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stuck in the middle! Vereinigtes Königreich
Registrierungsdatum : 20. Juni 2008
Neueste Lieblingsalben
Neueste Lieblingskünstler
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Externe Lieblingskünstler
La Tulipe Noire, Tangerine Dream*, Klaus Schulze*, Nightwish*, Within Temptation*, Marillion*, Blutengel, Fish*
Lieblingstags
Ambient, Elektronische Musik, gothic, Rock, Kunstmusik, drone
This release came out on Jamendo when I was on holiday. I managed to download it but not play it. It has stayed on my player for three months being saved for Christmas. My present to myself.
If I glance to my right as I pen this review, I can see the multi-spires of our Cathedral, towering above its snow covered roof and the blanket white-out that exists between me and it. There is beauty in the snow, covering, as it does, the cracks of human self-destruction that I can usually view. It is cold out there but I am safe and warm within. That is how I feel about this music, it is cold to the ear and cold to the touch but gives off a warmth that results in a very satisfying inner glow. Typical Caustic Reverie and all the better for it.
Thanks Bryn for a classic year of music and I hope 2010 will bring us more.
Joy of joys, an album of triumph, full of class and style and an all round winner.
Begins quietly and then the "Berlin School" kicks in. Upfront pacey and ever changing but beneath lush and quietly dramatic. Perfect. This first track is probably the second best individual track I have ever heard by a modern day artist. (Brendan Pollard created the best for those interested. This is a full on maximum scorer, a treat, a gem an absolute delight. In fact it was so good I kept playing it and ignoring the other two tracks that followed.
I did eventually get to the others and both are really good. Not quite up to the standard of the first but still of an undoubtable quality. If you like Berlin School you will certainly go for these.
One question for the artist, are the titles coincidental or deliberate in there similarity to some of the great Berlin works from the masters such as KS?
A work of the highest quality but I now dread the next one. How you will top this work I do not know.
This is the first of the longer WMRI releases for review. Dark Passage by name and a dark passage by nature. In reality is one long piece divided into 6 smaller continuous sections although the physical track breaks don't always line up with the actual music ones. Not noticable if listened to from start to finish but if you start midway or your player automatically inserts a gap between tracks then it's not ideal.
The openers, 1 and 2, give the piece a solid and scene setting start. At times I found these quite reminiscent of some of the early works by Caustic Reverie, in itself very much a positive. The piece really takes off though with Passage3. Swirling synths, eerie, dark, foreboding gloom all come into the mix and developing feel. Swiftly into Passage4 and the theme continues unabated. This, the longest section, and combined with 3 are my personal favourites. What did become evident to me as 4 progressed was despite all the darkness, doom and gloom, one thing was missing. Coldness. The work retains a level of warmth throughout, nothing hot but still some warmth. Quite strange. I'm not sure why the coldness is not present but my guess is the pace is perhaps not quite slow enough. At times a definite feeling of background hurry can be heard and maybe this accounts for the warmer sound. The final passages are nice rounders and give the work a suitable air of completion.
All in all, a fine effort. Thanks for sharing it and I look forward to the next one with renewed expectation.
I suppose it had to happen, after three top notch releases we have finally come down to earth with this release. It is not that there is anything wrong at all with the bulk of this piece but rather that one part is so overdone it totally takes over and ruins everything else.
The track begins well enough with a rising intro, howling wind and what I first thought was a chiming clock. The main section begins as the rising ends and the winds cease to blow but the chime continues on in what I was expecting to be a declining countdown. I was wrong, the chime continues unabated. On and on it goes, on and on, never ending, over-riding all that is opening up and developing beneath it. All you can hear is the chime, fading a little at times but never going away. Coming back to the forefront and taking over again. After 5 minutes I had had enough, after 10 I just wanted it to end and still with another 15 minutes to endure. Endure is the word for it. I did get to the end but I am never going to repeat the experience of listening to this track again. Shame really as what is going on underneath sounds interesting and well worth the time, if only you could just get to hear it properly i.e. minus the chime.
