Aeroshell – Lighthugger Single

For the first time on Agniworld a single-release is reviewed – it is the almost 7 minutes track “Lighthugger” by Aeroshell. This piece of music is not as long, as the works, reviewed earlier, but it is distinguished by the fact, that the artist managed to put so much of his inner force, imagination and to create a very magic and peculiar atmosphere, that these 7 minutes will be definitely enough to fall in love with this music. Actually, the style of this Aeroshell’s item of creation belongs to IDM-line, which is closely connected with ambient. Here you can find all traditional features, characteristic of this style – pleasant, but stable and forceful rhythm, deep and penetrating bass, and, of course, airy and imponderable ambient piece – the fundamental and determinant factor, which gives the whole thing a very unique colouring. “Lighthugger” is presumable derived from two words – “light” and “hug”, and together these two meanings create rather a placid and benigh concept and feeling of of either being hugged by the light or maybe hugging with the light. So, join the comfort of Aeroshell’s “Lighthugger”.

Self-release page (Bandcamp)

Saåad – Pink Sabbath

Today I bring to your attention a brutally atmospheric and esoteric self-released album “Pink Sabbath”, which appears to be the creation of Saåad, a mysterious and newest (for me) project, run by Romain Barbot. As I can understand from the sounding of this work, it is represented by processed sounds of Tibetan ritual instruments – huge horns and maybe some other. The opening track, “Pink Sabbath” is introducing you to the Saåad’s sacrament of vibrations, ringing and brain-exploding massive drones. The sonic contours are blurred and obscured, as if located in the far away distance, but through the flooding light of it you distinguish different elements. The tracks are smoothly passing one into another, so the whole album may be considered as a single track, though having various parts and moods. For me the most striking theme is the last, called “Southberry Tower”, with its majestic and strong radiance, which as if reveals the power of the Himalayas, where the mythic (or not mythic, who knows?) land of Shambala is situated. The music is rather energetic and purifying – you can feel some kind of takeoff, detachment from the physic level, rushing into the roasting depths of Light. So, join the “Pink Sabbath” of Saåad.

Self-release page on Bandcamp

Found at Deleted Scenes Forgotten Dreams Blog

Saåad on MySpace

Occurrences In Rain – Wafting Magic

Occurrences In Rain is a collaboration project between two musicians, which work via internet and had never met physically; they are a Polish artist Bruno Janiszewski and an American artist Precipitous. By the moment they released three albums on their own bandcamp page, and now I will concentrate on one of them, called “Wafting Magic”. For me it was a sudden discovery, and I am really glad to come across such prostrating and enveloping ambient music. The album opens with “(They Were) Tuned To Wafting Magic”, which truly represents the tuning to some majestic kind of mood, as if making the listener ready to the artists’ flight of fantasy. It is worth mentioning, that on their SoundCloud page, the musicians give a detailed description of the tracks; this helps to plunge into their world deeper and thoroughly. You can hear various field recordings, which enrich the whole atmosphere – and it proves Occurrences In Rain to be thoughtful and serious ambient composers. Then comes “Sixteen Seconds Before Collapse” – a subtle, but dense airy drone with some metallic found sounds, having a very mystic and a little bit frightening (in the best meaning of this word!) environment. The sound is growing more strained and alerted – the track’s title contains the warning, that something must happen. “Anticipating A Sudden Lack Of Oxygen” again has some kind of agitated climate, with suddenly appearing howlings, squeaks, which later abruptly fade away, and appear once again. “The Inner Peace Of Profound Longing” represents a vibrating set of pulsing drone, oscillations of which, as if due to the frictional force, produces tangible warmth. This was the brief review of this album, I won’t perform an exhaustive vivisection, because primarily this music must be heard and listened to, as it really carries emotions, images and energy from the authors. So, get some “Wafting Magic” from Occurrences In Rain.

Self-release page on Bandcamp

All tracks on SoundCloud

Stellardrone – A Moment Of Stillness

It’s high time now to return to some starlit ambient, and for this time it would be the work of Stellardrone, called “A Moment Of Stillness”, a self-released drone ambient 27 minutes and 5 track album. Having rhythmic elements, really it doesn’t seem to me a rhythmic at all, for it has more atmospheric and substantial features, than moving and going; even a flat drone has hidden microrhythms, but it is static and soaring. So, let’s turn to the material itself. The opening track, which entitles the whole album, gives the takeoff for the following strata of the author’s cosmic fantasy – “Billions And Billions” with its cyclical structure is evident to reveal the boundlessness of the great Universe, where even the enormous numbers with lots of zeros are vanishing in the Infinity, and any number, you can imagine, is sure to be absorbed and to surrender to this magic space. “Lights In The Sky” appears to be the sparkling soothing ambience, with flowing and flying elements, which emerge out of centuries-old vacuum, and then fading away. You are sure to feel the pulsating nature of this track, where its intercrossing frequencies create a definite atmosphere of serene and colourful surrounding, made by the weak light of the stars, which in spite of being so far away, presents their rays to Earth. “Solar Eclipse” is also mild and rather radiant with its blurred construction, resembling the interflowing of liquids with different density. The conclusion, “Twilight” is represented by synthesized and, maybe guitar melody, which, as if the poetic passage, complements the picture, which was created by the author. So, catch the Moment Of Stillness with Stellardrone.

