic, cold yet comforting. Great stuff! 2. Nightwalk Soft sounds from a cello or double bass add a slight jazzy element whereas the oscillating sound over the static filled waves add a kind of dark empty feel like a post apocalyptic city. The piano adds a nostalgic touch adding to both the Jazziness and the desolation. I imagine a skyrise city like Tokyo or New York, the streets empty on a cold winter's afternoon. No people occupy the streets only trash blows in the wind. Cars are abandoned, windows boarded up and a cold wind blowing between the skyscrapers through the deserted roads. It's all very simple but effective, I really enjoy the use of piano in this, the contrast to the glitchy drone is great. 3. Stormsinger We get a little more percussive with Stormsinger, the beats are steady but soft & underneath them is the sound of some aquatic mammal or sea bird sounding it's displeasure. It is all quite musical even if it manages to sound like nature's natural glitch. The melody on the piano is pretty melancholic, a feeling accentuated by the long deep drones that come in & out in various different tones. Some dark, some lighter, some rising some falling. I get the impression of suburban America here. Sparse green lawns, identical houses, identical people with identical kids playing with identical toys. The sort of place that breeds freaks because to be different is to be outcast & the music just manages to bluff it's way through to maturity before it escapes. 4. Optical Flow The title track has some not so pleasant high pitch sounds that seem to cut through the rest of the music and slice open my brain. In certain moods I don't like them but in some moods they help tenderise my brain & when the soft IDMish beats come in with the floaty melody it's exposed to the elements & taken away on a journey. High above the suburbs on a cloud looking down at myself as I stand in the garden. The sort of track that sounds like I've taken something that distracts my attention, lifts my consciousness into a slight astral projection, just far enough so I can have the out of body experience but still see myself as I interact with my life. Great track for times when you can handle high pitch acid slices cutting into your head. 5. Midnight Metro More IDMish beats a bit more prominent this time give this a more urban feel than the few suburban pieces that just passed. Once more the melody is nostalgic, wistful & melancholic. It gives the feeling that redundancy is as normal as repeating yourself unnecessarily and that repetition is needed in everyday life. It gives me a sense of normalcy, of walking down an empty city street just after first light before everyone starts their day. The serene sense of isolated peace is nice, the melody wraps itself around me as I walk down the street headed home but enjoying the journey rather than focusing on my destination. 6. Childhood Playground With a title like Childhood Playground one might expect a nostalgic look at past hangouts of our formative years. Indeed we are treated to a very nostalgic sounding track. It sound the most thoughtful so far, the long cold wind drone, the melody on the piano & the scratchy IDMish beats along with the brief sharp sounds that slash through the atmosphere like a dark yet burning hot blade. Imagine a swing set next to a bench with a slide somewhere close by but no kids at all. One swing falling apart, only attached by one chain, the mud covering the seat of the other. The bench overgrown with weeds & the slide being covered in mold & mildew, the wind the only thing that moves, one swing scratching the ground while the other drips last nights storm onto the mud beneath it. Nice track, it has a good feeling all round but ends a little too abruptly. 7. Shine Stronger beats yet again which sounds kind of bamboo in their sound, vocals where the voice sounds like it is something being shouted as you travel passed in a vehicle very quickly, the Doppler effect distorting the sound at each end. The lush sound of rain falling on city streets & houses paints the opposite picture in my head as the track title. I can see grey city streets with water flowing down the gutters, I can see grey clouds up ahead & people in cars rushing by, splashing me with water & laughing. As they get closer the joyous sound picks up just as it fades out after they have done the damage. 8. Horizon Horizon finishes us off with a strong inner space feeling. It is very introspective & reflective. The melody is almost unmusical yet it is definitely melodious, it just has melodic sounds but no tune. The deep melodic bass punches through the atmosphere like a rubber sledgehammer & the beats as sporadic as they are add a sense of disorder to the atmosphere. Everything seems to be very wide open yet it all seems to fill the space inside yourself. An inner horizon as it were, expanding the chasms of your deepest inner minds. It's a good ending to a great album. This is a great album, it is my favourite so far from Somnia & that includes the new Bluetech album. It's melancholic, reflective, deep, urban, sub-urban and floaty. The piano is a key factor in all of the atmospheric wanderings. It feels Jazzy & melancholic at the same time and when it is combined with the cold glitchy background noise it really sets a cool atmosphere and by that I mean cold & funky at the same time. If you like Somnia then you probably trust Evan's choices and will check this out anyway. If you don't like Somnia you might still like this as it's more IDMish with some cool beats & great melodies than the more ambient stuff that has come before it on this label.

