Brian Eno explained ambient in Music for Airports thus: "Whereas the various purveyors of canned music proceed from the basis of regularizing environments by blanketing their acoustic and atmospheric idiosyncracies, ambient music is intended to enhance these. Whereas conventional background music is produced by stripping away all sense of doubt and uncertainty (and thus all genuine interest) from the music, ambient music retains these qualities. And whereas their intention is to 'brighten' the environment by adding stimulus to it ... ambient music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting."
Well, "life is...", though way different from Eno's ambient, does just that to me- it serves me as a great background music, and also enables me to dive deep into it to explore other dimensions. DJ Eyal Yankovich in a team up between Hommega and BNE releases here his relaxed electronic life story in a showcase first ambient chill out compilation from Israeli psytrance artists. Apparently they were cooking some serious stuff in the studios while all the booming and banging was going on in parties and dancefloors.
Sandman opens the compilation very dramatically drawing us immediately into a different universe, building a powerful atmosphere with a lot of substance, that you can just feel and see as a world materializes around you. Great manipulations of sounds, Sandman style, but with much more space to enjoy them. If you just let yourself you can touch the things around you. Amazing track, I can write a story about it, but I won't do it here. We surf smoothly into a team up between BLT and Realistic, the first of two here. Maybe Tomorrow (T2) is a dubby piece with a sad note, a kind of optimistic sadness, though, leaving me with a feeling that things can/should be so much better. Follows a much more optimistic creation- Space Cat & Elysium in a 20 minutes of very soft spacey journey through sunrise (Liquid Dub Connection, T3). Amazing diversity of sounds, electronic and non. Those who know Twin Peaks, will have a flashback here. The most unbelievable thing about this amazing creation is that it was waiting 3 years until finally it was released here (but it turned out for the better). Mental Orange in a preview from his upcoming album hosts sampled Ravi Shankar in a Shpongley piece of electro-Indian downtempo. You can really dance with this one. The combination of Indian and electronic music produces a real psychedelic outmosphere. Dr. Jackyl and Mr. Hide (T5), the second BLT & Realistic cooperation here, is also my favorite track of the compilation, and just what the name suggests. This is a real mind twist, with technoey feel to it and leaves at some point the overall relaxing feel of the compilation into some undefined and definitely dark realms. But that's how life is... Uplifting us after the dark dive is Oforia's Walk on Water (T6) with a caressing sound and feel to it, very relaxing in an optimistic atmosphere, but not as interesting as the rest of the compilation. Violet Vision are a new discovery from Haifa. Sense (T7) is a magical journey starting just where Walk on Water ends and soaring into higher levels of consciousness. Aural Morph from Liquid Metal is the finishing track, the name just fits the track, that morphs in and out, up and down, to and from, and just keeps changing volume in space in a mysterious hazy environment. It has a very 80's electro moody feel to it, and leaves me calm and usually ready to press the play button again. |
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