Artist: Subaqueous
Title: Threshold of Night
Label: Critical Beats
Release: February 2013
‘The Life of Pi’ by Yann Martel for those of you, who
don’t know, tells the story of 16 year old Pi being stranded on a boat with a
450 pound Bengal Tiger. Without giving away the ending (the Tiger did it, in
the library with a blunt instrument to the head)!!!
I found it to be a story about Faith...a belief in
the more beautiful story, although it presents us with the problem of two
differing versions of ‘the truth’. Stick with this it will make sense in the
end!
The primary goal of Critical Beats was to raise
awareness and money for non-profits working in Amazon conservation and sustainable education. Initially
funds were raised through the release of a compilation album constructed
through the following steps …
Step 1:
Indigenous
songs, instruments, nature sounds, stories, and spoken word are gathered from
tribal communities, sustainability schools, and artists in the Amazon and Sacred Valley
Step 2:
The
recordings are shared with music producers around the world
Step 3:
New songs are
created which incorporate the collaborative efforts of both cultures
Step 4:
The new songs
are compiled into a Critical Beats album which is used to raise awareness and
funds for Amazon conservation
Step 5:
Events are
held featuring the original music created for the Critical Beats project
Step 6:
Through
dancing and celebrating, listeners and attendees are contributing to a cause
while gaining increased awareness of the state of the Amazon, its communities,
and possible ways to take action
Step 7:
All proceeds
go to projects and non-profits in the Amazon working for conservation,
sustainable education, and protection of indigenous rights.
This concept has continued resulting in further
releases from a variety of artists most notably the album “Rainforest
Reverberation” by Bluetech (a.k.a. Evan Marc who has been actively involved
with the project).
Last month Critical Beats transferred $5000+ in
previous album sales to support organizations like Metareilá of the Suruà People
in Brazil. This group is a Rainforest Action Network Protect-An-Acre
participant who is using Google mapping and carbon rights to help protect their
land.
Moving back to the music “Threshold of the Night” the
latest release from Critical Beats depending upon your viewpoint this is
either-
A) The first view is that
this is an EP with four tracks of solid, but on the whole unspectacular music and
two tracks, 1 and 5 standing out above the rest.
Track 1 ‘Shimmers in the
dark’ featuring Jamil opens with a Sufi quote that ‘everything is light, even
in the dark there is dark light’. Which surely could be considered a parable
for our times? It then proceeds to develop into a sinuous Dub bass driven track
with the sensual spoken words of Jamil.
Track 5 ‘Visions embrace’
featuring Masaru Hig sounds like a delightful collision between Mediterranean
sounding guitars and what sounds like a Japanese instrument. This is a truly
delightful track that floats by like the promise of spring on the breeze.
B) The second view is this
is an EP full of six tracks ideal for horizontal listening with tracks 1 and 5
sounding out above the rest.
Track 1 ‘Shimmers in the
dark’ featuring Jamil opens with a Sufi quote that ‘everything is light, even
in the dark there is dark light’. Which surely could be considered a parable
for our times? It then proceeds to develop into a sinuous Dub bass driven track
with the sensual spoken words of Jamil.
Track 5 ‘Visions embrace’ featuring
Masaru Hig sounds like a delightful collision between Mediterranean sounding
guitars and what sounds like a Japanese instrument. This is a truly delightful
track that floats by like the promise of spring on the breeze.
So...using Life of Pi as
the analogy (at last...I hear you cry) you can choose which version to agree
with...which is the more agreeable story? Which version will enrich your life?
Don’t just listen to me ,
dear readers, go out and make your own minds up and remember ...it’s all for an
exceptionally worthy cause.
Reviewed by Matthew Foord
Links http://www.criticalbeats.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment