Polski opis

Wytwórnia :	Projekt
Gatunek :	Electronic, Ambient
Rok Wydania :	2004
Jakość :	APE
Okładki :	Nie
Ripper :	UNREST

Opis:
Album z 2004 r. Refleksyjny ethno-ambient. Roach (gitary i didgeridoo) z towarzyszeniem Metcalfa (instr. perkusyjne), Seelinga (Bansuri) i Stefina Gordona (tambura).

Steve Roach - amerykański muzyk związany z muzyką elektroniczną. Multiinstrumentalista, jeden z pionierów i najbardziej interesujących kompozytorów muzyki ambient. Roach swe inspiracje czerpie z wczesnego elektronicznego rocka, reprezentowanego przez takich artystów, jak Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream i Vangelis. Roach przyjął bardzo impresjonistyczne podejście do tworzenia muzyki. Inspiracją dla niego są zwykle pejzaże lub zjawiska natury. Roach jest także wyrazicielem prymitywizmu w muzyce ambient, adaptując do swych kompozycji elementy muzyki pierwotnych kultur - na przykład australijskich w albumie Dreamtime Return, który uznawany jest za arcydzieło gatunku. Steve Roach znany jest także ze współpracy z wieloma czołowymi artystami sceny ambient, takimi jak Vidna Obmana, Robert Rich czy Roger King.

 English description

Label :	Projekt
Genre :	Electronic, Ambient
Year :	2004
Quality :	APE
Covers :	No
Ripper :	UNREST

Description:
Steve Roach has spent the last two decades charting a pathway into the primordial. With every album, you have the feeling of stumbling upon some ancient and secret ceremonial ritual. On Mantram he forges a fellowship with two other musicians. Mark Seelig's reverb-drenched bansuri flute is a nice addition to Roach's sound, almost bringing him back to melody. The Indian flute and a tamboura strummed ominously in the background give Roach an Eastern feel for the first time, but Byron Metcalf's frame drums turn Mantram toward a Persian groove that dances in cycling rhythmic figures. Painted on a broad canvas, Steve Roach's world is writ large with earth-shuddering textures, Metcalf's thundering frame drum, and Seelig's flute gliding like an avenging angel seeking a target. The constantly interweaving synthesizer, didgeridoo, harmonic singing, and tamboura churn in a surreal, slow motion dervish, spiraling down a labyrinthian ziggurat. --John Diliberto

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Like the living, breathing, meditative movement of the Sufi trance dance, MANTRAM is grounded in a reverence for the slowing of time which allows the natural reflective process to emerge. Slow heartbeat-like acoustic frame drum, overtone voice, Didgeridoo, Bansuri flute, and Tamboura drones mix with a majestic tapestry of organic electronic textures, offering the sonic equivalent of the power found when gazing into timeless Mandala images found in classic sacred art. The entire CD holds a consistent interconnected feeling that seems to spiral outwards when experienced in repeat playback.

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Cut from the same sessions that produced HOLDING THE SPACE: FEVER DREAMS II, this disc could be considered FD's mellower cousin. MANTRAM is a cool, calm, beat-enhanced exploration into creating a sort of sonic mandala -- a sacred image -- through music. It is a perfect CD for meditation. Steve Roach lays down the soundworld skeleton; Byron Metcalf pumps life into it with shamanic drumming; and Mark Seelig makes it breathe and dance with a beautiful selection of flutes. The eight pieces here, identified solely by number, are characterized by a gentle build and a perfectly unhurried feel. The standout track here is "Seven", where Metcalf's frame drum takes command of both the music and the listener. Give in to it. Each strike on the drumhead reverberates to the soul. You will emerge breathless from this track. Do yourself a favor: Press 'repeat' when you load this CD and just let it run. It melds beautifully into continuous play and brings a palpable serenity to the environment. This is bound to become a favorite. --John Shanahan

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STYLE

The Steve Roach web site states that this CD has "a reverence for the slowing of time which allows the natural reflective process to emerge". There is a slow heartbeat-like acoustic frame drum (played by Byron Metcalf) gently pumping among overtone voices, didgeridoo, bansuri flute, and tamboura drones. The ambient mix created here has the organic texture of a natural musical performance. Mark Seelig's bansuri weaves in and out of the mix lending subtle melody lines and Stefin Gordon fingers a droning tamboura beneath. The eight tracks are numbered rather than named and flow from one to another without the interruption of three or four second silences.

MOOD

A swaying, undulating sound conjuring up the Indian sub-continent that disguises the underlying synths, guitars and electronic elements presenting them as a natural part of a timeless ceremonial music. Peaceful, contemplative, hypnotic -- the unhurried, rolling grooves and drones languorously revolve in soporific spirals and then fade away in turn to be replaced by the next rising movement.

ARTWORK

Opulent kaleidoscopic, mandala-like discs of purple and cyan tones are adorned with middle-eastern scripts and motifs. Centrally there is the suggestion of something galactic -- a star burst, a nebula -- reminding us that this is not a repetition of something past. The lettering is an elegant script style beautifully complementing the imagery. The overall impression is one of past meets future -- just as the music is an evolution or extrapolation of the traditional so too the imagery evokes time in both directions.

OVERALL

Eight ethnically stained rhythmic canvases that clearly belong in one uniform gallery. Steve Roach has produced material with a "tribal" tenor before now -- but this CD more strongly than ever feels grounded in a particular unspecified middle-eastern location. There are melodies of a kind since the bansuri flute is primarily a melody instrument -- however, the melodies produced here are heavily draped in ambience and dissolve easily into the drones and sustained tones smoothly heaving beneath. This is perhaps one of Steve's more easy to listen to albums -- feeling accessible even on a first hearing.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM

Ethno-ambient travellers, those looking for a sustained exotic mood, anyone wanting ambient music with a global beat to it and an introspective tranquillity. Karunesh too recently produced a CD built around Asian sounds in Call of the Mystic -- but, whereas, his music develops gentle new age melodies, MANTRAM is more sober, unstructured, mesmerising, and pensive. --Morpheus Music