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 | Various Artists:Ambient Rituals (Hypnotic/Cleopatra - 1995) Here's a fine gathering of 8 ambient artists as assembled by the folks at the Hypnotic division of Cleopatra. Some pieces shine a bit more brightly (or darkly, as the case may be) but this is a generally worthwhile compilation. |
| Kinder Atom's Scanus opens with smooth synthesizer sweeps. More synths soon join, then a disco beat, additional rhythm, off-key duotone bleeps, robotic handclaps... It's more a whispy techno than ambient. Not great, but not bad, either.
That track literally segues into Autorhythm Two by A.S.A.. Bleeps, beats and a strange watery sound... I don't know what it is, but there's a lot of it here, continually percolating. Maybe that's what gives this little ditty its sense of immediacy? It's definitely distinctive in its dribbly delivery. It's Leeb and Fulber (of Delerium, et. al) yet again; this time as Synaesthesia. Hemisphere is my personal favorite, spacey yet powerful, musical yet abstract. Dark, interesting and very active, it adds sonic layer upon layer. As usual their mix is very deep, always changing, building, evolving. Great stuff, of course! Perceptrons gives us Tens. Oscillating noise patterns, some very high frequency bleeps and a varying throbbing rhythm... it's all very electronic, somewhat interesting, though not exceptional. Weapon by Digital Poodle is a comparatively short and dark track featuring low frequency bursts and various forms of electronic clatter erupting over a slow organ melody. Dead Voices On Air's 11-minute long contribution is an especially atmospheric piece entitled Vuls, the most "ambient" track. Cold and haunted by echoes of the past, it rings with the bleak desolation of a deserted space station. Quite dark, but even moreso, chillingly empty... I llllike it! Aleph Requiem from Virex features a variety of sounds and no beat, but the predominant (slurry, distorted) keyboard riff gets a bit repetitious for my taste. The underlying synthesizer tones and other sound elements are quite interestingly done, but 7 minutes of the same simplistic notes gets old. The closing track is the energetic Visionneuse by Rapoon. Its rhythm pounds like some high speed machine, totally dominating the song. For all the energy though, it doesn't feel as if we're going anywhere. The background smoothly rises and falls, expands and contracts, ebbs and flows... the machinery pounds on for more than 13 minutes. |
| Hypnotic's Ambient Rituals comp works for me. There are a few true gems in this batch and the other nuggets are quite acceptable. A good way to sample some diverse sounds, it definitely warrants one thumb up. |  |
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