Aythar - ElectrOcean / Winter Walk

Fantasy Enhancing: 2018/2021

Yay, a new Aythar album! This was self-released as a digital item a few years ago, but we all knew a physical option would emerge at some point. I mean, if even Cosmic Resonance made its way to CD, this had to be a shoo-in. So who's it gonna' be, then? Carpe Sonum again? A return to ...txt? Maybe one of those new-fangled labels Lee Norris set up like Neotantra?

Ah, it's the 'prestige' print, Fantasy Enhancing, with the DVD package and the like. Wait, you're not doing that, instead including a second album? So, a double-LP then? Not a double-LP, then, Winter Walk an entirely different collection of music. It's not unprecedented a double-album will contain two conceptually different CDs, but usually still under the same title. Odd choice, but hey, two new Aythar albums!

So ElectOcean. After spending so much time among the stars, Tamás Károly Tamás set his sonic sights a little closer to Earth. Or maybe its a space sea, one made of highly-charged electric particles! It certainly sounds little like the bounding main on terra firma, unusually crisp and clean, as though the water is made out of '90s CGI technology (so shimmery and plastic). Fortunately, we get a twenty-four minute meditative opener to properly submerge into this oceanic realm, Underwater Relax all flowing synth tones and grand pianos echoing from the distant depths as you slowly descend in some sort of submersible (it's all those bubbling effects). I cannot deny starting the album with such a lengthy piece does cause one's attention to drift, but isn't that the point of music designed for relaxing anyway?

With a proper Dive Into The ElectOcean, we're treated to some dubbed-out ambient techno with whale song in support. A little cliche perhaps, but Aythar's skill at songcraft keeps it a captivating excursion regardless. Protoplasm utilizes more echo and reverb over dub, in such a manner that it feels like you're listening to this from within an open sea cavern, while Electrolyte and the titular cut brings the actual electro to these oceans. In an ambient techno sort of way. The only track that seems a bit out of place is Welcome To Our Fairy World, an overtly twee piece that has me imagining swimming around chibi mermaids and dolphins. Child-like wonder at coral reef palaces, and such as.

Winter Walk, meanwhile, is mostly a pure ambient drone album, lengthy pieces taking you on calming journeys. Light And Snow has you out in the wilderness, huddled close to a simmering fire, the sounds of nearby fauna echoing off dense trees as everything is covered in white. Melting Glaciers offers a soft, liquid rhythm, but is no less tranquil. Elegy For The Arctic goes even more classic ambient than Light And Snow, the Eno vibes strong, while the titular tune offers something a little more chipper over the general melancholy that permeates the album. Only Dark Snow brings something rhythm heavy, almost shocking in its use of crisp, echoing beats.

Aythar - Cosmic Resonances

Carpe Sonum Records: 2019

Hard to believe it's been half a decade since peak Aythar-Mania. Not that Mr. Tamás hasn't kept himself busy in the interim, but compared to the rush of activity his 2016 generated, things slowed down some. It'd be hard to top that year anyway, not only releasing two highly-regarded albums in Astronautica and The God Particle, but ...txt offering up the pseudo-retrospective Dream Of Stars too, catching folks up if they were just getting on the Aythar hype train (*cough*). He spent the next number of years self-releasing a few items and live sets, but nothing on a proper label. Just give it time, a little more time... you know a Fantasy Enhancing or Neotantra is chomping at the bit.

Or a Carpe Sonum, they'll do too. Only this isn't an entirely new album from Aythar, Cosmic Resonance a self-released debut from 2010. This isn't a re-issue either, not only re-jiggering the track sequence of the original four tracker but excising Part 4 (The Final Cycle) altogether (because it already appeared on Dream Of Stars, most likely).That doesn't leave enough material for a full album though, so Carpe Sonum plucked a few scattered tracks from other releases to fill things out.

Would that make this a compilation then? If all the tracks were dissimilar enough, sure, but a hefty chunk of the running time is taken up by the Cosmic Resonance sessions, lending the whole listening experience a proper album outing. Well, about as proper as hearing a muse separated by seven years of music making can allow. It's more flowing than Dream Of Stars in any event, and that was one darn fine flowing collection of ambient music, believe you me.

