N:L:E - Uncharted Lands

Liquid Frog Records: 2022

No sooner do I finish one box-set than I start another. Kinda'. Okay, buying the bulk of Liquid Frog Records' Bandcamp catalogue doesn't technically count as purchasing a box-set. Hell, as this was an entirely digital transaction, I have no actual physical copies of any of these items. How can I call this a box-set if there's no literal box? I know! I'll dump all the files into one large .zip! That's like a digital box. Or maybe settle for a folder titled “Natural Life Essence & Co.”, print off a screen-cap of it, then hang it somewhere near my CD shelves. It'd be just like saying you hung out with celebrities, by surrounding yourself with cardboard cut-outs of them. Or Calvin and Hobbes hanging out on top of a ladder when they're told they can't climb trees.

It feels a tad odd starting a near-complete dive into Juan Giacovino's project in this manner. When confronted with so many sound samples of equal value and quality, however, I had a Hell of a time deciding what select few I wanted to indulge in. So I bought them all. And hey, if I didn't think there was enough diversity among these eighty-something releases to warrant individual review of them, I wouldn't have done the deed. At least, I hope there is... *eyes ten volumes of Caravan Of Healing Sounds with trepidation*

And thusly, by arbitrary alphabetical decree, I'm kicking this off with one of Juan's more recent offerings, Uncharted Lands. With cover art of frozen wastes in greytone, this looks to be another exploration of chilly soundscapes from N:L:E, a frequent theme within his archives. And space music, if I'm honest. And micro-fauna, come to think of it. Not to mention macro-biomes. But arctic regions, that, definitely.

The titular opener greets us with soft, velvety pads, eventually giving way to a groovy little downbeat, and oh my God! How wonderful it is to hear rhythm again after so many hours of ambient music! Erm, anyhow, Uncharted Lands adds in fuzzy, dubby effects and a sliding synth lead, almost growing epic in an unassuming way. The Desolate Land Mix at the other end of this EP stretches things out more by remaining mostly beatless, save ambient techno patter towards the end.

Between those two tracks is a three-part excursion called Expedition Caravan (Juan loves his caravans). Part 1 is the sort of moody, slowbeat dub techno that Ultimae Records has made their domain as of late, though at least not quite so vaporous. Part 2 strips things down more, letting layers of voice pads wash the sparse rhythms like waves against a shore, while Part 3 opts for more focus on groove, melodic harmony staying in the background before finally strutting its stuff down the stretch. At over fourteen minutes though, it does drag a little before getting to the goods.

Still, a solid first second impression into the N:L:E oeuvre. Only a couple dozens more to go.

Sykonee's 'Sportsing' Surveys: KILLING JOKE

I've long admired Youth's work with The Orb, and have even checked out one or two of his other projects, but never the one where he got his start: Killing Joke. I know very little about this band, beyond being one of those Very Influential ones of the '80s, often name-dropped by many big-league players of alternative rock. I felt like I should check them out at some point but wasn't sure if they'd even be my jam, way outside whatever expectations I had for supposed post-punk pioneers. Then again, isn't the whole point of doing these discography dives while demolishing my deltoids to discover music I'd never give a chance otherwise? Most definitely it is, and what better way of truly getting outside my comfort zones than engaging a band while my heart rate and adrenaline are operating at peak proficiency. I mean, it works for dance music, so why not some noisy proto-industrial rock too? So let's get into the epic, oh-my-God how is this band still existing? discography of Killing Joke!





























Another survey that took much longer than I was anticipating. It was an interesting one, and I've come away from it with an appreciation for this band's accomplishments. Aside from a select few songs though (plus that psy dub remix album), there isn't much here I'm eagre to rush out and buy proper-like. Maybe if I find an album or two on the cheap, sure, but for the most part, their style is just a tad too caustic for my regular listening habits. There's only so much aggro rock I make room for these days. At least I feel more sorted for whenever I take a deeper dive into Youth's larger body of work.

