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Solar Fields - Movements


Melancholyman

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They represent Movement this friday in athens and quess what..? I ll be there ! :posford: :clapping:

*jealous*

 

 

Yeah. Sol is probably my favorite, I like it a little bit better than the other songs on the album. But they're all good in their own respect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1000th post... FINALLY

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I don't like this at all. I find it very dull. I'm clearly in the minority, at least of people who feel strongly enough to post, and that's fine. Musical appreciation is totally subjective and I think it's great that you all are getting off so mightily to this release.

 

But it does nothing whatsoever for me and I guess I just wanted to throw that out there since all the reviews so far have been overwhelmingly favorable.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Everyone....my first post in these forums :)

 

Just wanted to add what an inspiring album this is. I just cant fault it really. Definately a progression from Leaving Home. Whilst i liked Earthshine in places i feel the downtempo/chillout style is definatletly what Magnus does best. Theres just something about his music that makes me feel every little sound is just so crafted and yet still charged with emotion. As someone mentioned earlier, the first time i listened to it i just didnt want it to end...just beautiful.

 

Just taken delivery of Ephemeris bu HUVA Network....i doubt i'll enjoy it as much but as far as i'm concerned Magnus can do little wrong musically.

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  • 2 weeks later...

i'm a 37 year old metal/prog head who tends to listen to bands like tool, dream theater, porcupine tree, old metallica, etc...i don't listen to electronic music ever. recently, i found solar fields on emusic.com a few months ago and can't believe how good his stuff is. movements is by far my favorite release from him. i can listen to the song "sol" over and over again. when i hear it, i think he wrote the song with positive intentions...to put positive vibrations into the world. i like the rest of movements as well, but there is something about "sol" that elevates it to a higher place. it can heal me on a bad day and put things into perspective.

 

i'm pretty shocked how much i connect with solar fields considering the music i like tends to be (a) very intense and (B) in a minor key, and © very busy. while solar fields' stuff can be intense, it is typically...not happy...but very positive. it is also heavy, but not black sabbath heavy....more like heavy in its weight in its intent.

 

i don't know why i like movements and "sol" so much considering it is so different, but i'm glad i found it.

 

i also like the reviews on this web site that people leave. i have read a lot of the solar fields reviews and love how people describe his music.

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i'm a 37 year old metal/prog head who tends to listen to bands like tool, dream theater, porcupine tree, old metallica, etc...i don't listen to electronic music ever. recently, i found solar fields on emusic.com a few months ago and can't believe how good his stuff is. movements is by far my favorite release from him. i can listen to the song "sol" over and over again. when i hear it, i think he wrote the song with positive intentions...to put positive vibrations into the world. i like the rest of movements as well, but there is something about "sol" that elevates it to a higher place. it can heal me on a bad day and put things into perspective.

 

i'm pretty shocked how much i connect with solar fields considering the music i like tends to be (a) very intense and (B) in a minor key, and © very busy. while solar fields' stuff can be intense, it is typically...not happy...but very positive. it is also heavy, but not black sabbath heavy....more like heavy in its weight in its intent.

 

i don't know why i like movements and "sol" so much considering it is so different, but i'm glad i found it.

 

i also like the reviews on this web site that people leave. i have read a lot of the solar fields reviews and love how people describe his music.

 

One step closer to enlightenment -_-

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i'm a 37 year old metal/prog head who tends to listen to bands like tool, dream theater, porcupine tree, old metallica, etc...i don't listen to electronic music ever. recently, i found solar fields on emusic.com a few months ago and can't believe how good his stuff is. movements is by far my favorite release from him. i can listen to the song "sol" over and over again. when i hear it, i think he wrote the song with positive intentions...to put positive vibrations into the world. i like the rest of movements as well, but there is something about "sol" that elevates it to a higher place. it can heal me on a bad day and put things into perspective.

 

i'm pretty shocked how much i connect with solar fields considering the music i like tends to be (a) very intense and (B) in a minor key, and © very busy. while solar fields' stuff can be intense, it is typically...not happy...but very positive. it is also heavy, but not black sabbath heavy....more like heavy in its weight in its intent.

 

i don't know why i like movements and "sol" so much considering it is so different, but i'm glad i found it.

 

i also like the reviews on this web site that people leave. i have read a lot of the solar fields reviews and love how people describe his music.

I 100 % agree with you on that one :)
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I don't like this at all. I find it very dull. I'm clearly in the minority, at least of people who feel strongly enough to post, and that's fine. Musical appreciation is totally subjective and I think it's great that you all are getting off so mightily to this release.

