Various - tʌntrə x: Tanmatra

Neotantra: 2021

While we're on the topic of cover art (we are?), I'd like to mention the design adorning the actual box of this tʌntrə box-set. It's a very simple one, an upside-down triangle enclosed within a circle. On the outer edges, however, are two forms that at first glance look like pig-tails, lending the graphic to appearing like Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls (maybe it's the hot neon yellow of the CDs doing that to my brain). Given this box-set loves its geometrical art, I got wondering what those 'pig-tails' actually are.

They kinda' look like curvy braces, as used in function equations, but they're too rounded on the tops and bottom for that. The next closest I've found is a Cartesian graph representation of a logistic curve, it's inverse stacked on top. It certainly fits the model, but the 0,0 point is all wrong, starting too high, dipping down before doing its exponential growth curve upwards. Ergh, I feel like I should know what this shape is, but I only got as far as Calculus 2 in my college studies, so perhaps it's all beyond my scope of comprehension. Or it really is just Lee Norris having a bit of fun with shapes, arranging them into the form of Buttercup from the Powerpuff Girls.

Another tangent somewhat sorted, let's dive into CD4 of tʌntrə x, subtitled Tanmatra. Straight forward what this one is: the elements related to the five senses. As we're dealing with antiquity elements, that includes air for touch, water for taste, fire for vision, earth for smell (d'at some dank dirt, yo'!), and ether for sound. I find that last one a bit amusing, since 'ether' is sometimes translated as 'space', yet there is no sound in actual space. But hey, how were the ancients to know that sound is more closely tied to air?

While I wouldn't say each CD isn't thematically consistent with their subtitle, Tanmatra definitely is the most thematically consistent of them all. With clear transitions between segments, signalling movement onto another facet of tanmatra, this one has the most 'journey-like' vibes going for it, even if some of those gaps throw off the mixed set flow. Which element kicks things off, you ask? Hmm, good question, as opener Purple Skies from California Storm features something almost no other track in this entire box-set has: a rhythm! Okay, it's but a soft, dubby downbeat, but compared to all the beatless music elsewhere, it may as well be a breakcore gabber cut. Normally I'd associate rhythm with 'earth', but 'earth' in tanmatra relates to smell. Would that make this more 'air', then?

There's a couple repeat artists here, including N:L:E:, and Drifts In Autumn. I also recognize Yamaoka and Solipsism among this tracklist (was wondering when he'd show up), but again, a lot of unfamiliar names to my eyes. May want to check out that Mōshonsensu further though, his Notion Of Wonder quite lush in a fuzzy ambient sort of way.

Various - tʌntrə x: Rakrita

Neotantra: 2021

Although I've gone off about how overwhelming all these tʌntrə compilations are, I wonder if Neotantra's wrapped the series up for now, as there hasn't been a new edition for all of 2023 thus far. Granted, the series has had a couple fallow periods, but nothing half a year long. Some of this might have to do with the label sorting out its back-catalogue, including putting together the third box-set of tʌntrə material just now, not to mention another Coercion Of Deities collection too. Then there's another box-set called Ember Delays, wherein some of their digital-only albums were given the CD treatment, plus changing all the older artwork throughout their Bandcamp page. Yes, the slightly OCD-triggering colour gradient era of Neotantra's cover art has been replaced with various still-shots of classy photography. Which... makes those original CDs a might more precious on the collector's market now? Oh, naughty, naughty, Neotantra.

Of course, this might also have to do with the label going to a subscription-based model, wherein you get sent all newly-minted music directly, eliminating the need for free compilations that may or may not get a download. Aw, but I like tidily consolidated collections, even those as formidable as tʌntrə XXIII's twenty-seven track, four hour outing.

Any-whatsit, here's CD3 of tʌntrə x, titled Rakrita. I... can't seem to find anything about this word. The Mighty Google draws an utter blank, steering me towards similar sounding words like rakkhita, rakti, yakrita, and sutrakritanga, which 'rakrita' is a part of. Definitions seem to be all over the place too, the closest commonality being affection and attractiveness. It seems a bit obtuse for a collection of ambient music, but then perhaps there's a deeper meaning that will reveal itself as the CD play- Eh? I should look at the digital title of this set? Oh, it's called Prakriti here, which has a definitive definition of cosmic material energy from which all matter is composed. Well, that makes a whole lot more sense!

I only recognize two names in this set: Ambidextrous and Mind Over MIDI. Everyone else is new to my eyes. Todd Gerber, Paul Tyrrell, Michiru Aoyama, Drifts In Autumn, Clouds Are Learning, The Fold (10), and what's his name, Whatsisname. No, seriously, how is the former prog-rocker the first to ever use this alias? Seems like such a shoo-in for so many techno projects.

Musically, this is the most ambient CD out of this box-set yet. I'm talking pure, gentle, soothing, wispy pad drone, very little in additional experimentation or heavy field recordings getting in the way of things. And while that makes sense for a theme of either prakriti or 'rakrita', it seems at odds with the actual track titles. It Drowned Again, Lose Me To Despair, Rage Against Light, Å˙¨ · º•., The Manacles, and so forth. I'd imagine something more dark and depressing going off these. Heck, even Urskog could imply a foreboding setting. Ol' Fangorn Forest ain't the sort of place for a hammock doze, nosiree.

Various - tʌntrə x: Apurva

Neotantra: 2021

Given how much music is featured on all these tʌntrə compilations, I do wonder what the selection process entails. I've no doubt folks and friends of Lee Norris are more than happy to send in material, but I'm talking about all the other, less-known names. Can you send in any ol' demo, and Neotantra's head of marketing will just slot you in whenever another edition is ready for export? Do you have to have some material already out on streaming services to even be considered? Or a Discogs entry?

Like, I'd consider myself at least somewhat well-versed in the ambient scene – my scrobbling data assures me it's the most prominent genre of music I gorge myself on. And for sure, having listened to many releases out on this label and others of similar ilk, I've come to learn of several artists I'm more than willing to drop big Bandcamp bucks on. Yet even browsing through a random volume of tʌntrə - III, let's say – I'm confronted with names like E.U.E.R.P.I., Theadelaidean, James Shain, and Sebastian Paul, all fresh to my eyes. Might I enjoy their works to?