Anyhow, I'm sure folks reading this on an electronic music blog prefer it when I stick to electronic music acts, so my next survey will be on one of its most successful artists: Norman Cook. ALL projects!

Various - tʌntrə x: Amrita

Neotantra: 2021

Oh my God! You know all those Bandcamp bulk buys I've done? Like, whole artist discographies, and such as? That's essentially buying a box-set! I've been covering multiple box-sets all this time without realizing it. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I've wrapped up this tʌntrə box-set, I'll be kicking off another. No, not tʌntrə xx or tʌntrə xxx. Heck, the latter is already sold-out, and currently just one left of the former. Hold a sec'... *Jeopardy music plays* I mean, both are already sold out. I'm talking about that Natural Life Essence catalogue grab, containing some... well, a lot of releases. Not to mention that Suntrip Records haul as well. Hey, all those CDs came in a box, so it can count as a box(ed) set!

Anyhow, we've come to the end of this one, and boy, did it fly by fast. Can't believe we're already on CD5, but then it's not like the music within this collection insists upon itself. Much of it can float on by with barely any attention paid to it, which doesn't make it bad or anything. It's ambient music in its purest form, and if you can get more out of it than serving as the backing soundtrack to whatever activities you're engaged in, that's all the bonus. I've certainly come away from this with a couple more artists due for further exploration, but many others kind of just passed me on by. Sort of the issue I had with trying to dig into any of those Tʌntrə digital downloads in the first place, as I recall. Ah well, maybe the 'volume two' set will help sort things out further for yours truly, whenever I get around to that one.

The final set of tʌntrə x is subtitled Amrita. Hey, I know that word! It's the title of that Loop Guru album that changed my life! Okay, that's exaggerating some – more like affirmed my early 'big city bachelorhood' sense of self. Given that amrita is the Sanskrit word for immortality, it makes sense that I'd associate feelings of righteous invincibility listening to such music. Or something.

Honestly though, this Amrita set feels a bit aimless as it plays out. Oh, the music remains quite calm and soothing, as most of the music has throughout. I'm just not hearing the connective tissue between each track. We go from from pleasant ambient drone, to acoustic fuzz, to moody minimalism, to atonal abstraction, and so forth. It rather sounds as though Lee had some leftover pieces he felt needed inclusion, but didn't know where else to place them, so lumped them together here.

That includes one of those massive thirty-minute long tracks scattered about the Tʌntrə series to close us out, Leaf Calligraphy's Sonic Flames. To the sound of densely layered piano tone and a crackling fire, it's about as ambient as the genre can get. Wrap yourself in a snuggly blanket with some hot chocolate, as the lights fade out.

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!

Various - Trust In Trance 2

Outmosphere Records: 1994

I can't believe this happened again. Once, sure, a weird fluke of chance, but twice now? Not that I'm complaining, per se, as this is by far a more interesting item to review than what I initially set out to get. It's just bizarre that, once again, an order for an In Trance We Trust CD has yielded me something completely different. Right, not as egregious a mispick as ending up with Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise 5 - this at least has the words 'trust' and 'trance' in the title. But yes, getting Astral Projection's debut album is a far better grab than another In Trance We Trust mix – guess that collection will have to wait a little longer for completion.

Okay, this technically isn't an Astral Projection album, but it may as well be. Though the famed Israeli group made their proper debut with The Astral Files, they'd spent a few years prior honing their craft under a number of aliases, including Mantra, Aban Don and SFX. Hitching up with the label Phonokol, Misters Avi Nissim, Lior Perlmutter, and Yan-Iv Haviv were given the green light in compiling the first Trust In Trance collection, launching the sub-label Outmosphere Records. That one had a couple other contributors, but by the time they put together the quick follow-up, it was strictly an Astral Projection joint, even if they were operating under various guises. Hey, if The Black Dog could get away with it on Bytes, why not good ol' A.P.?

