Various Artists 'Vajra Mind: Meditative Soundscapes' Review

Artist: Various

Title: Vajra Mind:

Meditative Soundscapes

Label: Desert Trax

Released: 3^rd June

Compiled and mixed by Amani (one half of the Desert Dwellers) this release exhibits the ambient side of the Desert Dwellers, Liquid Bloom, Variant Field, Rara Avis, Bluetech and Shamans Dream. Collated from the Desert Trax catalog from 2001 to 2015 and featuring some exclusive tracks and remixes aimed specifically at relaxation and artistic creativity over a 2 hour duration.

As soon as you press play you will discover that Amani dives deep fusing atmospheric synths, field recordings, flutes and Arabic instruments with some choice selections from the Desert Dwellers mystical arsenal spanning the first half an hour. At this point the artist selection is interuptted with a collaboration by Bluetech and Shaman's Dream. However, unless your concentrating on the tracklist you would never notice as the piece maintains a perfect harmony and doesn't interupt the flow.

The rest of the album flows in a similar vein with subtle changes of atmospherics, tanpuras and sound fx where the occasional loop, didgeridoo or snake charmers flute awakens you from a dream like slumber to set you adrift again. It's very easy to lose track of where you are on this journey, even if you're already familiar with a number of the tracks and there's an ever present danger of falling asleep. Personally, I like this direction it's more of a return to the original Desert Dwellers vibe and there's definitely a time and place for this in my life. Amani without a doubt achieves the calm to help unwind after a stressful day.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links

http://desertdwellers.org/

https://soundcloud.com/desertdwellers/vajra-mind-meditative-soundscapes-compiled-by-amani

Liquid Bloom 'Heart of the Shamans: Ceremonial Medicine Songs' Review

Artist: 

Liquid Bloom

Title: 

Heart of the Shamans: 

Ceremonial Medicine Songs

Label: White Swan Records

Released: 27^th Jan 2015

Liquid bloom is a side project of Amani Friend (of the Desert Dwellers) with a focus on trance music, trance music that is in the traditional sense rather than the dance genre of the modern day. Drawing inspiration from indigenous ceremonial dances of New Mexico’s deserts and pueblos, and sacred traditional ayahuasca invocations from Amazonian rainforest cultures.

The album’s liner notes offer guidance for participatory, immersive listening. A succession of mudras – traditional hand gestures from India believed to provide physical points of reference and increase energy flow throughout the body – are also suggested to enhance the participant’s experience, each specific to one of the album’s six major compositions.

The release begins in a dark and moody manner with 'Ceremony of the Heart' balanced with flutes, ethereal vocals, chants and field recordings of nature and the piece gradually becomes more soothing the further you progress. In contrast 'Cosmic Soul Lotus' focuses more on the vocal aspect which I can only compare to a wonderful mish-mash of Jose Padilla and Azam Ali.

Once again 'Healing Fire Breath' contains ethereal and alluring vocals but comes across more as a song than a ceremonial chant layered over slow tribal rhythms, didge and flutes. The spoken words on 'Temple of the Goddess' are once again reminiscent to Jose Padilla's 'Navigator' album layered over ethereal vocals, chimes and field recordings of nature.

The spoken word of 'Ecstatic Grounding' switches to male vocal as an introduction to the feminine main body of the piece while the back ground music combines the sounds of India and Arabic percussion. While 'Sacred Blessing' is more soothing, the percussion is dropped for chimes and field recordings of nature and the feminine and masculine vocals overlap. While the 'Relaxation Tape' like spoken words are vaguely reminiscent.

As an added bonus there's also two tracks re-mixed by Medicina 'Jaguar Dreaming' and 'Roots of the Earth' which although are more dance orientated they're far from hectic more akin to Lumin's 'Ketri' album.

On my first listen I guess I wasn't in the right mood but re-visting a few weeks later the experience was completely different. Having previously heard Ixchel Prrisma vocals for a Desert Dwellers e.p. only one of the tracks grabbed me. But alongside Sarah West, Robert Mirabel and Rara Avis these collective vocals come to the forefront and really shine on this release.

Review by Woodzee.

Links

http://www.whiteswanrecords.com/index.php/artists/liquid-bloom

http://desertdwellers.org/liquidbloom/