abasio

I am curious about what you like with ambient tracks. Do you like short ambient tracks so the sound constantly changes or do you like long ambient tracks that have the time to evolve & tell a story? I was interested after this conversation in the reviews For me I really like long ambient tracks that tell a story. Journey tracks where the music has time to evolve & take us to far away places.. But it was rightly pointed out that that some artists take an idea & just stretch it out so that said idea becomes tired and boring. I'd agree with that but for boring I can just ignore & never listen to again. It really irks me though when I really like a track but it's over before I can get into it. When I feel like the artist could have made a nice long journey but couldn't be bothered. For me it's journey all the way. Favourite long journey Tracks Pete Namlook & Mixmaster Morris - Hymn 28:09 Jikkenteki - An Angel Takes Flight 27:22 Matt Coldrick & Matt Hillier - Air 23:27 Ishvara - Nomad 21:06 Ishq - Fluid Earth 20:02 The Infinity Project - Under The Overtones 19:58 Solar Fields - Air Song (8am version) 16:39 Solar Fields - Combinations 16:01 Kwook - KwookyWorld 15:22 Total Eclipse - Freefalling Upwards 15:21 The Civilised Electrons - Encounter (In an unexplored nebula) 15:07 Robert Rich & B.Lustmord - Omnipresent Boundary 15:00 Mystery of the Yeti - Welcome To All Extraterrestrials 14:55 Adham Shaikh - Journey To The Sun 14:15 Mathias Grassow & Thomas Weiss - Sights 13:43 Ishq - Cyandragonfly 13:27 Elve - Vale 13:23 Spielerei & Mantacoup - After The Shockwave 12:28 Kris Kylven & Syb-Sonic - Forgotten Souls 12:08 all of these are proper journeys unto themselves Favourite Short Tracks Carbon Based Lifeforms World Of Sleepers 5:17 Enigma - The Child In Us 5:06 Amos - Fläktsystem 5:05 Rena Jones - Aurora Borealis 4:53 Cymphonic - Unfoldment 4:12 Secede - Shrine 4:06 Celtic Cross - Louden 3:22 The Infinity Project - Blue Aura 3:19 Rena Jones - From Star To Seed 3:15 Jason Corder & Opium - Neromeccanico 2:46 Tripswitch - Tachyon 2:37 Abakus - Shared Light 2:27 Mahiane - Spathe 1:59 Healer - Ultrarapid 1:35 Enigma - Third Of It's Kind 0:19 The Infinity Project - High Insert 0:06 All of these tracks are great but I can't help wishing they were longer What do you like from your ambient?

Interesting! I'd agree that artists like Steve Roach tend to be too minimal for some but it all comes down to taste. I know some people on this forum that love steve roach to bits. I myself never got into his music. Artists like steve roach make too much music & fail to keep up the quality. I'm sure they make some good stuff but it's hard to find it when they release 3 albums a year (steve roach released 3 albums last year, 1 2CD & 2 3CDs and has already released a 2 CD in 2008) I just don't have the patience to sift through his mountains of production. A lot of ambient artists make too much stuff. If they could put more effort into one album I'm sure I'd be more interested in them. I also thought that the short tracks in lifeforms felt more like transmissions rather than real tracks but that's just my taste again. I really don't think ambient died, there has been some great stuff this century & I hope it continues

but of is too small a word & comes up with an error! Best probably would come up with too many results, I think hyppeN you are just going to have to look through the forum :drama:

I only ever got the vinyl of this. A very cum worthy album Azymuth is great, thankfully I also have it on The Future sound of ambient comp (3 or 4?)

A very poppish title, does the music match?

Shulman - Invention

Did I miss something?

