Showing posts with label Dub. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dub. Show all posts

Friday 24 March 2023

Yagya "Faded Photographs" (2023)

 

I recall commenting previously that Yagya's music, a unique blend of dreamy Ethereal Downtempo ambience, had run its course with me. Still in adoration of the peaceful persuasion this composer casts, this newest installment commanded a curious listen. The soft sway of deeply subdued dub percussion meets a timeless array of cloudy synths again for another sleepy affair in the heavens. Business as usual, the sweetest of routines that leaves me with little to say I haven't already in previous posts.

Where Faded Photographs caught my ear was with its vocal collaborations. A real sense of intended chemistry emerged as these delicate, softly sung voices chimed in as if a new element of the Yagya sound. Its been done before but in a few instances, these unions with Bandreas, Benoit Pioulard and my favorite Saint Sinner, turned out a treat! The subtle saxophone expressions from Óskar Guðjónsson another delight.

With a rather constrained temperament and consistent approach to the composition of these eleven songs, the novelty wears off swiftly but a soothing charm does persist. The Serpent stands head and shoulders apart as the records best song. Grappling with foggy unease and eerie stresses, the chorus moves through gratifying shifts as tensions resolve and elevate with beautiful chord progressions. It commanded me to write this post! The record however did become a rather typical affair for a sound thoroughly explored already. I do still enjoy on occasion though, this was one of them.

Rating: 6/10

Friday 7 June 2019

Yagya "Stormur" (2019)


Excitement and exception falls flat on its face as I rush to pick up a record without a pause to hear it first. Yagya has been a frequent "go to" for a particular mood, the steady pacing, ambient energy and dreamy atmospheres are blissful in the right setting, even calming. This time around the formula has changed, a pivot back towards roots in Dub, Techno and IDM music leaves us with a record more alike a Tangerine Dream album than Brian Eno. The opening couple of tracks have the distinctive soft and airy synths, cushioning the monotone beat and slowly melting into a dreamy atmosphere. It takes off where Sleepygirl left but not for long.

With each track the layer of warm and tranquil synths seem to slip out of focus as the underlying drive of Dub beats seem to become the main narrative. With an unhealthy amount of repetition the musics elongated moments seems to ploy around the microscopic details of the beat and its synths that latch closely. Inflection, tone and volume morphs and transmutes with the occasional kick removal offering up the only variety. Its at this point the songs drone on with that Tangerine Dream quality of winding meandering synths. Its dull, the record may possesses degrees of composure but its long strolls through winding beat manipulation suck out any magic it musters in brief moments. A real disappointment, not my cup of tea that is for sure.

Rating: 2/10

Monday 2 January 2017

Yagya "Stars And Dust" (2016)


Days before the new year arrived the Icelandic producer turned in his sixth full length record much to my excitement as immediately took to bandcamp to get my copy. The second post I wrote on this music blog was "Sleepygirls", which was over two years ago! That and "Rigning" have been my go to records for calm and meditative music with downtempo beats and dub baselines that can sooth and clear the mind. The minimalist album cover, open to interpretation, had me excited in hope for more of this sweet ambience, which is what we got.

Initially I was disappointed, hoping for something deep, dense and dreamy the "lightness" of the record threw me off. However with each listen I realized it was essentially the same style, familiarity with that layer of atmospheric density striped back. The result exposes Yagya's wondrous spacial feel for melodies, both in the form of synth strings drifting to and from focus and the inconsequential notes that cut through the atmosphere with intimidate echos on tracks like "The Observable Universe". The unconventional melody style creates a mesmerizing sense of depth as patterns and tunes allude one in the ever murmuring synths, swirling in the void.

The formula is somewhat unchanged. Deep resonating dub baselines stroll with the easy going downtempo beats and a similar selection of instruments layer colors on top. Mostly electronic synths, a few piano sounds, bells and voices make there way in too. There's a slight swirl of atmospheric noise happening subtly in the background, sometimes dialed up on the occasion track. Its this element, shifted in composition, that has been greatly toned down from previous records.

