ACE TRACKS: January 2016

*sniff, sniff* What’s this I smell in the air? Is that… free CDs? Why, some friends are moving soon, and are looking to offload a little excess packaging. Most definitely I’ll be willing to take some of them for you, give them a new, comforting home. How many do you have? Thirty, eh? Mostly alternative rock… some old and new folk stuff… a little soundtrack fodder… ooh, a few key albums that I really should have in my collection. Yeah, sure, I’ll take the lot. I’m already plenty encroached within my apartment, what’s another mini-pile of discs at this point? I feel like I’m forgetting something here though, something that’ll impact my routine in the near future. Wait a second… oh, oh no! Dear God, why do I keep doing this to myself!?

Anyhow, here’s the ACE TRACKS playlist for January 2016.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
AuroraX - Evolutionary Journey
Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
Various - Fall
ASC - Fervent Dream
Dao Da Noize - Kalam
Banco de Gaia - Last Train To Lhasa (20th Anniversary Edition)

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 5%
Percentage of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Anything Dr. Octagon. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll hurl.

Way heavy on the ambient, atmospheric, and chill music, this one. And what does come with a beat is almost exclusively the domain of the psy scene. There’s a few sidetracks along the way – Perturbator, Dr. Octagon, Liquid Stranger kinda’ – but all these label splurges has left me a playlist of primarily similar-sounding tunes. Thank goodness for Psychonavigation Records’ freewheeling genre hopping, eh?

As such, this may just be the most cohesive sounding ‘alphabetical arrangement’ playlist I’ve done thus far. Or the most boring, if you crave dynamic mixtapes.

AstroPilot - Fruits Of The Imagination 2

Altar Records: 2012

A ‘revisiting’ of an album half a decade after the fact isn’t so daft. Artists grow as they continue making music, evolving their craft as they adopt new styles and techniques into their repertoire. And if any record out of AstroPilot’s discography deserved another look, it’s Fruits Of The Imagination. For one thing, it was released on Avatar Records, and Mr. Redko had long since made a home for himself on Altar Records. With each passing year, that first album grows more difficult to find on the regular markets, and he very well can’t grab the rights back from Avatar for a reissue on Altar. Okay, maybe he can eventually, but in the meantime, how about that ‘revisit’ concept to tide things over? Most of the original’s elements can be used again, and this time given the once-over with learned skills and adopted genres.

For instance, there really wasn’t much prog-psy on Fruits Of The Imagination Prime. That album was sort of a blend of world beat and psy dub, with a few visits into breaks and psy along the way. Five years pass, and AstroPilot has shown himself very adept at breaks and psy (ambient too), and he’s beefed up everything to reflect that. Structurally, they’re still mostly the same tracks, but there’s more detail to his music now, beats more dynamic and timbre more expansive. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it dates his first album, but it does sound more basic and unrefined compared to Fruits Of The Imagination 2. For folks getting into AstroPilot’s music in the here and now, this is probably the better option for a purchase. And if you already have Fruits Of The Imagination The First, Mr. Redko entices a secondary purchase with a new, unreleased track called Asian Express, a floaty bit of ethnic flavored prog-house as heard from the way-before days of the ‘90s. Okay, so maybe that isn’t so tempting for a wholesale re-splurge. ‘Tis a nice bonus for us late adopters though.

Oh hey, I haven’t even detailed any of the actual tracks here, have I? Silly me, providing comparisons between two albums all the while assuming y’all have heard one or the other. Hell, this is all assuming it’s AstroPilot fans reading this to boot. Come to think of it, I’m taking a leap of faith on figuring folks even know or care much about the psy-chill scene to begin with, what with dropping genre tags and label names. Why, someone reading this could very well not even be into electronic music, only here hoping for another dalliance into hip-hop or rock music. Help, I’ve fallen into some sort of perspective pit!

Sorry for that. Truth is Fruits Of The Imagination, in either form, isn’t the most exciting AstroPilot album to talk about. He skillfully hits the standard tropes of psy-chill word-beat prog (etc.), with 2 being the obviously more polished version of the two. Some may prefer the older’s rougher edge though.

Various - Fall

Altar Records: 2015

We now return to Altar Records' current running compilation series, The Seasons! But wait, three of you cry, how can we be doing Fall already, when there's still a Summer CD out there? Did I not get that one too for continuity's sake? I did indeed, but even continuity must give way to arbitrary blogging rules. Both were acquired during that long-ass trip through the latter half of 'S' albums, which technically put Summer into the backlog queue. And now alphabetical stipulation states that Fall must come before Summer, despite making none of the thematic sense. Yeah, I could have just lumped Summer in with all those other 'S' CDs, but if I can't honor my own rules, what honor can I give in life? What price is my honor? (twenty bucks American, cold hard cash)

I can't say I was waiting with bated, chilly breath for this one though. Spring was cool, and Summer was fun (spoiler!). In the end though, it's still Altar Records we're dealing with, and if my sojourn through their Elements series proved anything, it's that headmaster DJ Zen maintains a consistent style with the artists he taps. Even glancing at the track list once again finds plenty of familiar names from the Altar roster: AstroPilot, Alwoods, E-Mantra, Astral Waves, Asura, Terra Nine, Tentura, Cabeiri, and so on. I approve of all this, of course, but picking up Altar compilations has quickly become a case of comforting familiarity, a high standard of prog psy and psy chill with very few surprises along the way. As it goes with most genre niche labels anyway.

And I'm repeating my Altar Records caveat again, aren’t I. And the only reason I could possibly be providing such redundant information at this point is pretext, a set-up for a... 'fall' of expectations! Eh? Eh? Come on, give it up, don't leave me hangin'. Alright...

