Morpheus Music

REVIEW OF TRAIN ON A RAINBOW - SOLAR CAMEL

STYLE
Melodic instrumental synth music with occasional vocal sections. Train in a Rainbow is a collection of bright, electronic music with strong beats and clear themes. Multi-layered tuneful phrases, string sounds and burbling/twinkling sequencer patterns form the backbone of Solar Camel's sound on this release. The chosen sound palette is one of clean, traditional synthesis, voice loops and pianos. Drum beats are primarily composed of programmed grooves built around real drum sounds, yet digital hits and ethnic percussion elements also are employed broadening the mix. On the title track, male and female voices with distinct European accents sing/speak in a style reminiscent of Kraftwerk, in other places strongly effected vocal strains act in a more instrumental manner.


REVIEW OF GOLD FLOWERS BLOOM MERCURY PETALS - ROBERT SCOTT THOMPSON


STYLE
Graceful beatless ambient instrumentals. Gold Flowers Bloom Mercury Petals is a suite of interconnected compositions that flow smoothly from one to another with slight shifting transitions. The variation from track to track is subtle and at times almost imperceptible - yet each piece progresses the journey further from its origin passing into passages of fluctuating harmony and atonality, moments of gathering darkness and emergent beauty, transient lightness or deep wells of intensity. The collected compositions all benefit from an oriental sensitivity, sparsity and classically delicate touch. Many of the tracks feature flowing drone beds and swells of smooth synthetic tone either underpinning minimalist melodies or themselves embodying the focal forms. A restful oceanic heave is the most pervasive rhythmic device, rising and falling allowing the more buoyant elements to drift idly with the tides.

REVIEW OF ETERNAL NOW - DON PEYOTE


STYLE
Drifting, floatational ambience with a consistently exotic air. The seven tracks here were initially recorded as one long piece, the continuous flow later being marked off into distinct sections. As a result the overall impression is one of almost imperceptible shifts morphing a single thread into varying forms. Soft beds of tone and delicate drone hazes form inviting atmospheres wherein the rich, sonorous chimes of beautiful brass and crystal singing bowls echo and ring. Many of the metallics appear to have been struck with soft beaters, their padded knells muted and mellow. Deep vocalisations join the mix in places, the layered reverberations of overtone throat singing by Tenzing Tsewang smoothly rising and falling into an almost steady sonic state. Subtle effects ebb and flow on the edges of perception, bringing further variety to the music. Apparently Eternal now was composed and recorded in just 3 weeks - which says Don "is a record time for me !!"

REVIEW OF HERE FOR NOW - SEVENTHSWAMI


STYLE
Downtempo glitch-hop instrumentals. This is firstly an album of impressive, powerful rhythmic structure - the confident breaks and hiphop beats here are inventively developed by some very dynamic complementary musical effects - a dazzling array of crisp synthetic phrases, zappy effects, bass throbs and acidic squirts of tone. Melody is very much secondary, often terse, muted or carried by buzzing or sharp tones, and frequently placed deep within the mix. Yet the pithy phrases and melodic forms that for the most part dance unobtrusively among the grooves at times gather into stirring beauty as on the orientally flavoured Forever You Forever Me or the somewhat wistful Serpiente Cosmica. Vocal elements are employed frequently almost as instrumental touches; snatches of speech, repeated transmissions, beatbox percussives, murmurings, philosophical musings and even one complete song courtesy of Souleye. Ethnic hints arise in places, guitar lines, global beats, sampled wavs - all chopped, distorted or digitally enhanced to jerk into place.

REVIEW OF A NORDIC ROOM - HELENE HØRLYCK


STYLE
A Nordic Room is an album of effulgent female vocals and chilled soundscapes. Helene Hørlyck has a beautifully clear voice that seems effortlessly to capture the dramatic, heavenly highs and bold crescendos of operatic soaring, the touching wistfulness of atmospheric ballads and the confident intimacy of ambient pop all with equal aplomb. Somehow she manages to sound faultlessly pitch perfect and masterfully disciplined whilst at the same time revealing spine-tingling glimpses of fragility and delicacy. Frequently choral layers support the main songs - these being performed by Helene herself and incredibly all recorded on the built-in mic on her laptop computer! The songs on the album are quite varied - on some every word is as clear as crystal, on others the vocalising is wordless, bathed in ethereal effects or even whispered. There are doleful strings, solo piano accompaniments, smooth electronic arrangements with blissfully chilled beats and some pieces with a more traditional drum sound and energetic basslines, although semi classical touches and flourishes are never too far away.

