Hibernation 'Ambient Re:Works 01' Review

Artist: Hibernation

Title: Ambient Re:Works 01

Released: 28^th June

Following on from the recent ambient re-works of the Kaya Project, Seb Taylor applies this method to another of his projects Hibernation. When he mentioned on social media he was toying with the idea, I immediately thought having always liked the Jazzy elements utilised in some of the original tracks, that this would work perfectly.

As always Seb plays a number of different instruments from guitars, bass and piano to the zheng (a Chinese plucked string instrument) which he utilises in ‘Wabi Sabi’ over rippling water and laid back atmospheric synth voices and fx. Guest musicians are also featured such as Natasha Chamberlain (Kaya Project) with vocals and flute, Susi Evans adds clarinet to ‘Empty Cities’ (where you could easily draw comparison to Floex) and Vicki Flint plays mute trumpet to the strings and harmonic vocals of ‘Aquarius 138’.

For me the tracks on this album yet again bridges the world of traditional music with the electronic, whilst achieving an atmosphere with these re-mixes that you want to find in an ambient album. In other words perfectly suitable for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Desert Dwellers 'The Great Mystery Remixes Part One' Review

Artist: 

The Desert Dwellers

Title: 

The Great Mystery

Remixes Pt. 1

Label: 

Desert Trax

Released:

21^st September

Earlier this year the Desert Dwellers released 'The Great Mystery' which they consider to be their most diverse to date. To celebrate they embarked on a re-mix project of established and up-and-coming artists from across the globe with the intention of being just as diverse. The second part will be released in late October with contributions from Emancipator, Whitebear, Sixis, Mystral, Supersillyus, Halfred, Master Minded and many others.

Moving back to the release in question they begin with Liquid Stranger a producer whose releases are just as diverse, but whether he's focusing on dub-step, reggae or chill you can be sure there's plenty of low frequency bass. His take on 'Wings of Waves' is light and summery with flutes and chimes and subtle yet effective use of speaker shattering bass. Following on from the enticing opener is Gaudi's take on 'Our Dream World' where he's clearly put his knowledge of vintage synthesizers and gadgets to get this ethnic dub chugging along nicely. If you're not suitably impressed by the re-mix talent employed so far they're not slipping with Kaminanda joining the throng and taking on 'View of Laniakea' which he's kept down-tempo and melodic utilising the chorus and strings at times some of the fx tease and fool you it's going to go mental and then he pulls back at the last second.

At this point I'm guessing the album moves to the up-and-coming (well at least for me as it's an artist I'm unaware of) with the Tribone Re-Stomp of the title track. It's an interesting style slightly harsher than it's predecessors with an electro feel to the bass line, plenty of psychedelic twists before the atmospheric breakdown where the emphasis is placed on manipulating the Arabic vocals and strings while the final section pulls it altogether. I'm not overly familiar with Twin Shape either and their Lost Tribe re-work of 'The Sacrament' fuses spacey synths and harmonic voices with psy-bass and synthetic dialogue. Following on Acid Crunk pioneer An-Ten-Nae offers an alternative take of 'View of Lanaikea' where he masterfully manipulates the vocals and strings over intermittent choppy breaks.

Once again we move into the up-and-coming territory with AtYya's take on 'Birds Over Sand Dunes' slower and more minimal than the original echoing the vocal samples with a series of looped sequences and gated vocals sections which are pleasant in places but it didn't grip me overall. Land Switcher move back to the realms of psy-bass with their take on 'I Dropped It' with plenty of rapid loop sequences and drum rolls over the dubby main body they still manage to keep an overall down-tempo feel to the piece. While Drumspyder keeps us firmly placed in the east with his trademark doumbek infused alternative to 'Our Dream World' although much lighter than Gaudi's in places it still chugs along nicely in the appropriate sections.

Govinda deliver what I would describe as a minimal psy-bass take on 'Crossing Beyond' and once again maintain the eastern feel of the piece throughout. Finally, we're back were we started with the Hibernation alternative to 'Wings of Waves' a light and harmonious rug thrown over a slow and bass-heavy floor.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links https://desertdwellersmusic.bandcamp.com/

Another Fine Day 'A Good Place To Be Re-Mixes' Review

Artist: Another Fine Day

Title: A Good Place To Be

Re-Mixes

Label: Interchill

Released: 10^th May

Hot on the heels of his recent album release and for me the tracks selected for the re-mix treatment are slightly puzzling as my personal favourite 'Nature Boy' isn't included. Never-the-less it's a fine album on the whole and a great bunch of talent selected for these versions.



