Carbon Based Lifeforms - Interloper [MP3][320]

Interloper

Label: Ultimae Records

Format: CD, Album

Country: France

Released: 2010

Genre: Electronic

Style: Acid, Downtempo, Ambient, Chillout

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Carbon Based Lifeforms is one of the best ambient music composers I have ever crossed across. It's something studied, known, but in the same time it is natural, it's fucking well done, with nice melodies and frequencies that cross your brain side to side.

My favorite sequence starts with Euphotic. If you get trapped by Euphotic melodies, the album will end very fast. The combo Euphotic - Frog - M is my favorite ambient combo sound ever. This is not my favorite album from Carbon Based Lifeforms but it's certainly a ambient/natural sound masterpiece.

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I was highly anticipating this release and a little sceptical if the Carbon Based Lifeforms would be able to achieve a high level again such as in "World Of Sleepers".

Trust me, they did.
They announced they experimented a little more with guitars and vocals this time so I was even more worried that they may be losing their style. But it turns out to be at an absolutely minimum scale and fits very very well.
The sounds they arranged this time are mindblowing and for me personally even more sound-of-the-universe-level.
I have listened to it as much as I could since the release and I am always discovering more electronic details. If I had to pick a favourite track (which will probably change from time to time),
right now it would be "Supersede". You may be reminded of "Epicentre" when listening to it but they gave it such a unique touch which makes it an absolutely epic arrangement.

The overall feeling is very intense yet peaceful. They put so much love in this album, it is worth every cent!

For me it is the release of 2010 so far.

Review by SpaceAgeHero [http://www.discogs.com/user/SpaceAgeHero]


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Grouper - A I A : Dream Loss [MP3][320]

A I A : Dream Loss

Label: Yellow Records

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album

Country: US

Released: 2011

Genre: Rock

Style: Experimental, Drone, Ambient

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The tools Liz Harris uses to make music as Grouper tend to be pretty basic: piano, guitar, synths, drones, hiss, and lots of reverb. If you've been following along with the twists and turns of noisy ambient music these last few years, this collection of elements may sound familiar, possibly bordering on cliché. But it's all in how you fit the pieces together. Despite sharing characteristics with a lot of other current music, Harris' has a distinctive sound that she pretty much owns. These short LPs, released at the same time and that share an overall aesthetic, sound beamed in from another realm, and they also sound like they could have come from no one else.

Part of the distinctiveness can be traced to Harris' voice, which floats above the music and can sound delicate and shrouded and mist and can also evince an approachable earthiness. Particularly on Alien Observer, she layers her voice in a way that occasionally brings to mind Julianna Barwick, but Harris sounds comparatively distant and less immersive. Her voice haunts these songs instead of leading them; it's a presence and not a personality, and the voice and instruments are in balance, serving each other without any one element becoming more prominent.

The other aspect that sets Grouper apart is an approach to sound that feels somehow both cruder and more sophisticated than the majority of the lo-fi crop. It's crude in the sense that it seems to hearken back to the dark, home-recorded songs of an earlier era. David Pearce's music as Flying Saucer Attack, recorded mostly during the 1990s, was often referred to as "rural psychedelia," and that description would fit this pair of records. This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them. The sophistication comes from the care in presentation. This music doesn't sound like it was built from mistakes or thrown together, it seems precisely ordered and arranged even while it's often muffled and warbly and distorted. Every sound exists for a reason.

Full review and more please follow this link [http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15332-a-i-a-alien-observer-a-i-a-dream-loss/].

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Nick Drake - Bryter Layter [320][MP3]

Bryter Layter

Label: Island Records

Format: Vinyl, LP

Country: UK

Released: 1970

Genre: Rock

Style: Folk, Indie, Folk Rock

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Nick Drake was without a doubt an underestimated genius. Underestimated not by others, but by himself. He was a man of recluse and low self-confidence. He always thought he wasn’t talented musically, and it puzzles many how he could even think of himself as un-talented, nevermind actually believing it.

One would have no idea that he thought of himself like that after listening to Bryter Layter. This was probably his most orchestrated album, containing not only his soft-spoken voice, guitar and violin but also drumming, bass, piano and a brass instrument here and there (Such as the saxophone in 'At the Chime of a City Clock') even going so far to include a xylophone during the song 'Northern Sky'. He definitely went all out on this album and it really shows.

Even with the use of so many wonderfully arranged instruments, it still seems simplistic enough to be a nice calming listen, but while retaining enough depth so not to come off as boring or repetitive. But when it comes down to it, what do people end up listening to? That’s right, his sweet 'gentleman' tone of voice and his amazing finger picked guitar playing. 

Songs like 'One of These Things First' are easily a prime example of this, when ever you listen to it, you’ll initially be in awe of the majestic piano but by the end your attention always wanders back to Drake’s soothing voice and melodic guitar playing. Not only does his voice leave such as an impression, the lyrics he sings always have a very nice message.

Take 'Hazey Jane I' for example, a song the seems like it’s about a woman so infatuated with a man that she passes by on so many other things in life she could be enjoying. But for some reason these songs never come off as being too depressing, unlike a lot of his other work. Again, this is probably contributed to the fact that the other instruments he experimented with on this album give it more of an upbeat feeling, no matter what the subject matter is.

However, these lyrics and messages are vital, mainly because one of the only let downs on the album (and it’s not really THAT big of a let down) is the title track, 'Bryter Layter'. This instrumental track, clocking in at 3 minutes and 22 seconds sounds slightly dated and sounds like a cheesy intermission tune. Compared to the brilliant songs before and after ('Hazey Jane I' and 'Fly' respectively) it comes of as being a little bit of a filler track, but its intended purpose was probably just for him to experiment on an instrumental song, and just try something out of the ordinary.

Even more out of the ordinary is the 6 minute song, 'Poor Boy'. Easily one of the most epic songs in all of Nick Drake’s relatively short career it truly is a masterpiece. Using choir vocals in the chorus, and his own voice during the verses. It also features such wonderful arrangements for saxophone, piano and guitar.

'Sunday' is really the perfect way to close out an album, a calm flute melody played over a brilliant sounding guitar and later on, an organ. It just puts the whole album in perspective, despite it not being as powerful as the other songs on the album.

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This review belongs to sputnikmusic.com  [http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/8049/Nick-Drake-Bryter-Layter/]

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