So the surprise with Fall comes with how much raw acid there is on this CD. The first few tracks don’t hint at such a turn; Cabeiri, Alwoods, and E-Mantra (plus bonus Tentura on the digital version) doing as Altar typically does. Mindphoria (aka: Mindsphere; aka: Ali Akgun) then does the unexpected in starting his track (also called Fall) with some pleasant classical piano diddling. Huh. Then a funky acid bassline comes in with a New Beat groove and are we still listening to an Altar compilation? There’s some spacey zaps and synths, but the focus soon turns to chunky old-school goa acid, as does next track Stay In Meditation from Azriel. I’d expect such sounds from bonus track Farewell, Beloved Sunshine, since that’s Khetzal’s schtick, but even AstroPilot and Astral Waves gets in on that acid with their collaboration Inflation Eternelle. Meanwhile, third bonus The Heart Of The Matter from Terra Nine has me feeling the ancient System 7 mojo, and closer Rise Of The Earth Keepers from Innerself goes full New Age sap. Ack, a trip within Fall. Nonetheless, a surprising, solid compilation.

AuroraX - Evolutionary Voyage

Altar Records: 2015

Thank God, Vishnu, Clupxtergh, and sanity that Lord Discogs isn't the only source of data on some artists. If that were the case, I'd be hooped on the bare-bones entry for AuroraX, his lone entry being this new album on Altar Records. Maybe he has contributed tracks to a digital compilation or four, but unless such labels have dedicated chroniclers submitting releases to the Lord That Knows All, Discogs couldn't give much of a care. This is especially troubling for musicians who've been making their name with Soundcloud, a streaming format that goes unrecognized by Discogs as anything official. And for good reason too, as any ol' chap or chappette could upload something and claim it worthy of the Lord's attention. We need some barriers to His Domain, some standards and practices implemented. Hard copies, yes. Soft copies, maybe. Edible copies, definitely not.

AuroraX has been building his base through Soundcloud, but I don’t bother with that site anymore, so I’m out of the loop there. Lord Discogs provided a Facebook link through an ‘alias’, Desislav Georgiev, but it’s all in Eastern bloc typeface so not much help there either. Fortunately, the Bandcamp page for Evolutionary Voyage has proven somewhat helpful. AuroraX hails from Bulgaria, and his real name is (surprise) Desislav Georgiev. The rest of the blurb goes into some hilariously over-the-top descriptions for his music, capping off with “AuroraX brings a fresh perspective to the meaning of universal consciousness.” Ugh, that’s a bit much for my bullshit detector to take, but I must have bought what the PR was selling, because I’ve obviously bought the CD as well.

I honestly didn’t know what I was getting with Evolutionary Voyage. Some idea, sure; this is Altar Records we’re dealing with, and they’ve cultivated quite the catalogue of psy-leaning music. Whether this album was prog-psy or psy-chill or space ambient though, I hadn’t a clue. I kinda’ figured something like AstroPilot, and I was right. In fact, I was correct about any other guess I could have made too, because for plus and minus, this sounds very much like an Altar Records album.

AuroraX is a fine producer, of that there’s no doubt, and quite mesmerizing in his compositions with tracks evolving and morphing as they play out. Sometimes they do the slow prog thing (Anima’s Dream, Navigations, Inner), other tracks will gradually build into a brisk pace (Project Voyager, Spatial Contemplation, Stars And Rising Tides), and the remaining two opt for pure psy-chill space bliss (Tales Of The Particles, Lifetime Satellite). Yeah, only eight tracks on here, but there’s plenty going on in them to get your Altar staples fix. I just wish I could recommend this as something more than that.

My only criticism is I didn’t hear a clear style I’d identify as AuroraX’ own, Evolutionary Voyage coming off like an amalgamation of other artists on this label. Maybe he just needs some more development, but if not, it’s not so bad being the Altar Voltron.

Circular - Substans

Ultimae Records: 2009

When I reviewed Circular’s Moon Pool last year, I mentioned their previous LP on Ultimae, Substans, was “a good album, but didn’t ignite much buzz”. While the second part of the sentence is true, I’m having difficulty supporting the first. I listen to this CD, hear things I like, sounds that are evocative, comforting, and interesting, even discern a loose mood around icy Nordic ambience, but God, does that latter third of the album ever evaporate in haste from my memory. Hell, even as it plays, Circular’s exercise in minimalist sonic textures and timbre fails to penetrate my cognizant synapses. I lie down with headphones, only to conk out after the uptempo cut Hurumburum (track seven out of thirteen). I go for a stroll with Substans on my other headphones, my only distraction the sidewalk in front of me – I start thinking of Transformers comics (!) during my wanderings. I literally have the album emanating from my living room speakers as I type this, and I completely missed hearing the guitar fuzz drone of Walking On Sand. Dammit, Facebook wasn’t that distracting for those three minutes.

Point being, a good album shouldn’t have moments that lose your attention. Once or twice, I can see it happening, as we live in an incredibly distracting world, but not with repeated play-throughs. I’ve thrown on Substans at least a half-dozen times since getting it a couple years back, and at least a third of it still remains a mystery to me. I can’t think of any other Ultimae release that’s accomplished this.

Such a shame. The surrounding tracks on Substans are fine pieces of music, if a little slight on execution. For the first third of the album, there’s a sense of sonic exploration, no two tracks similar in style, and typically alternating between low-key or a brisk pace. Rablekok has a deeply dubbed- out rhythm with gentle electric guitar treatments, whereas follow-up Little Girls Eat Chocolate is a charming piece of spritely chill ambience. Time Machine has a glitchy acoustic thing going for it, and is paired with darker ambient techno on Bits (Chernozem Remix). Wie Geht’s, Minsk? sounds about as close to vintage Ultimae psy-chill as this album gets, and appropriately enough has the prog psy Hurumburum come right after.

Finally, at the end of Substans, there’s Nothing But Dead Landscapes, a nine and a half excursion through droning ambient, pulsing ambient techno, and future-shock soundscapes, with a little electric guitar dub thrown in at the end for good measure. This track, above all else, deserves that Future Sound Of London comparison folks were often throwing about with regards to Circular’s music, and shows the potential of their songcraft better than anything else on here. Oh, and Biosphere too, especially with the icy ambient drone of Isroser right before it.

Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to recommend Substans for anyone other than Ultimae completists. Despite the “good album” ideas present, they don’t coalesce into a strong, long-form whole.