The E.P. commences with two takes of 'Spanish Blues' and first up is Seb Taylor under his ambient-glitch pseudonym Hibernation (where he often leans towards fusing smoky jazz bar vibes with futuresque electronica). Seb utilises all the aspects of the original sending it off in little sequenced loops with added sparkle before the twitchy bass line drops. All in all he's done a sterling job complimenting and adding to the laid back melodic smoky jazz bar flavour of the original perfectly balanced with more ass wiggling sections. This is followed by Greg Hunter (Dubsahara) who in contrast delivers a wonderfully melodic dub which is equally as soothing as the original but leagues apart in his approach. So far the release provides two strong re-mixes suited for different occasions.



The second part of the E.P. is a trio of re-mixes based on 'And Dream of Seals'. In the first instance Tom re-visits the piece with his 'Chaos Theory Mix' where he employs an elongated field recording intro and then toys with the sounds more as well as adding a plodding beat and touches of tribal percussion. Next up is Alucidnation who adds a suitable spoken word diatribe and subtle fx, but manages to maintain the dream like quality of the original. Last but not least is Ishq's take (where if you're familiar with his music it's not as surprising as it may seem) he's actually applied the brakes to what's an already down-tempo affair. Matt focuses on the melodic piano of the piece adding choral voices and flutes, he dives deep into ambience to see the e.p. out in a truly relaxing and meditative fashion.



Reviewed by Woodzee




Links



Links

http://anotherfineday.co.uk/

Interchill's 'Waypoint' Compilation Review

Artist: Various

Title: Waypoint

Label: Interchill

Released: 19^th November

On previous compilations whichever stance Interchill's head honcho Andrew Ross Collins took on a compilation, whether it's reggae and dub, chilled electronica or global bass you could be rest assured that Andrew's selection of hand picked artists which may or may not be familiar to you, would be a blend of the tried and tested with some new discoveries and the result would usually come up trumps.

There's a slightly different approach to this compilation all the artists have previously appeared on Interchill's releases (an Interchill's underground All-Stars if you like) and focuses on creating a sonic journey of contrast within the spectrum of chill out music rather than the similarities.

The journey begins with the Hibernation re-mix of 'Indifference' by New Zealand's psychedelic dance producer Grouch. Which entices you in with an atmosphere of lush synthetic eastern infused electronica transcending into the realms of psychedelic bass music and back. This is followed by Drift's 'Invisible Spirit' which is a contrast within it's self drifting (excuse the pun) between laid back, sun soaked acoustics of a Mediterranean vibe and darker electronic bass notes.

Although from his name Guru Shishya may appear like he's going to offer a Turkish number with 'Rich In Loss' appearances truly are deceiving as the piece is more orchestral chill with a gentle choir and a crescendo of drums and synths towards the end. Next up is Gaudi who manipulation of vintage hardware and modern techniques have firmly placed him as a latter day master of dub. There's no guest mc or theramin scratches in this piece it's a blend of traditional reggae dub with some ambient breakdown's and a touch of Indian percussion in the form of tablas.

The journey turns another corner with Seb Taylor re-mixing one of his previous releases under his Kaya Project moniker 'Dust Devil' under his glitchy ambient moniker Hibernation and spinning rather than turning expectations on their face with a stroke of genius and more than a touch of jazz. Variant Field a collaboration of Amani Friend of Desert Dwellers fame and Alex DeYoung offer a crisp and crunchy piece of chill with a spring in it's step and some nice melodic breakdowns as the title 'Dulcet Dalliance' suggests.

When I first heard the throwback dub of Another Fine Day's 'Walk Tall' as a teaser for this compilation I commented it was so laid back it was almost horizontal and this piece of jazzy piano lounge truly epitomises lazy Sundays. While Austero layer a blanket of Mediterranean beach chill over a surface of IDM beats and Latin vocal samples with 'Fuerza Brutal'.

The album then flows through a trio of contrasting Swedish artists initiated by ambient composer Fredrik Ohr who projects the compilation into the upper atmosphere with his piece 'In Orbit' combining melodic synths, crunchy bass and elongated panned passages. While my favourite dub-step artist Liquid Stranger (although now based in the United States a Swede by birth) continues in the slow deep and bass heavy vein of previous Interchill releases with 'Flipside'. This trio concludes with Sinepearl whose sound is inspired by nature and the forest parties of Sweden and takes a deep melodic trip with 'Cosmic Centre' resulting in a tribal like Tangerine Dream sound.

The journey winds down with a couple of UK based artists Spiral Systems 'Mondays' is a laid back melodic number injected with a sprinkling of Brazilian flavours and acoustic guitar. While Alucidnation gently drops you at your destination with a dreamy melodic piece of chill leaving you content with the memories of your excursion through 'Waypoint' and grateful for Andrew's wonderful selections.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links https://interchill.bandcamp.com/album/waypoint

Gus Till 'Ghosts of the Earth E.P.' Review

Artist: Gus Till

Title: Ghosts of the Earth E.P.