Probably, but who's got time to digest them when just a couple months later, we're already on tʌntrə VI, with names like Todd Gerber, Nihhus, Hirotaka Shirotsubaki, and Brómus now crowding in for my attention? Throw in Neotantra's mainline run of albums, not to mention whatever parent label Fantasy Enhancing gets up to, and it can all feel overwhelming in how much is getting released. Add one's desire to explore other corners of the ambient scene while you're at it, and y'all understand why I say it's better to just focus on a select few? Even just this one can potentially leave a regular connoisseur more than sated, which I assume is kinda' the aim Neotantra's been shooting for anyway. Your one-stop shop for whatever ambient needs you may be fixin' for, yo'.

ANYHOW, here's CD2 of tʌntrə x, titled Apurva. Google tells me it's another Sanskrit word, in reference to something unique or newly achieved. Wiki tells me it's an element of ritualistic acts within Vendanta philosophy. Given the nature of the music within, I'm kinda' leaning towards the latter definition as it pertains to the CD, as this is some seriously meditative ambient.

I recognize Encym, Memex, and Natural Life Essence on here, not to mention two-and-a-half 'Moss' projects (MO-DU is half a 'moss', don't deny it!). Names that are new to me include Daniel Vujanic, Tunnelwater, Å Asher-Yates, and D York. Some of it's droney, some of it's bleepy, some of it's heavy on the field recordings, some of it heavier on the acoustic fuzz, but all of it is remarkably tranquil. Like, one, long lethargic drift through a gentle brook, slipping in and out of conscious thought. I wish I had more to say about it as music, but again, going into heavy details track by track is totally missing the point of these CDs.

Various - tʌntrə x: Dvandva

Neotantra: 2021

Yo', dawg, I hear you like reviewing box-sets while still reviewing box-sets, so here's another box-set to review while you're still reviewing other box-sets.

I mean, I guess I could have just “not” gotten this. I certainly have never felt compelled to get any of the tʌntrə digital compilations out of Neotantra, and there's plenty of them to freely nab off their Bandcamp, believe you me. In fact, I think that's partially why I never did. There's almost too much ambient music available in this series now, already up to volume twenty-six, often averaging over twenty compositions with some reaching upwards of twenty, twenty-five, even thirty minutes in runtime. It's a lot of ambient music, is what I'm saying. How much ambient music? Hell, two more box-sets of tʌntrə have come out since this one, also five CDs thick!

It's these box-sets, however, that caught my attention. Make no mistake, I'd love to gorge myself on the digi-comps, but I fear so much of it will fade into the background thrum of wallpaper music, never giving enough of it the attention it deserves. No, for my needs, I'd rather have all the choice cuts curated into thematic sets of reasonable listening duration.

That sorted, let's dive into CD1 of this tʌntrə box-set, subtitled Dvandva. What's 'dvandva'? According to Google, it's a Sanskrit term referring to compound words, and gets more complicated the deeper into linguistics you go. For the purpose of a compilation called tʌntrə, however, I assume it has more to do with yoga teachings of dualities. Or something.

Artists I recognize in this set include Specta Ciera, Martin Allin, Futuregrapher, Darren McClure, and Wil Bolton. I think I also recognize Off Land and Milieu, but haven't heard any of their stuff, at least to my recollection. Still, half of these twelve pieces are from artists I don't know, so great for discovery purposes, right? Sure, if I had a handy index of everything. Yeah, there's a tracklist, but as this is technically a 'DJ set' presented as one single track, everything's continuously mixed, even though most transitions are simple fades. I could studiously keep track of every transition, chronicling who's tune comes next and such as, but eh, that defeats the purpose of listening to ambient music such as this, doesn't it.

As for how Dvandva plays out, there does seem to be a push-pull of tone going on. A calm, tranquil piece will be followed by something a little more atonal, experimental, or abstract, then switch back to a more meditative flow of ambience, and so forth. Or maybe I've subconsciously created that theme thanks to the CD's sub-title. Hey, whatever it takes to give all these beatless, freeform compositions some sort of staying power within my psyche. Is this sustainable for four more discs though? Pft, I'm the guy that somehow managed to talk up Every. Single. CD. of a Pete Namlook tribute box-set. This'll be no th'ang, ha-hah, hah!

Massimo Vivona - Travelling Alone

Carpe Sonum Records: 2021

No sooner had I reviewed Mr. Vivona's debut on Carpe Sonum Records than he dropped a sophomore effort a scant few months after. And seeing as how I'm a couple years tardy on reviewing this album, that's likely given him plenty of time to craft a third outing for the spiritual Fax+ successor. Coming out any day now. At least, I hope so, because I wouldn't mind hearing more from him in the future, nosiree.

But first, a little correction on my part. In my Breathe review, I mentioned ol' Massimo had released a lone single on Pete Namlook's label, Elevator as Elevator. While that part is true, I neglected (overlooked) to mention he'd worked in collaboration with a few others during his brief tenure there. This includes DJ Criss as Xenon, Dr. Atmo as Gamma, and Bela Cox as Gorn. Most of this stuff is early German trance, with Gamma dipping a bit into goa trance's territory, but regardless, to claim Massimo only released one acid techno record on Fax+ is just factually incorrect on my part.

That sorted, I like Travelling Alone a great deal more than Breathe. Not that I disliked that album by any stretch, quite vibing on its retro Berlin-School approach to songcraft. I just felt it lacked an extra gear his looping synths hinted at building towards. And while there's still some of that in this outing, Massimo mixes things up enough such that I'm coming away more satisfied with the overall experience. Heck, even the inclusion of actual track titles, like Paradise and Submarine and Love Of Horizon, does more than the strictly abstract Phase titles of Breathe.

Opening track Beautiful Field doesn't waste time getting us on those vintage early '90s Balearic feels: gentle pads, floaty melodies, bleepy sounds like seagulls, and even a downtempo rhythm! In fact, this sounds like something you might have heard on a slightly sappy chill-out compilation, but, like, the best cut from said comp'. I could easily hear Beautiful Field sharing playlist space with William Orbit or ATB (it's the slide guitar additions) and being none the worse for wear. The Orbit feels get even stronger with the short piano interlude Dramma, if for no other reason than adding a little modern classical flair to the album.

Still, if you were coming into Travelling Alone for more of those looping, trancey arps as heard in Breathe, Mr. Vivona has you covered in tracks like Paradise (bouncy and spritely), Love Of Horizon (really getting on that Global Communication / Manuel Göttsching pulse; also, a Wu-Tang sample?) and Around The Ocean (lazily chugging along in a tribal sort of way). Topping everything off is Submarine, a dubby bit of retro-groovy progressive house with plenty of aquatic samples sending you deep into the abyssal plain.