DVD sound would be cool. Not interested in interviews etc, all I want is the music to talk for itself :posford:

Motionfield - Optical Flow :posford: Feeling very relaxed

Jikkenteki - Flights Of Infinity Tamlin - Spectrogram Ra - 9th Artifakt - The Magus Various Artists - Opus Iridium OOOD - Fourthought Kino Oko - Alphabetically Divided Highway Anakoluth - Dwelling In The Void M.E.E.O. - Highlight Me Please Procs - The Lonely Land of Tada Minilogue - Animals all very psychedelic for me. I've not been buying much upbeat music recently either so I'm sure there are more

Only put it up yesterday I put all mixes at my site too btw

Pan Electric & Ishq About Time Absolute Ambient.com November 2008 Ambient Pop Tracklist 1 Clox (3:25) 2 6 Minute Festival (6:00) 3 Being There Pt1 (6:40) 4 Being There Pt 2&3 (12:36) 5 Metronomique (5:07) 6 Neverland (14:22) 7 Everchange (7:14) 8 Forever (9:45) Being a big fan of Ishq for a long time & in fact loving just about everything that Matt Hillier has gifted up with, having loved last years debut by Pan Electric and remembering the greatness of Elemental Journey which was the last time I heard Matt Coldrick & Matt Hillier collaborate I was of course very much looking forward to this release. Sometimes two great artists struggle to work together as well as they do alone but I've heard these two do such great things before that I had butterflies when I first received the packages. Initially I was disappointed to tell the truth but thankfully this is a grower & it seems to get better & better with every listen. 1. Clox We start of with what sounds like church bells ringing & are quickly into a steady beat & funky bassline. This track sounds very much in Matt Clodrick's Pan Electric summery cheerful style. The little plopping rhythm and electro pop melody create a warm feeling. A little on the pop side, I could see this appearing on mainstream albums like best chillout vol.26, but it's well produced and acts as a nice short intro. 2. 6 Minute Festival With this track of exactly 6 minutes we start to see a tiny bit of Ishq's influence, it still has the Pan Electric feel, it's pretty beaty and has that acoustic atmosphere I so enjoyed from the Pan Electric debut Conscious Pilot but it also seems to have a deeper ambient atmosphere. The sample is short & sweet, sets my mood into that of an old movie, it hits my sweet spot as I am obsessed with time myself. This track manages to have a darker feel to it. There is something lurking beneath it's joyous facade like one man in a festival of hundreds of shiny happy people with a glum expression. Interesting track for sure. 3. Being There Part 1 Another step forward in the trippy stakes. The little runs of soft acidic melody run up and down through the track, sometimes sharp & metallic, sometimes dull and wooden. The dreamy melody is accompanied by a soft drone that could be a tribal flute that comes in every now & again. It's one of those sounds that is so enjoyable that it has you anticipating it. As if they new this they have it morph in from other sounds. The sample which is longer than I usually like samples but it's definitely in the background adding to it's trippiness. The content of the sample hits my time travel loving senses with a monologue of some time traveler from early last century. The track seems like a mix of both Matts, both atmospheres are blended extremely well with Pan Electric's acoustic summer being mixed with Ishq's darker ambient feeling. 4. Being There Part 2 & 3 Seamless from the first part but I instantly know it's changed as the chilled synth line cuts through my conscious thought like a silk knife. It slides through but feels oh so good. The melody that comes just after it is really nice, beautiful like Pan Electric deep like Ishq. It is really a joy to listen to as its ever changing, subtle nature manages to stay fresh in you mind while not letting you remember what it sounds like. Just perfect for a melodic track of this nature as they always have the danger of getting stuck in your head & ending up annoying you, this one will not! The synths change too as they get sharper & oscillate on higher frequencies. The mood gets more melancholic as the track progresses