Sound Bytes : Blue Hour Sounds, Mille Plateaux, and Sutemos

In this installment of Sound Bytes, I wish to cover a few compilations that recently grazed on the cones of my speakers. I've got some ambient, downtempo, and IDM here for you to munch on. And what's more delicious about this organic cocktail is that a lot of it is FREE! Bon appetit!

Made of Dawn (Blue Hour Sounds)
Kicking off this label's birth is a chill-out 10-track compilation titled Made of Dawn. This very first release from the Italian Blue Hour Sounds label features many well known artists in the downtempo scene, as well as a few newcomers. Followers of psychedelic and morning trance should recognize a few names on here, such as Sebastian Taylor (Digitalis, Kaya Project, Shakta etc.) appearing here as Hibernation; Eliot Morgan Jones and Nick Woolfson appearing as Sounds From The Ground; Michael Hodgson and Paddy Free as Pitch Black; René Gundel Nielsen & Martin Spanner Zimmermann as Beat Bizarre and many others... This is a beautiful selection of psybient vibrations, perfectly curated for the fans of Headphone Commute's Best of 2009 Music For Awakened Spirits And Open Minds. The founders of the label, Luca and Jasmine plan on following up this downtempo release with a psytrance compilation, The Garden of Delights. And if you're not a fan of psychedelic music, well maybe now is the time to check it out, because this compilation is 100% FREE!!! A 128kbps MP3 version is available for download in exchange for your email.

Clicks & Cuts 5.0 - Paradigm Shift (Mille Plateaux)
Mille Plateaux is back!!! That's right, kiddies, this is the influential German label that introduced us to genres like click-hop, glitch-pop, clicks and cuts! Kicking off back in 1993, Mille Plateaux brought us compilations like Modulation & Transformation with appearances by Aphex Twin, Cristian Vogel, and Air Liquide. In 1996, the label released the infamous Gas record, and in 1999 they catapulted SnD. In 2000, Vladislav Delay joined the roster and introduced us to the Clicks + Cuts series! And Alva Noto's debut, Prototypes also came out on Mille Plateaux. In 2004, the label went into hiatus, and now, four years later, it's back with it's fifth installment of Clicks & Cuts, subtitled Paradigm Shift! Now it should be no wonder to you, why I am so excited about this release! Many new and familiar names on here, like Kabutogani, Aoki Takamasa, Kiyo, Gultskra Artikler and of course, Ametsub! As the series suggests, this is a selection of fresh glitch sounds: "from Minimal Clicks to IDM-/Dub-ish tracks via Ambient and Sound Art to the 2 'Evac' tracks going to the Artcore and Organic extremes" that should get your taste buds wet for all the music to come!

Intelligent Toys: We Make Music (Sutemos)
I'm going to start off and state outright that Sutemos is one of the most influential net-labels! A lot of new and established talent has come through the doors of this Lithuanian purveyor of electronic and experimental sound! Its ability to spread the music far and wide, is what makes it 'influential' in the scene - especially since all of the releases can be downloaded for FREE! What better way of putting the music in your ear? The very first volume of Intelligent Toys series was released back in 2004. Eight years later we say the fifth installment, featuring artists like AGF/Delay, Deer, Monoceros, Ulrich Schnauss, Yagya, Swod, Miwon, Funckarma, Sense, Praveen, Kero, IJO, Ruxpin and many many others! This sixth entry, subtitled We Make Music is a three volume compilation with over 50 tracks! That's right, it's over 4 hours of music available to you for free! And the roster? We've got AGF, Monokle, krill.minima, Maps And Diagrams, Jan Jelinek, MINT, Sabi, Esem, Sleepy Town Manufacture and more than a handful of debuts - I can't possibly list all of them here! As with all Intelligent Toys, this release is accompanied by a gallery of nearly 30 images, which in itself makes this compilation a collector's dream. So don't delay, and experience the sound of evolving electronica for yourself! Remember, it's FREE!

Be sure to read this entry directly on Headphone Commute for audio track samples.