And then it's over. Damn, does this album ever fly by fast, ending just as I'm primed for things to ratchet up another gear. Oh, dammit, Massimo did it again, didn't he?

Czarface & MF Doom - Super What?

Silver Age: 2021

I wouldn't go so far as to say this album had a lot of hype behind it, but boy were music journalists ever eager to talk about it. As the first posthumous record of the late MF Doom, how could folks not want to get their say in? Hell, even Resident Advisor reviewed this record, and they barely touch hip-hop at all! Yeah, some UK grime or avante-garde rap makes their rounds, but Czarface has been unapologetically traditionalist, purely boom-bap brags with liberal amounts of nerdcore references. Mind, I could see RA covering the mythical Madvillainy 2, because everyone wants to cover that one. If the second 'Czar Meets Metal' album is what they have to settle on, so be it.

And you may be thinking I'm a hypocrite because I'm also covering Super What? Yes, though I'm two years late to the table, but that's beside the point. I got this because I'm a Czarface fan, and while I haven't gotten every one of their records, their collaborative ones have been pretty cool – MF Doom being part of the package is just a nice bonus. I realize it's almost hearsay not putting Daniel Dumile above Inspectah Deck, Esoteric, and 7L, and I can only claim ignorance on my part for that. I simply haven't properly dove into Doom's work yet. Some day though, it shall be done. Maybe while 'sportsing'.

Besides, if you think prioritizing Czarface over MF Doom is hearsay, then you'll just love the actual reason I was hype in getting this album, as Del Tha Funkee Homosapien makes an appearance. Long-time readers of this blog know my ultimate 'dream match' rap is one where Del and Deck trade bars over some dope beats, and here it is! Right, the track it happens on, Jason And The Czargonauts, has them separated by two other verses from Eso' and Doom. Nor is there much of a big deal made about him being on said track, coming off like he just happened to be on hand to drop a verse. Still... Doom! Del! Deck! Together at last! (and Esoteric too).

As for the rest of Super What?, it's a rather brief affair, ten tracks long, twenty-six minutes in length, including an instrumental where a pile of interview clips play. The beats boom and bap as with the best of 7L's work, Deck and Doom do their thing as always, and Eso' manages to sneak in some of my favourite out-of-nowhere lines (“Yo, I heard your crew was poppin' shit; I caught 'em and I made 'em cry; Like ads for dog adoption from Sarah McLachlan”).

If you're looking/hoping for a Doom magnum opus that sends him off high, this simply isn't it, because no one involved had any idea this might be his last recordings. Super What? is what it is, another solid outing from the Czar Meets Metal team-up. One that got a lot more attention than folks could have predicted due to events outside their control.

Richard Stonefield - Stardust Aventure

AstroPilot Music: 2021

At first I thought I was dealing with another utterly unknown entity. Richard Stonefield has barely any presence on Discogs, this particular album not even submitted despite being nearly two years old now. I kinda' expect that when dealing with some random synthwave artist, but this came out on AstroPilot Music, a label that, while perhaps not among the upper echelons of psy-chill outlets, at least carries AstroPilot's pedigree. That Stardust Adventure would go unnoticed for such a length of time that I had to submit it to Discogs seemed odd indeed.

Fortunately, I dug a little deeper – say, Bandcamp deeper – and found Richard Stonefield is actually Richárd Kőteleki. Now, that name also appears on Richard Stonefield's main page, but provides nary a link to anything else. So deeper into Discogs I dug, and found a bevy of material! Oodles of singles as Ricardo Piedra, a hefty amount of collaborations with Krisztián Horváth as Quasar, and other assorted works released over the past two decades. And here I thought 'Stonefield' was just some plucky new guy with a heck of a sophomore album of prog-psy.

Nitpicks first, then? Sure, let's get those out of the way. Um, the mastering isn't up to snuff compared to, say, Ultimae Records quality? What's it take to get Aes Dana's touch at the console, huh? Okay, that one's totally unfair. I suppose there's a bit of a plastic sheen to everything, not quite as beefy as some of Altar Records' releases could sound, but I shouldn't go comparing the music released on Astropilot's label to the music Astropilot released on other labels, should I?

Besides, this may have more to do with the fact most of his chosen sounds are rather stock, the sort of things I've heard plenty in prog-psy for well over a decade now. Not that it's a deal-breaker for me, as I like these rubbery acid lines, rubbery psy rhythms, and the usual assortment of soaring synths and twee trance melodies. Richard writes prog-psy just as capably as AstroPilot, and I'm all for hearing more of it.

In fact, maybe there's too much of it? Stardust Adventure does offer some variety at the start, opener Arrakis getting in on that psy-dub action, while follow-up Realizer sounds like an attempt at something a little more dubsteppy, just without the 'wub-wubs'. Third track Here I Am rather reminds me of Banco de Gaia at his most sentimental, in a psy-chill sort of way, and laying it on rather thick, what with nearly eleven minutes to do so. Given the prog-psy adventure kicks in right after with the titular cut and lasts until album's end, these three tracks feel a bit out of sorts overall.

Maybe it's because the whole thing lasts ninety-five minutes, and would have likely been left on the b-sides floor had Stardust Adventure been released as a common CD album. What, cut some of the prog-psy tracks instead? But... they're so good!

Moss Covered Technology - Sodium Light

Neotantra: 2021

Oh no! Another lovely little ambient album out of Neotantra, from an artist with a charming three-word alias I know nothing about but am now compelled to explore their Bandcamp page. When will my financial suffering end! *sigh* Let's do this then... Oh, he doesn't have that massive a discography after all. Still, some highly tempting items there. Quiet Loops, Southern Points, Speicherbank, Seafields, And His Many Seas... I'm sensing a theme here, one I'm totally digging. *deep sigh* *comical unzipping sound of digital wallet*

Moss Covered Technology is a relatively new artist, one Greig Baird, releasing the odd item every so often on a variety of labels (Dronarivm, hibernate, Polar Seas Recordings, Eilean Rec., Fluid Audio (2)). He had an earlier, minor run as Boomruin, fusing ambient and drone tones with downtempo beats, eventually making the transition over to more traditional beatless music and field recording manipulations. Seems that was Mr. Barid's true calling, as he's maintained that style ever since.

