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

Kaya Project - ... And So It Goes (Interchill)

The latest release from Kaya Project titled, ...And So It Goes, is full of spiritual and ethnic elements, multi-lingual vocals, and world infused beats. This is a third full length album from a collaborative duo of Sebastian James Taylor and Natasha Chamberlain. Incorporating digital production design with organic instruments, Taylor and Chamberlain create a beautiful downtempo album with elements of tribal rhythms and dusty dub grooves. This album is full of contributions from many artists, like Deepak Pandit on Indian violin, Susi Evans on clarinet, and excellent vocals by Irina Mikhailova. Some of the above artists have previously worked with Taylor under his other moniker, Hibernation, with the very latest release, Some Things Never Change (Aleph Zero, 2008). Taylor has always been a pretty busy guy. On the side, he manages to put out 12" breakbeat EPs on Sinister Recordings under his Digitalis alias. Meanwhile, some may recall his early psytrance work under Shakta moniker, with the last album being Feed The Flame (Dragonfly, 2004). In this latest work, Taylor and Chamberlain join forces once more, to display their wide artistic range through music that is at once relaxing, groovy, and earthbound. One can picture carefree belly-dancers performing around the fire, circled by musicians connected to their instruments with heart and soul. It is at once a feeling of happiness and unity with the one. Recommended for the likes of Asura, Tripswitch, Solar Fields and Entheogenic.

myspace.com/sebastiantaylor  |  interchill.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