Various Artists – Ambient@Hyperreal.02
already the second double cd set of this series of community-driven compilations, ambient@hyperreal.02 goes back more to the source of ambient music. that is: as compared to the first set.
that said, i must say that the first track is immediately quite rhythmic and \”idm-ish\”. microscopic by Gas (Mat Jarvis) reminds me of artists like future sound of london and maybe even more of the orb. floating ambient pads with all kinds of little bleepy sounds in between and a very nice laidback rhythm opens the atmospheric feeling of the first disc in this 2cd set.
Nights, the second track on this disc, takes a step back and creates a beautiful slightly melodic ambience that takes a more classical approach to music in general and ambient in specific. a beautiful choice of quite organic sounds makes up the full extent of this nearly 4 minute track. Mikael Hillborg has done a tremendous job on this one!
Subterranean Bells by Isomorph reminds me a bit of TearSong, though Isomorph takes a more organic and classical approach to the quite dark ambient approach. Also, Isomorph incorporates rhythms, which i have not yet heard from TearSong. This is done in a very nice way, and makes sure the track keeps it\’s flow and progression.
the fourth track on this first disc is a track by Harri Hämeenkorpi and Jussi Väisänen. this is the first track on this disc that doesn\’t really get to me a lot. The sounds are nice, the melodies are nice, the slight rhythm is nice, but for some reason the total of these elements doesn\’t really work for me.
the 9 minute track expectations by ashera is another one of those tracks in which the seperate sounds are very good if not excellent, but it misses something for me. it reminds me a bit of a non-glitch version of a track on the pure & ultra milkmaids cd s[e]nd. I dunno. there\’s just something missing.
The ambient@hyperreal artists Forrest Fang and Stephen Philips have done some collaborating, remixing each other\’s material. The results of this collaboration are both on disc 1. The first result is track 6, Something in the moonlight (remix). In this minimal and quite classical track, Forrest Fang remixes material by Stephen Philips. The track has a very filmish approach to it that might remind people of for instance the music by Matthew Florianz // Liquid Morphine. Definately one of the best tracks on this disc so far!
Tonelab has been given the hard job to follow Forrest Fang\’s work. And he (?) does an excellent job with his slow, tribal influenced rhythmic track Immerland. I immediately get visions of an african land overseen by the full moon. beautiful melodies are played over an entrancingly repetetive rhythm. very nice. this is really laidback, and quite an experience.
The second part in the collaborative adventure is Stephen Philips\’ take on work of Half Life of a Long Memory (remix). a track that feels like it\’s one massive entity that evolves and evolves until it finally dissipates, this track is very minimal but just puts itself there and doesn\’t budge until the final end.
Farfield\’s Ascent is a minimal piece with quite thin pads, some rhythmic elements and field recordings from glastonbury at the turn of the millenium. though the pads are, as said, a bit thin, this actually enhances the effect of the track. it combines so well with the field recordings that it just fits together. maybe though, the 7.5 minutes of this track is a bit too long … it could\’ve had more impact if kept at about 6 minutes.
Jason Sloan has the honor of closing the first disc of this 2cd set. He does this with an atmospheric ambient tune. Very nice and quite sober, this track brings you back to earth after your first track into the ambience of this mailinglist.
very minimal, sometimes a bit too minimal for my own taste is the opening track of the second disc, Galaxies Like Grains of Sand by eM. it does work quite well though as the intro for the second track, A Silent Haunting by Numina. The beginning of this track also reminds me a bit of TearSong, though it is clearly different from the music she makes. The constantly evolving sounds though make it feel like it is similar. On the other hand, this track also has a lot of similarities with Matthew Florianz // Liquid Morphine, especially with his album GrijsGebied.
a beautiful, sober but to my ears pretty basic sound opens Isflaks by Jonathan Hughes. It plays a beautiful but yet again to my ears pretty basic slow melody which makes up the whole nearly 7 minute long track. it is nice, but could\’ve been twice as good when it would\’ve lasted only half as long.
Track 4 is a tune by one of my favorite artists of all time, dreamSTATE. For this song, which was recorded live at the famous Ambient Ping, dreamSTATE teamed up with cheryl o. This results in a very beautiful slightly chaotic-sounding song of immense beauty (though of course, I might be a bit biased 
. It\’s a shame that this only lasts for 5 minutes, I would\’ve loved to hear more of this.
Musical Nature\’s Measured in Kelvin part III is a worthy follow up to The Storm Within. It starts out with a similar atmosphere, though the chaos has been lost along the way. It seems the storm is lying down and a beautiful sunset is creating a whole different view on the world. beautiful and not a single second boring in it\’s 9 minutes of existence.
Ra\’s Playground is a track taken from the album Still Life that was released last year by Amongst Myselves. It is one of the best tracks on the album, and definately one of my favorites off that album. Nearly 11.5 minutes long, this track contains beautiful sounds and seems to evolve for the full length of the tune. some sounds remind me of dreamSTATE, others remind me of Aphex Twin\’s Selected Ambient Works II. The whole of the track though creates a unique perspective on the world. Beautiful. One of the best tracks on the 2cd set.
Falling You is represented on this already impressive collection of ambient works with the track Nine. It is a quite overwhelming experience with more tension to it then the other tracks. It is definately less laidback. it combines atmospheric sounds with a bit raw sound that gives the song a bit of a scifi atmosphere in my opinion. It fits very well, that is for sure. the vocal samples that are used also fit in quite well. beautiful and intense.
The next track is Between Realms. The title seems to be quite accurately chosen, because it is hard to really find a single focus in this track. a long droning sound, some melodic sounds, a bit of atmospheric ambience. it all combines to create this tune that seems to get a grip on you. yet, the grip is not one that is very pleasant to me. I\’m not sure what exactly it is that just doesn\’t make it a pleasant experience, but there is something about this 12.5 minute monster that doesn\’t quite make me feel at ease. but maybe that was the exact purpose of Craig Padilla.
{\’JackTheTab\’} closes the disc and the 2cd set with his Summer Chill Out. And this tune is the only one of which I really had hoped it would not be on the set. I\’ll be honest even though it might seem a bit harsh, but I am finding this one to be outright boring. Most of the 10 minutes of this track is the seemingly unaltered sound of a fieldrecording of rain, and thunder. And that is, in my humble opinion, not really the definition of music. That might work on a new age cd, but it just doesn\’t work for my on this set. It doesn\’t fit in, and actually it quite a bad taste at the end of a quite impressive and wonderful collection of ambient works.
All in all, with the exception of the last tune, this disc is worth every penny it costs and more. it is the collaborative effort of the members of the ambient@hyperreal mailinglist and is really really good. Try it if you like ambient. you\’ll like it.
Released on AquaFM
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