A running theme among many of Greig's albums under this moniker is using the same title for each track, though not necessarily the name of the album itself. The biggest diversion from this is found here on Sodium Light, each track rather titled Night. If you're wondering why, what do you think powers all those big spotlights in wide-open urban spaces like industrial parks and vehicle lots? There's other uses for them as well, but for the most part, when folks think of twilight hours in darkened city locales, the omnipresent soft glow from overhanging poles tends to spring to mind. Especially is you're the lonesome sort to wander about when contemplating post-clubbing existence and such. Ooh, I suspect there may be a bit of an ambient-Burial vibe going into this one.

Well, not quite. Night #1 is mostly languid synth tones supported by fuzzy analogue throbs, and over in a rather brief three minutes. Night #2 carries on the gentle ambience of soft, harmonic pads blanketed within the warm embrace of faint static. It certainly imparts the feeling of a metropolitan square utterly still, perhaps a stray insect hovering about a street lamp the only movement.

Even when Greig gets a little more 'aggro' and unsettling in his use of background hiss, there's always an accompanying serenity in what melodic tones pierce the murk. Unfortunately, we don't get to dwell on such ideas for long, Sodium Light only six tracks, lasting a mere thirty-five minutes total. I suppose it's effective in getting his musical ideas across without feeling the need to dawdle about, but man, what we do get is such a tease of something larger in scope. Can you blame me for wanting to raid his Bandcamp page for more items?

No, you cannot, which is what makes music exploration and discovery so much fun. Expensive, but fun! Hmm, speaking of, I noticed another intriguing print in my label name-drop above. What does this Polar Seas Recordings offer? Oh... oh no! *sigh* Here we go again... *unz-z-z-i-i-i-ip*...

Skua Atlantic - Silfra Diving

Fantasy Enhancing: 2021

I can't say I was hotly anticipating this album from Skua Atlantic because, well, I wasn't expecting it to happen at all. Don't get me wrong, I was tickled pink when I heard a follow-up to Atlantic Fusion was seeing the light of day, but you'll forgive me for thinking such a thing wouldn't happen. Despite the first pairing between Mick Chillage and Futuregrapher being a solid outing of retro-electro ambient techno, I don't recall there being a ton of hype for it, seemingly flying by the night as it appeared on Databloem. It simply didn't make a big deal about being a pairing between two of that scenes more prominent names. A one-off pairing then, the two going back to their solo projects after and booking time for whenever they get to work with Lee Norris again.

Two years later though (and during the height of global lock-downs, presumably), the two reconvened for another session of Skua Atlantic sounds, Silfra Diving coming out two years ago now (save a couple months). And now I'm reviewing it two years later, almost two years after (save a couple days!) I reviewed their first album. Which means Mick and Árni are possibly working and set to release a third Skua Atlantic album sometime soon, which I'll be reviewing in two years from now. Okay, probably not, but man, wouldn't that be hilarious if so?

Anyhow, the immediate thing I noticed about Silfra Diving is just how much more brittle it sounds, leaning even further into the electro aesthetic compared to the duo's debut. Granted, Atlantic Fusion had something of a soft Balearic vibe going for it, what with ample samples of crashing waves and flying seagulls, but greater emphasis on synth pads and melodies dominated that album too. Also, it was mastered by Aes Dana, which means given the always unbeatable Ultimae Mixdown™. Far as I can tell, Silfra Diving's mastering was handled by Árni, which is fine for the chill electro on hand, but simply can't compete with Vincent's lush, widescreen sonics.

That also means some of the more atonal leads this brand of electro likes is more prominent, which you can hear right from the jump in opener Reykjavik Dublin First Transmission. For sure there are still nice backing pads complimenting these tracks, but it's clear the machines have taken over for this outing of Skua Atlantic, some portions getting downright Berlin-School experimental in their execution.

I guess it's no surprise I prefer this album when it gets into some brisk, crisp electro rhythms with icy-cool synths and retro-future atmosphere. Where Cities Once Stood, Virtual Temples, and Kaffi Vinyl all hit upon such vibes, but just as much time is spent on pieces on the downbeat, often subtle, moody excursions more interested in abstract bleeps and bloops. They're fine for what they are, it's just when stacked against what was heard on Atlantic Fusion, I can't help but come away left a tad wanting. Silly unexpected expectations.

Various - Planet Wax Volume 1

Green Bay Wax: 2021

Once again proving the old adage that 'no genre truly dies', here's Green Bay Wax, putting the music where their mouth is. Or at least, keeping the ol' school jungle vibes alive and well into the modern era. What's funny is, some of their stuff, particularly the ragga jungle cuts, don't sound dated in the slightest. Maybe it's because, unlike most genres that get a revival, ragga never really fell off because it hadn't 'gotten on' in the first place. Like, whenever I hear some contemporary tech-step or darkside or darkstep, I'm taken back to when those sounds first imprinted onto the d'n'b scene. Ragga though, always remained this forever-niche thing, unable to take root to any specific time or place. Thus, its timeless, the tracks offered by Kid Lib & Percussive P on this compilation sounding just as fresh today as they did when they were released a decade ago as they could have two decades prior during the genre's birth.

That isn't to say the rest of this label showcase doesn't have jungle worthy of your attention. I just find it funny how some tracks sound so very, very old school, deliberately so, but the ragga stuff, it just can't age, won't age in the slightest. You say it hasn't evolved since its inception? Mang', that's it's whole appeal! Its recognizable tropes – spastic Amen Break manipulations, knee-cap demolishing basslines, incomprehensible toasting rastas – are its appeal, needing nothing else sullying things up, the core elements working best. Ragga jungle: the horseshoe crab of the d'n'b scene.

Enough waxing on about genres. What's up with this compilation, then, and who is Green Bay Wax? Not based out of Wisconsin, but rather Sheffield, the label is a loosely tied group of ol' school jungle enthusiasts making tunes with propah' vintage vibes and nothing else. Yeah, the ragga stuff doesn't sound quite so retro, but when other artists pop in with their love-in's, you can't help but be transported to the early '90s. With the label's original vinyl releases well out of print, Green Bay Wax felt it about time to compile their catalogue into a series of double-LP digital compilations. Y'know, for those who discovered them late (*cough*). Volume 1 naturally sums up their first five releases, so let's take a quick gander.

I've already covered Kid Lib & Percussive P's ragga takes (kinda'), so let's move onto some Champa B, who gets into some gnarly darkside business while never losing his hardcore. And speaking of, Bazia's Lovin' You is pure, unashamed ol' skool, what with the piano lines and synths stabs and wistful soul singing: proto-jungle! Further along, tracks from Phineus II and Darkman (with Kid Lib on the rub ...a lot), inch towards the more atmospheric and 'intelligent' side of the genre, what with pads and drum programming that's just a little more complex than your standard Amen rat-a-tat-tat-tles. Day'um, feels like I've just taken a crash-course in all of jungle's early permutations with this one.

