reneeknees

First off I must say thank you to ciderlord for pointing me in the direction of this release. As I will be referring to his comments in my review it may be helpful to have read what he said before getting stuck into my offering.

I really enjoyed listening to this piece and it fully lived up to my expectations. It is easy to see the musical appeal and I appreciated the way a difficult subject matter had been handled and translated, with thought and effect. The use of the cello sounds in particular, backed up by the piano, do give the classical air to the piece. Stripped of these, the bulk of the remainder is more reminiscent of a new age style recording. You could add a few natural sound effects and I could see, or should that be hear, this being used in one of my Reiki sessions, gently playing in the background as my chakras are realigned. I digress though.

The music works very well as it is. Yes, it could be "upgraded" to a classical composition just as well as it could be "downgraded" to therapy room background sound. In reality, neither is likely to happen as I suspect Barton will opt to move on to a new project rather than rework an existing one. With respect, I would suggest that Barton has a listen to some of the established artists in, what is somewhat patronisingly termed, the "synthetic classical" field. Artists such as Marcos Olivas or Stephan Carroll (another ciderlord recommendation) who have progressed from short pieces to full blown symphonies. Their works are freely available.

One final thing, I found the title of the piece is a bit misleading. To me the "iana" ending relates to gloriana and thus gave me the initial impression of glorifying the events in Darfur. The feel of the piece is however more of an elegy and I would suggest "Darfurlegy" which would be both more appropriate as well as being more accurate for music content i.e. an elegy.

At the end of the day it is the music that counts and this rates very highly. A credit to Barton and many thanks to him from me. Well done indeed. You say “I hope you enjoy it” and I did

As my close Jamendo friends know I am very shortly departing the Emerald Isle for pastures anew in New Zealand. I hadn't expected to be doing any more reviews here for a while but I can't let this release pass me by. It will be a very long flight out to there but I will be finding room on my little on-board player for this one to join the other Caustic Reverie albums and make my journey as comfortable as possible.

Here we have another fine example of music that will gently but surely work itself into your mind, slowly taking over your conscious state before it carries you away into the depths and chasms of that imaginary world inhabitated only by yourself set, as it is, deep within the recesses of your creative consciousness. Your trip has begun on its latest journey of musical discovery. Music from the deep for the higher levels of the mind.

Thought provoking and involving, the latest Caustic Reverie release, hits the heights of musical creativity that others may strive for but which so many fall short of attaining. If you have enjoyed the earlier releases then this one will not fail you. It is a voyage to be taken, and enjoyed, again and again. Perhaps the German reviewer was right when he said "Not Bad". Shame he only got the score half right.

Firstly, just let me say thanks to all those who contacted me with "the idiots guide of how to amend a review". If you are reading this then you know it worked.

To the music and my first confession. I have never really found my personal musical tastes match very closely with the works of KraftiM. Although I accept he is a talented creator and has good technical abilities, somehow or other his ideas and my ears do not match up. I like the way he pushes musical boundaries but they don't get pushed in my direction very often. The first of these 2 tracks is a good indicator of this. I very quickly started to feel as if I was standing in the middle of a field of sheep, bleating and baa-ing all around me. Not content with that we soon had a sheepdog appear and begin barking. All of this was going on with a chorus direct from the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in full voice in the background. Interesting, yes. Different, yes. Innovative, yes but to my ears more a cleverly constructed set of sounds rather than a musical composition.

Next we come to the second track. Now anyone who has been on Jamendo for longer than a week will have come across Ivan1984. To call him a reviewer is an understatement. He must be the most erudite wordsmith around. A master of the prose of the written word and here he is taking a step in a new direction, another one pushing the boundaries. KraftiM doesn't allow him too much upfront, keeping him coming in and out in the mix and restricting his output to a few repeated lines. I don't think Ivan will be taking up vocals for a career, although I gather there are more on the way in the near future. This track is both musical and enjoyable and so much more to my taste. Even its length is preferable to me.

So thanks again to all concerned for their contributions. At least I've reached the end this time.

I've always enjoyed the music of Nightwind and this album is fully up to his highest standards.

I will begin by doing my Irish bit and starting with the second track and ending up with the first. My immediate thoughts on track 2 are that we get a much richer and fuller tone and sound than on previous releases. The long opening reminds me of a quality Rioja, warm and satisfying on a winter’s night in front of a log fire. It eases its way into the mind by revolving its sound around time and again. After about 15 minutes it is firmly implanted there and I was expecting it to move on and evolve into its next form. It does, but not for a further 10 minutes or so. The final section is short at around 5 minutes and I do feel that after the long build up this quick finish does give the track a somewhat top heavy and unbalanced feel.

Track 1, the title track, is an altogether lighter and slightly pacier soundscape. Unlike the other track this one evolves from the start and keeps on doing so. It reminds me more of waking up in the middle of the night, Rioja all gone, fire now just a few remaining embers and a chill beginning to appear in the room. Put another, simpler, way; "a goodun".

Thanks again to Nightwind and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

I recently downloaded what I thought was a nice sounding electronic album. It turned out to be a selection of Ukrainian folk songs. Such is the multi-national world of Jamendo. This release with the title "transformation" and an artist "electron7" is the real thing however. You get just what you expect and that in turn gets everything off to a good start.

Talking of good starts that’s what we have here, a good start. It continues in that manner enveloping you in a warm, consistent way before sucking you in with its enduring familiarity. One track just blends into the next. This is the sort of music I think I would enjoy best on a longish drive in the summer, roof down and with this playing all around me. However, this is Ireland in December and so I will have a long wait to test out the truth of this particular thought.

For me the best track is number 4 - emotions. That is the one I go for if I am having a quick listen. My least favourite is number 3 - goodbye. It has a few too many gimmicky bits in there for me, I would have preferred it if it had been performed a little straighter. (A friend visiting me when the album was playing thought track number 6 best) The overall impression the album gives me is one of pleasant similarity - reassuringly safe rather than dynamic. If you try the first track and enjoy it then you can feel safe in the knowledge you will enjoy the rest, just as I did.