ACE TRACKS: October 2015

An extra hour of sleep this past night? Pft, I totally wasted that the night before, where I slept for about eleven hours. I didn’t think I was that tired, but then again, I have noticed the fatiguing signs. The shorter daylight hours, leading me to rely more on ultra-caffeine to plow through, leading to nights with less deep sleep, and the cycle continues. I don’t recall having these problems before. Was it because I was a steady Rock Star drinker for twelve years? I had to quit those suckers earlier this year because of compounding chest pains. Heck, I ‘relapsed’ this past month to get through those rough mornings, and started feeling those pains again. Why? Why must this aging process limit societal crutches? Dear Lord, don’t let the same thing happen to music! Maybe I needed happier music this past October, but there be Beach Boys in th’ar. Here, take a listen.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Sven Väth ‎– In The Mix: The Sound Of The Ninth Season
Various - The Sound Of Zero and One
Olien - Sounded Paratronic
Overdream - Soundprints
Peter Benisch - Soundtrack Saga
Various - Space Jazz
Der Dritte Raum - Spaceglider
Distant System - Spiral Empire
Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
James Horner - Star Trek: The Search For Spock

Percentage of Hip-Hop: 8%
Percentage Of Rock: 35% (it’s all Beach Boys)
Most “WTF?” Track: Horsemilk - They Milk Horses Don’t They? (that title alone …oh yeah, and Olien)

Ugh, so much great music, so much not on Spotify. I mean, this past month had me going through a number of albums I’ve endlessly namedropped over the years, and I can’t even share audio clips of them now. Well, unless y’all followed my advice and already copped yourselves some Benisch, Olien, and D. System.

That still leaves a bunch of cool music from other though: Thievery Corporation, AstroPilot, OutKast, and the aforementioned Beach Boys. If you’re feeling the SADS, maybe they’ll help add a little sunshine in your day. Yeah, that’s dorky, but so were they, so win-win, I say.

AstroPilot - Star Walk

Altar Records: 2012

This was the album that got me digging for more AstroPilot. Not because I heard a few tracks off here and concluded Mr. Redko’s jib satisfied my cravings, oh no. That was the case from the few tracks I’d heard on compilations. On a whim though, I fired up the Canadian Amazons to dig for anything on the cheap, and lo’ there were several AstroPilot CDs at reasonable pricing and stock. Of course, his home is Altar Records, a local label (nationally speaking) and thus keeping all those nasty shipping costs well reasonable for yours truly.

And man, did Star Walk come reasonably, with a supposed theme and artwork that I couldn’t resist. Walking on stars? An emblazoned sky filled with the massive fusion factories? Why, this must be what the view within a globular cluster is like! AstroPilot is now officially awesome and, holy cow, look at all those other albums. There’s even a Solar Walk here. Say, is this some kind of series? Is Star Walk a sequel, then? I better buy up these other ones just to be sure.

Turns out Star Walk isn’t a sequel of any sort - Solar Walk already has two of those anyway. Rather, this is a remix album, which confused me for a while. First, because I didn’t even realize it was a remix album, and couldn’t figure out why Miktek was appearing on here, much less various versions of a couple tracks. Yeah, total rookie mistake. Commence with the guffawings.

After that bout of puzzlement lasting all of four hours, another one has persisted ever since: was there really a need for a remix album of AstroPilot’s Solar Walk series? It’s almost entirely focused on droning ambient, a genre that’s either impossible to remix, or lazily restructured as a track with a standard beat added. Not that the music we get with Star Walk is bunk or anything – it’s exceptional as most AstroPilot albums usually are. Nor do I feel unsatisfied, gyped, or cheated in having this, nothing on here coming off redundant or pointlessly wasting my precious listening minutes in a day. What am I even complaining about? I should be elated for more AstroPilot, not ultra nitpicky. Damn this ‘electronic music critic’ precedent I’ve set for myself.

The only complaint I can have is the source material didn’t come across as intended for remix treatment, where mood and tone were the prevailing attributes over hooky melodies. As great of tracks like God’s Channel, In The Middle, Hidden Planet and Between are, I’m hard-pressed in recalling specifics, and hearing variations of them didn’t spark the memory either. Thus, when I play Star Walk, I’m hearing these tracks as they’re presented in this album, not as different versions of existing tunes. That defeats the point of a remix album in my eyes, but again, that’s just being nitpicky for its own sake. All said, I prefer Star Walk to Solar Walk, though Solar Walk 2 remains tops for this series.

Various - Spring

Altar Records: 2013

If DJ Zen had fashioned his label’s Elements series after chemical elements rather than classical elements, he could have kept it running nigh on forever. That’s already ninety-four natural volumes to work with, and plenty more room for made-up ones following that. But nay, the classical version is what he settled for, and thus was forced to wrap up the series after but five proper volumes (and a sixth bonus). The compilation market doesn’t sit fallow though, any good psy-chill leaning print needing a promotional outlet for their roster’s non-album material. And thus it came to pass that DJ Zen settled on possibly the third most obvious mystical theme to center a new series on, that of the seasons. *sigh* You make good music, Altar, but really could use some help in the ‘creative compilations’ department.

Seasons it is though, with the series’ concept boiling down to producers providing tunes that conjure feelings, imagery, moods and the like of each volume. Appropriately enough, we start things off with the season ancients once considered the beginning of a yearly cycle following the vernal equinox, Spring. Ooh, I suspect we’ll get ample amounts of lively field recordings like running water and birds in song, or maybe sampled ethnic chants of far-flung tribes praying to pagan deities for fertile crops and frisky love in the air. Um, no, there’s not much of that at all. Tickle me… kinda’ disappointed? Sure, what I typed out sounds like some hokey New Age fluff, but Altar’s always had a touch of that regardless (that cover art!), and it’s never stopped me from getting my vibe on with their output.

Instead, Spring sticks to the prog-psy stylee for much of its runtime. Fine with me, as you’ve got a solid cast of Altar regulars chipping in to get this series up and running: AstroPilot, Cabeiri, Lab’s Cloud, Akshan, Asura, Suduaya, plus newcomer Reasonandu, and Dense of GMO vs Dense microfame. And yet, for much of this compilation, it doesn’t feel like I’m playing a collection of Altar tracks – nay, the groove I’m getting here is oddly reminiscent of Iboga Records from a decade ago. Granted, much of it is in the slower style the psy-chill chaps like going, but those sparse arrangements, plucks of dubbed-out synth, and churning, thunking rhythms are remarkably minimal for a label more known for their widescreen productions. A few tracks do break the mold – opener Peaceful Heart from Reasonandu And Adrian Enescu is what I had in mind for this compilation, while the next string of cuts from Dense, Suduaya, and AstroPilot play more to Altar’s style. Elsewhere, Asura provides one of his standard prog-psy productions, including that crisp kick, and those sidechain abused pads. The rest though, man, are we certain Perfect Stranger didn’t pop by the Altar office and sneak in some of his roster instead?

