Category: Review

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Sonaris Music Review: The Witches Son by Cinder Ghost

“The Witches Son” is the title track taken from Cinder Ghost’s upcoming E.P “The Witches Son” – due for release August 10th.

Even though the majority of my own projects are in the mid-bpm range (between 125-132 usually) I often find myself drawn to the slower tempo when relaxing or trying something new. Something about the lower bpms which allows for more “feeling”, atmosphere and ambiance. Don’t get me wrong, there are many house producers who achieve amazing ambiance, but something about the spacing between the beats in slower tempo tracks is just pleasant.

This single from Cinder Ghost achieves that which I personally enjoy about downtempo/chillout electronica. The track starts off with a nice, filtered, warm ambiance. The bass wraps my ear canal, like a warm blanket on a chilly day. The reversed synth melody supports the plucking melody, the vocals fitting neatly between the layers. This relaxing chillout track is a great first entry for the upcoming EP. Check it out, below – there is even a [limited] free download of the WAV file available, at this time.

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Sonaris Music Review: Bocuma

Bocuma Among The FreeThis next installment in our music reviewing adventures comes in the form of the electronica albums Summer Pylon and Among The Free by Bocuma. Rather than do the usual thing and talk about each track or album individually, we’ll examine Bocuma’s production style and the type of sound he consistently puts out.

I’ll be honest, the first thing that really jumped out at me is the awesome cover art Bocuma chooses for his albums. I’m not certain from where this art comes, but call me jealous. I’ve always been attuned to the mix between the visual and the auditory – the imagery presented by the music, supplemented by the artwork. A good album cover and put my mind in a certain mood, and let me know what to expect. Sometimes I’m way off, but sometimes I’m spot on. With Bocuma, I definitely felt like the imagery sets up the mood for some deep, layered, mysterious music.

Bocuma’s style is very analog, which is constantly being brought back by the likes of Daft Punk. In the past, I may have overlooked the artistic value of using analog sounds and tools, because that’s not what mainstream electronic music is like, and it’s not important – I’d argue – at a club. However, over time, I’ve found that analog music gives electronic music a mature sound, as if trying to proclaim that analog musicians are “real” musicians. There is certainly some divide on what many in the industry construe as true musicianship and whether creating music with the click of a mouse is the same as tweaking knobs and pressing keys with fingers that big of a difference. But, I digress. The albums have a significant influence of 70’s analog vibes, as Bocuma describes his own music.

What Bocuma’s music does well is present an interesting, relaxing ambient experience, but with enough punch and variation to keep me from falling asleep. Most, if not all, of the tracks are fairly complex in their use of fx and layering, to present a full package of music. The final mix could be cleaner, because it often does really sound as though this was mixed down in the 70’s, without the modern, crisp feel, from which I think Bocuma’s music could benefit greatly. Melodically, I found the deep, melancholy vibes an interesting voyage. Lots of changes and variations made for an interesting listening experience.

Whether you enjoy this type of music is irrelevant, when looking at it from an objective point of view. The productions have a signature underground feel, and it’s clear that a lot of thought went into creating these personal soundscapes. Each piece carries a message created by Bocuma, capturing a piece of him and sharing it with the world.

Check out Bocuma on:

Bandcamp – http://bocuma.bandcamp.com/

Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/boc_uma

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Bocuma/info

iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/bocuma/id474850536

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Sonaris Music Review: Dance in Haze by Ebola Ape

Ebola Ape Dance In Haze (cover art by Bartosz Polak) Sonaris Music ReviewThis next review comes via the epic soundscape that is Ebola Ape’s Dance in Haze, out in all major shops on February 1st, 2014. Ebola Ape is an emerging Polish producer of “eery, nocturnal atmospheres”. He describes his work as “Music of the night. Reverbed emotions of solitude.” Original productions, using analog synths and original vocal samples.

This album is heavy, goes hard in the paint with some seriously deep, massive, gooey soundscapes. Almost immediately upon cranking my WinAmp up a notch, a heavy cloud of ambiance, trap beat, choral vocals and jungle animal sounds fills my head, in the form of the opening track, Lombok,  instantly relaxing me. What an opening. Boom! This is Dance in Haze.