Well, that's the beauty of opinions. One is not wright or wrong, you either agree or disagree! I like long tracks where an artist has time to expand his ideas into a story which I really think Mystical Sun could do Looping a track, as I have found does not have the same effect, just end up sounding like a long track that has no progression. I also don't like 15 minute tracks that don't go anywhere, I love though 15 minute tracks that do go somewhere & I think if Mystical Sun made long tracks they would go far. The music in this album is all good, and when I say that there are too many tracks that I already own, it doesn't affect my opinion if he made the music for the album before they were released on the compilations. At the end of the day I bought an album that I already owned 5 tracks. To me this was disappointing. But that's just my opinion, it's not right or wrong, just how I feel

Elysium - Fairytale

Various Artists Ear Pleasure Chill Tribe Records 2007 Tracklist 1. Robert Leiner - Beginning Of The End (7:32) 2. Blue Planet Corporation - Gengis Khan's Reverie (7:34) 3. Kris Kylven & Syb-Sonic - Forgotten Souls (12:08) 4. Cosmosis - The Himalaya (6:59) 5. Digital Mystery Tour - Nemo (6:03) 6. Slot Machine - Quick And The Dead (Snake Thing Dub Remix) (6:34) 7. Kiwa - Inside (6:59) 8. Highpersonic Whomen - Free Space (6:51) 9. Bluetech - Embrace (6:12) 10. Zen Lemonade - Island Of Forgotten Dreams (7:47) Chill Tribe Records, the Oslo based ambient/chill label headed up by PKS! This is the 3rd compilation compiled by PKS & like Quality Relaxation & Relaxed Journeys the tracklist oozes class. With artists like Blue Planet Corporation, Cosmosis, Digital Mystery Tour, Kiwa, Bluetech & Zen Lemonade, it's hard not to get excited. But how does the music compare to the excitement experienced while waiting for it? 1. Robert Leiner - Beginning Of The End We start the compilation with a nice patient track. It takes two & a half minutes for the melody to materlialise but when it does it's a nice relaxed one not trying to do too much. The beats start off a little uneven but straightens out as the melody floats around it. Not a spectacular track by any stretch of the imagination but a nice pleasant relaxed feeling flows through it. The best part is the wet sounding drums that have a nice mat sound. 2. Blue Planet Corporation - Gengis Khan's Reverie Blue Planet Corporation, a name that has gone down in the annals of psychedelic history (at least in my mind) back with another chilled out track filled with nice dubby textures, spacey ambience & weird Mongolian samples. The sitar (not played very musically) adds an ass backwards, middle of nowhere eastern feel to the music & really sets this track up as a glitchy dubby experimental rather than musical ambient track. It's decent enough but lacks the journey element I expected from both the artist & the track title. 3. Kris Kylven & Syb-Sonic - Forgotten Souls A nice long ambient intro manages to build an atmosphere reminiscent of a jungle cruise. When the beats come in they are slow tribal beats & adds to the atmosphere of sailing down a river in the deep dark jungles of Peru not knowing what might be lying in wait on the banks or under the boat. The best track thus far on the album & when the vocals come in, adding to the atmosphere being built magnificently I really feel we're onto a winner here. The melody that follows isn't so fitting with the mood of the piece but is pleasant & doesn't distract anything either. At 12 minutes long it has time to weave a story & we are left with a very nice journey track. 