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Solar Quest - Sola Luna


SkeletonMan

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Artist: SolarQuest

Title: Sola Luna (double cd with first cd named Sola and second named Luna)

Label: Entropica

Released: 20. jan 2008

 

Tracks:

Sola (79:49)

1.1 Tokers Dream (7:45)

1.2 Astra (9:53)

1.3 Aphelion (7:44)

1.4 Zen Again (3:42)

1.5 Ananda (5:42)

1.6 Philosophy (6:22)

1.7 Eye Mage (4:07)

1.8 Ascendant (4:54)

1.9 Silken Threads Of Now (8:35)

1.10 Sirius Mind (7:07)

1.11 Venus In Retro (5:47)

1.12 Celestial Mass (8:06)

Luna (79:49)

2.1 Buntaar (5:14)

2.2 Reception Deception (10:21)

2.3 Khali's Curtains (5:39)

2.4 Entropica Cafe (9:18)

2.5 Halcyon (4:22)

2.6 Perihelion (6:02)

2.7 Pupae (5:39)

2.8 Water Walk (4:44)

2.9 Opposition (6:51)

2.10 Arrigato Zaisho (4:00)

2.11 Quaesine (10:31)

2.12 Trisine (7:03)

 

I’m gonna be frank with you. I don’t like Sola Luna. To the point where I’m about to declare it sucking donkeys’ ass.

 

Admittedly, this could all come down to taste in which case it wouldn’t matter if George Saunders had the skills of a master jedi. If it’s not your style you won’t dig it and Indian inspired chill-out music has always been a test for me. So too here with all the trademarks of this genre present. The up beat flutes, the relentless sitars, the Indian tribal percussion. Add to this a female voice sounding as if she bore the weight of having found the meaning of life & love on her shoulders this climbs further and further up the ladder of cheeze.

 

Trust me, I am doing my best to work with it. Perhaps Entheogenic’s Dialogue Of The Speakers is not completely comparable to Sola Luna but Dialogue is a big hit in my chill out book so it’s not like I cannot appreciate Indian inspired chill out at all. But there’s a fine line between soothing psy-ambient soundscapes and new age bullshit and while the non-vocal sections may work as a back-drop I can't survive the vocal sections. I mean check out this message from Celestial Mass: "Love is a constant consistent flow of life, it is the vehicle of Prana, it is the divine ingredients, it is the ever was and ever shall be, love is forever bla bla bla ..."

 

In all fairness disc 2 Luna works better than Sola. On the first half the vocals are mostly off and a couple of tracks here could probably make me sleep in tight and sweet. But why the hell do they have to include lines like: "Purifying waters, as moon shines on the sea, the water flows, all waters flow and the waves crash against the sea ..." from Pupae. Come fucking on!

 

I have no doubt there is a market for this type of music. I know my copy is for sale and followers of new age muzak may very well get a kick out of this. I don’t.

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Lol, I thought I was the only one :). The best tracks could make one ok album maybe but then still it would be far from great imo.

Glad to hear. Yeah, I guess the political right thing would be to appreciate this album but it's simply too cheesy <_<

 

I expected this to be underground and good but it's so completely off my taste :(

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I've not heard it much yet but my first impression is pretty weak, I feel sorry for the people who waited 18 months after paying to recieve this. It's nothing like I was expecting, I'll give it some more time as I can see that it's well made. Just very disappointed by the style

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Psyphonics is a shop guy selling solar quest...

 

 

Ontopic I like the orgship album... (it's in the double orgisms). It's mellow at times but way better then his last release. Maybe simple at times but it touches the right snares in my head :D. The orgship has a more honest sound, simple but nice...

 

I didn't like the overuse of indian samples and instruments on the solaside of the new album , too much cheese and the luna was far from good, but a little better in parts...

 

 

I payed 16 pounds including shipping for the new double album ... Never gonna see that money again :). Should better say it's fantastic so everybody buys it so I can sell mine... :D

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Is this the Solar Quest who did Acid Air Raid and other awesome acid tracks?

 

Sucky.

yes it is. his earlier downtempo did not sound at all like this. I like this one though, its a bit TOO indian, but it does my day.

 

Too monotonous...one track resembles the other..seems like he finished the album out of boredom...nothing new, nothing innovative. :(

maybe thats the point? one big ass track, mr solar quest is pretty famous for his LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG tracks :)
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This album is great...It captures the feeling of good old times in almost effortless way...Anyway I liked Luna better than Sola because of the overuse of Indian vocals...But...I find no such emotional and sincere moments on many contemprorary chill/ambient albums...Thanks George

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  • 2 weeks later...

Completly disagree with first comments about this release.

You find here great ambient/relaxing music with Indian influence there.

 

Sensual and Organic, very melodic and not twisted electronic music; in fact, not every good ambient/downtempo music must be twisted, IMO.

