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Reviews 08-24-2004 |
Music Reviews |
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Reviews 08-24-2004 |
Music Reviews |
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Being is a set of special compositions
from Darren Rogers, a special performer. It is his second
release and it is on his own Imagineer Records label. These seven pieces speak softly and lovingly to the heart
and the soul. Darren composed and performed the music with assistance from
Vance Sheaks and Ona Meyer. The music has
deep emotional and spiritual timbres and Darren takes his listeners on several
journeys to look at both sides of the psyche – the light and the dark. Darren uses some organic textures to take the set even
deeper. The atmospheres examine the light edges of the dark sides and the dark
edges of the light sides. Darren embraces the dark to acknowledge and caress
the light and vice versa. This is an awesome CD and a set of very cool journeys! Reviewed by Jim Brenholts for Ambient Visions. |
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Visit Mathias Grassow's website
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One of the more complimentary pairings in bright, intense
ambient music is the collaborative work of ambient drone artist Mathias Grassow
and overtone singer Jim Cole. Their
first album together, The Hollow, was a lovely mixture of
Cole's overtone vocalizations with Grassow's hypnotic singing bowl and synth
drones, along with a number of sparse nature samples and field recordings. The wait's been long for the follow-up,
mostly due to label difficulties, but finally, three years on, we have
The Last Bright Light. This new effort is dramatically different from their
previous album; the sound sources here are entirely comprised of both Cole's
and Grassow's looped overtone voices.
While synth is only used on one track, the sounds resemble the soaring
drones heard on Grassow's recent Amplexus label releases and Cole's last two
transcendent solo albums. The album
begins softly with two tracks of ululating vocal drones that interweave gently. Both "The Last Bright Light" and
"New Beginning" are brief, airy, tone poems, all highlighted with
Cole's higher-pitched voice ethereally soaring over the basic drones. "Starlit Shadows" begins to
intensify, and, to some degree, darken the atmosphere, as the drones take on
not an air of menace, but of drama and intensity, much in the same mood as
Cole's track "Transformations" from Godspace. The soundworld created here is spare and
minimal, though no less beautiful (and, to some degree, melancholy) as a
result. "Flare" is another
brief, powerful track, with concentrated, churning drones and the natural
ambience of the surf. Though
environmental samples are used in moderation, the effect is striking, creating
a psychoactive zone where earthly sounds are shown to be celestial and
otherworldly. "Fell Radiance"
returns to the deeper zones of "Starlit Shadows," with overtone
soloing cascading over the soft drones.
There's a buoyant quality to the sound here, as if its currents will
lift the listener off the earth to be buffeted gently by air gusts warm and
cold. Ghostly sounds wisp into the
landscape, as though we have inadvertently and peacefully connected with the
spirit realm. "Longing" has
the feeling of ancient melancholy, reaching across time's distances--through
sound, we have connected with some long-dead human's sadness, transmuted over
the years, forgotten, now more reminiscent of unearthly beauty than pain or
anguish. "Fusion" is perhaps
the best track on the album (though I hate to play favorites)--it is also the
longest track at nearly eighteen minutes, and the only track to feature synth
atmospheres. These atmospheres are
instantly recognizable as Grassow's, melding so cleanly with the overtone
vocals that the two are difficult to discern from each other. The intensity of this track, beginning at
around the three and a half minute mark, is difficult to describe. Epic is the word that comes to mind, as the
synth drone falls away into an absolutely stunning vocal drone that recalls for
me ancient ruins, inexplicably huge statues and architecture, beauty so bright
and distant one has a hard time understanding it. I've dallied with talk like this in previous
reviews of Cole's tremendous solo work--this is the real deal, a feeling absent
even in most of the best of ambient music.
When the natural sounds of surf filter in, the swelling, harmonic,
intoxicating atmospheres represent the eternal power of ambient music--perhaps
above all other musical forms of expression--in expressing the ineffable. After that, "Light Withering"
almost seems anti-climactic, though no less impressive than the rest of the
album. Deep and lovely tones close the
album as it began: wisping, ethereal, unabashedly beautiful. Once again, Cole and Grassow do not disappoint, presenting a
vast and gorgeous album culled from "simple" sound sources. As good as The Hollow was,
The Last Bright Light is far, far better. Though I certainly have no problem with
ambient albums comprised solely of synthetic textures, Cole and Grassow remind
that discarding the trappings of too much gear and artifice can be a wholly
positive and enriching musical strategy.