Label: Interchill

Released: 27^th of October

The first single from Gus's recent album release features re-mixes by System 7 and their chill-out alter-ego Mirror System (no great surprise there considering Steve's guitar work on the album), Zen Lemonade (again no surprise as Zen Lemonade consist of Gus and his wife 'Supercozi') although Seb Taylor could of re-mixed any of the tracks under a variety of his projects it under his down-tempo Hiberanation monkier on this release.

First up is the System 7 re-mix of 'Angelfright' a bouncy techno number which has the System 7 stamp all over it with subtle synths and guitar that won't disappoint fans. Steve and Miquette then take a fresh approach on the same track as Mirror System diving in with lush elongated sequences before it drops an orchestral stab used by Planet Patrol on 'Planet Rock' and gets into some damn squelchy gating, add to this the utilisation of the tribalish vocals hook this really works for me … Love it!

Zen Lemonade take a fresh look at 'Recovery' the track begins somewhat like Kraftwerk's 'Kling-Klang' bubblin' away in a dub laboratory with the lush synths and eastern vocals nestled snuggly inbetween to create an atmosphere where the gritty and dirty works in tandam with harmonious beauty. The last track of the E.P. is Hiberation's take on the first track of the album 'We Advance Masked', where the guitar chords slowly entice you into a glitchy down-tempo affair with quite frankly a lot going on. Not to mention some wonderfully intricate drum patterns.

All in all this is a suitable accompaniment to the album which I imagine would appeal to fans of the re-mixers as much as the fans of Gus. Even if every track isn't to your taste you have to admire the skill and production behind this release.

For an interesting insight into the ideas and musicians behind the album here's a video with the man himself

Reviewed by Woodzee

Banco De Gaia “All Sleeping” E.P. Review

Artist : Banco De Gaia

Title: All Sleeping

Label: Disco Gecko Recordings

Release Date: 21^st September 2013

The original begins in a manner which reminds me of the field recording sound fx’s employed in Pink Floyds “Animals” and is soon joined by cinematic sounding synths and flutes reminding me why Toby Marks initially made such an impact when I first came across him on the Ambient Dub compliation’s of the early 90’s. I’d draw further comparison to Pink Floyd when the accompanying guitar enters the fold soon followed by a pleasant loop forming a cohesive ambient whole that as the title suggests sets a peaceful relaxing mood.

First up on the Re-Mix duties are California’s Desert Dwellers who immediately change the mood with a deep dubby bassline, glitchy wobbles and an Eastern undertone. The re-mix doesn’t really stand out as the same track. However, I have to say I like it. This is followed by Seb Taylor’s ambient project Hibernation which for me high-lights the cinematic sounds yet at the same time employs more bass with a tribal feel to the percussion in places. The final track is re-mixed by Mistrust which is a name I’ve only recently noticed has started to surface. This take is more dubby with sporadic beats where the original sounds at times seems to take a back seat only brought to the forefront in convenient places.

Overall, I’d say this is a well produced cinematic sounding piece of Eastern edged ambience that one has come to expect from the Banco De Gaia brand packaged with re-mixes where the artists have taken their time to think, rather than plugging for the obvious.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Interchill - Depth Charge Compilation Review

Artist: Various

Title: Depth Charge

Label: Interchill Records

Release Date: 23^rd April 2013

Interchill’s latest release gives full respect to the BC Canadian festival sound that has a noticeable love for the bass.  From someone who is totally done with the diluted excuse that passes as Dub-Step these days, this has come as a welcome shot in the ear and a renewed faith in the original intelligent vibe of the sound.

Although, saying that this isn't just Dub-Step compilation. It encompasses the wide range of sounds that can be found in Bass music these days running the gauntlet of Down-Tempo, Future Roots, Dub-Tech and even 2-Step. Interchill has done a great job with the way it is compiled, working all the tunes into a cohesive whole.

It opens with the deep, sparse echoing 'don't stop' from new addition Daega Sound and what a way to kick proceedings off. Other new artists include Submotion Orchestra, Ruckspin, Kryptic Minds, Bakir, Occult and a few more which add a really fresh forward sounding vibe. The latter’s 'Loose Change' is a fine slice of hypnotic, melodic electronica. I have to say personally that the closing track 'Brief Passing' by Kryptic Minds is an absolute gem. So much atmosphere and puts me in mind of the label (7EVEN)

This is a real standout compilation for anyone who likes their Bass and Dubs. Whether you like bright n breezy future roots or dark cavernous dubs or something more experimental you will find it's in here. To sum it up 'Depth Charge' should be a welcome addition to your collection and coming in at fourteen tracks is well worth your hard earned.

Review by CKA John

http://interchill.bandcamp.com/album/depth-charge