Kliment - The Perpetual Ritual

[abasio]

Artist: Kliment

Title: The Perpetual Ritual

Lable: Electrik Dream Records

Released: 29th April 2009

Style: Shpongle like Downtempo

 

Tracklist

 

1 Crystalline (9:40)

2 Ether Aesthetics (8:33)

3 Behind The Steps Of Death (10:33)

4 Reflexive Meditation (8:40)

5 Universe Alchemy (8:45)

6 Travels To The Infinite (7:43)

7 Arowana (9:01)

8 The Interstellar Orchestra (8:03)

 

Kliment Dichev is out with his first physical release after a string of digital only releases covering Psytrance, Progressive and Ambient. Released on Electrik Dream Records it was not what I was expecting. I was expecting something a little more electro, a little more upbeat and to be honest not quite this good. A pleasant surprise all round then as Kliment has taken his influences and mixed it with his own sounds very nicely. You can tell from the music that Kliment has been heavily influenced by Simon Posford in that you can here elements that are easily related back to the big man’s back catalogue of chillout music. There are a lot Shpongle like flutes through just about every track, there are Celtic Cross like guitars in a few creating an atmosphere like being in the American countryside at night searching for UFOs and even twisted synths and samples along with dubby basslines like Hallucinogen in Dub.

 

Kliment though has not just copied someone else’s sound and tried to pass it off as his own, no no no! He has mixed these elements with his own style. The atmospheres he creates are unique to him and there are elements that are not just from Simon Posford’s late nineties repertoire. There is more of an ethnic feeling to it that I heard in Shpongle, more of a spacey feeling than I heard in Celtic Cross and the sample work is very different.

 

The samples are actually my main problem with this album; I just really don’t like the sounds of the voices that have been chosen. There is something in the tone of the voice that rubs me the wrong way; they somehow feel far too smug for my liking. Also some of the sounds are little too ethnic for my liking and Kliment borders on being Shanty Shanty psychill without ever crossing over into being cheesy (but close).

 

The best tracks are Ether Aesthetics (T2) which has such a great melodic bassline that makes me just want to bounce along with it, perfect danceable chillout; Behind The Steps Of Death (T3) which feels like Celtic Cross 2 with a beautiful mix a space and earth tones; Arowana (T7) which could be on a Hallucinogen in Dub album if they wanted to go down a more ethnic track and The Interstellar Orchestra (T8) which has melodies played on many different instruments both string and wind, acoustic and electronic it seems.

 

Recommendation: This is a very good album, if you don’t mind that a lot of the sounds used are heavily influenced by other artists so that you can feel other people’s stamps all over it. If you are the sort of person that screams copy cat at the slightest influence than you will probably not appreciate this. If you can enjoy music for the music itself and you like deep spacey, slightly ethnic tribal ambient/downtempo then you’ll like this. This is not pushing the scene forward in anyway but it is still a very enjoyable album.

 

Favourite Tracks: 2,3,7,8

 

originally written for www.isratrance.com

 

 

Track By Track

 

1. Crystalline

Lots of nice piano, a nice female vocal seems to wail from the edge of eternity and a melody that reminds me a little of a time in a movie when the main character is reflecting on a past mistake. The vocals are quite a focal point but they are nice vocals with no (English) words so they blend into the music very well creating a relaxed atmosphere of melancholic reflection. The bassline that becomes more prominent in the latter part of the track gives it enough so that the listener doesn’t nod off towards the end making it worth in nigh on ten minutes length.

 

2. Ether Aesthetics

A more tribal sound with Ether Aesthetics as there is more of a beat, starting of very tribally then settling down to a more standard downbeat. There are some Shponlish flutes that seem to blend into a female vocal without me being able to discern when one becomes the other. The main selling point of this track is definitely its very fun bassline melody. It just bounces along and really encourages me to want to bounce along with it. The main weakness in the track for me is the vocal sample as I just really don’t like the smug sound of the guy’s voice.

 

3. Behind The Steps Of Death

A step back with the tempo it seems with this track, once again it is more of a melancholic and reflective atmosphere, the beats are strong but very slow and the melody, at times a little too high pitch for comfort, seems to come out through the walls in the minds ether to fill the space between the beats. The guitar fits well but sounds like it is imitating Celtic Cross. The whole track reminds me of Celtic Cross to be honest with the melodies, the sample about 10 dimensional space, and the slight country feeling mixed with a trippy spacey mood is very nice.

 

4. Reflexive Meditation

This track doesn’t seem half as reflexive or meditative as the title suggests. The main melodic sounds in the first half get on my nerves a bit and it is not until the shponglesque flute comes in that it approaches such a state but even this seems to contrast the other sounds so much that I feel like the flute and the other melodies are fighting. It feels in my mind like a battle for the air waves. The length of each and between each becomes longer and I keep feeling that the deep relaxing flutes have won only for the other sounds to punch back in.

 

5. Universe Alchemy

The intro is a really nice bubbling sound instantly setting the scene in my head of a laboratory with lots of beakers and test tubes filled with bubbling liquids. The music that trails it though is much grander with a tight melody; cool IDMish beats and a female vocal chant making it feel much spacier and more shamanic. I feel like I am in god’s laboratory where I cannot feel the difference between science and nature. The melody becomes a twisted brainteaser and the background sounds like the laughter and the sharp breaths give the nature, science blend a breath of realism.

 

6. Travels To The Infinite

I am not too excited by the sample in the intro of the track as the sound and tone of the voice just rubs me the wrong way but once it’s gone we get some more nice Shpongle moments. Cut up samples that sound like twisted synth work (or twisted synth work that sounds like a cut up sample), flutes and a nice main melody that can wrap itself around your head and let you float away. Overall this is a very nice track with a few overly ethnic moments but it really has a sense of wide open spaces, floating and traveling among the clouds.

 

7. Arowana

Arowana raises the tempo slightly with faster beats and a head nodding bassline and it reminds me of Hallucinogen in Dub. I can almost here the sample in L.S.D. ('World Sheet Of Closed String' Mix) ready to fly out at me at any moment. It’s a really good track with cool synths, nice beats, a bassline that rumbles through the whole body and crazy ass samples that make you go “wtf?....oh yeah, that’s cool.” Once more there are some Celtic Cross guitars, a few slightly too ethnic sounds and a female vocal chant to give it a sense of Kliment and not just a straight copy.

 

8. The Interstellar Orchestra

The final track is a strong, slow plodding track. A simple bassline feels very hypnotic and sleepy as the flutes serenade you into a lucid dream and the vocals bring a warm human touch to the dream. The number of melodies is impressive with string and wind instruments, brass and electronic. This is one of the best tracks on the album as everything just comes together very well and create a dreamlike atmosphere that will have you starting the album again after it has finished.

[skyclan]

great review mate...partof my personal chillout choons...that flooting moments to hours after a set.\m/

[Urban]

I really like the whole album but the track "Travel to the Infinite" is really something special.