Ambient in the best possible way, The Last Bright
Light manages to be both atmospheric and captivating--the kind of
record one can spin all day, no matter what mood one might be in. It is enchanting from start to finish, and
well-deserving of my highest recommendation. On AtmoWorks, and available from both http://www.mathias-grassow.de Mathias Grassow and Jim Cole. Reviewed by Brian Bieniowski reprinted here on Ambient Visions. |
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Phrasing
the Air |
Ambient master VidnaObmana continues his ambitious four-part
An Opera for Four Fusion Works with Act Two, "Phrasing
the Air," featuring the saxophone playing of EMusic
DJ Bill Fox. The first part of the
Opera, 2002's "Echoes of Steel" was one of my favorite albums of the
year; an autumnal, melancholy ambient work featuring the gothic-folk guitar of
Dreams in Exile. "Echoes" was
delightfully listenable, and would make a fine introduction to listeners
(especially fans of the quieter goth styles) not familiar with VidnaObmana's
oeuvre, or ambient in general. Act Two,
though sharing the same recycling processes as its predecessor, is a completely
different work in tone, containing unusual sonorities and textures--it is also
one of the most interesting and difficult albums of VidnaObmana's recent work. Like "Echoes of Steel," the tracks on
"Phrasing the Air" are labeled only by Roman numerals (often out of
numerical order). The general mood is
meditative and haunting, a longstanding VidnaObmana trademark dating back to
his early "breathing" synth works.
"I" reminds me of no less than Jon Hassell's resonant trumpet
playing; an exotic hooning, calling infinitely over a desolate landscape. Fox's saxophone is processed and layered,
sounding like a chorus of strange Eastern instruments, sounds trumpeting from
the mountain above. "II" is
reminiscent, at first, of VidnaObmana's early work on Revealed by
Composed Nature and The Trilogy of albums. The repeated melodic pattern forms a mandala
of deep colors; blues and greys. Fox's
saxophone is deep and resonant here, often reminding of Tom Heasley or Stuart
Dempster, boiling up from the depths.
Obmana's ebow adds tension, a dissonant chorus screaming above the soft
landscape of recycled sax. The unusual
tones carry the track forward, resembling circling birds, as the underlying
ambience remains fairly static. It's a
difficult track--with screechy textures taking the driver's seat--though the
disparate elements, uncomfortable sounding they may be, meld quite
perfectly. "VI" is next,
sounding strongly like Terry Riley's "Poppy Nogood," due in part to
Fox's sax, looped and ever-shifting. The
track even seems to pan through the speakers like Riley's classic piece. If this reminds me of "Poppy
Nogood," then it is certainly a "Poppy Nogood" played in a giant
area, as the sonic undercurrents are vast and bassy. The roiling, post-industrial soundscapes and
the sounds reminiscent of early minimalist experimentation truly represent an
expression of past and present forms of meditative music. Quite a stunner, and my favorite track on the
album. "V," the longest track
at just over nineteen minutes, returns to ambient stillness. Here Fox's sax is processed down to long,
almost vocal, tones. Those who
appreciate the harmonic singing of David Hykes, or Ambient Review favorite Jim
Cole, will find much to enjoy here, though the sound sources do not originate
from the human voice. This is deep and
gorgeous, more than a little gothic in tone.
Obmana's guitar textures from recent works like
<i>Innerzone</i> appear at the halfway mark. The track is creepy, resonant, and extremely
memorable, though perhaps not for those who prefer their ambience free of sharp
edges. "IV" ends the album on
a surprisingly musical note, with Fox's sax playing instantly recognizable as
the instrument it is. I have to admit
even this track is a little "out there" for me, with an uncomfortably
off-kilter melody repeating over nine minutes.
The strange drones beneath the sax are quite intriguing, but, as a
whole, the track didn't gel for me. "Phrasing the Air" is a surprising departure for
VidnaObmana, and continues the Opera in a most auspicious
way. While no track could be considered
"easy" listening (or "fusion," or "opera," for
that matter), I find this to be one of Obmana's most impressive works of the
last five years. "Echoes of
Steel" was surprisingly underrated, considering its high quality, and
"Phrasing the Air" proves to be a more than worthy follow-up. I hesitate to recommend this to those who
enjoy VidnaObmana's lighter, airier works like The River of
Appearance or Landscape in Obscurity. Regardless, this is sure to be a favorite to
those who follow VidnaObmana, whether he is performing post-industrial
soundscapes, translucent ambience, or bizarre (and sometimes frightening)
experimental works. A fine, original,
effort from one of the genre's best artists. Reviewed by Brian Bieniowski reprinted here on Ambient Visions. |
