Suns of Arqa - Cradle (1994)

I discovered one or two years ago Suns of Arqa, a  unique and creative world music team, founded by Michael Wadada. Suns of Arqa is an open band concept, some 200 musicians from across the globe passed through its ranks   mixing musical cultures, technologies, spiritual inspirations and composition patterns in an open and innovative way...

Cradle is a possible introduction to this musical universe, where Indian raga meets reggae, where ambient dub meets electronics, where tablas meet synthesizers, where tribal roots meet classical traditions. Well, it is true world music, and not only a unique world's musics... 

Indian shenhai, flute, violin and keyboards are involved into Cradle, a  serene and meditative album, opening new listening spaces between trance and ambient music...

It is ethno-ambient at its best...

link / mp3

SACr.zip

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Jon Hopkins - Opalescent (2003)

I discovered only recently Jon Hopkins and I did not expect how much I would be impressed by his music. 

Opalescent is the work of a 21 years old British musician. He is said to play piano since the age of  5, and at the age of 12, to study piano and composition at the Royal College of Music, where he won, among other awards, the Concerto prize... Just amazing !

Opalescent is a splendid album of chill out and ambient music, where electronic soundscapes meet very inspired guitar lines and a subtle way to program irresistible grooves on drum machines.

Sincerely, I don't know how I could compare Jon Hopkins to any other musician. His style is unique. There is such an originality in the global sound, in the feeling, in the mixing, in the concept... 

Let me try to suggest something... Manuel Gottsching (Ash Ra) meeting Brian Eno and Hector Zazou ? Yes, it could work... Opalescent is a clear allusion to "Opal", the name of the record company of Brian Eno... 

I definitely love this record, and it is very refreshing to see that a 21 years old guy can bring such a freshness and an innovation to the Chillout scene...

There is an incredible feeling in this album... 

If you enjoy Opalescent, please, buy Jon Hopkins second record: Contact Note

Amazon.co.uk: Contact Note: Jon Hopkins: Music

Here is a mp3 demo version of Opalescent: 

JH.Op.zip

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Adham Shaikh - Journey to the Sun (1996)

While I was commuting from my working place to the place where I live, today, in the late afternoon, while I was in the train, my Ipod, after Mozart and Chet Baker, selected this album by Adham Shaikh, Journey to the Sun... The late afternoon (or early evening) sun was shining and there was a surrealist light through the window of my train. I was among many commuters, going back to their places... I was sad and tired, hopeless and depressed, as sometimes (too often ?) it happens in my life, in others lives too, perhaps ?

Journey to the sun added a unique poetical and ambient touch to my commuting travel... Floating and ambient music, so deep, so far out, so minimal, so inspired, so tasteful, avoiding all the clichés of the chill out mode...  Adham Shaikh has a unique way to blend Indian sitar or flute sounds with Western electronic layers and atmospheres (I guess he used, among other tools,  an old ARP 2600 analogic modular synthesizer, since I am familiar with this instrument). 

It reminds me Brian Eno and the pioneering experimentations of the Berlin School. It evokes too the sun of California, the light of the most creative New Age trend, with musicians like Iasos or.. Aeoliah (who is German by the way...). 

It creates a unique atmosphere, blending ambient sounds, found voices, soundscapes from the street with floating electronic climates... It is not the cosmic space of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, it is the ambient soundscapes of our contemporary world and cities, where languages, traditions, cultures are trying to melt together in a creative way...

Journey to the Sun is a true chill out album. I followed the path and I found the light of a hopeful horizon at the end of a bad day...

Could a musical blogger be subjective sometimes and talk about himself ? 

Any good blog is the mirror of the real guy behind...

At least, I would love to think so...

Please, listen to Journey to the Sun by Adham Shaikh. One of the most original ambient music waiting to be discovered...

NB:  the link was deleted upon request. Please, buy this great album on emusic or on Itunes Store...

 

Loop Guru - The Third Chamber (1995)

Loop Guru is a British duo composed of Salman Gita (bass, guitars) and Jamuud (programming). They met in the London club scene, in the early '80s and started experimenting together with tape loops, worldbeat rythms and various sound collages, relying on a series of tapes recorders, DAT machines etc, then on samplers and computers. In 1995, they signed to the North-South label, and agreed to release both a "pop record" and a more experimental album on an annual basis. The Third Chamber is their first experimental album: it is ambient music at its best, mixing together natural sounds, ethereal electronics and downtempo and hypnotic rythms, in a very original mood... This abum of atmospheric music is among my favorite ones...

Link : mp3/320

LGTC.zip

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From Here to Tranquility IV (1995)

"The meta-designer creates context not content". This Gene Youngblood's quotation in the booklet is a perfect introduction to this CD....

This is a nice ambient compilation album released on Silent Records, a San Francisco based independent label in the 90's, directed by Kim Cascone (who became a very interesting minimalist and electro-acoustic composer, still active today).

From Here to tranquility IV is sold out and out of print since many  years ... So it is a collector...and also an interesting historical testimony about the very beginning of the ambient and chill out musical trends.

The featured artists offer a great overview of  different styles of atmospheric and ambient music, with a touch of experimentation and psychedelism. 

In this compilation, we can find some rare tracks by musicians such as Alpha Wave Movement, Makyo, Mushroom Nation, Bad Data, 23 degrees, Lightwave, Michel Redolfi, Ray Guillette, So glObal and Fiorella Terenzi.

links: mp3 / 320

FHTT4.1.zip

FHTT4.2.zip

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Ishq - Orchid (2002)

Ishq is one of the most interesting artists in the new chill out / ambient scene. The man behind Ishq is Matt Hillier, a British musician who was very active in the London club scene in the 90s, blending together acid house and psy-ambient. He made a long break, and released in 2002 this beautiful and serene album, Orchid. I love this atmospheric music and its original sound and feeling, where electronics, flute, natural sounds, occasional female voice create a real chill out mood, refreshing and fascinating at the same time.

Brian Eno said once that ambient music is "a music to swim in, to float in, to get lost inside". 

Orchid is ambient music at its best, a sonic surrounding for a peaceful and dreamy listening time...

Links: 

_IOr1.zip

IOr2.zip

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