Kwali Kumara & Pete Ardron 'Euphoric - Kundalini Yoga Mantras' Review

Artist:

Kwali Kumara &

Pete Ardron

Title:

Euphoric -

Kundalini Yoga Mantras

Label:

Pink Hampster

Released:

21^st August 2020

The third collaboration between Snake Charmer, Fire Artist and Kundalini Yoga instructor Kwali Kamara and Orchid-Star’s head honcho Pete Ardon. Where each of the six tracks are built around a 12’ish minute mantra gliding between chilled and dance passages incorporating world music, psychedelic and orchestral flavours.

The album begins in a dramatic fashion with ‘Sa Ta Na Ma Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Say So Hung – Possibility’ which soon eases into a wonderfully Celtic sounding piece of chill out. I suppose for the vocal aspect you probably need to be in the right mood to flow with the mantra. However, like their previously collaborations they aim to cover two markets and produce music that appeals to yoga students and those who just like the music. The following pieces are quite laid back and harmonic picking up the pace somewhat by the fifth track ‘Wah Yantee Kah Yantee – Intution’ and finishing as they started with a Celtic vibe on ‘Wahe Guru Wahe Jio – Euphoria’.

As with their previous collaborations I think this album would appeal to practitioners and students of yoga and meditation. As well as fans of the unique blend of music that Pete has constructed over the years with his own productions and Orchid-Star.

Review by Woodzee.

The album is available to pre-order at £8 until the 20^th of August when the price will rise to £10.

Links

http://pinkhampster.com/index.php

https://peteardron.bandcamp.com/

http://www.kwalikundalini.com/

Terra Nine 'Eternity Remixes' Review

Artist:

Title:

Label:

Released:

Forthcoming on Sofa Beats the electric voila driven electronic compositions of Terra Nine are given a makeover by some of the biggest producers from the world of psy-chill, dub and downtempo electronica.

We get underway with Kuba’s take on ‘Dub Terratory’. Now this particular track is featured a number of times and I’ve yet to hear the others to compare. But this is great! The soothing bamboo flutes drift off the electronic dub perfectly, creating a vibe that is uplifting to my mood. This is followed by the Kaya Project and although they also utilise the bamboo flute, take a somewhat different (but equally amazing) approach to the same piece. Utilising an acoustic intro that leads into a more squelchy and percussive number. By this point we move along to Pete Ardon the brainchild behind Orchid-Star and his re-working of ‘Incandescent’, which once again drifts lovingly between melodic electronics and eastern elements that are pleasing enough to the ear.

Once again we return to the ‘Dub Terratory’ track this time with Gabriel le Mars dub mix. As you may have anticipated there’s more drive to this version, than the previous two. The spanking bassline and melodic loops setting me in mind somewhat of System 7, another job well done. Despite his recent return to the downtempo arena, Tripswitch on this occasion applies the melodic prog sound he has also become associated with, on ‘New Vibration’. Whilst Green Beats takes a melodic and electronic approach as opposed to the eastern sounds on ‘Dub Terratory’. Providing a listenable alternative to the previous re-mixes that slots in nicely to this section of the album.

Next up his Gaudi who adds his production wizardry to ‘Dub Terratory’ applying a more traditional reggae drum pattern to the bass and drums, which balances nicely against the soothing elements of the piece. We then move onto Noosfaere’s re-working of ‘Ocean’ where they drag the piece into darker territories ranging from slow and heavy to more aggressive drum patterns. Then to see us out is Terra Nine’s No Words Re-mix of the title track (which was my personal favourite from the original album). There’s an almost orchestral feel to the music, with some beautiful piano keys juxtaposed against a two-step beat which creates a loving marriage to the overall effect.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links

https://beatspace-sofabeats.bandcamp.com/album/eternity-remixes

https://soundcloud.com/sofa-beats-1/sets/terra-nine-eternity-remixes

Pete Ardron 'Unexpected Pleasures' Review

Artist: 

Pete Ardron

Title: 

Unexpected Pleasures

Label:

Pink Hampster

Release Date:

4^th November

Pete Ardron the brain-child behind the band Orchid-Star has pooled together a collection of previously unreleased tracks featuring collaborations with artists and friends (which in many cases have shared his home) for this album. Additionally, there is a launch party at London’s Café Cairo this coming Friday with DJ support from Liquid Lounge & Sean Spindrift. So if you’re in the area and enjoy a melting pot of global, psychedelic and ambient sounds you may as well head over as it’s free entry too.