Spring is still a solid collection of prog-psy, just not quite what I was expecting. Will future seasons bring the unexpected too?

ACE TRACKS: March 2013

Man, how did September fly by like this? Normally I get one of these backtrack Playlists out by mid-month, yet here’s end-month rearing its head, and I’m way behind on this. I blame Spotify. No, not because another one of their updates buggered things up again, but the fact it’s running decently now, and it’s given me an opportunity to obsess over minutia in my collection. That got me itchin’ to re-organize my CDs once more, which needed some work anyway. I prefer keeping things together by music type, but I’ve gathered so many releases from particular labels now (Ultimae, Waveform, Moonshine, Fabric …um, In Trance We Trust), that it’s only right to stack them as a family too. And what of different eras of a particular genre? House alone has gone through numerous stages of development, so shouldn’t they be organized as such too? Then there’s the matter of artists and comp- ah, forget it. No wonder so many go the Big Cardboard Box In A Storage Locker route. Meanwhile, here’s some music from The Cloud that I reviewed back in March 2013.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Samim - Flow
Zenith - Flowers Of Intelligence
Khooman - Is A Flexible Liquid
Carol C - First Impressions
Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VII: Original Soundtrack
The Dust Brothers - Fight Club
Various - Family Tree
Überzone - Faith In The Future

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 3%
Percentage Of Roc k: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Fight Club tracks I guess, though that’s intentionally so on the Dust Brothers’ part.

Wait, I can’t put my CDs in storage. Just look at all those albums that Spotify doesn’t have! Good ones too, like Flowers Of Intelligence, Faith In The Future, Fight Club, and the OST of Final Fantasy VII! I guess Samim’s Flow was supposed to rest in that pedigree too, but as all records of his existence disappeared a year after having that summer hit, I don’t blame Spotify for not knowing of its existence. And if my digital backups suddenly go *poof* in a moment of external harddrive failure, how will I satisfy a whim in hearing Carol C’s delicious atmospheric jungle mix again? Back in the towers you all go!

As for the music that did make it, this was the month I reviewed all the Fahrenheit Projects from Ultimae, so expect a huge chunk of that. There’s also Vitalic’s Flashmob right at the very end, and scatterings of electroclash, metal, rap, and not much else. Yeah, sorry, the unavailability factor seriously nerfed the diversity of another playlist.

AstroPilot - Solar Walk 2

Altar Records: 2012

Much better than the first! Not that Solar Walk was bunk, but you hope a sequel improves upon a concept’s successful attributes. It’s always a crap shoot though, some efforts simply retreading the same music with slight variations to warrant the sequel tag. Other times there’s almost no common link between the two, the repeated use of a title nothing more than capitalizing on brand recognition. Given AstroPilot’s comparatively small market penetration, however, I highly doubt the latter is the case here. Nay, it’s all the more likely Solar Walk turned into a suitable outlet for his ambient and chill-out productions, and retaining a series title for those productions helps clue listeners that, yes indeed, that’s what you’re in for heading in. If you prefer AstroPilot on the uptempo take, you’d best not bother with any edition of Solar Walk.

No, wait, Solar Walk 2 does bring the beats too. Well, about as ‘beatrific’ as a dedicated chill-out album can go, but this is AstroPilot we’re talking about here, a chap who can make a brisk BPM cut sound as calm as any piece of meditative ambient drone. Hell, there’s one such track on here with Patterns Of Awareness (also the longest tune at nearly fifteen minutes in length). Another one is Betelgeuse, the second longest cut on Solar Walk 2 at twelve-point-five minutes, and employing a dynamic bit of escalating rhythm at that, the sort that could work as the climax on a standard tempo album of psy-chill and dub music. And here’s Mr. Redko dropping one on a CD supposedly dedicated to ambient space music. Even the first Solar Walk never got this intense with its lone prog-psy detour.

Ambient is what Solar Walk aims to showcase though, and ambient is what we get in droves. In terms of style, AstroPilot retains the maximal approach to the craft, layering pads and effects with such intensity, it sometimes feels like you’re being crushed by their immense, droning sonics. Yet nothing ever comes off overbearing or harsh, as though this foreboding cosmic plane envelopes and embraces your being rather than pulverizes your sanity with feelings of endless isolation. Whoa, I’m getting way deep here, aren’t I?

If this all sounds similar to the sort of ambient AstroPilot composed in Solar Walk, it is, but it’s also much more well produced too. There’s more separation and space between the multiple layers of sound, such that it’s easier to focus on distinct sounds and timbre should you so choose. There’s also more sense of progression within the tracks themselves, less emphasis on supplying heavy drone for indeterminate time. Instead, the sparse melodic ideas help paint a richer sonic canvas, allowing one’s imagination greater immersion for all your space travel needs. Finally, Solar Walk 2 isn’t continuously mixed, which greatly helps in taking in individual pieces as distinct forms from each other. It’s a small thing, but it’s easier to enjoy ambient when you’re not second-guessing if you’re dealing with a different composition.

AstroPilot - Solar Walk

Altar Records: 2010

Solar Walk was what piqued my curiosity enough to start diving into AstroPilot's discography. Not because I'd heard tracks elsewhere, or it came highly recommended by psy-ambient experts abroad (are there such folk?). Nay, it came down to the same ol' reason that always afflicts my impulse buying habits: there's a cosmic theme afoot, and I'm never sated on that space music stylee. Hell, the alias Mr. Redko chose for his work intrigued me alone, though having tracks appear on Russian space-race tribute compilation Absence Of Gravity and the final Fahrenheit Project from Ultimae were definitely added incentives to dig further. Then when I searched the Amazons for some affordable options on AstroPilot material, I discovered not only did he have an album called Solar Walk (*squee!*), but a follow-up (*-eeeeeee!*), plus a companion LP called Star Walk (*-eeeeeequss!*). Well, there goes that week's allowance.

