abasio

I've been thinking of getting some ARIZEN albums but I have no idea where to start. Sooooooooooooooo many releases. Which do you think are the best 5 albums?

False Mirror Chronostatic Scenes DataObscura 2007 Tracklist 1 Plato's Last Dream (10:48) 2 A Divine Passage (4:52) 3 Beyond The White Plainscapes (8:26) 4 The Tower Of Deception (11:23) 5 Drift Towards Zero (8:17) 6 The Subterranean Border (6:11) 7 Instant Drowning (4:01) 8 Caught In A Spray Of Time (9:01) DataObscura is the CDr wing of Databloem, a label I have fallen head over heels in love with. The deep journeys the soundscapes take me on are awe inspiring. I must admit, I can't really tell the difference in sound quality between these CDrs & the properly pressed CDs. This is deep dark ambient & I can tell the difference when it comes to mp3s but not with these CDrs. I had never heard of False Mirror before but I took a risk buying this after quite liking the cover. So was the music! 1. Plato's Last Dream Sounds of a stream trickling through the night. A cold dark night. Somewhere in the distance I can hear the tolling of a bell. A long dark oppressive drone cuts the tension like a knife scything through a paranoid mind. Voices of the lost seem to wail from all around me yet I can not see them. The stream though is now lit up by the moon as the clouds have broken enough to let the cold light through. The moon only manages to cast eerie shadows around me and the atmosphere becomes more menacing as I sit here on the river bank in the dead of night. Eventually the menacing presence passes on by and leaves just the sound of the water and the night. 2. A Divine Passage A high pitch sound floats on the airwaves like a voice on the breeze calling out to be heard, disappearing out of earshot only to return with more vigour once the wind changes direction. I imagine myself on the shore of a large lake with the wind to my back but a breeze coming off the water into my face also. A lone boat sails the lake and as it nears me I can make out the emptiness on board. Not a soul to stop it running aground. 3. Beyond The White Plainscapes Curiosity killed the cat, a phrase I completely ignore as I venture on the the derelict. Climbing over the hull I see the debris scattered on the deck. Nothing sinister as such, just leaves, bits of branches, stones and bird droppings. In the centre of all this is a lone fish carcass, the long dead creature's flesh has all but rotted and the empty eye sockets stare and empty hatred for my life that I still hang on to. My curiosity gets the better of me when I see the door half off It's hinges. I walk over to it but hesitate as I draw near as the sound emanating from within is a cold, wet, pulsating sound like that of insects swarming. 4. The Tower of Deception I open the door and it falls to the floor with a slow crash followed by the creaking groans of the wood. As I peer inside I can see a staircase leading up. I follow the wooden stairs up as they turn into stone steps covered with slime and mold. The walls now are stone and there is an odd substance made of sound running down them. Every now and then there is a small window but when I look out of them I can see only darkness without any form. I can feel the wind biting through them as I make my way up. For what seems like hours I climb that cold lonely stair. At times I feel like there is going to be no end to the climb but I cannot head back down as when I turn back round there is nothing. No stairs, no wall, no darkness, just void. So onwards up the creaky stairs I go. The wind pushes past me and I can hear the swarm I felt at the bottom. Finally I reach the pinnacle of the staircase, I feel like I must be at the top of the world's tallest tower but as I look out I am a mere 20m up, looking out over a forest I barely pass the treetops. The insects buzz around the trunks as they creak and threaten to fall. 5. Drift Towards Zero My mind cannot cope with what it the senses are telling it. What happened to the boat? Where did the tower start? Now what happened to the physical body I once inhabited? My consciousness now just rises slowly higher and higher towards the vast emptiness of space. Through the clouds passed the atmosphere away from the Earth's gravitational pull. Out passed the gas giants beyond the tiny rocks, faster and slower I go. My pace is more relaxed but the further away from everything I go in less and less time. Beyond the outer stars until I can see the Milky Way, Andromeda and a sombrero of stars. Passed even the reach of any sun's light into what is truly nothing. All I'm left with is the breaking of my mind. 6. The Subterranean Border As the darkness of the nothing engulfs me I feel hard stone on my back and water on my feet. I look down at my feet and see waves slowly moving between my toes. I look ahead and see the cavernous roof of this underground fortress of solitude. The cold water at my feet gives me goosebumps and I try to move backwards but the wall to my back stops me. I try to move forward but some unstoppable force pins me to wall. A dark oppressive force I come to understand as gravity. 7. Instant Drowning As I conquer gravity I am thrown upwards through the roof of one reality on to the seabed of another. This far under the sea it strange to see tides but in front of me there is and underwater lake. The waves are audible as nothing else is until a school of rebellious fish swim round my head in metallic fashion. 8. Caught In A Spray Of Time Back on the shore, I've been washed up and dumped on the cold sand. The waves come in and cover my ankles then retreat oly to come back and cover a little further up. I lie with my face up to the sky watching the outlines of the clouds as they distort to starlight. The water reaches my waist now each time and the wind picks up. Although the water is cold when it covers me it feels warm and when it retreats the wind attacks my wet skin. The water comes up to my neck now but I am paralysed by the sky. As the waves reach my mouth I swallow the fetid sea water in huge quantities. Each time they recede I gasp for air but slowly the recession time decreases and I am plunged back into a wet world of dark nothingness. Well, what a bizarre journey. It feels like a trippy trippy dream through a semi nightmarish world. Everything is confusing. I lack control of both my body and my mind. There is a lot of dark sounds, lots of yet sounds and a lot is made out of nothingness. A Fantastic album and journey, will be enjoyed by fans of dark ambient I'm sure.