Since Cosmic Resonance Part 1-3 makes up the meat of this CD sandwich, let's tackle that first. Part 1 (formerly Part 3) sets the tracks' themes off in fine fashion, pulsing and burbling electronics echoing about as cosmic synth pads glisten and glide about. Part 2 (formerly Part 1) is the heftiest of the trio, clocking in at nearly nineteen minutes in length. It's definitely on that vintage Fax+ vibe of blissy, floaty ambience, never in any hurry to go anywhere, though picking up in tension as elements are gradually added. It eventually culminates in a wash of Berlin-School synths and piano, gently ebbing out in forever echoing bubbly electronics. Part 3 (formerly Part 2) is the 'techno' cut of the three, a sparse rhythmic groove guiding along minimalist synths and tones as heard in the other two pieces. All good stuff, if a little experimental, but the rearrangement makes for a stronger showing of each part's features.

The remaining tracks surrounding Cosmic Resonance have more in common with the bubbly, cosmic ambience as heard on other Aythar albums. Despite the thematic disconnect, they're fine either as companion pieces or album padding. Like, imagine if Carpe Sonum had done an AudioGalaxy raid of Aythar tracks, and smooshed them onto a single CD. I can dig it.

Aythar - The God Particle

...txt: 2017

It feels like all my recent Aythar coverage has been leading to this, The God Particle. Yeah, it's Mr. Tamás' most recent effort, but it's his first proper album on ...txt as well. Considering the rarefied air Lee Norris' print currently occupies within ambient techno circles (painfully limited CD runs help), that's no small feat. Not to mention the compilation Dream Of Stars from a year ago served as something of a primer to the Aythar stylee, should you have missed the Carpe Sonum Records debut or his prior self-released material. So while The God Particle is technically his seventh full-length, I can't help but think of it as the first in a new stage for his career: from outright obscurity to ambient techno mini-fame ...which remains pretty darn obscure nonetheless.

Right, I may just be building an idea of “Aythar's Next Chapter” in my head. For sure many artists develop their sound over time, but it's left me with an expectation that The God Particle should sound significantly different and evolved from earlier works. Let's hear what Mr. Tamás has up his sleeve in the right here, right now. Or from last year, The God Particle apparently digitally self-released in 2016 before given this spiffy CD remastering. Well, doesn't that just shoot my narrative in the kneecaps.

Fortunately, Aythar does add some new wrinkles to his sound with this album, so I'm sated on that front. Opener The Sirens Of Titan is all kinds of dreamy, spacey ambience, with sweeping distant pads, burbling arps and spritely synths floating about the sonic ether. The titular follow-up gets in on that ambient techno front, starting out with a minimalist pitter-patter rhythm before escalating, echoing arps join the fray. As the track develops, it threads the line between mint Berlin-School modulations and light IDM manipulations without ever committing to either side. Meanwhile, Return To The Moon gets its dubby psy-chill vibe on, coming off like a long-lost track that didn't quite make it on one of Ultimae Records' Fahrenheit Project compilations.

If it's not clear yet, there be variety on The God Particle, Aythar seemingly trying out various flavours of ambient chill music both new and old. Healing Nature reaches way back to the olden days of Hearts Of Space (without getting too deep in the New Age sap), while Arctic Night's near eleven-minute runtime flits through some good ol' Fax+ ambient techno, and kinda' reminds me of Asura's Galaxies in the process. Molecular Flow almost comes off like something Orbital might have made if they ever contributed to Apollo Records, Pulsar like a latter-era cut from Ultimae (dub-glitch, yo'), and Mission To The Stars... I'd make the Sonic Voyagers call-back, but that might be too obscure even for ambient techno dudes.

Front to back though, The God Particle is solid material, mixing old space ambient with psy-chill and IDM aesthetics. Perhaps not the most original sound on the market, but Aythar does it right by my biased standards.

Aythar - Dream Of Stars

...txt: 2016

When you think about it, Aythar kinda' came outta' nowhere. Sure, there were a couple teaser tracks on Carpe Sonum's digital-only compilations, and Mr. Tamás' had been self-releasing his music for a while by then. Getting noticed in an overstuffed ambient scene is hard work though, many upon many budding producers flooding the market with their own take on noodly, calming synth pad drone works. It's almost a necessity having some label backing if you're gonna' rise above everyone else – even a compilation spot is enough in getting one's foot in that door.

Think about how many obscure acts contributed to Die Welt Ist Klang, some of which having never released official music before, that found themselves with material on a print with a little more prominence after. And man, Aythar didn't even have that going for him, which is surprising considering he was active when it came out. Maybe he sent in a contribution, but didn't make the cut? Carpe Sonum admitted they had to pare things down some to keep it at a 'minimum' of eight CDs. I suppose a proper album on the label's a nice consolation prize.