Cell - Hanging Masses (Ultimae)

Frenchman Alex Scheffer, aka Cell, is an Ultimae regular, having contributed tracks to many of the label's compilation albums, including the excellent Fahrenheit series. Yet, Hanging Masses is his first album for the label and only his second overall, not counting a couple of notable live releases. I've always honed in on Cell's tracks; he usually manages to hit a really sweet spot, mixing a deep slowly developing ambient/downtempo vibe with catchy hooks and wet, shimmering synths on top. Yet, his prior full-length, Phonic Peace, released by Indica in 2005, was not my cup of tea. Too much of the sort of pseudo Indian mysticism that just rubs me the wrong way. Like a lot of other people, I was energized by the music coming out of Britain's Asian underground scene in the mid to late '90s - Talvin's Singh's Anokha album in '97, State of Bengal, Joi, Cornershop and the like. But for some reason I then developed a real aversion to the fusion of traditional Indian and electronic music. Don't know why. Thankfully, Hanging Masses is more in line with his live releases - Live at Glade Festival 2005 (Sofa Manifesto, 2007) and Live at Kumharas - Ibiza (Ultimae, 2007) - only even more mellow and low key. According to Ultimae's press release, the album "constitutes in the artist's heart a homage to Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream and Steve Reich." The connection with Reich is not obvious but Eno and TD are definitely in attendance. Cell is not a man in a hurry. He's content to slowly fill in the sonic landscape, sprinkling it with gently euphoric glimpses of light. Even when the 4/4 kick drum makes an appearance, typically about half way through a song, the pace never exceeds a leisurely stroll. The experience is akin to lying in a field, gazing at the cloud formations for hours and then suddenly deciding to get up to take a walk through the enchanted forest nearby. The restrained but propulsive groove, such as on the mesmerizing title track, ensures that it's a captivating experience. Recommended for all followers of Ultimae's roster, including Aes Dana, H.U.V.A. Network, Solar Fields, and Hol Baumann.

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Review prepared by Tigon for Headphone Commute.

See also Two and a Half Questions with Cell

myspace.com/alexscheffer | ultimae.com/cell

H.U.V.A. Network - Ephemeris (Ultimae)

Humans Under Visual Atmospheres (H.U.V.A. Network) is back with a long awaited sophomore release on Lyon (France) based Ultimae Records. Before I cover the album, it's worth it to pause and deconstruct this group. H.U.V.A is a duo comprised of Magnus Birgersson and Vincent Villuis. Birgersson is none other than Solar Fields, a regular on Ultimae, with six full length albums. If that alias sounds familiar, it's probably because you were blown away by his recent music score for the Electronic Arts game Mirror's Edge. That's right, that's Birgersson. And Monsieur Villuis is none other than Aes Dana, an alumni member of Asura (as of 2001) and part owner of Ultimae with Sandrine Gryson (Mahiane). With such a solid and talented combination, you'd be right to get excited about this next installment in psybient evolution. The purveyors of "oneiric trip-hop", downtempo, and "ambient geometries" will be absolutely delighted with the psychedelic melodies, etherial sound design, and impeccably crisp production. Seekers of sonic voyages will be enveloped by limitless soundscapes, spreading over slow punctuated beats that eventually lift off into an outer journey. The mid portion of the album picks up in tempo, and evolves into a light morning trance, keeping with the rhythm of a four-to-the-floor kick drum. But at the end of Ephemeris, the beat slows down once again, to bring you back down to Earth, after your brief meditative trip. The album was composed between two studios, Villuis' Ultimae Studio in Lyon, France and Birgersson's Studio Jupiter in Göteborg, Sweden. The deluxe edition of the digipack release contains a sixteen page booklet with photographic works by Gingerine, BeneA, Concoon, Goulden, 1100, and Matzchen. Here is a quote from the album defining its title: An ephemeris (plural: ephemerides; from the Greek word ephemeros "daily") is a table of values that gives the positions of objects in the sky at a given time or times. The position is given in a spherical polar coordinate system of right ascension and declination or in logitude along the zodiacal ecliptic, and sometimes declination. The ephemeris paramaters relate to eclipses, apparent retrogradation/planetary stations, planetary ingresses, sidereal time, positions & the phases of the Moon, Cartesian coordinates, picnic on Mars, breakfast on Jupiter and disturbing jetlags. While filling your cart on Ultimae's web shop, be sure to add the duo's first collaboration, Distances (Ultimae, 2004), as well as Solar Field's recently released Movements (Ultimae, 2009) and Aes Dana's Season 5 (Ultimae, 2005). I am also a big fan of the Ultimae's Fahrehnheit Project compilation series, with its last installment being Part 6 as of 2006. Favorite track on the album: Orientations Part 1

myspace.com/solarfields | myspace.com/aesdana
myspace.com/panoramicmusic | ultimae.com

