Music Reviews: Planet Electronica

This month: Quicksilver harmonics. Spaced-out, ethereal, ambient, melty music that seems to ooze out all over outer space like a mellow threat from Planet Electronica.

FEZ DISPENSER: Fez Dispenser
Jazz-influenced beat-driven abstract hip hop. Think DJ Shadow, Chemical Brothers, and the Crystal Method taken up a musical notch: they know their jazz, too. This CD is packed with the following, take your pick: way tripped out jazz, a highly experimental hip hop, or spacey electronic with chops.

ANOMALOUS DISTURBANCES: The Spirit Molecule
Have you given your brain a bubble bath lately? Float and drift on passing waves of emotion and thought in this liquidy, rippling, dawn-colored sea of ambient electronic soundscapes that could very well be the most visceral out-of-body experience you've ever had.

VERTIGO DELUXE: Vertigo Deluxe
Dramatic, dreamy, sophisticated and mesmerizing down tempo electronics brush up against pop with fluid, soulful vocals calling to mind Sade, that will paint pictures of underwater canyons, distant, mist-heavy landscapes, and cosmic convergences. If it's been a while since you've unplugged from the rat race circuit, this is the chill pill you need.

ELEMENTAL: Lux Aeternae
Heavily influenced by the electronic music of Europe and the "Berlin school" in the 70's to the mid 80's, this sweeping, liquidy electronic album is a muscle relaxer for the brain. Using mainly analog synthesizers and sequencers, these songs have a full spectrum of sounds, ranging from crystalline to earthy. Fans of Tangerine Dream, indulge yourself.

STRAYLIGHT: Straylight
Start with Afro-Brazilian percussion, analog Buchla synth and electric guitar in an ambient and mysterious universe that rebels against gravity, physics and common sense, mix in brooding echoes, shadows of swarming dissonances and the unmistakable feeling of floating in space with uneasiness that is too fascinating to resist; you've just begun to enter the psyche of this improvisational electronic trio, and they are determined to blow your mind.

MICHAEL HALAAS: The Lucidity Project
Grammy-nominated cellist, Joan Jeanrenaud, of the famous Kronos Quartet, sings through these songs, weaving tumbling, river-like cello tone through fluid tapestries of classical, new age and jazz language. Dramatic, passionate, soaring and epic, these pieces dance through the imagination, calling up expansive landscapes, mountain ranges, and tender moments between lovers. This is the epitome of classically-informed new age where sophistication and artistry are held no less important. Like a soundtrack in need of a movie.

GARLO: Vent De Guitares
Space oddity: 54 guitars placed on the summit of the highest sand dune in Europe. Result? The song of hundreds of strings vibrating only under the wind's touch. Experimental, ambient, geo-acoustic creation.

Reviews courtesy of: CD Baby

Courtesy: Arte Six/Sasha Soren
"Arte Six": All the arts. All the time.

Article Author: Arte Six

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