Lighthood is as deep as they come on this album, with dark organ sounds accentuated by reverberated female vocals and a tightly wrapped trap beat. This is the music of 2014, stuff I haven’t heard before. There is some Enya-like influence in there – a mysterious vibe.

Honest is a hard-hitting spoken word/rap/trap style track with some slick and sick vocal fx, meticulously and accurately laid out. The vocals shine through the deep atmosphere and come across as clean and crisp as it gets. Back to Uluwatu is another, similar vocal rap track – truly a unique production.

Sigh is one of my favorite tracks on the album, because not only does it use all of the elements described before, but it also introduces a melancholy melody which shines a dim light on the overall heavy production. Irian is another, similar track that really stands out, melodically.

This album took me on a true aural journey, transcending and undermining so much of what is now mainstream electronic music. Whenever I hear someone say that electronic music is going downhill, I laugh – to myself – because I get to take these secret weapons of electronic music and unleash them on the world through my reviews. This album is a stand-alone in a crowd, deep and unforgiving, mocking the cookie cutter world of mainstream electronic music with it’s sheer primal, animal rawness.

Whatever you’re into, this slow-paced – worldly- album is one you at least want to hear once, but as for me – I’ll just be over here playing it again. This is music licensing gold, so don’t be surprised if you hear this in a film or show in the foreseeable future.

Dance in Haze on Bandcamp:
http://ebolaape.bandcamp.com/album/dance-in-haze

More information about Ebola Ape and his label:
http://astralritual.net/
http://ebolaape.com/

Ebola Ape on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/ebola-ape

Ebola Ape on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/bol-P/313921475311015

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Sonaris Music Review: Crutches by Hunter

Scott HuntScott Hunt aka Hunter is an American composer, songwriter, singer and producer – releasing albums for almost two decades. Recently, a friend of Scott’s reached out to me, asking me to check out what he felt was an overlooked album, which should be heard. After listening to Crutches, I have to concur.

While Crutches is not an album which I would personally categorize as electronic dance music, per se, it does feature some elements of dance music (namely disco), and does contain some electronica components (lots of analog synths). Whether it is or isn’t EDM isn’t really what’s at stake here. What it is is a brilliantly produced retro-sounding indie, music-nerd-style treat.

The album starts off slow with Never Believe, a filtered intro with some psychedelic backing choral vocals, definitely feeling some strong 60’s/70’s influence here with the bouncy bassline and flanged vocals, the Beatles style panning.

The album is arranged in a nicely flowing way, with one track seemingly more interesting than the last.

The highlights of the album, to me, are:

the vocals – the vocals shine on this album, and add at least half of the album’s appeal, it just wouldn’t be the same without them

the panning – Scott’s attention to details is very evident by the meticulous and deliberate placement of each little element in its own place on the track

the beats – loved the drum sequences on this album, the timely fills, builds and breaks, the crisp sound of the percussion

the basslines – each track has a unique feel, while keeping to the same theme, driven in large part by the bouncy basslines

All of the tracks on the album are honestly outstanding in their own way, so it’s hard to pick favorites, but if pressed, I’d have to say that No More Rider and Three Finger Hands were my top picks.

I can appreciate the effort and love that went into producing this album. I would say it’s easily on par with many indie albums on regular radio rotation. The sound is professional, and it begs to be heard.

I could see some interesting remixes coming out of this, if Scott were to release a remix pack for some of the tracks.

At $7, this album is a bargain for anyone who is interested in hearing some original, creative, “good” music. You can grab a copy here on Scott’s Bandcamp.

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Sonaris Music Review: Captain Quaalude by Captain Quaalude

Speaking of original music, I got a chance to preview a new ambient/chillout album by Captain Quaalude, available on bandcamp. While this type of music may be “too experimental” in nature for enjoyment by the “common ear” – ambient and chillout music is a great source of inspiration for me personally. Quite often, the “goal” – if you will – is to combine some unusual elements in such a way that they work well together and provide for a pleasant listening experience.

The six and a half minute first track, Flight Patterns, accomplished a pleasant listening experience, but more than that, it’s essentially its own imaginary world, created using sound. The heavily distorted intro is a bit unusual, but things get interesting as the atmosphere evolves, and the track becomes progressively cleaner, as if a fog of noise is slowly clearing the way for different sounds to penetrate the veil, and shine on their own. The track ended abruptly for my taste, I felt like it could keep going for another minute or two, with more evolutions, more progression and development. It left me waiting for more.

