VA - Resonant Mind - Compiled by Kalya Scintilla

[Bill]

 

Artist: Various

Album: Resonant Mind - Compiled by Kalya Scintilla

Label: Merkaba Music

Released: May 2014

 

For Australian down tempo producer Kalya Scintilla 2014 was a hit-and-miss year. His eagerly awaited second full-length album, "Open Ancient Eyes," was a disappointment, taking many of his trademark womp-and-glitch sounds and making them sound like recycled ideas while vocals galore went on with spirituality invocations and poems.

 

Based on a 2013 interview, the producer said "Open Ancient Eyes" was the album that he would be making with his fiancee, perhaps based on her written work. No offense to his soon-to-be but her spoken word (a very large focus of the release) is not the talent he deserves to be working with at this point of his career.

 

The Resonant Mind compilation and its stunning array of gifted artists, however, suits his reputation and talents exceedingly well. This is the best Kalya Scintilla music not made by Kalya Scintilla and, rather surprisingly, not a single one of his tracks made it into this collection. While bearing his name as compiler, it seems his aim here is to focus on the other ridiculously good artists on his Merkaba Music label and assorted friends that share in his taste for quality down tempo.

 

Little known but broadly talented artists Mr. Squatch, Mindex, Subaqueous and Ecometric all dazzle with their contributions. In other places on the album, non-Merkaba artists Globular, Seamoon, Somatoast and Bogtrotter add dub, moodiness, dreaminess and even more womp, respectively.

 

My only complaint is the omission of Kaminanda from these proceedings. Though Resonant Mind is the second in this series, following the equally superb Resonant Heart compilation from 2013, the excellence of Kaminanda is nowhere to be found despite two full-length releases available through the Merkaba label.

 

Even if the Kalya artist album of 2014 was disappointing, this compilation is the polar opposite. In a way, that's for the better, it allows more quality time with these tracks and opens several doors for the adventurous listener looking to dive into more sounds from this impressive cast of producers.