REVIEW OF ... AND SO IT GOES - KAYA PROJECT


STYLE
Lush global fusion instrumentals and stirring international songs. The third album from Kaya Project deepens the multinational sound tapestry and instrumental juxtaposition that has been a hallmark of much of Natasha Chamberlain and Seb Taylor's music. Male and female vocals in various languages lead a number of tracks - not sampled - full songs performed with a passion and feeling that sample montaging often fails to deliver. Other vocal performances are wordless - wavering Asian utternaces, gentle oohs and aahs and Middle Eastern soaring. Indeed this whole album has a more organic feel than before, more acoustic instruments; guitar, slide guitar, flute, clarinet, classical Indian violin and Arabic mowals fused with tribal percussion, breakbeats and Gypsy jazz. The clear twangs of wires, the soft thuds of hands on drum skins, heady flute breaths, jangling shakers, expressive piano and clarinet lines - all are subtly buoyed up on almost transparent electronic structres. The effect is well picked up in the cover art - warm and expressive, transportational and engrossing.

REVIEW OF POESIS ATHESIS - ROBERT SCOTT THOMPSON


STYLE
Serene, graceful melodic electronic music with a pervasive oriental slant. Poesis Athesis is made up of electro-ambient soundscapes with occasional ethnic fusion beats supporting gentle themes carried by bowed strings, piano or diverse synthetic voices. The string melodies sound very much like the Chinese er-hu in delivery consciously drawing on the Eastern associations of the instrument - breathy flutes, metallic gongs and bowl sounds further building on this exotic imagery. In places strange whirling effects stir the air, or sounds suggestive of night insects, ruffling the stiller tones of the silky synths that underpin much of the music. The beats contain a variety of soft hand drums - deep booming skins and muted pads - overlaid with the restrained clatter and wooden tapping of lighter percussives. The pace varies considerably across the album - there are some very slow measured passages where the percussion barely maintains a beat, dreamy swaying patterns creating a mystical impression; other places lose the beat altogether - the music meandering and doleful. The album includes an homage to Erik Satie - sparse piano lines against strings reminiscent of some of the composer's most enduring pieces, although here with a somewhat more brooding tone.

REVIEW OF SLIDE - IAN BODDY


STYLE
Pure synthesiser expression with muscular beats and aerial melodies. The slightly eerie chiming of blunt gongs introduces Slide - an otherworldly atmosphere thickened with synthetic bass and edged with jangling shell-like percussives. Over this evocative backdrop comes the first sliding melody line - as if bowed, fretless, an expressive lead flowing smoothly from note to note. Subsequent tracks see Boddy's distinctive programmed rhythms propelling the music, complimentary bass lines gutsy, plastic stabs in places, rubbery arpeggios in others. As the name of the album indicates the sound of gliding, keening synths are a feature of most pieces; however, the array of other electronic sound is truly impressive: gritty distorted notes, spacey sci-fi effects, jittery sequential lattice works, feathery drones and lush pads. Most tracks are densely layered, full of detail and constantly in a state of flux as rhythms and melodic forms morph in content and vary in intensity.

REVIEW OF SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE - HIBERNATION


STYLE
Deeply chilled electronic instrumentals. Some Things Never change is a powerfully immersive experience of multi-coloured electronica, lush sound collaging and imaginative downtempo beats. Literally brimming with a wide variety of synthetic sounds, liquid effects and a generous scattering of glitchy percussives, Hibernation comes across as a highly detailed, many-hued construction that somehow manages at the same time to convey an inviting sleepy effortlessness. Among the bewildering array of lucid digital structures are various organic instrumental and human elements - vocal slices, disjointed spoken fragments, smooth female vocalising, whispering; Seb's love of global sound still enhancing his music in places - subtle hints of international material drifting into the mix here and there. There are a number of jazzy sections with idle brushes sweeping across snares and lolling double bass suggesting late night lounge rhythms where muted trumpet phrases pierce the air, electric piano lines carrying the melody. The most extremely chilled tracks on the album are, for me, the most exciting pieces here - the opener Melt with its unhurried piano touches, loose percussion and floating pads; the deliciously nocturnal Reflect - fractured phrases and soft focus strings meandering over a silky sub-bass line.

REVIEW OF AUTOPIRATE - ILL.GATES


STYLE
Urban flavoured dubstep and grime instrumentals with occasional vocals. Autopirate blends elements of glitch, dub, lounge, IDM, house and hip-hop to create a cut and paste framework where vocal snips and phrases flutter among strongly rhythmical yet constantly shifting disjointed structures. All manner of blips, clicks and electrical flecks flicker among the constantly varying programmed drum tracks - muted loops and frequent effected interludes interrupt the flow of grooves that carry the diverse marks of DnB, dancehall and electro influence. Bass bombs and sub wobbles add interest to the low end whilst a veritable plethora of psychedelic FX further fracture the sonic surface making for a very lively sound. Melodic content is often held by the basses embellished by acidic motifs and brief keyboard touches. Spoken voice samples and rasta shouts introduce a clearer human element to many of the tracks whilst a couple of pieces are carried more fully by female vocals - net neutrality rantapella is exclusively made up of montaged speech samples.

REVIEW OF ENERGY MIND CONSCIOUSNESS (EMC)- MYSTICAL SUN


STYLE
Deeply chilled electronic downtempo. Mystical sun really takes the pace down here - the music is quite minimal compared to much current chillout - almost ambient for much of the journey, very ambient for some parts. Smooth oceanic swells and pads, ethereal washes of tone and spacey expanses form atmospheric soundscapes upon which are laid out some attractively understated melodic synth lines and tranquil sitar phrases. Environmental sounds mix with the synthetics - forest sounds, storm rumbles. The beats when present drift along with idle indifference, sleepy, far off affairs that set the arrangements gently nodding with rhythm. The album darkens considerably in the latter half becoming tenebrous and brooding such as on the track Dark Energy, where moody, almost atonal drones, swirl across a throbbing bass like the welling up of night. The following Expansions sinks perhaps even deeper into gloom - an intense beatless ambient zone that is suggestive of an abyssal space. Subsequent to this loss of light and tangible form the final track Sanctuarium restores the warmth with a dreamy piece of relaxation music - drifting sitar motifs and falling strums over luminous waves and lustrous drones - willingly we float into etermity.

REVIEW OF AMENTI - SLEEPWALKER


STYLE
Timeless world vocals and instrumental performance blended with smooth, chilled electronica. Sleepwalker works the territory of romantic electronica originally established by artists such as Deep Forest and Enigma, however Amenti has a unique sound - Neo-classical, strongly European and with a rolling cinematic breadth influenced by global folklore and the imagery of distant civilisations. Violin, guitars, piano and synthesisers work alongside more exotic sound sources such walnut and cedar Native American flutes, oud, timbals, djembe and ceramic bongos. Sweeping strings frequently swell up adding an air of classical grandeur that complements much of the vocal material. Singers deliver operatic soprano performances, Native American chants and European traditional vocalisations.


REVIEW OF KALITZ - VATAFF PROJECT


STYLE
Quirky downtempo electronica. Kalitz brings together some blip-punctuated lazy beats and ambient atmospheres that are inhabited by a variety of sharp digital effects - swishes, pulses, clicks, grasshopper flickers, sci-fi techno snippets, electro-squishes, bird-like twitters. There are also diverse fleeting enhancements to this primarily synthetic soundscaping - rich flute lines, peculiar vocal samples, traditional Bulgarian instrumentation. Ranging through chilled psychedelia, IDM, and rhythmic ambient, Vataff Project leaves a distinctive impression - slightly sombre, touched with enigmatic dusk.