You don't like minimal then? That's a shame, there is some really good music there but it just takes a lot more effort to discover, not just instantly gratifying soon forgotten music. Try buying a minimal CD, lose all other distractions & listen to it with all your attention. It's the sort of music (if done well) that you can really lose yourself in

Cool! Nice new avatar by the way. How come you were dressed like the Joker? Is it the joker?

I lack this

When I get the $6000 I'm owed I'm planning on buying a tiny tiny laptop that I can take out into the forest & even just to the park I'll be able to write outside (also planning on writing a book) so I'll probably write more. I know I wrote probably overly detailed reviews that very few read right through but to be honest I couldn't give a shit if no one reads them. Reviewing an album really helps me understand it more. I also write a paragraph before a detailed track by track description & a paragraph summing it up. If people don't want to read about the tracks they can just read those two. That's what I usually do if I don't have the time or patience to read everything.

Some Ethnic stuff is cool but a lot of psychill nowadays is identikit ethno shite! Check Dakini for well done real ethnic sounds. Ultimae do well without any ethnic sounds, also check Distant System - Spiral Empire which is also spacey not ethnic. Bluetech Androcell Ian Ion Native State Records, Kilowatts, Rena Jones, Krill.Minima Healer Secede etc Check more pure ambient stuff as well. There is a lot of really trippy music out there that is more psychedelic that artists that stick the psychill tag to their own music.

www.amazon.co.jp if you are made of money

'tis good aye?

What do you think of this one? Do you think Ben sounds like Lou Reed?

Hi! You've probably got your options set to outline. Push on the options button just under add reply/new topic buttons at the top of the thread & switch it back to standard. Hope that helps!

How come?

yeah, I love watching jellyfish

It sounds a bit like Asura's first album. Very spacious, a lot of ambience and a heavy kick. It's good enough to warrant one. I'll need some more quality alone time with it first though. Also Orchid - Birth / Re-Birth is really really good

Love the new picture

Kilowatts - Ground State

Yes it is! Tracklist 1 Inca Steppa (7:45) 2 Tokyo Dub (7:08) 3 Las Vegas Future Past (5:59) 4 Mind Of The Free (6:13) 5 Immaculate Cruxifiction (7:38) 6 City Of The Sinful (4:43) 7 Tanta Pena (5:51) 8 Perfect Crime (Superman) (6:24) 9 Pretty Girl (5:28)

Ian Ion - Gringolocomotion

My dad's birthday party was Bob Dylan - Desolation Row fancy dress! Pissed off I had to miss it

What I mean is EarthShine has Solar Fields' ambient soundscapes behind the trancey beats. It really adds a journey feel to the music that I think a lot of prog lacks! I'm also very happy that Solar Fields just keeps pushing the boat & keeping the quality level so high

Juno Reactor - Pretty Girl strangely addictive