What distinguishes the Solar Walk series from AstroPilot’s other albums is the heavy focus on ambient and chill music. I’m not sure if ol’ Dmitriy always intended to seperate his dancefloor friendly material and meditation tent efforts, but it’s not such a bad idea in the long run, especially for a chap as prolific as he. Maybe it was just a coincidence he’d end up alternating between the two styles of album material. Less odd is the fun-fact Solar Walk was his kick-off with Altar Records. Hell, for that matter, this was Altar Records’ album kick-off in general, their first non-compilation release featuring outside talent (re: not DJ Zen at the helm). It certainly was style that fit with the fledgling psy-chill print out of Quebec, a deeply ambient outing with ample layers of pad work and... um, not much else, to be honest.

This isn’t to say we’re in for an hour-long excursion of minimalist drone, the tracks on here incredibly dense in timbre. In fact, for ambient, many of these compositions are rather loud and vast, as though AstroPilot intends his music to sound like nothing less than the grand scope of an endless infinity above. I guess ‘heavenly’ is another apt adjective for this music, but that strikes me as a tad sappy for what we do get, though the spiritual connotations are hard to dismiss. Get all in on that chakra healing, yo’!

Eight tracks make up Solar Walk, some rather short (opener Languor, darker Space Ghosts), others ridiculously long (nineteen minutes of Inside The Harmony). Honestly though, track lengths are almost meaningless where this album’s concerned, each composition continuously mixed into the next. Unless you’re completely focused on the nuances of AstroPilot’s pad work or shifts in tone, three tracks could go by without you realizing it. A couple do offer rhythms, including a gradual reveal of prog-psy groove in God’s Channel, but even with these deviations, Solar Walk mostly plays out like one long piece of layered ambient drone, often lacking distinct musical moments along the way. Still, it’s better than your standard laptop noodle wank.

ACE TRACKS: April 2015

Oh hey, look at that, “R” is all wrapped up now. Yep, in a bizarre turn of events, the alphabetical back-half of the letter had barely a week’s worth of albums for review, unlike the near 1.5 months of the front half. I honestly have no idea how this came to be. Maybe if I had more CDs in my collection from rock bands, where they sing about rocking and rolling in titular singles, but nay, most things are rave with this techno boy. Anyhow, I felt it best to finish the letter off before posting the playlist for ACE TRACKS: April 2015.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
µ-Ziq - Royal Astronomy
Seraphim Rytm - Aeterna
Various - Rising High Trance Injection

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Most of the Aphex Twin stuff, but only if you’re not used to his zaniness.

Whoa, that’s my second straight Playlist with nary a rock or hip-hop cut found. The August 2013 one is understandable, what with such a short collection of albums to cull from – I had plenty more to draw from for April 2015. On the other hand, a sizeable chunk was devoted to Altar Records compilations, not to mention a plethora of other alphabetical backlog.

Speaking of alphabetical, I tried something different for this Playlist, arranging tracks in alphabetical order. With so much psy dub, psy chill, and dark ambient (hi, Sabled Sun!), I figured doing so would randomize the sequence a little, engaging the listener with the unexpected rather than steady familiarity and flow. Will AstroPilot align with Amon Tobin? Might Moss Garden meld with Model 500? Could Cosmic Replicant conflict with Chronos? Find out within, plus Faithless too!

Various - 6th Element (The Missing Elements)

Altar Records: 2011

Okay, now you're just milking your concept, Altar Records. Even going for a fifth was dubious, but the nebulous idea of a classical element that consists of ether or souls or whatever ('love'? Arrgh!) has enough traction within pop culture to allow it. A sixth though? I seriously can't even. What's this supposed to represent, the substance within hyperspace? The singularity centre of a black hole? The whiskers that makes up Evil Spock's beard? The last digit of pi?

I jest of course. A year after Altar wrapped up their Elements series, they released this download-only bonus of unreleased material that didn't make the cut for various reasons, hence Missing Elements as a subtitle (and why it's getting reviewed with the 'M's – t’was sorted that way). Normally such releases don't interest me, but since it came included with the purchase of the Elements set, here’s my six pennies' worth of opinion on 6th Element.

First off, holy cow, but do these ever sound 'unreleased'. Okay, under-produced is a better term, but that's only in comparison to the strong mixdown Altar typically provides on all its material. These feel like a layer’s cut off, or even missing an ele- *slaps self*.

What I mean is, the production quality isn’t that far removed from the sort of tunes you’d find on small sub-labels of Israeli psy trance in the mid-‘00s. Come to think of it, DJ Zen started out on one such label, Sunline Records (Quebec based), which was an offshoot of Kagdila Records (California based). I can’t say I’ve heard of anything from either print, so I’ve no idea whether their mixdown standards were up to snuff with the Twisteds and Ultimaes of the time. What I can tell you is when Zen went proper independent with Altar, he must have gotten his hands on Aes Dana’s notebook of mixdown techniques. No sense on spending that extra studio time on ‘unreleased’ material though.

So the production isn’t as exquisite as the rest of the Elements series, but there’s still some cool stuff on here. Zen gives AstroPilot’s Inside The Harmony an eighteen minute ethno-ambient remix, which may sound daunting, but the original off the Solar Walk album’s even longer! At the other end of 6th Element is Asura with a track that sounds like Vangelis at his poppier moments, suitably titled, um, Vangelis. Everything in between runs the usual gamut of psy dub, chill, and prog, from regular contributors like Zymosis, Tentura, and Chronos, to first-time outside helpers like Elea, Suduaya, and Dreaming Cooper (Lord Discogs lists this as his only credit!). And man, are there ever some corkers in this collection, tracks building as some of the best prog-psy goes. The fact these remain strong pieces of music even without extra engineering polish goes to show Zen’s surrounded himself with some incredibly talented people.

That said, I wouldn’t bother with 6th Element unless you’re already keen to Altar Records output. More a pleasant bonus to their main series, this one.