 

But it does nothing whatsoever for me and I guess I just wanted to throw that out there since all the reviews so far have been overwhelmingly favorable.

thought it was quite dull aswell. works pretty well as unobtrusive backgroundmusic though.

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I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of us here love Sol because of that little "wooo" sound affect in there. I love that sound.

Yeah, I love that sound as well :) Of course that's not the only reason... Sol is the track i think sound most like the way i want Solar Field to sound.. The thing i love most about Solar Field is what this track is made of.. All elements meltet in to one masterpiece :D

 

Uh, and when they evolve that wuuub sound and raises the key(in the end of the track around 6:30 the first time) don't know if it's a female voice he fx'ed or what, but it send chills down my spine when i listen to it !

 

Btw this track is totally recommended on MDMA after a good night out... Listened to it when i got home from a party resently, haven't felt that much piece in myself in a veeeery long time :D

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I just got this and it's amazing. Easily the best album I've heard this year, it's in a category of it's own. I've only listened to it a couple times so far, but I have to say this may be a 10/10 album if there ever was one. Giving it a score almost feels "wrong" though, it's beyond putting a number on it. :)

 

It's just soooo chilled out, but at the same time always throwing new things at you and evolving. Also it's somehow very uplifting but also really gets into your soul and makes you think/contemplate. Fantastic stuff!

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Heres my review in my function as official isratrance reviewer:

 

Do you know the kind of woman that looks beautiful one day, and then you see her a week later and she seems to have lost all her magic? Or even worse, you look at her from one angle and she appears spectacular, but from another angle she is average at best? As all Seinfeld watchers know, this phenomenon is called the "Two-Face". Solar Fields new album Movements was the music equivalent of the "Two-Face" to me. One day I loved it, the next it just seemed trite and boring, and for a long time I really didn't know why. Then I treated myself a to an expensive-as-fuck new Bose sound system a few days ago. It was while playing the album on that new system that Movements finally cast its magic spell upon me and I understood why it is such a "Two-Face".

 

With bad speakers, Movements just doesn't work. The melodies themselves are not exceptionally breathtaking, the soundscapes or sound selection or whatever you want to call it isn't exceptionally original, and there is nothing that grabs your attention over any other ambient release. That, however, changes completely when you run it through a good sound system, and I really mean sound system, not just good headphones. All of a sudden the formerly mediocre soundscapes take on an ethereal kind of plasticity; they hover in the room like a lucent mist. From below the warm yet firm bass carries the tracks on a velvet cushion, almost invisible, but still very present. And in those surroundings, the once bland melodies take on a completely new life, trite becomes emotional and cheesy becomes beautiful. At its best, when all elements come together, the effect is nothing less than mind blowing, for example at the end of Sol (T1) when the lady starts to sing or after the break of The Road to Nothingness (T10).

 

That being said, the flow of this album is totally off. With ambient albums much more so than with dance albums the flow is essential, because I for one listen to them usually in one sitting and in situations where I am not in the mood to get my fat ass off the couch. For the first 6 tracks, the journey is very uneven, highlights are intermixed with the two rather uneventful tracks Circles of Motion (T2) and Dust (T6) and the only real stinker The Stones are Not Too Busy (T5). Only at the end does Movements really find its flow, and that's a shame. The victim of the weird programming is the powerful opener Sol, probably my favorite track here. It sits at the beginning like monolith when it should have been put into context as one of the centerpieces of the album.

 

Recomendation: With women, the cause for the "Two-Face" is usually the angle in which light hits the face of the unfortunate one. With Movements, the cause is the quality of the sound system. The better the speakers, the more it can unfold its beauty. Of course Movements isn't the only album that sounds better on a good system, but here the difference really is more dramatic than on any other music I can think of. And that is only to Solar Fields' credit, because the intricacies of the sound design are so subtle and sophisticated, it takes the right equipment to notice and appreciate. To be a straight A, Movements has a few too many average tracks (2,5 and 6) that really bother me in the context of the album, but the rest are all great to exceptional, so I can only recommend it to all who like their ambient deep and emotional

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow wow and wow!

 

One of the very best downtempo albums I've ever heard - I can easily call this one a masterpiece - I'd go ahead and say its my favorite ever but I've only heard it once, and I heard it on headphones on the tail end of a little bit of 2cb - so I heard it in all its glory...