As always, Carpe Sonum never has an act they won't share with ...txt (and vice-versa). Aythar would release a new album on Lee Norris' print in due time, but as a primer to Mr. Tamás' work, a compilation of older music was released, Dream Of Stars. That's... actually quite remarkable. Usually one has to build up a little rep' on a label before they start re-issuing back-catalogue, get that hype going so new listeners might have more interest in an extended discography. I mean, what if this new act doesn't connect with the audience? Not that Aythar was in any danger of that, nosiree. It's just a curious road he's taken in getting to this point.

That all said, Norris had a bevy of material to gather from in forming Dream Of Stars. Four of Aythar's self-released albums are presented in this compilation: Cosmic Resonance (2010), A Few Light Years Away, Universe (both 2011), and The Flower Of Space (2015). Nine tracks may not seem a lot in offering an introduction-retrospective, but it does provide a tasty summation of the Aythar stylee up to that point. A Few Light Years Away gets the largest showcase, four tracks making their way in, including the titular tune of both that and this release. There is a distinct similarity between all four, with spacey pads flowing about, though Light Years works in an additional melodic lead, while Dream Of Stars gets more New Agey in its early portions before settling into chipper arps for its finish.

Something Depth and The Flower Of Space (both from the same album) also edge closer to New Age's domain, while two offerings from Universe get that Berlin-School vibe going for them. And as for Cosmic Resonance Pt. 4, well, it's no wonder Fax+ followers have taken a major notice of Aythar's music now.

Aythar - Astronautica

Carpe Sonum Records: 2016

Aythar is Tamás Károly Tamás, who- wait, his name without the middle is “Tamás Tamás”! Holy cow, that stupid joke in the Super Mario Brothers movie actually has validity! You know, where the Mario Brothers are in the cop office giving a testimony, and so not Italian Bob Hoskins says his name is “Mario Mario”, while John Leguizamo is Luigi Mario. Because they're the MARIO Brothers, get it, so Mario's full name must be Mario Mario! Cripes, was that movie balls. At least the theatre line-up was almost non-existent, a novel experience after Jurrasic Park was busting all the blocks at the time. Good God is this ever a horribly long, dumb tangent. I promise I'll never do this again ...until I do do this again. (hee, hee, 'doo-doo')

Where was I? Ah, right, Aythar. The alias itself first properly emerged around 2010, but Mr. Tamás has made music for much longer than that. Go to his Bandcamp, you'll find “rudimentary and amateur” productions from as far back as the early '90s. When he finally went more public with his works, it was still by independent means, self-releasing five albums in the span of a half-decade. Still, his ear for Berlin-School ambient and space techno was too good to keep under wraps forever, thus now finding himself on two of the most prominent labels promoting the stuff in Carpe Sonum Records and ...txt. This here Astronautica is his debut album with the former print, and his first physical release period. Well, if you discount old tape stuff never meant for commercial release, but if Aythar somehow becomes as adored as Boards Of Canada, you bet those items will fetch stupid amounts of money!

As the tasty retro cover art implies, Astronautica has its sights squarely on space music, the opening titular cut featuring Apollo 11 radio chatter. Yeah, we've heard these recordings many, many, many times in electronic music, but I never tire of 'em, always drawing me out into the cosmos with those intrepid cosmonauts. What I've also heard before are those opening synth pads, almost a direct lift from the old Pete Namlook track of Pulsar as Pulsation. Because if you're gonna' impress the Fax+ community, it's always best to crib from an obscure track, amirite?

Actually, it's a very tasteful crib, Mr. Tamás making it clear it's intended as an homage. I'll buy that. Aythar even provides a dancefloor version as the original Pulsation EP did, though clearly his Deep-Tech Remix is much sturdier than the hard trance of Transpulsation.

And the rest? Mystical Clouds does the beatless ambient-techno thing. Alien Worlds Part 1 goes widescreen ambient that could make AstroPilot gush, while Part 2 goes more blippy-bloopy as a Detroit techno guy would. Reactor and Space In My Heart stretch further back to the Berlin-School era, while Moon Landing returns to dubbier, Fax+ era ambient with more astro-chatter. All in all, definitely scope out Astronautica if your old-school itch needs a strong, satisfying scratch.