with a deeper and spacier sound more reminiscent of Ishq but with an earthy middle eastern feeling that is unshakable. This and the preceding part are among the best chillout sounds of this year. All in all Being There is over 19 minutes long but with it's evolution & movement it never gets boring. Go Matt, and Matt! 5. Metronomique Getting a little funkier now with a definite Pan Electric feel. It's fun it's pretty upbeat and has that beach playtime feel. Sounds of light electric guitar and synths that play a cool summer melody give this it's playful edge. This track would be perfect for a early summer day at the beach before it got to hot but warm enough to expose some flesh. Pretty cool if a little too short. 6. Neverland A much softer track really brings us down from the energy of the beach party to a hammock somewhere nearby, like you can still feel the taste of revelry but it's just a memory as now the cool sea breeze blows over your skin & you can look up to the sky watching the clouds in their various shapes pass you by. The melody is very wide with huge holes in you can see the ocean through, the sound of the electric guitar is nice and relaxed and fits in well. The samples you can hear are so distant as to almost be a dream. 4 and a half minutes in the beat arrives and has brought a case of beer and a couple of spliffs, very relaxed and dreamy and the energy manages to pick up while still remaining in the relaxed vibe of hammock drinking beach weed! As it is a 14 minute track it has a license to completely change atmospheres & this track manages to get much darker almost without you noticing it. It's like you've fallen asleep on the hammock to have nice warm dreams only to wake up & it's already dark. The moment of panic ebbs away as you realise it's still warm & you are surrounded by the beauty of familiarity, friends & loved ones, sand & sea. The last 3 minutes are more melancholic but still beautiful with all the sounds slowly fading away leaving just the drone to end on. Very nice! 7. Everchange Probably the most poppy track on the album. The "Everchange" vocals are quite cheesy & the electric guitar much more involved. This probably will appear on mainstream chillout albums but it'll be among the best on them in this reviewers humble opinion for while it is cheesy & poppy it has this underlying edge of psychedelia that when you first hear it might not make itself so apparent but give it time, listen carefully and there are very nice trippy sounds to enjoy. The vocals at the end, Nature's only promises everchange almost crosses the line into making me want to rant about cheese in chill but just balances itself on that line without quite falling over. 8. Forever The nigh on 10 minute track missing from the back cover (printing error or hidden track I don't know) is a perfect example of the 2 styles of Ishq & Pan Electric. It sounds both summer acoustic & deep and trippy at the same time. It has that summer beach vibe going on but it sounds like you are experiencing it from Atlantis, underwater but civilised, tropical fish mingling with people enjoying the serenity forever. It's a very relaxed ending to the album, the acoustic guitar is played sparingly and the dreamlike bubbles of melody that appear at the end just float my feeling to the surface of the ocean into the dying evening sun. Excellent stuff! This album is a lot longer than it seems and I'm not just talking about the track missing from the back cover's tracklist, while listening to this you get the feeling that just about 30 minutes have passed when in reality about an hour has passed. It really is about time, you can make it go more quickly with this album, it's dreamy, it's summery (kind of think the release was a bit late to be honest) and at times very trippy. Part beach chill, part ambient sometimes poppy sometimes deep & psychedelic and the contrast is one of the most psychedelic elements of this great release. This is the sort of release that psy-heads can enjoy but also their non psy friends, their non electronica friends and maybe even their mum could enjoy. It is definitely a worthwhile purchase. Essential if you like Matt Coldrick or Matt Hillier & recommended even if you don't.