Blizzard Shrapnel takes things into a quasi-trap dimension with a big pounding bass drum, some very interesting chords and vocal samples. Dissonant, but in a good way, there are a lot of things happening here. Abrupt transitions from percussion to acoustic guitar, the piece feels like it was made with love, love for attention deficit. I’d equate this particular piece to modern art, in a sense, because while there are some interesting, almost psychotic episodes and changes in structure, it is done in a very clever way. Soft vibes wrapped in darkness.

I’m starting to get used to how this album flows by the time Bang Bang Club starts out with a rich ambiance, vocal samples, dark hip-hop style beat on which I could see Jay Z dropping a verse. Suddenly, the whole thing transitions into a totally new piano melody, backed by clean beats and more vocal samples. Nearly halfway into the album, the vibe is clearly saddled with melancholy.

A lot of planning and fx work went into each composition, as ShortbusTripz again illustrates with intense ambiance – hard driving beat, with raw power. The thing I like the most so far, about this album, is the work that went into the transitions. While seemingly haphazard, the transitions tie all of the tracks together through a common theme.

While each track on the album is fundamentally different, they all follow the same formula. The mix could be improved on some of the productions, unless it’s done in such a way on purpose, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least. All The Way is a fitting outro. The extended vocal sample, lowfi, backed by a saxophone melody, is a fitting conclusion to this eccentric release, which ends as abruptly as it begins.

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Sonaris Music Review: Space – by Fetal Pulse AKA Pedro Costa

The cool part about my “job” is that I get to do what I want, and that means that sometimes I get to review some very original music, stuff you won’t find in the Top dance charts or on the radio, but you might hear in the background of an epic film, or in a cafe by the beach. Today I got an opportunity to review Fetal Pulse’s album Space, which features some awesome original work. If you’re into quality, deep, spacial electronic vibes, read on.

Fetal Pulse is a new experimental/ambient/downtempo electronic project by Canadian indie music producer Pedro Costa. Pedro’s previous production endeavors include some licensing music for MTV, the UFC, and the Oxygen channel, as well as a Top 10 chart placement on the Polish Alternative Rock charts in 2009.

Space is a 12-track LP which releases on Bandcamp on October 22nd, 2013.

The album kicks off with a hard-driving progressive-house style track, Blast Off, with rolling arpeggios, heavenly pads and and a strong percussive presence. Immediately I noticed some unintended-but-interesting similarities between this track and my own track, Sputnik. Albeit better mixed, and better structured, Blast Off features some similar distant space themes. The track is a strong opening for an album packed with delayed fx, intertwinging melodies and spacy vibes – all tied together by a clear common theme.

Hyper Jump takes a step into the unknown with bouncy synth sounds and a relaxing atmosphere while Deep Space takes a leap into the calm, ethereal zones of what lies behind the dark side of the moon.

Touch The Stars adds some uplifting presence to the overall moody LP, with nicely panned percussive elements and a light melody.

The chills of the spacial void took over once Habitable World warmed up and the ghostly vocal oohs cascaded off my ear drums, leaving me in a supremely relaxed disposition. Flowing pads, the plucking of a distant guitar and vocals which shift from the background to the fore, seamlessly accent this excellent track. In my opinion the grandest and most ambitious track on the album, it’s executed flawlessly. An absolutely brilliant production, start to finish.

Interstellar Club is an interesting departure from the rest of the tracks with a funky bassline, and playful melodies. It’s complimented nicely by the technotrancy Zero Gravity Dance Party, which really heats things up with timely transitions,  pumping bass and alternating melodic leads.

Last but certainly not least, Re-entry is an atmospheric outro with a nice mix of melodic and fx elements, tying the album together in one short, sweet goodbye.

Overall I found the album an enjoyable, and relaxing, listening experience. Whether for music licensing, ambiance aficionados or the casual listener, everyone can find something to like about this charming indie release. While admittedly a bit raw in parts, the album – much like space itself – attempts to capture every piece and facet of sound and combine them into an auditory journey while making no excuses, which is does well. I suggest you check out this eclectic and original album, and see for yourself. In the meantime, I’ll be kicking back with Habitable World on repeat.

Cover image by: Sweetie187
www.flickr.com/photos/58782395@N03/