The change gives light to instruments that feel as equally mysterious and illusive, only providing the calming, soothing tone rather than a direct narrative. However that illumination was not previously absent, the melodies were conveyed within the thick atmosphere. It leaves me wondering if it gained or lost anything in this transition. "Stars And Dust" is more of what Ive come to expect, once again with its own pallet that doesn't do much to progress the sound. A solid record for a mood of calm or focus but nothing more.

Rating: 6/10

Sunday 3 July 2016

Basement Jaxx "Remedy" (1999)


A recent revisit to this record takes me back to my youth. At the turn of the millennium London based House duo Basement Jaxx's debut burst onto the scene with heavy airplay rotation and music video promotion on MTV that ultimately landed this record in my lap. The nostalgia was strong but I found the retrospect hadn't changed my opinion much in the ten or more so years since I last gave it a spin. The singles are banging, classic Dance tunes that speak volumes but beyond them a rather varied inclusion of styles through sampling that doesn't always hit the same intensity.

 Behind almost every song a steady is baseline thudding away in unison with programmed drums shuffling through tight varied arrangements to lay down the Dance foundations to move and groove to. Sometimes a little drab and narrow they get rather bombastic on the livelier, upbeat numbers and around them the samples and instruments create a different atmosphere for each song, with flashes of Pop, Ragga, Big Beat, Downtempo, Dub, Synthpop, Techno, Hip Hop and Ambient in the last two tracks. The duo give the House sound an expansive flavor from track to track which can be a little hit and miss.

It really comes down to taste but for the most part I like a lot of tracks on this record. For me "Always Be There" stands out as a song more released with its slow build up creating a slow settling mood for its vocal feature to climax with rich, sunny strings and echoing reverbs shuffling back and forth. The opener "Rendez-Vu" is a timeless classic sampling Spanish guitars, delivering a hook with infectious strings and topping it with the opening vocal lead "dum dum dum" and "doo wop" siting no need for coherent sentences to sing along with a tune. Each song has its own chemistries and arrangements, most of them suffer from a little repetition once the song has shown all its tricks and I'm left feeling pretty much the same way as before. It has fantastic moments but is rather inconsistent in flow. The final tracks drift off as the wheels slow down and fizzle out.

Favorite Tracks: Rendez-Vu, Jump N' Shout, Always Be There
Rating: 7/10

Tuesday 10 March 2015

Dusted "When We Were Young" (2001)


Dusted is an English duo consisting of producers Mark Bates and Rollo Armstrong of Faithless. I was turned onto this, their debut record, by a friend and was originally under the impression this was a soundtrack, due to a movie of the same name. I now know that its unrelated but this record actually played out like a soundtrack with many slow, chilled out, carefully crafted numbers that can shift moods and grow into big moments. It all came together like the setting for a tale to unravel and if anything, is the soundtrack to imagination and the power of music that is of the craft and subtitles this record posses in great quantity.

The opening track here sets a bright and warm tone for a record that in its chilled out nature will invoke good vibes and set a pleasant atmosphere of positivity and relaxation. With a traveling baseline groove and plucked melodic guitar strings the gentle, downtempo drum loops guide us into a warmth of sweeping strings and random electronic noises as the pace thickens like a rising sun, its rays of warm light arriving for the first time. With a memorable start the record it makes no strives to pick up the pace or jump into anything advantagous as it strolls through track after track, delivering chilled out, relaxed numbers that each deliver their own moment in between lush orchestration of layered sounds. Theres plenty of variety beyond the soothing electronics and steady drums, "Time Takes Time" introduces some graceful lead vocals and "Always Remember To Respect Your Mother" builds around stunning youthful choir leads that inspire greatly.

The album shifts gears with "The Biggest Fool In The World" as the tempo perks up with a big clap in the loop for a grooving moment in an otherwise chilled out record. As things progress we dive deeper into the Dusted world, continually exploring new territory with each step before climaxing with a dazzling piano number that ends the record with a lasting impression as the pianos descend into a wall of reverb. Overall its a breezy, carefree ride through chilled out music of craft and design, a concept played out brilliantly that unravels like the soundtrack to your imagination and inspiration.

Favorite Tracks: Childhood, Always Remember To Respect Your Mother, Oh How Sweet, Under The Sun
Rating: 7/10