Ultimae vs Native State/Somnia records 1. Solar Fields - Air Song (Leaving Home) 2. Shulman - NN3 (Left Coast Liquid Vol.1) 3. Ochi Brothers - Flowing Synergy (Fahrenheit Project Part 4) 4. Shen - Embrace (Deadbeat's Soaking In The Dub Remix) (Bioluminescence) 5. Carbon Based Lifeforms - MOS 6581 (Hydroponic Garden) 6. Bluetech - Cosmologic (Elementary Particles) 7. Vibrasphere - San Pedro (Fahrenheit Project Part 2) 8. Kilowatts -Hang Gliding (Ground State) 9. Asura - XP Continuum (Code Eternity) 10. Bluetech - A Delicate Mystery (New Life Mix) (Phoenix Rising) 11. I Awake - Unleashed (The Core) 12. Nalepa - Porcelain (Beneath The Surface) 13. Solar Fields - Planet Zoo (Blue Moon Station) 14. Evan Marc + Steve Hillage - Theta Phase (Dreamtime Submersible) 15. Sgnl_fltr - Waters (Oxycanta : Winter Blooms) 16. Krill.Minima - Nautica (Nautica) 17. Irukandji - Whales Street (Fahrenheit Part 6) 18. Rena Jones - Driftwood (Driftwood) 19. H.U.V.A. Network - Rain Geometries (Distances) 20. Motionfield - Embrace (Optical Flow) 21. Sync24 - White Pixels (Source) 22. Juxta Phona & Offthesky - Fantabulous Snuff! (!Escape Kit!) 23. Aes Dana - Dusts (Memory Shell) 24. Evan Bartholomew - Soft Spots In The Tyranny Of Matter (Secret Entries Into Darkness) 25. Carbon Based Lifeforms - World Of Sleepers (World Of Sleepers) 26. Evan Bartholomew - Reborn, We Fluctuate And Fade (Caverns Of Time) 27. Hybrid Leisureland - Trampoline Hotel (Oxycanta) 28. Emanuele Errante - Magic Wood (Humus) 29. Solar Fields - Air Song 8am (Extended) Download Link a few suspect mixes but hey ho there you go

Yes! Buy it, it is definitely worth the tiny cost of $10, it's worth much much more. Definitely :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: Go Jikkenteki

I think we have that this year Probably more if I had the time/money to search through the CRAP!!!!! That's the kind of "Dark" I like too. One cancer is that when you say dark people automatically assume you mean darkpsy! :wank: It's the same with other descriptions, full on got turned into a genre & now you can't say something is Full on with \out people thinking you mean generic cheesy fullon I described in a review that a track sounded industrial meaning that it had a feeling of industry, big machines moving, production lines etc NOT the genre industrial but someone had a go at me for describing it as industrial The problem is people pigeonhole words into genres. Say you like psytrance and most people will think regular trance like Tiesto or say I don't like that techno shit! The more informed non psy head will still assume you like cheesy Israeli fullon :wank: :wank: :wank:

I think it might just be. There are a lot of things associated with it that aren't associated with other scenes or other walks of life & a lot of these things are not quite understood by other people so I'd guess there is a sub culture there as there is with a lot of underground scenes as they have there own styles, loves, hates, customs & taboos

There is lots of Ultimae ordering going on then All I'm missing is Aftermath No reprint of that

I've never noticed any problems at all! Maybe you have a duff copy

You can listen to samples here I'm not so impressed to be honest, never am with samples though

Pan Electric & Ishq - Being There

But 1 euro? For 3 or 4 tracks that's cool CBL - Hydroponic Garden is cool as is Aes Dana -Season 5 enjoy

Waters of the 3rd Millennium

It's already been re-released! Don't tell me you missed it???