What makes all this a bit confusing is Astral Projection did release an album called Trust In Trance ...two years after Trust In Trance 2 came out. Confounding things further is them renaming Outmosphere Records into Trust In Trance Records. To say nothing of an Indian re-issue on Vale Music simply calling it Trust In Trance, which was later re-issued as Karma Trance 2 (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Good God and Vishnu almighty, does this nine-tracker of proto goa trance ever have a weird history.

Oh yeah, the music! Mahadeva is on here, often considered among the earliest tracks shaping the genre's defining characteristics many future artists would emulate. Sure, Eat Static, Total Eclipse, and Juno Reactor were doing their own things by this point, but Astral Projection really put a stamp on tweaking acid and vintage synths in such a fashion you just couldn't help but conjure flailing about on the beaches of Goa. Still, there's no denying Trust In Trance 2 is some early-ass trance music, a hefty portion not quite yet transitioned from mainland Europe's idea of what the genre should entail. Some are blistering fast, while others, particularly the SFX cuts, have little 'goa' influences in them at all. I can see that being a turn-off for those weaned on the psy scene's latter years of radical, freeform, trip-your-face-off music. For those preferring their psy on the simpler side though, Trust In Trance 2 does hold up pretty good three decades on.

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?

Saphileaum - The Traveler

Silent Season: 2019

I've had Saphileaum's The Traveler for some time, bought among a bundle that included Beat Pharmacy's Safety In Dub, Mohlao's Landforms, and Wanderwelle's Lost In A Sea Of Trees. Items I reviewed two years ago now. Why, then, did I skip this one? Some weird quirk of my convoluted queuing system? Nay, 'tis a sillier reason: I simply forgot I had it.

As The Traveler is a digital-only release, I assume it got lost among all the other 'travel' albums in my folders (Travel The Galaxy, Traveler '03, Traveller, Travelling Without Moving... bonus points if you can I.D. what artists those are tied to!). Only now, during this run through the 'T's, did I realize I missed Saphileaum's EP. Oopsie on me, but that sometimes happens when I don't have a physical copy to confirm I actually bought something. And y'all wonder why I held off on the buying digital for so long.

Anyhow, Saphileaum. There's a lot of history behind this project of Andro Gogibedashvili, at least according to his Discoggian bio. More than I'm willing to divulge here, if I'm honest. Perhaps his biggest claim to fame (aside from being the grandson of one of Georgia's most popular singers, Temur Tsiklauri), is having a snippet of one of his tracks sent out into space, directed at a Neptune-like planet orbiting a red dwarf called K2-18. Huh, seems a bit random. Why not an Earth-like exoplanet, like Gliese 667Cc, or Trappist-1E, or Kepler-69C (nice). Guess the waiting list to transmit to those locations is a tad longer.

Anyhow, after spending some time floating about net-labels like Norite, Controlled Violence, and Oslated, Andro landed on Silent Season with a debut of The Traveler. And what an interesting debut it is, treading into sonic territory I've yet to hear the label venture into. Sure, opener Golden Tunic seems to follow upon similar, spacious dubby aesthetics so often heard throughout Silent Season's history, but there's something oh-so relaxing, calming, and soothing about these gentle synth pads and soft tribal rhythms. It's ambient dub, but for the New Age sect. Not that we haven't heard mystical-leaning music out of this print before, but almost always with a dub techno approach. Saphileaum shows almost no techno-fetishism in his songcraft, dub merely used to enhance the spacious vistas he creates. And boy howdy, does he create some deep spaces indeed.

That said, the tracks making up The Traveler do run a tad samey throughout. Establish a steady rhythm with a meditative melody and twilight field recordings, then subtly loop them for around six minutes each, throwing in a few rolling drum fills, layers of harmonic drone, and echo effects for flavour. It's all finely crafted, no doubt, but once you catch onto the Saphileaum stylee, you won't hear much deviation from it. Fortunately, The Traveler doesn't grow long in tooth either, wrapping up in a tidy seven tracks. A perfect length for a nice stroll through ancient forest paths.