 

This release is Magic... Music with heart is great!

 

Highligth recommend for true ambient spirit lovers. 4+/5

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I also think this is very well made, besides from the shanti stuff in some parts, i think it has a lot of nice details and is very relaxing indeed. Certainly something i would enjoy hearing in a chill out section of a party :) For sure i can tell this is aimed more toward the commercial side of things, kind of a buddha bar CD and i dont see what coult be bad with that.. to reach out to a wider audience is always good as an artist. I mean this guy has been doing pretty underground stuff for a while so i can fully understand if he wants to make something less "underground".

 

Cheers

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  • 3 weeks later...

Skeletonman,

I think it is definitely ok to express negative opinions in a review thread, but starting a review thread with almost exclusively negative comments (not to mention the ready-to-barf-smiley!) for an album which is not even your taste to begin with, is nothing but silly and frankly only shows a big lack of respect for the artist.

 

IMO,

I could definitely do without the cheesy vocals, I agree that it is not very innovative or original, and I can't argue with the comments about it being a bit new-age'ey, buddha-bar'ish and very "indian", especially on the Sola disc. And Orgship is probably still my favourite Solar Quest chill album.

 

That said, however, I think that this type of ethnic chill or whatever you wanna call it doesn't get much better than this. It is very well made, it is warm and cozy through-out, and considering that the instruments are actually performed and not stolen from sample CD's (like most artists seem to do), and especially that so many of them are performed by George himself, I think this is damn impressive!

 

Sure it isn't the most original, challenging or trippy chill ever, but it's still damn well made and deserves some respect! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is not agressively allergic to "new age"/indian influences, or the occasional cheesy vocal. Also, Luna is very going-to-sleep-friendly in a warm and cozy way which is something that is in short supply in chill nowadays (at least judging from the chill I hear).

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Ok i don't share the negative opinions.

 

At first it sounded like classic lame indian sounding chill music but the more i listen the more i like it.

 

Its quite atmospheric and has depth.

 

Now i sure listened to it about 20 times and it does not get boring, it gets better every time i listen to it.

For me, this release is sure one of the better chill releases of 2008.

 

Digi

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Skeletonman,

I think it is definitely ok to express negative opinions in a review thread, but starting a review thread with almost exclusively negative comments (not to mention the ready-to-barf-smiley!) for an album which is not even your taste to begin with, is nothing but silly and frankly only shows a big lack of respect for the artist.

 

IMO,

I could definitely do without the cheesy vocals, I agree that it is not very innovative or original, and I can't argue with the comments about it being a bit new-age'ey, buddha-bar'ish and very "indian", especially on the Sola disc. And Orgship is probably still my favourite Solar Quest chill album.

 

That said, however, I think that this type of ethnic chill or whatever you wanna call it doesn't get much better than this. It is very well made, it is warm and cozy through-out, and considering that the instruments are actually performed and not stolen from sample CD's (like most artists seem to do), and especially that so many of them are performed by George himself, I think this is damn impressive!

 

Sure it isn't the most original, challenging or trippy chill ever, but it's still damn well made and deserves some respect! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is not agressively allergic to "new age"/indian influences, or the occasional cheesy vocal. Also, Luna is very going-to-sleep-friendly in a warm and cozy way which is something that is in short supply in chill nowadays (at least judging from the chill I hear).

I didn't mean to sound disrespectful. Perhaps the barfing smiley is a little overkill but I call the shots as I see them. I see that many do not agree with me. Good! I hope they and more will all buy the album.

 

In all fairness I also stress that I'm not into new age and I find this to be new age mainstream ... Well, no need to reiterate my views.

 

I certainly respect the artist. He's created something of his own. Cudos to him! I've created ... an opinion.

 

And they're like assholes. Everybody has one. :ph34r:

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I'm totally shocked by the comments I'm reading here. I havent heard of this double cd, but I'm listening to a radio station right now, and for the last hour it's been running "Solar Quest - Luna", I'm guessing theyre playing the whole 2nd cd. But the music is awesome, either their stream tag is fucked or this album is good. I'll have a few listens of the actualy album somewhere on the web, maybe their tag is just messed up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm totally shocked by the comments I'm reading here. I havent heard of this double cd, but I'm listening to a radio station right now, and for the last hour it's been running "Solar Quest - Luna", I'm guessing theyre playing the whole 2nd cd. But the music is awesome, either their stream tag is fucked or this album is good. I'll have a few listens of the actualy album somewhere on the web, maybe their tag is just messed up.

well said mate :rolleyes:

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"Ok i don't share the negative opinions.

 

At first it sounded like classic lame indian sounding chill music but the more i listen the more i like it.

 

Its quite atmospheric and has depth.

 

Now i sure listened to it about 20 times and it does not get boring, it gets better every time i listen to it.

For me, this release is sure one of the better chill releases of 2008.

 

Digi"

 

 

+1

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