4. Cosmosis - The Himalaya One of the most well known names in the scene, Cosmosis has made that name with music that started getting way out ideas but also music that you could listen to and enjoy many times over. Layers of psychedelic sounds & always with a nice melody to top it off. This track is the best track I've heard from Billy recently. It does exactly what it says of the tin with a really backwater mountain settlement feel. The vocals might be called cheesy by some, ethnic sounding chanting breaking into cries of psychedelico does verge on cheesiness but just manages to stay on the happy side of the line. Nice stuff. 5. Digital Mystery Tour - Nemo Getting a bit harder now as DMT add a bigger kick to their music. The music underneath the kick is really impressive. Nice little melodic sounds, funky synths & some drones that move almost melodically. It takes a bit of work to focus on that though as the kick does tend to dominate a little bit too much 6. Slot Machine - Quick And The Dead (Snake Thing Dub Remix) This is a very funky track that seems heavily rock influenced. Now, usually when I hear a rock influenced electronic track or an electronic remix of a rock track it just sounds really bad. This however manages to use the rock elements in an electronic structure so that it ends up sounding fresh & new instead of hackneyed imitation shite. The guitars fit, the beat seems right & the whole feel of it works for me. 7. Kiwa - Inside Another funky track here, this time in a break beat guise. It starts off quite boring & I think the quality level has slipped somewhat but the groove comes in after a minute or so & the bassline really really works when it drops down in tone. The flute melody is interestingly used, verging on quirky but pleasant & musical enough to stand up on repeat listens. Nice stuff after the first minute. 8. Highpersonic Whomen - Free Space Another strong beat follows a spoken sample you can make out if you really focus or not if you don't. Groovy jazzy elements make it sound quite loungey but the pace of the track is halfway between downbeat & progressive trance giving it more of a dirty dancefloor feel. I can picture the sexy people grinding away to this. Not a particular stand up but it's nice & varied from the rest of the tracks. 9. Bluetech - Embrace Bluetech (Evan Bartholomew) has been carving out a name for himself with his own brand of cold yet emotional music. Deep melodic music with a melancholic touch. This track is pure bluetech. The melody paints an image of bright shining blue in my mind, the beats fit around it perfectly. I'm looking forward to a new Bluetech album & recently I've been enjoying Evan's more ambient releases. While being unmistakably Bluetech, this track similar yet different from the music he has delivered us before. If I was to compare I'd say it sounds more like his Sines & Singularities album than anything else. 10. Zen Lemonade - Island of Forgotten Dreams We finish up with Gus Till & Super Cozi dealing us a dose of chilled out summer goodness from the beaches of Bali. A really warm track with the gentle sound of lapping waves coming in at times. A light melody and half heard voices give this an edge of evening. imagine sitting on the beach on Bali Island, watching the sunset. Around you there is no one else but a short distance away there are other sun worshipers taking in the scene as you are. A lovely way to round off the day. In conclusion then, PKS has proved again that he really has an ear for picking out some of the best music the psy chill scene has to offer and that he knows how to compile an interesting, varied compilation that manages to flow pretty well. It doesn't quite reach the heady heights of Quality Relaxation but it's a CD that should be in your collection if you like well produced, varied, often freestyle chill with a touch of world for as the compilation progresses I get a feel from many of the tracks that they are set in different parts of th e globe. It's a nice feeling binding the tracks together into an album rather than just a collection of tracks.