Iempamo - ...Now What?

Lemony Records: 2021

I feel bad for Iempamo. Oh, not specifically for the life she's had, though as a trans individual in the state of Kentucky, I can't imagine it being terribly easy. No, I'm talking about with regards to this review. It was requested via Patreon, but not via the 'Skip The Queue' tier, so the CD sat in the regular alphabetical stack like everything else. Unfortunately, the last time I dealt with 'N' albums was July ...of 2021! Not that ...Now What? has been waiting that long, but it has been over a year since I received this. Matters weren't helped that I also grabbed not one, not two, but three full discographies of artists in that time too, substantially inflating the length of my alphabetical queue. The fact I dealt with an 'N-titled' release from each of these artists right before Iempamo's (hell, four from one!), I wouldn't blame her for feeling a little bit trolled over this.

Anyhow, Iempamo's kept up a modest music pastime these last few years, releasing some dozen items through her own Lemony Records label, self-described as “sour and abstract electronica”. ...Now What? was the latest of these releases on her Bandcamp, and looks to have remained as such since. She freely admits to going through depressive states in our recent bought of Strange Days, music serving as an outlet like so many artists old and new. ...Now What? was apparently crafted as something of a reconciliation, coming out the other side maybe not so worse for the wear, but nor as hopeless as what was once thought possible. Hey, if even The Bug couldn't help himself succumbing to such trepidation in Fire, what hope any of us? Iempamo ain't sayin' it's all hopeless – after all, she got out of it – but what does one do in the aftermath? I don't know about any of you, but me, I go swimming a lot! Ain't no way I'm taking open pools for granted anymore, nosiree.

Anyhow, this all comes off as dressing to hang a concept off for a round of twee-leaning IDM works. Ol' school Aphex Twin and the like are definitely an inspiration, but then what isn't in this lane of music genres? I'm hearing more a connection to the output of Suction Records, who for sure occupy their own ambient-electro-pop lane as well, though Iempamo's sound goes a little more crunchy than theirs.

Some tracks, like opener What Now...?, Uncertain, and Hustle, bring heftier beats for sure. Mostly though, we're in that pitter-skittery, digital scratchy style of rhythms, often getting quite frenetic by track's end (Trans gets especially noisy).

Regardless, this album's strengths are in its melodies. If you like yourself some charming, IDM-pop jangles, you'll dig Iempamo's go with 'em. Again, I'm reminded of acts like Solvent or Skanfrom, music where you can imagine some robot coming to terms with weird, human concepts like positive emotions. Seems appropriate for someone coming out of a depression.

FSOL - Music From Calendars

fsoldigital.com: 2021

So, you think you're a hardcore Future Sound Of London fan? Got all their classic '90s albums, do ya'? Pft, that's not even scratching the surface. Side project stuff then, like Amorphous Androgynous, Humanoid, and all those early Earthbeat records. Not even close to a completist. Ah, you kept connected with all their 21st Century albums then, the Environments series, more AA prog-rock, even that Blackhill Transmitter thing. No, wait, the entirety of From The Archives too! That's pretty hardcore, no doubt, but still not propah' FSOL 'ardcore. Well shit, son-of-lung, what else is there? The soundtracks for films that no one saw (Four Forests) or don't exist (The Cartel)? Getting warmer...

If you consider yourself a true, bells-and-all hardcore FSOL fan, you've subscribed to their Calendar series. Once a month, the lads send a new tune, usually as their main nomme de plume, but under different aliases as well. It's a series that's been ongoing for half a decade now, and a handy way of keeping up to speed on the goings-on at EBv.

Obviously, I'm not that hardcore of a FSOL fan, since I never subscribed to this series. Nor did I much care to indulge the yearly summation compilations either. Look, when I can't even be bothered to get any of the Archives material, you're damned skippy I haven't the care to hear whatever random sonic studio doodles Brain and Garry squirt out a given month. Now, a gathering of all the choice material from a four year time-span, that's the ticket!

If you have been keeping up with your recent FSOL output, much of Music From Calendars 2017-2020 will be familiar territory. The weird, psychedelic abstraction (Frozen Air, Blacked Out Windows, Memories Of A Yesterday), the future-shock electro (Near Field, Obscured By Dark Intervals), the primordial chill (Artificial Placement Of Emotion, Commensalism, Riverbeds), the... throwback Earthbeat techno? Oh, wow, Alertions certainly is a surprise. Guess they made this just to show if they wanted to make something danceable, they're still more than capable of.

It's not a total FSOL love-in, a couple side-projects getting a side-glance in. Second track Surrounding The Garden Is A Fog comes from Synthi A, a deliberate throw-back to the days of '70s synth wizards. It's one of their more recent projects, conceiving only one album in 2016, plus a couple Calendars tracks. That this piece was considered among their best recent works is, not that surprising, to be honest. For '70s synth wibbly-warbly stuff (think Tomita or Schulze), it's rather nice. The other 'non-FSOL, but is still FSOL' track is Propogate from Humanoid. It definitely shows off Brian's love affair with the more techno-y side of IDM, but seems more fascinated with experimentation for its own sake.

Overall, Music From Calendars runs a tidy fifty minutes, and flows nicely from beginning to end. It still doesn't come off much more than a glorified sampler of FSOL music, but then we've been enjoying those since ISDN, haven't we?

ASC & Inhmost - The Moons Of Saturn

Auxilary: 2021

I'd been wanting to splurge on a little more non-Silent Season ASC for a while, but the right album to break me never quite materialized. Even Trans-Neptunian Objects, though a sexy temptation, wasn't enough to lure me into more of Mr. Clements' muse. As soon as The Moons Of Saturn dropped, however, there was no holding me back. Without so much as a second thought, I snapped that album up, along with a handful of other titles that caught my interest. Like, Saturn has a lot of moons, so this would have to be nothing less than a quadruple-LP extravaganza to do the concept justice, right?

Well, not quite. James and Simon Huxtable (returning as Inhmost) set their sonics to only seven bodies of the Saturnian system, appropriate ambient drone pieces playing out as though you're taking in their vistas. Opener Symphony Of Rhea has a suitably mysterious aire about it, as though enrapturing you into solving one of its greater mysteries: whether a tenuous ring system once orbited the icy moon. Man, just think about that, a ring system around a moon of the planet most famous for its own ring system – it's ringception! I do have to say though, this piece has a lot of washed-out drone-dub going on too, making me feel more like we're hanging out on the water coasts of planet Earth. Or maybe the methane coasts of Titan.