Various - Ether

Altar Records: 2010

The fifth element is ether? Was this officially sanctioned by the Ancient Old-Timey Classical Hold-Outs Consortium? I mean, it's definitely a better option than 'love' or 'heart', but what's ether supposed to represent? Spirit and soul? Immaterial ghosts and energy beings? Neutrinos and positrons? Whatever the Hell cosmic foam is supposed to be? Maybe it’s that pseudo fourth state matter can exist as, plasma. However you logically justify ether being an element, in the case of Altar Records’ Elements series, it’s just an excuse to worm in a fifth CD as a cap to the enterprise. And thank God’s ether blood they did, because this just might be the best of them all.

Without spoiling the other two editions much (Fire and Water, obviously), this compilation series does maintain a solid streak throughout. There's exotic instrumentation, trancey synths and pads, psychedelic sound effects that owe plenty to Shpongle's influence, moments of proggy groove (or nearly a full run-through, in one CD’s case), and more than enough ethnic dub that even Megadog should feel weak in the knees. Nothing ever sounds cheap or forced, seldom ever pointlessly overproduced, and flits between enough variations of the style to keep each CD engaging from front to back. However, this is all still quite standard stuff as psy-chill goes, which isn't that surprising as Altar head DJ Zen and his gathered roster grew within the scene itself. It does make a difference coming in from different music backgrounds though, as the Mighty Ultimae attests to.

Ether does right in shaking free of those tropes, though obviously not completely. Altar simply wasn’t established enough to go plucking artists from dub techno labels and the like, nor do I get the sense DJ Zen’s too interested in doing so. Still, what we do get here though gets me all atwitter.

First, the psy dub to open. Yeah, nothing terribly new there even for a 2010 release, but Mr. Peculiar’s Ancient Tribes has some gnarly world beat vibes going for it. Then AstroPilot show up with Answers, and it’s an utterly lush, ethereal piece of Balearic bliss. Shortly following that is Distant System with an exclusive track, Astral Map Error. *squeeee* You already know I’ll praise this kick-ass slice of spacey prog psy, but I dare say this standalone is better than nearly every cut off Spiral Empire.

The sci-fi nature of Distant System isn’t a one-shot on Ether either (read it out loud, you know you want to!). Tentura’s Free Your Mind and E-Mantra’s Emptiness skew in this direction as well, adding an extra dimension to the Elements series after being so generally grounded (though Air did have its floating moments too). In case space doesn’t project your consciousness high enough though, Ether closes out with Asura’s epic Everlasting. That track’s appeared in a couple places now, including last year’s Radio Universe, but it was on this CD first, and a perfect conclusion to a fine series of compilations. Upper astral waits.

Various - Earth

Altar Records: 2010

Now this is a different approach. Most artwork depicting the Earth elemental tends to favor things dealing with rock, soil, and whatever images we associate with terra firma, the solid ground beneath our feet (or the fiery furnace further below, if you’ve read the Death Gate Cycle) . Thus, many of the colors that come with the dirt we dig into are tied to the element too - brown, burgundy, and such are often described as ‘earth tones’. Yet such colors are not exclusive to Earth, the planet, similar shades often found on other celestial bodies in various states. On the other hand, a color does exist that has thus far been found exclusively of Earth, a pigment that’s a by-product of photosynthesis within plant life: green. How cool is it that, instead of rehashing the same ol’ symbolism associated with the classical Earth elemental, they incorporated something scientifically unique to planet Earth instead. It, like, makes you think cosmic big, and all that, yo’.

Less unique is the style of psy-chill found on Earth itself, with influences from world beat and dub finding their way in. Makes sense as those are mostly ‘earthly’ forms of music, especially whenever things go more groovy and tribal – no sense rocking the ‘element theme compilation’ foundations too much. Earth was also the fourth in the Altar’s Elements series, released a mere year after Air had kicked things off, and some strain with the concept was already showing, label boss and compiler DJ Zen recycling many names despite everyone still offering up exclusive tracks. That’s fine if it’s point of these roster showcases, but the way it’s gone about with Earth is odd.

For instance, Zymosis shows up thrice (note: mistake from my Air review, AstroPilot (Dmitriy Redko) is not a member of Zymosis, but rather Dmitriy Lihachov; got my Dmitriys mixed up) with the following credits: CJ Catalizer vs Zymosis, Tentura vs Zymosis, and Zymosis vs Tentura. What on earth (Earth!) is the point of crediting tracks like the latter two? Trying to give as equal billing to the collaborators as possible? Why not just create a ‘supergroup’ alias then? It’s not like the tunes are that dissimilar anyway.

Other names on this compilation include Asura (Charles Farwell had basically set up a second home with Altar by this point), Chronos (don’t worry, I’ll get to him soon), Lab’s Cloud (who’s released two albums with Altar now), plus veteran acts like Vibrasphere, Ra, and Chi-A.D. rounding things out (literally, as two of them bookmark the CD). A solid enough list of acts, all said, but very little on Earth leaps out beyond what fans of the genre are familiar with. Only Ra’s March Of The Lunar Priests, a spacey goa thing with a rhythm that does sound like a march, leaped above the highly competent productions I’m already spoiled by from this label. That’s always the problem with these genre compilation splurges though, isn’t it? What’s stunning in isolation turns average in bunches.

Various - Air

Altar Records: 2009

So I splurged on a pile of Altar Records CDs. The reason I done did this was they too subscribe to the ‘limited run of physical medium’ philosophy. Fortunately for me though, the Quebec label has thus far flown far under the radar of even the most ardent of downtempo and psy-chill sorts, and much of their back catalogue can still be had direct from their website. As I've been enjoying the cut of their jib from regular artists like AstroPilot and Chronos, you bet I snagged up what I could while it’s still there – I won’t get left behind on this one, nosiree! This includes an entire compilation series spotlighting various in-house talent and assists from a few outside friends, with an elemental theme tying the whole thing together. Hm, not the most original concept, that.

Unlike the previous elemental chill-out series I covered a couple years back (!), this one doesn't have a unifying series banner, simply dropping each compilation into its alphabetical titled sorting with no backup, standing alone for itself. How noble. Oh, and there’s a fifth element to this series too – can you guess what it is? (no, not 'love', that'd be stupid). Anyhow, as I deal with my music in alphabetical order, fate has decreed the first in this series, Air, kicks off my now-sporadic coverage of Altar Records’ Elements series. Incidentally, this was also the first CD released by Altar. And I mean ever!