Official self-release page

Prosektor – Mental Illness

This is a new album from Prosektor, and a new portion of clinical dark ambient. As you can notice, this album continues the theme of the dark side of a human psychic, which was already seen in Prosektor’s album “Mortuus Spital”, reviewed here. The opening track “Psychosis”, slowly and carefully brings us into the black abyss of the author’s fantasy. The known atmosphere of anxiety and overall tension envelope you, by curly, sullen coatings of sounds. “Clinical Lycanthropy” with its sudden frightening splashes, describes the form of a delusion in which a person believes that he is a wolf, and maybe it also describes the possible flow of consciousness of such a man, with nervously appearing images, jerkings and aggression. “Confabulatio” represents a clot of irregular fantasies, thoughts, creating a strange, unpredictable sounding. “Deep-pression”, the casuistry, based on the words “depression”, “deep” and “pression”, reveals all of the possible applications of the mentioned notions – the morose, flying ambiences, projecting fear, may become a truthful embodiment of this hard psychic state. The further you get the harder the going – then comes “Paranoia”, with thin, piercing layers of drones, with some use of field recordings: you can hear some sounds of dripping water. The album is crowned by “Schizoaffective Disorder”, strongly differing from the previous track by its volume and mood – it is more colourful, the black tones are supplemented with new, still dark shades of some other colours. Prosektor chose the thorny path of exploring those regions of our inner worlds, which we are always afraid of – mental illnesses are concealed even in the depths of a completely optimistic human being, and this research turns out to be very informative and expressive: all this create an impression, that Prosektor is a Wanderer in the twilights of the Mind, and he is as if making a report from the Other Side. So, have some dark ambient therapy from Prosektor’s album “Mental Ilness”.

Prosektor’s “Mental Illness” on Soundcloud

Ran Kirlian – Isolated Landscapes

Voluminous and mystical, esoteric and ominous is the album by a Spanish musician Ran Kirlian, called “Isolated Landscapes”. Especially, while listening to the second “Enlightment Cycle”, with its almost Tibetan solid mantric ringing and sounding, you can feel this powerful and puzzling experience. I don’t know exactly, whether it was the use of natural musical instruments, or synthesized means, but the whole impression of an inspired or even ecstatic ensemble is created. This album reminds me of some strongly isolated ceremony, the ceremony of transformation and dissolution in space, when the consciousness is not already concentrated in just one point, but it merged with the Universe. The sounds are truly pleasant for a drone-lover, and moreover, their duration makes us glad either – the tracks are in the range of 13-27 minutes, so you are sure to have a thorough meditative spare time, and completely to surrender to this tumultuous ocean of sonic waves. For me personally, music from this album turned out to be a psychedelic experience, in its strict sense, for my PSYCHics was really DELighted. The huge, enveloping layers of bells, some fluffy atmospheres, vocals, resembling throat signing, powerful background low drones are the determinant elements in making of this peculiar, unworldly and transcendental climate. So, have a continuous glance at “Isolated Landscapes” by Ran Kirlian.

Ran Kirlian’s official site

Official release page

“Isolated Landscapes” on Jamendo

Witxes – Scrawls #01

The next album, “Scrawls #01”, written by Witxes, also known as Maxime Vavasseur, appears to be a self release. What fascinated me most, was the wide spectrum of textures, implied in this work – you can find here everything you like: smooth, quiet, agitated, gentle, high-tone, low-tone, mid-tone, harsh, obscured, distinct, artificial and natural sounding; the author deposited a great deal of his imagination and hard work into this diverse sonic building, though the title says otherwise – these are scribbles, sketches, made in a hurry. It is truly difficult for me to distinguish any favorite piece out of “Scrawls #01”, because all of them are precious, and they constitute a united inseparable system. As far as the moods are concerned, they are too rather variable, but they are blurred and belong to pastel scale, as the prevalent or skeleton mood is closer to tranquility and calm, balanced perception of the world. The work represents a very attractive and gripping experience, as if you have read a deep philosophical book. So, watch some Witxes “Scrawls #01”.

Downloadable on a name-your-price basis on the official release page on Bandcamp