Those of you familiar with Orchid-Star will already be acquainted with Samantha Ray, an Australian whose operatic background works wonderfully when layered over dubbed acoustics on the opening piece ‘Beauty’. The following track ‘Vignette’ is an uplifting and melodic number featuring alluring Indian vocals (which I suspect are also provided by Samantha) and bamboo flute and appealed to me instantly. The album changes direction somewhat with ‘Bridges’ an ambient drum and bass hybrid featuring the spaced out electro-jazz of Onyx Ashanti (a American who is experimenting with future music technology who once called himself a musical cyborg) and the vocals of Myo (another long term member of Orchid-Star and former member of 80’s act True Life Confessions).

Next in line is the title track a lovely ambient piece awash with birdsong, flutes and the voice of Helen Francis (the first inclusion of someone whose not a professional artist) that would fit in well with any of the big ambient compilations such as Café Del Mar or Buddha Bar. Psibindi adds the vocals to ‘Mera Dil’ an exotic dub where at times the vocal sounds like a Sufi style and at others more like an Indian Dhrupad. The next track ‘Dhow’ begins with a sequence not a million miles away from Pink Floyd’s ‘On The Run’ amongst the waves it then slows down and the looped strings, flutes, synth fx and Indian vocals take over.

The album continues with ‘Hasya’ a collaboration with singer/songwriter Teresa Gabriel (who has also collaborated with Sergio Walgood and warmed up for Beth Gibbons of Portishead fame) and flautist Harmony Yemanya. The piece itself is another ambient track focusing on the flute and dubbed out vocals with a bit of reggae underbelly in places. Then we come to the second track which includes a friend rather than a professional, where Sayak Mitra provides the vocal on a cover of a Bengali pop song ‘Ami Tar Thikana Rakhini’ and it works for me.

Teresa Gabriel makes another appearance on ‘Blue Sky Dreams’ where her dreamy vocals really can take your mind to the sky and drift away. The final track on the album ‘Baniyan’ retains the flutes and Indian vocal that are a common feature throughout this album but there’s more of a classical feel to the piece with an operatic vocal added to the melting pot.

The talent Pete has brought in for these collaborations is high quality and he continues to produce a unique fusion of world music, ambient, psychedelic, dub and classical sounds. This album will definitely appeal to fans of Orchid-Star and if your unfamiliar perhaps it’s time you enlightened yourself.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links

http://pinkhampster.com/index.php

Note: Unexpected Pleasures is now available on CD for pre-order in the shop for the specially discounted price of £7.50 + p&p till Nov 3rd only (when it will go up to 9 or 10). CDs will be sent first class on the 3rd. BUT, if you come to the Unexpected Pleasures Album Launch Party you will get it even cheaper!

Various Artists 'Diversity In The Isles' Review

Artist: 


Various

Title: 

Diversity In 

The Isles

Label: 

Unknown

Released: 

25^th of March

Compiled (not sure Curated is the correct terminology) by my counterpart on the Chill Out Sessions Liquid Lounge this is the first in a series of releases, with the sole aim of featuring down-tempo artists (both established and new) from the United Kingdom who are currently active on the festival circuit. As the title suggests the intent is to cover a vast array of sub-genres ranging from psy-dub to glitch, trip-hop and jazztronica, new age to psy-chill and all points in between.

The gamble with a diverse compilation is will it be to everyone's taste and to be honest not everything featured on this album is to mine. However, that said there's plenty that is and it features a fair few artists familiar to me, which I mostly listen to already and some new ones that also appeal. OOOD for example are well known on the festival circuit and on occasion produce something a little more chilled than their staple psy-trance in this case a pleasant enough piece of well produced electronica. Pete Ardon (Orchid-Star) also features along with Helen Francis delivering a mellow piece of tropical ambience accompanied by plenty of birdsong and flutes. Whilst the ever-popular Bristol based psy-dub producer Globular delivers his usual antics to good effect and Manchester's Perpetual Loop leans more to his Digital Duvet moniker with some laid back Ibiza style chill out. 

Those few aside I'm also well aware of Northampton's Mosienko Project (also part of Trans-Irie Nation and Celt Islam's band) who fuses the pungi, oud and darbuka's of Arabia with electronica. As well as Welsh dub-punk Rev Dread who draws on the traditional roots and dub-reggae adding a modern twist. Narcose I'm less familiar with but did bag his 'They always come at night' an excellent track from the compilation 'Ethnomystica Vol 2' the piece featured here is an eerie slice of psy-chill with a lovely piano melody but doesn't quite reach the same heights.

