08 Nov 2009 |
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Eclectic dish of futuristic ambient streams beautifully spiced with warm acoustic revelations, soft electronica, neo-classical atmospheres and organic and synthetic spacey vibes. " audio poetry collected by Nova " VA - Imaginary Friends - collected by Nova
Label: Ultimae Records Catalog#: INRE037 Format: CD, Compilation Country: France Released: 30 Sep 2009 Genre: Electronic Style: Ambient, Breaks, Downtempo, Glitch, Modern Classical CD Digipack 3 parts + 16 sheets Booklet + Postcards A stunning, sort of ebb and flow contemporary classical atmospheric piano line and a deeply moving, wishful and beautifully arranged string instruments orchestration + a flavoring of some gentle shattered electronic pigments and static echoing bass vibrations made this track a masterpiece. A beautiful sequel to the also beautiful first part of " Regenzeit " from the brilliant " Hope " compilation. ( Fluid audio 001 "Hope" ) provided by a very promising artist. The second track by Kevin Andrew is another futuristic ambient, electro-acoustic stream with cinematic warm piano lines played in a minimalistic but very rich with emotion and atmosphere kind of way. Kevin provided some strange movements of sounds, working his magic, using the electronic production tool to create some beautiful abstract wonders. All of this is wrapped with a glitchy touch that comes and goes and a sensitive seasoning of an acoustic guitar is glowing briefly a few times like a sudden ray of light that dissolves gently. From my first impression of the Rena Jones' track - Photosynthesis (Nalepa remix ) I thought that it fits to the story line, but a bit less interesting compared to the other tracks on this compilation. But after a while it really grew on me with its mysterious mood and interesting sound manipulations. A refined ambient, electronica track with just a bit of neo-classical string work on the background, hazy synthetic designs and gentle smart downtempo structures. Offthesky is another talented artist on the rise, well known to some and less known to others. His track - Gently, drown the Scene is a beautiful revelation, an electronic based composition but with warm acoustic guitar sensitivities that reveal themselves like drops of magic. Wide illuminated electronic rising pads escort the acoustics with a cinematic feel, strange intelligent programmed beats give this track a nice cozy groove and the glitchy vibe is here as well. This is a very wintry track but with a heart-warming touch that gives that after-the-rain feeling. " Gray Daze " by Murya contains beautiful crystalline melodies made of fragile keyboards/synth sounds with a certain delicate sort of roughness that almost reminds a Rhodes piano. This sort of thing has been done before but Murya does it really well and in a graceful way and what can I say... the melodies are simply moving. Crisp patterns of beats and rhythms are shattering gently into pieces of a dream that slowly fades away... Smart simplicity is the key here. Cell's track - Out of Breath is top quality ambient electronica dreamy music. Rich synths textures swirling in an elegant groovy sensual kind of way over tickled cymbals, splashes and faint sharp and slightly round beats. Aes Dana provided a beautiful piece of work as usual. Vincent Villuis is definitely one of the most creative and innovative minds around, as Aes Dana, as one half of H.U.V.A Network and as one half of the Ultimae core. In " Resin " we can find his signature sort of spatial acoustics and sustained harmonics that work perfectly together with his morning electronica style. Reverberating crispy beats and unusual melodies flood the heart and mind with atmosphere. " Resin " is really in the same scent of Aes Dana's latest album "Leylines" which is an album that really pushed some boundaries in terms of composing and production (released in June this year). Track List
01. Field Rotation - Regenzeit II 02. Kevin Andrew - Three Weeks 03. Rena Jones - Photosynthesis (Nalepa Remix) 04. Offthesky - Gently, Drown The Scene 05. Murya - Gray Daze 06. Cell - Out Of Breath 07. Aes Dana - Resin 08. Hol Baumann - Handwritten Notes 09. Asura - Longing For Silence 10. Solar Fields - Times Are Good (Sometimes Remix) 11. James Murray - Eleven (Decades Mix) A great track. Mysterious and magical. Another heartwarming track. Stunning guitar lines, deep bass and this is another track on this compilation with crystalline keyboards/synth melodies but the whole track is wrapped with Hol Baumann's interesting envelopes of cut off and slicing through frequencies, infused with cleverly programmed kicking groovy sort of Breakbeat style beats and rhythms. A brilliant special track and another great work from Baumann as always. The Asura track is quite different from his previous work, in a fresh new way. A touch of lush Breakbeat, trip hop, some glitchy frequencies, weird warm synths, and above it, rich textures of Asura's beautiful signature sound and style of dramatic, symphonic, ethnic, oriental and tribal flavours. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. The original " Times are good " from Solar Fields's " Leaving Home " album is a very deep track, one of my favorites from Solar Fields and the " Somtimes remix " here offers a new panoramic and emotionally intense point of view for this track and it's absolutely magnificent. The guitar is crying from the depths, lush keyboards and synths shouting over organic spacey rhythms almost like a prayer for strength and hope. A floodgate that was broken, releasing light. The " Decades mix " for " Eleven " by James Murray is another good new angle for the also good original version of the track. After releasing an amazing album on Ultimae and a few brilliant tracks on some compilations, James Murray is definitely one of the best discoveries of the last few years. A perfect ending for the journey. " Imaginary Friends " does exactly what art supposed to do - it moves the heart and arouse the mind. All the tracks here are in high quality production and a great mastering job from Vincent Villuis is included. Excellent sound quality, lush and clean. Artwork All the Ultimae releases have a unique cover art and they are also great looking from inside. Most of them arrive with a 16 pages booklet that contains beautiful photographic material and great graphic designs. The inside design,outside cover art and booklet artwork of Imaginary Friends is absolutely mesmerizing and very original. Pictures from Stefano Terranova, Maya Berthou, Ysabelle Gomez and poems from Massimo Terranova aka Nova. Summary Nova put together a bunch of great tracks from very talented artists from all around the world and he gives us a journey that contains a variety of delicacies. A terrific choice of tracks by Nova. If you are still not familiar with the Ultimae label, its artists and magic gems and you are looking for something beautiful, fresh, colorful, unique and futuristic you should really check this release and actually you should really check all the Ultimae releases. And if you are already familiar with this label, its artists and gems, you probably already bought " Imaginary Friends " and diving in this moment. Another amazing release from Nova and from the Ultimae label. Links For purchase,samples and info go to the Ultimae website - http://www.ultimae.com/en/releases/385/index.html also available for purchase from the inSpiral Lounge Online shop - http://shop.inspiralled.net/album/786/Imaginary+Friends and from psyshop - http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/inr/inr1cd037.html And from Saiko sounds - http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=8177
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