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Padmasana - Padmasana


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Padmasana - Padmasana

 

Artist: Padmasana

Title: Padmasana

Label: Dakini

Date: 1999

 

Track listing:

 

01. 12'19" Be Where Now

02. 11'08" A Distant Star

03. 18'20" Holistic Resonance

 

Review:

 

Padmasana is Japanese band with Makyo, an already well known name in the

ambient world and David Hikari and S.Widi. This album is a trip to Bali island

in Indonesia....you will find some traditional asian instruments recorded live

at Bali with some beautiful synthetic layers.

First track, "be there now" starts with a nice mid-tempo rythm and very sweet

synthe pads. Perfect track to wake up ! Very positive and happy. reminds me a

bit some Talvin Singh music.

Second Track, " A distance star", starts more softly with nice synthe loops,

beautiful women vocals. It's like being in a nice dream...so quiet ! In the

second half of the track, you will find Asian acoustic instruments..that fits

very well with the synthetic layer of the song.

Last track, " Holistic resonance " bring you in the Balinese forest the night.

All is very sweet, soft and nice. Then noises become sounds that become

rythms. What an harmony ! The whole track is flowing like a peacefull river

becoming larger and faster... it ends with a night forest ambience recorded

live in Bali.

This album is very beautiful and very relaxing. A little bit too short..please

Dakini Records, release a second part to this ! :-) Rating : 9/10

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Guest djr00t[at]hotmail[dot]com

I think this is one of the best chill out out there. gives nice quite chill

out. its almost as beutiful as loosing ur verginity. verdicts are 9/10.

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I picked this up about two months ago after hearing Makyo: Yakshini. This is

definitely one of my favorites when you want something that is relaxing but

still has enough intricate sounds to throughly enjoy. I prefer Yakshini

overall but maybe only because it is a full length CD...

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Guest phase418[at]hotmail[dot]com

This is second only to Shpongle. This is some of the very, finest ambient

textures and atmospheres available on the planet, without a single note or

noise that seems out of place. Tasteful, well-timed samples...and authentic

oriential noises are blended perefctly with extraterrestrial synth sounds and

organic emotions. The vocals are delicate and perfect. It is a short release,

but it is dripping with quality and good taste. I have listened to ambient for

about 10 years, and you really can't get this quality from anyone else. Makyo

and Hikari are beautiful, light- inspired people and there is not better

refelction of than than on the "Padmasana: Balinese Space Dub" release. It's

much better than any of Makyo's solo work, imho. a MUST buy for dreamers and

shpongled space people...(9.5/10)

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Guest phase418[at]hotmail[dot]com

This is some of the finest ambient EVER made...

I goes on my top list with "Mystic Cigarettes",

"Are you Shpongled?" and "Dub Trees". This album is

in the same vein, and of that same high standard of

quality. 9.5/10

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would say that this is my favourite of the Dakini artist albums. Very Very

Very good.

 

9/10

bomble

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 years later...
  • 11 months later...

Posted Image

Padmasana

Padmasana (Balinese Space Dub)

Dakini Records

1999 (Reissued in 2001)

 

Tracklist

 

1 Be Where Now (12:19)

2 A Distant Star (11:08)

3 Holistic Resonance (18:20)

 

Padmasana is a collaboration between Gio Makyo and David Hikari, a pair of Tokyo chill-out djs, and the mysterious S. Widi, their "spiritual advisor" from Bali. This album was inspired by misty nights in Ubud and the mind-shattering "oong" mushrooms of Bali. The music takes you on a trip through inner and outer space, finally ending up back in the lush, tropical ambience of Ubud at night.

The album features field recordings and live performances recorded in Bali, Tibet, and Tokyo, and varied instrumentation, including: Tibetan mantra, gamelan, Indian frame drum, water drums, bass, assorted Balinese percussion, sampler, cumbus, broken BassStation, Korg Z1, voice, Eventide Harmonizer, tr-303, tabla, and Ubud night insects and frogs.

 

1. Be Where Now

A nice opening track. Has a nice chilled out bassline through out the majority of the track playing like a melody. Lots of tribal ethnic sounds in this one but in the usual Dakini way, the ethnicity of the music never goes too overboard or gets too cheesy. It all sounds very real, a perfect mixture of tribal sounds, modern technology & future spaciness. This last element is given a perfect boost by the sample The spacecraft passes through the gateway, space returns to normal halfway through & continuing with scattered short samples of space & time & spacecrafts through the rest of the track just the right length to be trippy as hell & never annoying. The melody playing through the whole track is a simple falling melody that fits as a link from the earthy beats to the spacey vocals. All in all it's a fantastic track. One of the best from Dakini :)

 

2. A Distant Star

With lush vocals from Keiku who has featured on other Dakini tracks, most memorably for me was her vocals on Puff Dragon's Qi Gong. For a long while it is just her and some nice ambient sounds. A lush drone, some very soft tribal percussion & some gentle strings. It's all such beautifully done ethnic ambient. As before it sounds so real, no forced ethnicity or cheesy overdone stuff here, this sounds like the Eastern Promise in my dreams of Tibetan temples when I was younger. Picture yourself trekking through the mountains, the clouds low all around you & as the mist clears you find yourself in front of a large yet humble temple. As you walk in through the gates there is a quiet market with peddlers selling their wears and priests walking serenely among them. In the main building you can hear the voice of a goddess & you are drawn to it but the more you go towards it the more distant it becomes. These are the images conjured in my head but as the voice finally disappears I find myself back in a small hut, pipe in hand, wondering where I've just been.

 

3. Holistic Resonance

The last track is an 18 minute journey into your deepest inner reaches & past your outer limits into the limitlessness of space. It's soft melodic ambient, mostly beatless in the first half but with enough energy through it moving. There is hints of soft percussion here & there but it never really needs any beats. The music drifts along beautifully without it that by the time steady beats do materialise you are left wondering how long they have been there. The NASA type samples are amazing out of place with the whole feel of the track yet surprisingly seem to fit in as well. During the second half the track picks a bit more energy with the beat becoming more prominent and some oddly places vocal sounds. the real treat musically in this track though has to be the chimes that make up the melody in the final run of the track. Dreamy in a meditative sort of way. Like sitting in a forest clearing on a warm summer evening, connecting your thoughts to the nature around you & really looking deeply inside yourself from far away so you can see how the deep inner reaches of your mind & body are connected with everything else. One of the best final runs I've heard not just from Dakini but in ambient music in general.

 

 

This album is definitely a must if you like Dakini's sound. One of the highlights from a very good label. It's soft dreamy music conjuring images of Eastern Philosophy and deep space ideals. The ethnicity is very real & never sounds fake, cheesy or forced in anyway. The vocals in the second are goddess like in their beauty & have to have been made for the track rather than a sample used by the producer. The percussion is very down to earth tribal beats & the basslines are subtle a tuneful. The melodies add the spacey feel as do a few well placed samples. The only flaw is the length at under 42 minutes you are always left wanting more. Still, best to release 3 brilliant tracks only than 3 brilliant tracks & 3 sub par tracks maybe.

 

 

About Padmasana

"Padmasana" is a common type of shrine found in Bali --although most gods and goddesses are usually visually depicted with statues and other works of art, the supreme godhead is shown only as an empty chair, the "padmasana" ("lotus seat"). On one level, this is a great spiritual prank; on another, it's full of meaning: the divine cannot be shown as a "god", because ultimately, it's everywhere and in everyone.

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