Spatialize 'Skulldubbery' Review

Artist: Spatialize

Title: Skulldubbery E.P.

Label: Self Released

Released: 13^th of April 2019

I’m a tad behind on this review. However, on the off chance it passed you by I’ll let you know my thoughts. In comparison to his recent album release ‘Beyond the Radar’, that placed the focus mostly in a fusion of electronica and space rock, this places the spotlight (as the title suggests) on dub. So now we’ve established the genre of the E.P. the burning question is it any good? In my humble opinion, yes it is!

The first of the four available tracks ‘Dub Skullery’ begins with ethereal synths and industrial elements, that you would expect from an experimental drone track. The beat slowly rises and soon after we are fully immersed in a catchy dub track peppered with delayed spacey fx and short passages of lead guitar. Following on ‘Shimmering Pink’ is more laid back and melodic, with somewhat of an Ozric’s feel to it, while Neil continues to maintain the quality and appeal of it’s predecessor.

The third piece ‘Frabjous Day’ is more of a slow burner, however, it eventually reaches a similar Ozric’s feel to the dub, with more of a rhythmic mid section and female harmonies at the tail end. The E.P. finishes with ‘Doodlebug’ where electronic fx lead you through some lovely laid back synths, chimes, spoken word samples and guitar.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links

https://spatialize.bandcamp.com/album/skulldubbery-ep

Spatialize 'Beyond the Radar' Review

Artist: Spatialize

Title: Beyond The Radar

Label: Self Released

Released: 11^th Jan 2019

After four years of concentrating on his deep ambient project ‘Experiments in Silence’ Neil returns to the more groove orientated productions of Spatialize. With influences ranging from the psychedelic, electronic, ambient, world and space rock. Juicy synths, exotic instrumentation and guitars float over organic and electronic drums, with the album including sax from Ian East of Gong and futuristic synths from Ishq.

The album begins with ‘Cat and Mouse’ with sequenced synths, drums, fx and a touch of squelch which combines to produce a sound reminiscent of Ozric Tentacles, with sax rather than flute. This is followed by the title track which is a more dubby affair with vocal harmonies that still retains an Ozric vibe. The next piece ‘Hobo Sapien’ moves the pace up a notch with a distinctly psy-chill feel, with little touches of sax peppered in appropriate intervals.

It’s a darker intro that emerges into the light with ‘Colour of Sky’ which continues on a psy-chill tip with some touches of the orient and vocal harmonies. The guitar is a more prominent feature on ‘Dance into the Light’ where the intro reminded me somewhat of Tangerine Dream, before the groove commences with the introduction of the beat and vocal harmonies. After the ambient introduction it’s back to the psy-chill on ‘The Great Super Mango’ which teases you somewhat before letting go and repeating that cycle.

The elongated intro of ‘Tolticken’ once again had somewhat of a TD and Ozric feel with the sequenced synths and vocal samples invite you in before it drops into slow motion with some beautiful guitar licks. The slow pace continues with ‘Out of Body’ intro, with a spoken sample not a million mizles away from the Orb’s ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ when the drums kick in ethnic and harmonic vocal samples are utilised and again little passages of guitar. The final piece of the album ‘Tree Frogs’ another downtempo number that introduces some flute and sax to the party.

For me personally I’d strayed away from the psy-chill, psy-dub sounds in recent years, aside from the odd producers such as Globular I felt it was morphing into territories such as psy-bass and swamp and losing the chill out aspect that was always a welcome element for me. However, of late I’ve been re-visiting and enjoying some of the older releases in the scene so this review really couldn’t have come at a better time. I’d recommend this album to those who like space music, space rock and psy-chill as it switches between and combines these styles throughout.

Reviewed by Woodzee

Links

https://spatialize.bandcamp.com

http://www.nabspatialize.moonfruit.com/

Disco Gecko's 'Strange-Eyed Constellations' Compilation Review

Artist: Various

Title: Strange-Eyed 

Constellations

Label: Disco Gecko

Released: 4^th Sept

Compiled by Toby Marks (Banco De Gaia) with a title inspired by a Tom Hardy poem and as tribute to Mike Barnett the founder of Beyond Records who featured some of Toby's earlier works on their Ambient Dub series.

The album begins with 'Dum Spiro, Spéro' by Astropilot, whose space style synth work I've always admired but the four by four beats he often employs can become repetitive. There's no such problem here with this beat less number which hooked me immediately with it's sheer aural elegance. This is followed by 'Sirens of Lorelei' by Dr Trippy as I've never heard him before. Admittedly, there's an ethnic element to the track which increases in the middle but either side throws a sheet of angelic voices and flutes over a snail pace beat. The theme of mixing angelic voices and tribal chants continues with 'The Inuit Snow Song' by 100^th Monkey a superbly chilled psychedelic dub and by this point I'm tipping my hat at Toby's fabulous selections.

The looped sequences that kick off 'The Future's Bright the Future's Incandescent' by Radium88 immediately brought Fluke and Underworld to mind (albeit with the brakes on) upon which an ethereal vocal leads to a more eastern flavour and you'd be hard pressed to find a more chilled vocal than this. The mood turns slightly darker with a combination of eerie atmospherics and tribal beats with 'Floating World' by Spatialize but the light shines through the darkness with some lovely strings. This theme of light and dark continues with a Far East drone fusion with the Shanghai 8am mix of 'Falling Tides' by the man himself and surprisingly not under his Banco De Gaia moniker.

I'm not sure you can go much slower than the dreamy tribal dub 'Festival of Lights' by Oombata Key. Whilst the tempo is taken up a notch with 'Dimensions' by Temple Hedz this piece initially layered with guru monologue and complemented further with a lovely eastern vocal is still more than suitably chilled. Moving towards a more experimental direction with 'Project Transmissions' by The Heavenly Hundred combines soft gentle piano with fuzzy atmospherics and distorted orchestral tweaks.

Back under his Banco De Gaia pseudonym 'To the Nth Degree' threatens to bring an uplifting surge with it's opening tribal chorus but soon dips down into soothing ambience with field recordings and piano. 'It's Beautiful Mike, It Really Is' by James Eller is a wonderful combination of NASA transmissions, spacey fx and piano. Although, he may not be the first to utilise this theme with the samples it works superbly well. 'Penates' by Sam Salem drifts back to the eerie atmospheric tribal drones of some of the previous tracks and leads us to the climax 'Epiphany' by Andrew Heath where once again the piano takes centre stage in a beautifully gentle melodic piece.

To summarise as with many compilations some tracks appeal more than others. However, there are some really strong tracks on here for me and I can't say I particularly dislike any of them. The years not over yet but for me this has to be a contender for ambient album of 2015. Full marks to Mr Marks so to speak and hopefully this isn't the last we hear of his selections.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links

http://banco.co.uk/

http://www.discogecko.com/

Pre-Order here https://discogecko.bandcamp.com/album/strange-eyed-constellations