Sorry but this one fails badly for me. Not what I was expecting at all but underterred I move on your next one and hope this proved to be a mere temporary blip, unlike the chime.
Onto release three for me and another fine genre example.
I'm not over familiar with Lull and Netherworld, and have never heard of Austere, so I can't comment on if I think this album is in their style or not. What I can say is that it yet again of a very high quality and to say the least is more than a little soporific. In fact after three plays I still have not heard the ending as I have fell asleep each playing around half way through the track!. I suppose you could say it is good for insomniacs and the like.
Many thanks to you for creating and sharing and I'm off to the next one now. Hopefully I can stay fully awake to review the whole thing.
The first in the series but the second release for me to listen to and review.
This time round we have Vidna Obmana cited as an influence and I can't disagree with that at all. Red, as a title, conjures up all sorts of possibilities but this time round an instant feeling of heat came into my head. It may mean to have colder connections but I just felt I was safely drifting on the open sea in a small open boat. Lying out under the sun, eyes closed but hearing everything around me. The sounds from a distant shore and life beneath the lapping waves. Peaceful, tranquil but with some ever present underlying threat never too far away.
A real little gem and another great offering from this artist. Yet more thanks to you and another top recommendation to followers of this genre.
This is the last in a series of releases by a new artist to jamendo but the first to appear on site. If this is an example of his work then I for one can't wait to discover the other 5.
The description mentions Steve Roach influences which I can appreciate but the first two artist names which came to my mind in the opening minutes were Claire Fitch, for the style, and Altus for the music, as it bears similarities to chunks of his "winter embrace" series. Both excellent influences in themselves.
I have not as yet formed any mental picture from the piece but no doubt something will take shape with repeated playings. In the meantime, a very welcome addition to Jamendo, an excellent place to start and thanks for this and all the others which I'm off to try now. Highly Recommended.
This is one of those releases that cried out to me I would really enjoy. Sadly, I was disappointed and left feeling frustrated at an opportunity gone begging.
I'm not going to cover everything but briefly the opener starts promisingly before quickly getting caught in an involved and revolving maze. Simply too much going on all at once. Didn't like it.
Track 2 is more droney and far less complex, easy electronics and a distant bell. Definite improvement.
By 3AM things are looking up even more, a fine starter which just explodes after 7 or so minutes with a starburst of frenzied activity. Really liked this one.
The remaining trio are shorter and use classical piano, Satie and his Gymnopadie to be precise, plus a myriad of sound effects such as birdsong. None of them work that well and the Satie track (5AM)is particularly poor. The piano is very stilted and totally ruined by whatever is going on behind it.
Nice idea but a very mixed execution. I hope you do more in the future but hopefully something a little less complex and easier on the ear. Thanks for sharing anyway and I really did enjoy 3AM.
Wagner's Ring represents one of the most ambitious achievements in the history of Western music. it's evolution was long and complex, as befits an epic of its stature. Like any great work it challenges our experience of life and simultaneously adds to it. To condense a work of this length, around 16 hours and for full orchestra, chorus, soloists as well as the visuals, into a one man, home-made single cd is really attempting something. This in itself deserves the highest praise. A proper Ring cycle scares even the greatest, so top marks to Amadeus for giving it a go.
As for the music itself, Amadeus has done well with his limited resources. His track selection has been influenced by the constraints his home equipment has placed on him and so a few less familiar selections are included. The variance of German titling meant I struggled to fully identify certain pieces but no matter. Some nice keyboard work all round with just the odd blip, the end of track 12 for example tends to descend into a bit of a children's playground after its grand opening.
All round a great effort and much to my surprise the package works. No mean feat in itself. Thanks for all your time in creating this interpretation.
Short release so short review.
Smooth take-off, easy trip out but a better return on the louder flight. Loved the female voice, well worth getting back home for!
Thanks for a pleasurable trip.