Is that out already? np

Some labels really have a quality filter though & everything they release is fantastic, these labels I can buy from blindly & know I'll love the music ...until they fuck up then I'll be more careful with them in the future

The more I listen to "Invention" the better it gets. Maybe the best track of 2007 for me

Great! just ordered this Looks well tasty

Hol Baumann has talent & I like his style, will have to check this out

Nice

More music? Great! Hope everything works out for you mate

The Circular Ruins Empathy Test Databloem 2003 Tracklist 1 Empathy Test (5:39) 2 Over Fields Of Light (6:31) 3 Recollections (7:06) 4 The Interpretation Of Dreams (9:20) 5 Salient Features (8:58) 6 Eccentric Souvenirs (7:24) 7 A Little Different From Reality (8:55) 8 The Seven Sisters (7:47) After discovering Databloem records I also discovered just how good The Circular Ruins are. The Circular Ruins are up there among my favourite ambient producers now & I am eager to collect all of the albums. This is one of the first 3 I bought & the 4th released. The sounds are all very well used, intricate, very relaxed but never boring. It's an easy trap to fall into making ambient, letting it be boring. Some big names have fallen into this trap but I've yet to here a boring track from The Circular Ruins. 1. Empathy Test We start of with some soft bleeps, a high pitched but pleasant droning melody & very light percussion. There is a very, very soft sample about flying to fast which comes in before a slightly more noticeable sample from a female leader discussing policies. The percussion comes a little further forward but never grows beyond relaxing. The whole feel of the track is dark warmth. Like bad news on a summer night. 2. Over Fields of Light This track starts very naturally with the sound of a river & some bird calls. A sound like electronic bamboo permeates through the air. The naturalness gives way to electronica quickly although they blend together very well. The high pitched electronic sounds sound like buzzing insects in the air & I get a nice warm feeling like a summer evening out in the open, maybe in an orchard or a field with a few trees. Some very light percussion sounds to me like the passing of a horse somewhere in the distance, carefully controlled by it's rider. Nice natural electronic soundscape. 3. Recollections Recollections starts off with a very static like sound which morphs into a sonic downpour of sounds which get darker & deeper as it moves on, like a long forgotten memory being recalled. Melodious sounds pop out the background, fly around a little bit & then go underwater again. Halfway through there appears an oscillating sound, like the memory has come to us but is just out of reach. Finally the sounds bubble up to the surface like at last it has been recalled & then flitters off into the void of insignificance. 4. The Interpretation of Dreams The most melodious track on the album, probably the most accessible to chill lovers rather than ambient lovers. A simple melody repeats through the track as sounds are build up around it, let go & then have more build up. The sounds that accompany the melody range from percussion to soft oscillating drones to little bleeps of a different melody. The melody itself does not evolve through the nine & a half minutes of this track but how the other sounds accompany it makes it feel like it does. In the final third the melody leaves to be replaced by a more percussive sound. Wind blows at us & we have a much darker track now. The sounds are all very similar to those that were accompanying the melody but with out it's bright presence the music descends into darkness. A very nice piece of ambient. 5. Salient Features The conspicuous thing about this track is that the sounds are very much in the foreground, like famous or important things that need to be seen. Whereas the previous tracks had just as impressive sounds, they didn't seem as intrusive on my thoughts as these salient features. The sounds are jutting, marked & have a lot of movement. Notable are the drones in this track that are also in the foreground. Drones in most ambient sit in the back but these feel like they are rushing towards you. Not obtrusive or obvious, but prominent & pronounced. For me this is quite a significant ambient work for those reasons 6. Eccentric Souvenirs This track seems way out there in the depths of space. I really get a cosmic feel from the music. The light drones whisper images of stars & hyperspace gateways to my mind. The way the sounds bubble in the middle makes me picture the birth of galaxies. It gets a bit more glitchy (not enough to ruin the mood) later on making me imagine alien communication through the ether. 7. A Little Different From Reality The swishing in this does hint at something different but it is the inclusion of little mental sounds that if were made louder & put in an upbeat track would have people going nuts on the dancefloor. As they are, subtle & relaxed all they do is intrude upon your open mind & pull at a few of the threads, slowly unraveling everything. One of my favourites on the album & one of the most psychedelic ambient tracks I've heard. 8. The Seven Sisters I can't describe how this track seems to have a finality to it but it really feels like the journey is coming to an end. Elements of feeling from all previous tracks seem to be gathered here like meeting all the players after a play has finished. There is natural sounds, electronic wind, outer space & ultra trippiness all in one. All the sounds though sound as if they are dropping down into nothingness & though they are here now, they will soon vanish from your life. This adds an extra melancholic feel, for as good as this album is I don't want it to end & it's imminent conclusion leaves me a little sad & wishing there was at least one more track. Brilliant. So a very good ambient album from The Circular Ruins. Each track is varied enough to make the whole album one you want to come back to again & again. From warm summery sounds to deep space tracks to ultra psychedelic trippiness this is an album that ambient lovers the world over should own. Pure brilliance. Such chilled goodness but never boring once focused on. It leaves me wanting more every time.

I've yet to here the 2 comps on native state. Stupid really seeing as I really love that label. Soon, soon. np damn! I want more from this label too

:clapping: :clapping: Nice! Unfortunately, one of my completed labels has recently released another album (Chilltribe, Ian Ion) so that is no longer complete for the time being

Very Very Very Very Nice :) :posford: Really looking forward to this! WOW! More BPC Thanks a lot, no chance with this I wont be keeping my chill tribe collection complete Don't worry Radi, I've never heard anything from BPC that wasn't at least good :clapping:

I've really liked it so far! & yes it grows & grows!

Asura - Land & Freedom

Asura - Lost Eden