Speaking of, Sunrise On Titan follows, and while the track maintains the mysterious tone, it's more spacious in its timbre, almost warm. Okay, I know 'warmth' is relative when it comes to these bodies on the outer regions of the solar system, but I wasn't expecting quite this sort of soothing calm. How would one even see a sunrise on Titan anyway? The sun's already but a bright point of light that far out, so ain't no way one could see it through all that moon's chemical smog.

Storm On Tethys comes next and... okay, I have to pause the review for a moment. There's no atmosphere on Tethys, so there can be no storms on the moon. My suspension of common sense is completely shattered. Are ASC and Inhmost suggesting there were 'storms' after the creation of the craters Odysseus or Ithaca Chasma? I must now create a 6.3 hour long YouTube video ranting about this incongruity!

*ahem* So Storm On Tethys gets in on more of that layered dub-drone as Symphony Of Rhea, while the truly dark, mysterious Norse group moon Fenrir (not even Cassini could capture it) gets an appropriately dark, mysterious piece of cosmic ambient drone for it. Pan, The Shepherd Moon, is comparatively light and jubilant, befitting of a tiny mote of debris shaped like a flying saucer flitting among Saturn's rings.

But of course, the show-stealer, as always, is Enceladus, the glimmering moon with tantalizing geysers given a fourteen-plus minute dubby, ambient drone piece to close us out. Iapetus once again left inconsolable.

La Luz - La Luz

Hardly Art: 2021

It feels weird being invested in a contemporary rock band. Heck, any rock band, come to think of it. Yeah, I've done discography dives on many, but almost none have intrigued me enough to scope out their full catalogues, much less keep tabs on every new release. Like, here I was, on the edge of my seat, wondering whatever would La Luz do about the departure of drummer Marian Li Pino? Oh, that pandemic thingy put a hold on all that anyway, so don't have to worry about it just yet.

So La Luz was on hiatus, lead singer and guitarist Shana Cleveland whiling the downtime doing some solo work. When I heard the group had finally reconvened after such a long absence, I was honest and truly excited to hear how they were going to move forward, especially who the drummer would be. Holy cow, I'm excited about a rock band's new drummer! What a strange sensation this is!

Then I was thrown for a complete loop and a half when I heard it was Adrian Younge. Wait... waitwaitwait! That Adrian Younge? The ultra-talented funk-n-soul jazz musician? The one who produced those fantastic Ghostface Killah and Souls Of Mischief albums? That Adrian Younge!? How on Earth did he get involved working with an all-lady psychedelic surf rock band? This is a 'Worlds Colliding!' pairing I never would have dreamed of, yet here it is, within my hands, La Luz' latest, self-titled album with the two least expected genres of music merging together. Well, unless you count 'psychedelia' as a bit of glue.

And while this is unmistakably a La Luz album, Mr. Younge's influence definitely is felt, especially on the rhythmic end of things. I don't think I've ever heard Lena Simon's bass playing given such prominence before, and there's no mistaking those drum tones as anything other than an Adrian Younge joint. Incidentally, these were performed by Riley Geare, the drummer for an indie psych-rock band called Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and a definite dude (that much beard gives it away). I assume he just happened to be in the neighbourhood when Adrian and Luz went into the studio to record this album, as he's not listed as the group's official new drummer on Wikipedia, she currently being Audrey Johnson. Aww, just missed the recording sessions, I guess.

Meanwhile, it's clear keyboardist Alice Sandahl was encouraged to 'jazz' up her playing, and I'm all for it. This includes adding more instruments to her arsenal, such as Mellotron, harpsichord, and... cowbell? Heck, you should see the amount of extra instruments Shana brought in: steel guitar, 12-string guitar, sitar. In typical Younge fashion, no instrument is left off the table!

Which unsurprisingly leaves La Luz a fair bit more funky than some might expect, but never to the loss of a general dream pop and psychedelic soul vibe. The core essence of a La Luz record is here, just with a lot more studio indulgence than past outings.

Owl - Infinite Horizon

Silent Season: 2021

I brought this up in the last Silent Season review I did (Daar's Entire), but man, has there ever been a lasting drought from this label. Daar's album remains the 'final' item they released, while this Infinite Horizon from Owl is only a month older. I feel like I'll have gone through the entire Silent Season back-catalogue in reverse order before they release something new. You think I'm joking, but Tomas Jirku's Touching The Sublime is also in my queue, currently the 'fourth-to-last' item from the label. Ooh, and now the OCD compels me to grab the digital-only Moon Song EP from Yuka, just to claim I have all these in proper order. Or heck, why not drop a hundred bones on the entire Bandcamp collection? Sure, I already have twenty out of the sixty-seven releases, but I'm gonna' need something to satisfy my Silent Season fix in their ongoing absence.

Owl is Pierre Nesi, a chap who's released a scattershot amount of material over the past decade. He had an earlier, modestly successful run making drum 'n' bass and future garage with fellow Belgian Lucas D'Haeyaert as Glÿph (yikes, guys, change that Discogs photo! You look right out of an Aphex Twin video). Seems the Owl alias emerged as a means of exploring the more atmospheric elements of his muse, with rhythms more on the downbeat. He made a debut on Silent Season as part of their 10 Year Collection series of vinyl releases, returning half a decade later for there here seven track debut solo album.

As this is a Silent Season release, I went into Infinite Horizon fully expecting to hear things like fuzzy field recordings, layers of dubby timbre, and maybe even some of techno's rhythmic pulse. Sure enough, opener Moonshine Haze provides that, but gosh, why does that distant howl put my nerves on edge? There's still some sense of hazy, grey-tone melancholy to Mr. Nesi's choice of synth harmony, which fits that omnipresent coastal rainforest vibe I've long associated with the label. There's just something oddly bleak about it too.

And that tone doesn't let up in following tracks Glimpse Of Decline and Losing Cohesion. Despite moments of melodic respite (dashes of spritely bells in Decline, the sound of chirping birds in Cohesion), there's still an overwhelming sense of depression. Heck, I'll just come right out and say Two Lands is out-and-out dark ambient, the sort you might hear on a Cryo Chamber cinematic drone release.