 

But still, I know fantastic music when I hear it, and the depth, intricacy, and creativity of these tracks is spectacular - this artist is truly brilliant, and exceptionally talented... The way he layers all those different pads and such is just great...

 

I didn't get into "Leaving Home" that well - I like it ok, but this one blows me away - thx Solar Fields!

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This album is ridiculously good.

 

Circles Of Motion, Sky Trees(!), Das Bungalow(!!!), Patterns, Breeze are breathtaking. The rest are top notch too.

 

 

 

10/10 easily (def one of the best ambient/dtempo albums I own)

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I can only add to the glowing reviews that have been posted on this album. This one of THE best ambient albums I have ever heard, I'd put it in my top 5 five releases of any genre released in this decade and probably within my top 10 albums ever. This album is just so emotive, rarely have I been carried away by an album as much as I do when I listen to this.

I really can't think of enough superlatives to describe the feelings this album evokes in me when I listen to it...

Undoubtably a 10/10

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Nice to see the general consensus agrees with me so far. We'll be up a couple more pages before year's end. Believe me.

 

Solar Fields - Movements is the first downtempo/ambient album I have ever given a solid A to in my life. And I have heard hundreds (though I've never scored and/or fully reviewed Shpongle 1+2 so maybe one of them is an A to me).

 

Every time I listen to this album, it's like a world flowing and filled with passion, love, and magic. Many of the tracks on this album I couldn't imagine enhancing in any way. For lack of better words, they're ideal and bursting with wonderful energy from beginning to end. There is so much positivity and satisfaction here. So much feeling. So many beautiful and delicious sound layers and ambient blending in flow and in harmony with other sound layers, leads, and ambient. I would rather enjoy than attach titles/words to it. Naturally the pleasure is one coupled with self-experience and satisfaction. This is a 5/5 star find yourself, let go of yourself, and free-your-mind album. Even the less spectacular tracks are great IMO. I'm just :wub:

 

Other 2009 albums that I consider strongest of 2009 includ:

 

- Filteria - Daze Of Our Lives

- Merr0w - Born Underwater

- Psychoz: 2012 No Return

- Celtic Cross - Hicksville (Remastered & Remixed).

 

I really love Solar Field's direction with Movements. This is the first album I've bought by them. Far as the downtempo/ambient genre(s) go, this is quite possibly my favorite (or one of my top favorite) downtempo albums of the last decade.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sweet mother of Jesus, you thought Solar Fields' previous ambient installations sounded out of this world?

 

Then wait until you hear his sixth full length studio album, "Movements"!!!

 

I usually tend to write more elaborate and constructive reviews, but this one has me constructing time again, after each listen. It's like a 79 minute outer body experience.

 

Beautiful, highly melodic, with very deep soundscapes (if played on a good sound system, you'll literary feel the bass lines swallowing you up in one go), with an amazing mix consisting of ambeint drones or downtempo chilled out beats, all spiced up with detailed sounds, ranging from live instruments to pure electronics.

It goes way beyond psy chill, psybient or whatever you want to call it. This is as mature as though it's coming from somebody who has been around the block ever since the block existed. As somebody nicely put it before me: he touches all of his previous work, and drains the best out of it. The trancey melodies, the unconventional percussion patterns, the slowly evolving yet ever morphing layers, the profound complexity and the luxury of his production. Picture Solar Fields releasing an album which contains the best ambient segments from "Leaving home" and "Extended", spurted with sporadic musical influences from his sophmore effort, "Blue moon station".

 

I have nothing more to add. This one shades a completely different perspective on the artist's work, and makes one wonder just where can he take it from here? This is as mellow and liquid as I wanted it to be. "Movements" is a phenomenal piece of work, and by far my favorite album I have heard in 2009 up to date.

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I wish this album had more, longer tracks like Sky Trees and Das Bungalow, and that most of the melodies (and other sounds) didn't sound nearly the same (not to mention the same as some tracks from previous CDs).

 

But I must admit this is his best "post-psy" ambient album yet. I've listened to it about 8 times now which is an all time record for anything released on Ultimae Records. While the music does have some pretty boring moments, it's a huge improvement and there's usually a beat along with the atmosphere so you can't get too bored.

 

There's about 4 boring tracks on it.

 

8/10

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I accidentally got a smoke with some strange substans in :) But, I as I think I found out about the track Sol. To me Sol, is the entire Leaving Home in one track. Anyone agrees? I'd love to hear some feedback of this.

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