The opening half of Air prominently features producers the label would cultivate for its roster. In fact, AstroPilot kicks the whole thing off, though is teamed up with one Grigoriy Sobinov as Zymosis. I wouldn’t go so far as to say its typical psy-dub chill-out, but if you’ve digested copious amounts of Shpongle and such, you’re in familiar grounds here (or is it clouds in this case?). Following that is Voices Of The Universe from Aquascape & Skydan, two names I know little about beyond what Lord Discogs tells me, and am stunned to hear a track that’s not too dissimilar to a throwback Jean Michel Jarre piece. Wait, isn’t Altar psy? Sure, and label head DJ Zen drops in for third track Speak Your Mind with flutist Jace Gravel, and holy cow, where’d this cut come from? It has a rather standard world beat build with all the psychedelic trimmings, but when that beat finally drops into a thudding, proggy-dub thing, hot damn! That’s how you make an opening statement for your label, my friends.

Air carries on with nice variety of different-flavored psy on the downbeat, tracks offered by Tentura, Shakri, and Chronos (more on him later). Then Ultimae’s Big Three – Asura, Aes Dana, Solar Fields – drop by to finish the compilation off, and with exclusives no less! Okay, if I’m honest, it’s not that big a deal, their tracks not catching each at the peak of their powers. Still, getting that bump from the top dog of the psy-chill yard had to help Altar’s early prospects.

AstroPilot - Iriy

Altar Records: 2014

Mythologies and ancient mysticisms of the world, you ask? Oh, are they ever plentiful and famous: Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Abrahamic, and plenty more have served as inspiration for the arts and culture, especially when re-contextualized with contemporary fashions. The Slavic States, however, don’t get as much love with modern audiences, content in letting the ‘gypsy lifestyle’ be their one defining historical trait. Not even Deep Forest, at the height of their commercial clout, swayed the public to the sounds of Eastern European traditionalism. Fortunately for AstroPilot, he caters to an audience a little more open to such ideas, despite many remaining stuck in their love of many things derived from the shores of Goa; he’s already explored that though (you’re kinda’ obligated to if you dabble in psy chill/dub/prog/trance/zydeco). Still, Mr. Redko’s muse remains ever restless, and for his eighth LP in as many years (!), he released Iriy, an album drawing plenty of influence from Eastern European folklore.

What is an Iriy, you ask? To save you the Wiki trip, it’s essentially a sort of ‘paradise’, like Eden or Shambhala, though based on Russian mythology. Tracks within this album include titles like Svarog’s Morning (Slavic god of celestial fire), Makosh (Slavic goddess of life cycles and fertility), Gamayun (a prophetic bird connected to Iriy), and Back To Midgard-Earth. Okay, that last one’s technically Norse, but seeing as how the Slavic States are situated in the middle of civilized Euro-Asia, one could call the region ‘Middle Earth’ too, if you’re willing to stretch your folklore to the extreme. Wait, I’m supposed to review music here, not conduct mythology lectures.

Honestly, all this comes off as window-dressing where AstroPilot goes in this album. Iriy is essentially another collection of ultra-lush prog-psy and wide-screen chill-out from the Siberian native, no real musical theme tying it together other than that. If there are sonic nods to Slavic traditionalism within, it’s very minimal (or I’m just too Canadianized to recognize it). The places and names in these titles could just as easily be a wholly created fantastical realm, but I cannot deny it was a cool trick on AstroPilot’s part in opening my eyes to an overlooked segment of humanity’s bountiful culture. Also, it doesn’t hurt having such a unique context for these tunes - The Last Night Of Svarog’s groovy trance pulse and layered synth drones carries more emotional heft if you picture the dying embers of a celestial fire deity along with it.

Iriy’s a no-brainer of a pick-up if you’ve got an itch for more prog-psy in your diet. AstroPilot’s been in a remarkable zone of quality for years now, this album further cementing an already praise-worthy career. Damn, am I in hyperbolic mode now because of this? Fine, here’s a criticism: most of these tunes stick to a very similar, lengthy prog-psy structure (ambient intro, gradual build, etc.), lending to a rather repetitive trip throughout. With scenery this gorgeous though, who gives a hoot of a svirel?

ACE TRACKS: December 2014

December was a little slower on the reviewing front, in part from dealing with a couple double-disc releases, but also general distractions that come at this time of the year. Sure didn’t help some absolute miserable weather in Vancouver gave me a severe case of the SADs, but it’s done and passed. Time to look up as we approach my favorite time of the year, Perihelion Day! Mmm, feel that extra warmth from the sun on the cold winter noon. Anyhow, fewer reviews than normal gives us a smaller list than normal for ACE TRACKS: December 2014, so let’s dig in.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Paul van Dyk - The Politics Of Dancing
Setrise & Kay Wilder - Poetry Clash
Various - Planet Rave, Vol. 1
Various - Planet Dance
Various - π - Music For The Motion Picture

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 6%
Percentage of Rock: 4%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Orb - Bang ‘Er ‘N Chips (for the title alone)

(note: Percentage Of Neil Young is now Percentage Of Rock, since the original joke doesn’t make as much sense anymore)

Maybe the reason I was feeling so mopey this past month was because all the music I was listening to. It’s not dark or super serious, but it sure feels like more often than not we’re dealing with minor keys. The few upbeat tunes from Todd Terje and Steve Porter just can’t compete with the overwhelming dub techno, melancholic ambient, introspective acid, and angry-as-fuck Ice Cube. Speaking of, he and Jefferson Airplane fit absolutely no where in this playlist, so apologies for how awkward they’ll sound surrounded by modern classical and disco synth.

Not a terribly odd playlist compared to some months then, with a fairly consistent mood for a change. Just don’t play it on cold, grey days.

ACE TRACKS: October 2014

One month past. Feels like forever since I started up with this Spotify Deezer thinger, yet here we are, finally with a new permanent Playlist for the sidebar to last us another month. Here are the choice cuts from what I reviewed in October.


Full track list here.