I can't say that's the dominate tone of Infinity Horizon though. Hidden Forest is a straight up dub techno cut in the classic Silent Season wide-screen ambient vein, while Distant Transmission and the titular cut go more for the reflective ambient dub outings. Overall, this seven tracker hits most of the vintage vibes you'd expect out of this label. I just have never heard Silent Season go as dark as Two Lands before. Makes me wonder what else I might have missed over the years.

Pale Glow - In Dreams Awake

Neotantra: 2021

Another Neotantra release so soon after the last one? What is this, April of 2021 all over again? Well, this one came out in July of 2021, whereas Martin Allin's album came out in February of 2021, which means... absolutely nothing, if we're being honest. It's just a weird coincidence that the label would put out two albums mere months apart both having titles beginning with the letter “I”, and that I'd be reviewing them mere days apart a year later.

Heck, it wouldn't have surprised me if they were both titled “In [something]”. The world of music loves leading off with the word “In”. Take a gander at some within my own collection: In Blue, In Dub, In Stereo, In Utero, In-Between Spaces, In The Silence Of The Subconscious, In The Rain, In The Noise. And let's not forget all those In Trance We Trust and In Search Of Sunrise mix CDs, to say nothing about the endless amount of words that start with the letters I and N. It's a very, very, very common digraph within the English language, is what I'm saying.

Anyhow, if you remember my previous Neotantra review of so many hours ago, the reason I'm blathering on about silly nonsense rather actual reviewing is because I'm once again confronted with an artist with barely any available information. Total blank with Lord Discogs, a couple Neotantra compilation contributions, plus a self-release on Bandcamp of select tracks from this particular release. At least Mr. Allin had an actual name I could sleuth about a little with, Pale Glow not even providing that. There was a smidgen more with Bandcamp though, which led to a Facebook page with a dash of additional info, but no names or history I could find. Huh, contact Pale Glow directly? What do I look like, a music journalist?

At a glance, Pale Glow seems to come from the shoegazey side of ambient music, as the nine tracks offered on In Dreams Awake are titled in that long, cumbersome way shoegaze artists love. Every Moment Is A Beginning. Perceiving Imperceptible Things. Waking Is A Prelude To A Dream. The Sunlight Clasps The Earth And The Moonbeams Kiss The Sea. Hold Infinity In The Palm Of Your Hand And Eternity In An Hour. A Reflection Of Nature.

The music's a little shoegazey too, in that radiant dawn, twee feeling one gets with the more chill aspects of that scene. Synth pads are delicate, bell tones twinkle like morning dew, rhythms barely a pitter-patter, while the tone remains exceptionally mellow and sun-kissed bliss. Is it just me though, or is every track in the same key? Doing a quick skip through sure makes it sound so. Was In Dreams Awake originally conceived as a singular piece? Despite track breaks, it does come off like one long track, so tonally consistent throughout as it is. Now imagine this album being presented as such, but also retaining the entire 66-word track list as the title too!

Martin Allin - Impact Release

Neotantra: 2021

Now here's an odd one. Yes, I claim that about a lot of releases – when one has covered upward of around two-thousand items, odds are favourable that a few of them will be 'odd'. Claiming a Neotantra release as being odd is a stretch though. Their ambient manifesto is quite clear and concise, with packaging simple and clear. Seldom does the music within indulge conflicting tonal contrasts or extreme experimentation – by this point, you pretty much know what you're gonna' get out of one of their CDs. And yet, Martin Allin's Impact Release is odd because of its CD, or at least its packaging. For some reason, it's different from its digital counterpart, an almost black navy blue, whereas the latter is much brighter. Even the image preview on Bandcamp features a digipak much closer to the digital colours than what I have in my hand.

Did something go wonky at the printing press, certain colours running out on the assembly line? Are there perhaps a select few 'alternate' versions of this CD floating about now, which will command insanely inflated collector's market prices for a copy? Yeah, yeah, it's silly hyper-focusing on such a thing, but when a label makes colour gradients its distinct and only feature in the artwork, minor incongruities tend to leap out at you. At least Neotantra has evolved to include unique photography for its cover art in recent months.

Anyhow, Martin Allin. There isn't much information on him out there in internetland, so I assume he's a relative newcomer to the ambient-osphere. His Discogs page is basically blank, this album and a couple Neotantra compilation contributions the extent of his discographical data. His Soundcloud page does offer a few more items, but far as I can tell, Mr. Allin hit the road running, getting signed to the label shortly after going public with his musical works.

And what brand of ambient do we have ourselves with Impact Release? Mostly minimalist, lowercase forms, with echoing field recordings, soft pad drones, analogue fuzz and generally unassuming, background sonic padding. It's all rather like Andrew Heath (to namedrop another lowercase composer I've covered), though remixed into the deepest meditation vibes you can imagine. Some pieces, like Homeostasis Friend Weather, Your Father And Nature, and Frustrating, are almost nothing more than ethereal wisps of sound, occasional thrums of synth tone and echo drops the only reminder of a CD still playing. Yet even when there's barely any music at all, Martin Allin somehow sucks you in just the same.

The last couple tracks - I Am Grateful To Her For That Lesson and Merry The Mountain - add actual rhythms. Though they're little more than basic dub techno beats, compared to the utter ambience in the rest of the album, these might as well be storming tech-trance beasts. They honestly almost cause me mental whiplash, being so completely zoned out on the near sonic-nothingness leading up to them. Impact Release indeed.

The Bug - Fire

Ninja Tune: 2021

Not that The Bug has never maintained a particular vibe throughout his career, but man, do you ever gotta' be in A Mood to enjoy Fire. I'm not even sure if 'enjoyment' is capable here. For sure one could connect or 'get hype' to it, but the apocalyptic tone this album maintains is relentless, almost no hope of rescue in sight. Kevin Martin certainly is no stranger to painting portraits of urban decay, but always tempered with moments of revelation and salvation, an escape hatch available should you be fortunate enough to find it. Not so with Fire, and while I've indulged music of the utterly depressive kind (oh hi, dark ambient!), this seems like quite the extreme turn for The Bug. What could possibly have inspired Mr. Martin to craft such an album like this?

If the opening monologue from Roger Robinson is anything to go by, it was the pandemic. I don't know what Kevin Martin's thoughts about lockdowns and masking and vaccines and whatnot are, but regardless, during the period he made this album, he seemed to envision a near future where everything that could go wrong from this event does. And in a weird way, it's honestly already made Fire a bit dated. Yeah, things looked uncertain and bleak for a while there, but in just half a year after this album dropped, we were already doing are dogged best to get back to 'normal living'. Whether we were premature in doing so remains up for some debate, but there's little doubt the Worst Case Scenario portrayed in Fire has practically no chance of coming to pass. It's like an '80s Cold War movie predicting nuclear holocaust occurring during the '90s, but watching it in the 21st Century.