Of the artists I'm unfamiliar with the ones that really stood out for me is Geoglyph whose contribution is a summery slice of harmonica fused ethnic dub. Whilst False Identity provides a lovely laid back guitar piece that would slot comfortably into a Balearic set. As would Ultramorphic's blend of Vangelis like synths, Pink Floyd'esque guitars, counter-balanced with horn and sax laden reggae.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links

https://diversityintheisles.bandcamp.com/

Available for pre-order as of now with immediate down-load of Pete Ardron's track.

Terra Nine vs Squazoid 'Karuna E.P.' Review

Artist: Terra Nine 

vs Squazoid

Title: Karuna E.P.

Label: Altar Records

Released: 13^th June

A collaboration that almost spans to the opposite side of the globe. Auckland based Mike Westcott electric voila fused ambient trance joins forces with Parisian global psy-chill producer Jeremy Bringué. The seed of this track was planted after an impromptu jam at a party in Jeremy's studio in 2013 where Mike played a few notes on the voila which grew into a few more and the basis of the piece was born add some bass, cello and more strings and they had found a piece that emotionally moved them to tears. They played the piece to some select artists who were interested in re-mixing the track and this is the long awaited result.

The E.P. begins with the original piece with an orchestral intro of hauntingly beautiful strings, while the electronics slowly and delicately gain volume and harmonic voices are added. Although they have their moments to shine they never overpower the orchestral spine of the piece.

Moving onto the re-mixes not surprisingly the first contender is Pete Ardron who often employs a classical underbelly in his own productions. In places his input is subtle with a little added ethnic percussion and at others he takes it up a notch some housey piano, wonderful key loops and panned reverb. The result is a lovely enhancement on an already heavenly piece.

The E.P. moves on with fellow Parisian Franck Jousselin (Kick Bong) who unexpectedly adds guitar to the strings and in places his own synth flavours that rest above the underlying sounds of the original but never entirely block it out. An interesting alternative that I wouldn't dismiss.

Unknown Reality (who previously were unknown to me) add a progressive trance vibe to the piece but maintain a strong orchestral emotion with their version. Once again I'm impressed with the result you can really fly into a dream with this one.

Next to imprint their take on the track is Terra Nine's label mate Astropilot who shifts the emphasis to the dancefloor with a rolling underbelly of a bassline, while still maintaining the heavenly voices and strings as you would come to expect with his own productions.

Another new face (or new sound even) for me is Cloower Wooma who utilise all the elements of the original strings and harmonic voices fooling me to believe this would be an atmospheric ambient take, where infact it they employ an elongated intro before stamping down the bassline.

Finally seeing out the E.P. is Suduaya who adds some dreamy piano and reverb to the voices with this blissful adaptation the term sofa sinking couldn't be more apt in this case. An absolutely superb slice of chill out.

Some may argue that 7 versions of one track is a bit too much. But in cases like this when you have such a lovely piece of music and a pallette of sounds from artists who know how to draw on the emotion and at times enhance aspects of it. I for one am glad there is.

Review by Woodzee

Links

https://soundcloud.com/terranine

http://www.squazoid.com/

http://www.altar-records.com/

Guest Mix - Pete Ardron (Orchid-Star)

I first came across Orchid-Star when Pete messaged me on MySpace to say he thought I may like their music, he wasn’t wrong I was instantly hooked on "Wildflower" and it seemed like an eon until it was finally released.

Now although Orchid-Star is essentially a band there were two other key elements that appealed to me the stunning vocals of Samanta Ray (an Australian opera singer of Indian descent) and the unique keyboard style which probably reflects Pete’s classical training. I’ve also caught live performances at Off-World festival and InSpiral Lounge and spoken to members of the band who seem a thoroughly friendly bunch.

I’ve not explored Pete’s entire back catalogue but I did purchase “Hanging On Perfumed Air” an album containing tracks written specifically for the parachute at Whirl-Y-Gig it’s not something I’ve used in mixes as the tracks run into one another setting a theme throughout the album which is bliss to listen to from time to time.

