abasio Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 Indigo Egg ixland Celestial Dragon Records 21st March 2008 Tracklist 1 Clouds Of Indigo (13:01) 2 Planet X (11:42) 3 Tree Bark Dreams (9:51) 4 Smiling Buddha (8:35) 5 Lhasa Oblongata (3:24) 6 Ixland / Clearlight (5:27) 7 Home (2:13) Matt Hillier, the ambient master who brought us the masterpiece albums Orchid (Ishq), Magik Square of the Sun (Ishvara), Infinite Garden (Elve) and much much more. This album was originally worked on in the late 90’s but was shelved as other projects took precedence. Brought up later, remastered it finally found it’s way into a release. This album therefore highlights Matt’s early sound & is very reminiscent of that late 90’s ambient sound. 1. Clouds of Indigo We start off with a very natural intro, waves, wind that kind of stuff before it becomes a much more spacey psychedelic sounds with a soft but steady beat & little plops of trippy bubbles all around. Things rush off into the atmosphere & cascade down like a sonic shower. A very simple melody is strangely encapsulating and it all manages to build a very nice relaxed & very trippy atmosphere. The melody goes up & down & twists all around in a very slow manner. It’s one of those tracks that just manages to make time seem irrelevant as while it is 13 minutes long it seems to be over in no time. It’s a great opener and would work well mixed with some of The Infinity Projects ambient stuff. 2. Planet X More natural sounds at the start of this one, birdsong being the most prominent continues through the track but at a much more subtle layer after quite a hard beat kicks in. The beat is sharp & cuts through the soundscape with every kick. Whereas the intro has me scratching my head as to why this track is called Planet X, after a while I come to understand. The sounds used are very alien feeling, extremely trippy & it makes me picture a purple late evening sky with ringed moons slowly rising in the sky. It’s a bit like the music from Magik Square of the Sun but more upbeat and more colourful than I found that album but it shares the same mechanical feeling I got from it in a similar alien environment. 3. Tree Bark Dreams Fantastic 90’s ambient beats are like a very welcome blast from the past. They remind me of the sort of trippy beats found on the Early Northern Exposure compilations with a slightly more twisted edge. The beats trip along echoing on each hit. The spacey sounds put me in mind of the Northern Lights & how they would sound if turned into music. I picture myself lying on my back on a frozen over lake far into the arctic circle watching them flicker overhead waiting for an alien spacecraft to and rescue me from the drudgery of everyday life. I find this to be a nice track full of escapism. 4. Smiling Buddha Smiling Buddha slows us down a bit, the beats are still there but they are back to an undanceable rate. You could stand in the middle of the dancefloor and move but move but it wouldn’t really be dancing. Very spacey again with alien blips rising & cascading, long synth lines droning in the background & a sample I can’t quite make out. It’s a fair bit darker than the previous tracks more like night time space ambient. It feels like open spaces, dark skies and the tops of trees obscuring the moonlight. The whole atmosphere is very big & dreamy, my favourite track on the album 5. Lhasa Oblongata This is a spacey, floaty, beatless track that manages to sound spacey & earthy at the same time. The bubbles sound like they are in some ocean in hyperspace whereas the birds sound like they are over an earthly body of water. Maybe it’s on some mirror world, just like here except different in an indescribable way. 6. ixland/Clearlight Back with some heavier beats (not heavy just compared to the beatless track before). The sounds are harsher in this too sounding like some acid stabbing through my brain, quite a shock from the bliss that has preceded it. It’s an interesting storm of sounds swirling around. Halfway through it really calms down becoming a calm beatless adventure onto a beautiful island. The sound of birds greets us & the voice of a Psiren speaks to me, welcoming me. The contrast in styles from the start to the beginning is quite unusual & I think I’d prefer just the latter style. 7. Home A wee track to end on, for me it’s like a continuation from the end of the last track. I can see myself lying on the grass in the middle of my island looking up into the clear blue sky & being very much at peace here at home. Well, all in all this was not what I was expecting. I was expecting something more along the lines of his beatless Virtual Music releases or his Ishq releases. But Matt Hillier has a different name for every different style & this style is definitely needing it’s own name. The music is musical, not just an ambient soundscape journey but it has melody & rhythm too. Like most of Matt’s work a casual listen doesn’t sound that spectacular but lie down & give it a real listen & the beauty unfolds. I would heartily recommend this to any lover of Matt Hillier, 90’s ambient or just good trippy music. This is a very psychedelic album in my humble opinion; it really takes my mind places. The mastering is great, it all sounds very clean but the only thing I don’t like is that at the end & beginning of some tracks it seems like the music has been altered a little to make the album a seamless (gapless) journey of an album. I don’t quite feel though that it succeeds and the transitions from one track to another distract me briefly. That’s a small qualm though & it does not ruin my enjoyment of this very good album. Not Matt’s best work but a fine release nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholyman Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 A great album, I don't mind the more "beat" tracks, I think the beat is very subtle and it doesen't bother me at all. Smiling Buddha is a personal favorite among Ishq tracks. You don't have to be a fan of oldschool ambient to appreciate this, it very easily keeps up to todays standards and beyond that. "Today's standards?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormion Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Ahh, Matt Hillier. What a guy... This is a brilliant album, extremelly relaxing. The whole album is like a slow walk among the gardens of Babylon. The bird singing, the calming melodies, the ethereal pads all perfect. It's not better than Orchid but is top notch ambient. I wish Jake Stephenson was alive and to have second Alien Mutation & Indigo Egg album. BTW I think that the title of this album is ixland instead of Ixland. Small detail, but that's how Matt wants it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healium Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 The 2nd track is fantastic... Production issues though - while listening on good headphones on my stereo the background static is very strong in some tracks, such that it dominates the soundstage and makes it un-enjoyable to listen - only an issue with headphones though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfunk Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Its nice to listen some early works on ISHQ sound, some parts of the tracks sound very close to the modern Ishq, they (the tracks) are just more raw & dirty on this album ... 5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abasio Posted April 30, 2008 Author Share Posted April 30, 2008 BTW I think that the title of this album is ixland instead of Ixland. Small detail, but that's how Matt wants it. changed everything I could (ie not topic title) The 2nd track is fantastic... Production issues though - while listening on good headphones on my stereo the background static is very strong in some tracks, such that it dominates the soundstage and makes it un-enjoyable to listen - only an issue with headphones though... I listened to this on Bose headphones & found very few production problems, no static at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholyman Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 After more listens I agree that the fast paced lightly bassed first tracks do get really annoying Sometimes as when wanting to lsiten to ambient they rae kinda disturbing, it's particularly third track the other works fine mostly.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillmood Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I think there is a certain time, place, and mood for this type of music. Matt Hillier creates a certain magic in almost everything, it's all about *when* exactly the decoding actually makes sense to your soul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphythecat Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Adagio, i must agree,m this one is good! thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunkey Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 what a colourful music, it is blow me away stronger and stronger... fav - Smiling Buddha and Clouds of Indigo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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