Missing Albums:
Calibre - Overflow (FOUND!)
Sunbeam - Out Of Reality
Astropilot - Here And Now TUU - One Thousand Years (FOUND!)
The Orb - The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
Various - One A.D. (FOUND!)


Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 16%
Percentage Of Neil Young: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: Aphex Twin - Xepha (like anyone else could take this spot)

Waveform Records isn't on Spotify. I have the sads now, since I can’t share the music they’ve put out exclusively through their label (not to mention some of the older rarities). You’ll just have to settle for the crummy Amazon clips below their reviews or, I dunno, go to their website and buy the music. It’s a worthy purchase, trust me on that.

I’m surprised by how flowing, dynamic, and fun this playlist turned out. You’d think an over-abundance of music from Raekwon, The Orb, and ambient-psy/chill-dub would make for another relatively dull collection of tunes (those May and June ones were kinda’ drab), but nay, there’s enough quirky tangents (Rock! Nu-Jazzsteps! “Peanuts!”) to keep things fresh as it plays through. Won’t deny it’s a long listen though, clocking in at nearly seven hours in length. Hey, I listened to a lot of good music in October, and now you can too, with a few play throughs! Or split it up into chunks. It’s what I do.

Mahiane - Oxycanta: Winter Blooms (Original TC Review)

Ultimae Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
I go on about how awesome Ultimae is and how they're one of my favorite labels and that everyone should immediately check out their roster and I'll shut up now. In truth though, it took me over a year after stumbling upon Asura's Life² before fully committing to digging into their catalog further. When I finally did, it was with this CD, again an impulse purchase based on the cover. The music within completely and utterly convinced me that Ultimae was a label I needed to keep tabs on, which led to further purchases from Solar Fields' Movements and the Fahrenheit Project series. You probably know how the rest of this story plays out by now.

Oxycanta seemed destined to have a short existence, scuttled like so many of Ultimae's compilation series as this decade turned. Lo', it returned last year. I guess Mahiane found inspiration again with the crop of new talent contributing to the label. It's... well, I'll save those thoughts for when I review it.)


IN BRIEF: ‘Tis the season.

As tempting as it is to start a winter-themed compilation of music with some sort of poetic metaphor tying into the frigid months of the year, my internal Corny-Countermeasure Procedure continuously denies me the opportunity – damn you, Corny-Countermeasure Procedure! Besides, for all the tranquil, pretty vistas a snow-covered landscape portrays, the reality of winter tends to be far more brutal. Ice storms, biting winds below fifty-degrees Centigrade, mucky gritty slush as snow melts, hideous displays of driving… there’s a reason so many birds flee to more hospitable regions of the world and several animals would just rather sleep through it all.

Being one of the more illogical animals of this world, however, humans prefer making the best of the cold climate while we can. Ice skating, skiing, festive light shows (it really does glow prettily off the snow), and, of course, music. At no other time of the year will you find more popular music directly tied to a season, such that we have to endure it over and over and over and over…

Sorry, I’m getting side-tracked. Oxycanta, then. The second of a somewhat infrequent compilation series put together by Ultimae co-founder Sandrine Gryson (aka: Mahiane), the obvious-to-everyone-now theme here is that of winter. Of course, this being Ultimae, the music dwells on the delicate and naturalistic aspects of the season, preferring to conjure images of quiet frosted forests and frozen-over streams, untouched and unspoiled by human influence. And it is stunningly beautiful to listen to.

Seriously, opener Strawberry Planetarium is ambient at its hauntingly best - layered pads and delicate timbre work together to create a sublime trip through tonal harmony. Along the way, spritely clicks and glitches add to the atmosphere; it’s like being trapped in lake ice as it slowly thaws. Of course, there really isn’t much of a song here, but then ambient seldom follows structure, merely going about its business as it sooths to the ears.

Much of Winter Blooms features passages and pieces of this nature. It isn’t until third track Flaktsystem from Amos that we have something resembling a proper song (though everything leading up to it is still engaging nonetheless). Even then, Flaktsystem is more of an excursion through tones and timbres, only this time with lovely piano melodies guiding us along laid-back rhythms. Aes Dana’s Nexus, nearly half-way through the CD, provides the first fully-formed piece of music, which is a quite a long while to wait. I’m sure this begs the question, then, of whether half a disc of lovely tonal textures and meditative passages is too much noodly music for the casual listener.

To this, I give a definite no. The beauty of Oxycanta is that it works in various ways. If you play diligent attention to the music, you’re rewarded with deeply considered harmonies, sucking you into a calming meditation of delicate tones and steadying rhythms, none of which ever dip into saccharine New Age mumbo-jumbo. If you just throw this on as background fodder, however, it’s equally effective as atmospheric ambient, setting a blissful mood that will tingle at the soul while you’re engaged in other activities.

Oh wait, you’re still wondering if that winter theme is ever-present - to a degree, yes. As mentioned, the first half touches upon the tranquil nature of the season; meanwhile, the second half delves into the less comforting aspects of winter: the cold textures of downbeat techno. Mind, Waters from Sgnl_fltr is something more akin to old-school trance, and quite brisk for a compilation of this sort. Beyond there, however, things get rather experimental, with clicks and glitches meandering around cold soundscapes; still, lurking underneath it all is some warmth, as though buried and patiently waiting for the season to change. And closer Nautilus from James Murray is definitely the perfect track to bring in some warmth, dipping into ambient dub’s bubbly waters with Far East influences.

As great as the music on Oxycanta is, though, it’s Mahiane’s arrangement of the tracks that gives this compilation that extra bit of shine. While not exactly a DJ mix, there are still nice blends between the each piece of music, and is sequenced in such a way that it rather plays like one long song. In the burgeoning age of digital downloads, it’s growing increasingly rare to find compilations of this sort, much less expertly arranged to form a cohesive flow. It’s reassuring to know this isn’t a completely lost art.

Eh? Oh, I guess you’ve noticed that, technically, Winter Blooms isn’t exactly current. Granted, as of this writing, it was released a year ago, but that’s beside the point. Like the season it draws influence from, there is a timeless quality to Oxycanta; while it may make better sense to listen to during the frigid months of the year, it works for any setting. Heart-healing properties indeed.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2008. © All rights reserved.