Speaking of, first proper track Pressure opens as though hearing the blasting klaxxon of the oncoming hellfire, frequent Bug collaborator Flowdan dropping his usual grime bars over distorted bass tones. And it's pretty much the same thing for the rest of the album. Yeah, there's plenty of other MCs on hand, all lending a variety of flows, though no Warrior Queen, sadly. I rather like Nazamba's utterly ragged and raw tone in War, perfectly befitting such a grimy, marching track. Manga Saint Hilare in Bang and High Rise also stood out to me, for no other reason than his higher pitch made for a prominent contrast to The Bug's omnipresent low-ends. Oh, and Daddy Freddy, just because his pure dancehall Ganja Baby seems like such a leftfield peppy tune among all the surrounding despair.

Despair, yeah, that's certainly a vibe on Fire. While The Bug's usual aggression is present, it's also often muffled, as though the righteous call-to-arms is forever stomped out and quashed. Not to mention that ever-present wailing wind, as though blowing dirt and grit through the hollowed remains of urban centres. As I said, certainly an album for when you're in a particular mood, and you don't want to get out of either.

Ambidextrous - Fifty Years Of October

Fantasy Enhancing: 2021

Kind of weird to think of Fifty Years Of October is something of a capper on two decades of music making from Ambidextrous. Technically longer, but his 2001 album Erosion was the one that got a spiffy 20th anniversary vinyl re-issue, not 1998's Soundscape, so for all intents, I'll assume that's where Nick feels his music career properly starts. Still, my head has difficulty wrapping around that time span, since I only came into contact with Ambidextrous when he made his debut on Carpe Sonum Records (missing out on a CD copy of Geek Mythology notwithstanding, darn it all). Right, right, musicians have plenty of back catalogue existing long before a single Canadian discovers them, but even his Bandcamp is sparse on pre-2010 material. Not Soundscape though, that one's available.

Actually, I'm not entirely sure what Fifty Years Of October is all about. Previous albums from Ambidextrous had a clearer theme, mostly an interest in science stuff, so I assume that's the case with this one as well. Maybe something to do with topography or cartography? That certainly looks like a coastline on the cover-art, though where I haven't the foggiest. I kinda' want to assume the Russian Arctic, what with Nick being from Russia and all. I feel like having more insight into it would provide me with a better understanding of what theme runs through this album, as I struggle to find one. Or maybe there isn't any theme, Fifty Years Of October just a collection of tunes he happened to kick out for a follow-up to Echoes Of Science on Fantasy Enhancing.

Pros And Contras start things off, and it's familiar Ambidextrous vibes right from the jump. A mostly chill, dubby mood gently cruises along, synth and string pads casually guiding us while subtle acid burbles and charming leads spritely dance about. A pleasant number, as expected from Nick, but as mentioned, doesn't impart anything deeper than that upon this person. Follow-up Detour De Force initially goes a little more mechanical, then introduces a synth lead that has me thinking of some cheap '80s movie, its star wandering slummy streets in a sort of synthwave noir setting. Huh, can't say I was expecting that, especially with rhythms and effects that remain in ambient techno's lane.

Speaking of, Fozamo and Steamroller Maneuver definitely gets up on that vintage IDM business, while Bipolar Lights and Stellar Telegraph have themselves a bit of a classic Fax+ freak-out at their peaks. Come to think of it, I'm getting some sense of ol' school Spacetime Continuum out of this, which shouldn't be too surprising considering Ambidextrous' sound has always leaned a little retro. And while on the topic of sea biscuits, Fifty Years Of October closes out with Shell Life, all submerged ambient dub groove and floating soundscapes, with plenty of bleepy vibes throughout. A very relaxing way to take us out. Just wish I knew how it tied into the rest of the album, beyond existing for its own sake.

Daar - Entire

Silent Season: 2021

Does anyone else get the sense Silent Season is slipping some? Not that I'd blame the little label from the Sunshine Coast having a fallow period. After the avalanche of activity that was the mid-'10s, however, these last couple years have been comparatively quiet. The last 'big ticket' item in their catalogue was Segue's The Island, almost three years ago now. 2021 saw just two albums released, and both quite early at that. In fact, this particular LP from Daar is already over a year old, and thus far the label's last. With a gap of fourteen months and counting, you'd be forgiven for thinking something's gone a little askew in Silent Season land. Again, maybe it's just well-deserved downtime after fifteen years in the business, but I do hope some news comes from their camps sooner rather than later.

Anyhow, Daar. One Álvaro Aragonés, there isn't much to go on from his Discoggian data. Self-released a couple albums on vinyl, plus a handful of tape singles along the way. Seems more active doing radio broadcasts out of Madrid, if his Soundcloud is anything to go by. Essentially a talent on the rise, with his debut on Silent Season possibly the greatest exposure he's yet gained abroad.

And opener Waves Your Back Describes is mostly familiar territory where this label's concerned. Dubbed-out field recordings, the sounds of tree foliage rustling as critters among the leaves chatter with each other. Waves gently lapping at shorelines, children distantly playing among themselves. And through it all, a singular synth pad glides along, imparting a feeling calming, melancholic isolation. Basically more North Shore grey, drizzly weather than Sunshine Coast. Now I feel like the cover art is what the world looks like from the inside of a bus during a heavy storm.

Follow-up Sea Wind is less heavy on the field recordings, though the odd, arrhythmic pitter-patter that opens does sound like sporadic splatter of rain dripping from an overhang. This one's mostly soft, airy pads and drones, with subtle synth pulses gradually gaining in prominence as the track plays out. Getting some major Substrata-era Biosphere out of this one. One field recording heavy Interlude later, and we're suddenly in Berlin-School territory with Mars Love. Yeah, there's some dub effects on those percolating synths, but that's about the extent of the track. Mellow Green Eyed Soul is in a similar vein, though heavier on the rhythmic aspect of the synths in use.

Another Interlude later, where the pad drone is so quiet, you'd be hard pressed to hear anything at all, and we're already in the final stretch of Entire. Gosh, did this album ever go by quick – are we sure this isn't an EP? I've sure been reviewing it as such, track-by-track and all. Anyhow, the titular tune features shimmering synth drone, a soft drum kick, and a spritely melody that's a nice contrast to the earlier moodiness. Coda is about as you'd expect, wrapping up a tidy little album from Daar.