Bluetech - The Divine Invasion (Aleph Zero)

Evan Bartholomew drops another album for our hungry ears. This time, his groovy downtempo sonic treatments are released under his renowned moniker, Bluetech. For The Divine Invasion, Bartholomew puts aside his ambient and modern classical work under his real name, and returns to his tight IDM , digital funk, and tech-dub beats with a touch of masterfully produced atmospheres and spacey psychedelia. Here's Bluetech with his staple sound of micro-programmed clicks and stereo bouncing bleeps. Here's the never-ending echo of the the minor dubbed-out chords. Here's everything we have grown to love from one of the pioneers of PsyDM sound. Listening music meets dance floor meets contemplative far away places where dreams recursively collide.

Aleph Zero is an Israeli label putting out downtempo and psychill records, as spearheaded by its co-owner, Yaniv Shulman (one half of Shulman). Bartholomew has found a home on Aleph Zero for Bluetech releases since Elementary Particles in 2004. This is Bluetech's fourth full length release, including the quietly slipped in Phoenix Rising, released on his own, mostly minimal, modern classical, and ambient focused label, Somnia, just a few months prior. Did you catch that one? On The Divine Invasion we hear Steve Hillage (Mirror System) return for a contribution of his guitar sweeps, after a very successful collaboration last year with Bartholomew, under his dub techno slotted moniker, Evan Marc, on Dreamtime Submersible (Somnia, 2008). We are also treated to a track of collaborative work between Bluetech and Eitan Reiter, who has made numerous appearances in the past on Aleph Zero, Dooflex and Iboga.

The Divine Invasion is at once more mature and playful. Following Bartholomew through his ambient and techno releases, I can hear the both sides converge on the Bluetech sound that steers clear of stylistic constraints and genre defining elements. This is not a futuristic science fiction space odyssey, where the newly technological advances can be disproved by today's early adopters. This is a mysterious world of dreams and psychedelic visions. And in such alternate realities, unfathomed by our limited senses, anything goes. This surreal music of no limits and boundaries is the perfect candy for your reality smothered mind.

With numerous appearances on a roster of respectable labels, Interchill, Yellow Sunshine Explosion, Platipus, and his own Native State Records, this is one of Bluetech's finest contributions towards the evolution of psychedelic sound. For an ambient exploration in sound, pick up Bartholomew's releases on Somnia. Make sure you also check out Bluetech's Sines and Singularities (Aleph Zero, 2005). Recommended if you get down with Plaid, Jon Hopkins, Kilowatts and Ott.

myspace.com/iambluetech  |  bluetechonline.com
myspace.com/alephzerorecords  |  aleph-zero.info

Integral - Rise (Tympanik)

Another excellent surprise coming out of Tympanik. And that's twice in one year. First I was completely blown away by Subheim's Approach. And now another brand new group, Integral, hitting me hard out of nowhere with their debut, Rise. The duo behind Integral are Germany based David Rotter and Rafael Milatz. Their sound is dark, cinematic, and simply gorgeous IDM. It feels like these guys are going to be creating soundtracks for melancholic films of other-worldly voyages in no time. Hold on... Someone's knocking on my door. Oh... Never mind. That was in the track. Where was I? Ah, back on the spaceship. Alien insects are crawling upside down on a glass ceiling as we approach a sun rise of a distant galaxy. And when we land on the first favorable foreign planet, its beauty sings in soft sound waves after the electric storm. All the little sounds and patterns on Rise excite my neurons, as my brain races to keep track of all the psychedelic changes and the complicated unfolding layers of sound, even though the rhythm is of a slower downtempo nature. That happens to be my favorite stylistic aspect of this genre: slow spreading ambient melodic soundscapes on one layer and rapid micro precision programmed elementary auditory particles on the other. That is something my mind can never tire of, as there are numerous puzzles to be solved within this cryptic message. And when you're done, you can flip it upside down. Big thanks to Tympanik, once again, for bringing this music to our ears. Seems that the Chicago based label is tirelessly searching in all corners of this planet for the sounds emanating from another. Another great find. Beautiful artwork. Recommended for the likes of Hecq, Kattoo, Ginormous, Nebulo and Lusine Icl.