I recently reviewed Pete and Samanta’s “Interuterion” where Pete experiments and creates the album solely utilising Samanta’s voice (I'd instantly and wrongly assumed these pieces contained synthesizers) however, the album is aimed at meditation and relaxation while this mix (containing tracks and re-mixes of Pete’s, Orchid-Star and other projects including some unreleased tracks*) is far more uplifting and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Sun Is Shining Guest Mix - Pete Ardron (Orchid-Star) by Sun Is Shining on Mixcloud

*Not only has Pete graciously submitted this fantastic mix he has also taken the time to provide a timed track listing with release information and labels.

0:00 Pete Ardron and Samantha Ray - Interuterion - Serenity (from Interuterion, Pink Hampster 2012)
0:50 Orchid-Star - Butterflies (from Birth, Liquid Sound 2008)
8:55 Orchid-Star - Lotus Bloom (SandRa & Pete Ardron remix) (to be released this month, Pink Hampster)
15:22 Pete Ardron and Samantha Ray - Vissi D'Arte (Puccini) (as yet unnamed project, gigged at Waveform 2012 but no completion/release date yet)
19:58 Pete Ardron - Vignette (unreleased, from next solo album (if and when it happens!), 2012)
25:05 Dorothee Munyaneza - Inzozi (Pete Ardron remix) (2009, unreleased, hopefully to eventually to be turned into a full album project)
30:50 Orchid-Star - Wildflower (Polynectar Remix - Squazoid) (2013)
38:12 Pete Ardron - Qawwali Roll (from Inside the Voice Inside, Pink Hampster 2002, Cyberset, 2009)
45:02 Pete Ardron - Angel (unreleased, from next solo album - 2005, yeah this one's taking a while!)
51:00 Terra Nine - Whisper (Pete Ardron remix) (from Stream of Consciousness, Tempest 2009)
57:04 N'Faly Kouyate's Change - untitled track (album planned to be released in Oct '13)
1:01:19 Trancient Dreams - Forbidden Sea (Pete Ardron remix) (2012)
1:09:03 Afro Celt Sound System - Hypnotica (Pete Ardron remix) (2010)
1:18:09 Dorothee Munyaneza - Iminsi (Pete Ardron remix) (released on DVD version of Dorothee Munyaneza - Dorothee Munyaneza, Luminary Records 2009)
1:23:39 Teresa Gabriel - Wings of the Angel (unreleased in this form, recorded at my place, 2005, only responsible for engineering and refusing to let her do anything other than live takes - still one of my 2 all time favourite acoustic recordings, the other also from the same afternoon)
1:28:04 Pete Ardron and Samantha Ray - Interuterion - Serenity 

Links

www.peteardron.com

www.orchidstar.info

www.pinkhampster.com

Pete Ardron & Samantha Ray - Interuterion Review

Artist: Pete Ardron & Samantha Ray


Title: Interuterion


Label: Pink Hampster Recordings


Release Date: December 2012

I was more than slightly intrigued to listen to this album. Samanta’s vocals within Orchid-Star are stunning and the power of her voice for me is most apparent in the track “Passion” this release takes you to the other side of the pendulum and the titles couldn’t be more apt.

Serenity originally produced in 2003 it was used in 2005 as the musical core to Simon Rogers' exhibition Water Feature and in 2010 as the soundtrack to Collision Course by Carmelo Musca of CM Films and Garry Stewart of the Australian Dance Theatre.

Reverie Uses recordings from sessions for both Orchid-Star and Sam and Pete's opera-fusion project (out in 2013) Reverie focuses more on Sam's voice as both a richly varied solo instrument and a phenomenal sound-source to manipulate.

Pete compares the two pieces to a lake and a river the first a static environment and the second a flowing journey. For me both tracks achieve their goal in the sense that setting aside half an hour to listen to either track completely relaxed me before the end. I can only imagine this is what it feels like to have a half hour session in a floatation tank.

Musically (and indeed vocally) I enjoyed“Reverie” more. For me this track "seemed" to hold more of a human element, while in fact the whole composition of this release was made utilising only the human voice. Exploring and experimenting with the beautiful tones and heavenly choral aspects of Samanta’s voice Pete creates two tracks that could easily be confused for a choral and synthetic fusion

My verdict if you’re looking to escape the beats and listen to something more meditative and healing for the body and mind you can’t go wrong here it’s a fantastic collaboration by two amazingly talented artists.

Link

http://pinkhampster.com/html/artistpage.php?artist=Pete%20Ardron%20and%20Samantha%20Ray

Review by Woodzee