myspace.com/integral | integralmusic.de
myspace.com/tympanik | tympanikaudio.com

Argaman - My Little Forest (self)

It's a quiet forest morning. The birds are chirping. Somewhere a large animal calls out to its mate. Soon the horns sound. The kaleidoscopic circus marches in. The trees begin to bend as they extend into the skies, branching out in rainbow fractals. Everything compacts into a single energy and then explodes again. The psychedelia sets in. Itai Argaman has been working on his psybient album for over two years, no doubt studying the mind-bending sounds of Shpongle, Infected Mushroom, Shulman, Bluetech, Aes Dana, and Ott in the process. Inspired by the Israeli underground psychedelic music scene, Argaman uses classical and orchestral instrumentation to create floating, morphing, and curving sounds combining into psydub-psychill-psydm-and-psy-everything-else. Argaman's musicianship begins at his classical compositions that were promoted to cinematic scores, and continues to develop through continuous study of electronic sound. As I watched Argaman evolve in the last year, I saw him progress from a mere demo of a few tracks into a full polished album, My Little Forest. The slight dementia hiding beneath the covers of My Little Forest clearly reflects the collective insanity of modern society. The interlined thematic tracks reveal the story of both realities - the one perceived and the one beyond our senses. In which one do you live? This is a special treat, as this album is still unsigned to any label, but will be be out soon (follow Argaman via myspazz). Recommended if you enjoy the above mentioned names, or any artists from labels like Twisted, BNE, TIP, Phonokol, or Dragonfly.



myspace.com/argaman | itaiargaman.com

Ott - Skylon (Twisted)

Ott's second album begins with an ambient interlude saturated with ethnic sounds. But at about a third into a 12-minute track, the bass drops into a pleasant reggae-infused dub that always gets me bopping my head. But who is this Ott, with only one other previous solo release on Twisted Records? Why, he's the producer behind Hallucinogen's In Dub, of course. He also worked with Shpongle, The Orb and Brian Eno. With a huge list of collaborations and studio work, Ott is at the top when it comes to quality production. And Skylon is no exception. Dropping the above mentioned names should give you an idea of psychedelic ambient sound that dominates the album. And so my dry and nostalgic longing for psychill is instantly rejuvenated. Skylon prominently stands among my all time favorites by Simon Postford and Ron Rothfield (Raja Ram, 1200 Mics), downtempo tracks by Infected Mushroom, as well as earlier works by Shulman. And you too, without a doubt, will recognize the staple pitch-shifted vocal manipulation, time stretched flanged beats, and lead arpeggios fed through low-pass filters. All of the above works very well within the super dubbed out, delay-heavy, world-music-infused tracks. Definitely grab this for above mentioned names, as well as Younger Brother, Phutureprimitive, Tripswitch and Bluetech. Favorite tracks: The Queen Of All Everything, Roflcopter and an absolutely beautiful A Shower Of Sparks.

myspace.com/somersettler | ottsonic.com
myspace.com/twistedrecordsuk | twisted.co.uk

Hol Baumann - Human (Ultimae)

Hats off to my good friend Underfoot for bringing my attention to this new release from an excellent French psybient label, Ultimae Records. The owners of the label, Mahiane (Sunbeam) and Vincent Villuis (Aes Dana), have been focusing on some of the most advanced, chilled out, psychedelic ambient sound, with that uplifting morning trance feel. Lyon based Olivier Orand’s (Hol Baumann) sophomore record, Human, is no exception. Orand tastefully blends a pinch of ethnic asian sound with a base of downtempo glitchy atmospherics (reminding me a little of Tipper’s earlier work). Orand’s tracks have previously appeared on almost every installment of the excellent Ultimae Fahrenheit Project series. For the latest compilation volume, Fahrenheit Project Part Six, Orand contributed his Radio Bombay track, which, in my opinion is not the strongest in his entire album. What I’m saying is that Human has a lot more to offer than what you may have accidentally glimpsed through past appearances. I recommend you check out this release in its entirety, especially if you’re interested in exploring another form of chillout: psychill. Other artists to check out: Cell, Aural Planet, Bluetech, and Aes Dana. Favorite track: Benares.

myspace.com/holbaumann | holbaumann.com
myspace.com/panoramicmusic | ultimae.com