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AMAZING SOUNDS No.151 / December 07, 2006
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CONTENTS:

JOSE MARIA CIRIA (Interview conducted by Edgar Kogler)

THE SERIES "EXTREME MEDITATION" BY MICHEL HUYGEN (Article by Jorge Munnshe)

REVIEWS:
NEURONIUM: "SYNAPSIA" Anima Music
DAVE SIMMONS: "THE DISINTEGRATION PRINCIPLE"
JOHN FLUKER: "THE SOUND OF PEACE" It's a Fluke Productions
ELISE LEBEC: "POSSIBLE DREAMS" Lebec Entertainment
BRUNO SANFILIPPO: "InTRO" AD21 Music
VARIOUS: "ECHOES OF TUVALU" New Vibes Music
DAVID WRIGHT: "THE TENTH PLANET" AD Music
FONTAIN'S M.U.S.E.: "MYSTIC KISS"
JEFFREY MICHAEL: "AWAKENING" Fireheart Music
GARY STADLER: "FAIRY LULLABIES" Sequoia Records
VARIOUS: "YOGA MOODS" Sequoia Records
VARIOUS: "BUDDHA LOUNGE 5" Sequoia Records
EMPTY CAGE QUARTET: "HELLO THE DAMAGE! pfMENTUM
JEFF KAISER / TOM McNALLEY: "ZUGZWANG" pfMENTUM

====================

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JOSE MARIA CIRIA
(Interview conducted by Edgar Kogler)

Jose Maria Ciria has a wide artistic trajectory, whose beginnings go back
to the seventies, Well known, among other aspects, for his work in the band
Program@, he has participated in several avantgarde bands, and has shaped a
very personal style. Apart from his work as an electronic composer, he also
is a famous as a percussionist who has taken part in albums by well-known
artists and bands, such as for example, Neuronium. His live performances
constitute another important aspect in his career.

-How did you enter the world of music? When did you start playing and
composing?

Ever since I can remember, I have always loved music. I don’t know why,
when I was a teenager I chose the drums, maybe it was because of the famous
drums solo by Iron Butterfly with their theme "In a gadda da vida", I don’t
know; Since I had no instruments, I followed the music, drumming on
anything I could, so when I had the first chance to get to know some
musicians, I used to spend hours hanging around by their rehearsing
premises, hearing them play. Since the drums player in their band didn’t go
there much, one day I was offered to sit at their drums and play with them.
I must have been 18 or 19 at the time, and from that moment on, I took
learning to play seriously, I bought a primitive “method of drumming” book
and taught myself to play, thus entering the world of music. Some time
later I even attended lessons at the Barcelona Conservatoire of Music where
I studied some years of solfa, harmony and percussion.

My skills as a composer were developed some time later. In all the bands I
participated with, I used to like to contribute my ideas, be it in the
compositions or the arrangements, yet I had never composed a theme until I
was able to have my own studio and develop my skills with the piano or with
the synthesizers.

- How did you begin your musical relationship with José Antonio López /
Joseph Loibant, Carlos Guirao, Michel Huygen and the other musicians you
have collaborated with?

Precisely in the first band I have just mentioned I met Carlos Guirao at
the guitar, vocals and flute. Therefore, I have known him since the
beginning and we have shared very important moments throughout different
musical stages of our lives. In the beginning, we were together with the
band for almost 2 years and later we would get together once again, in
Programa. I met Michel Huygen firstly because Carlos was with the band
Neuronium and we still were joined by a strong friendship, and secondly
because they used to rehearse in the premises next door to ours. I used to
play with a symphonic rock band called Magenta at the time (some time later
I learned that there also is a British band with the same name.) We even
got to compose a rock opera between bassist Pepe Rodriguez (music) and
myself (lyrics). Amongst the musicians there also was a great keyboardist
and accordeonist: Conrad Setó.

So when Michel Huygen and Carlos decided to include drums in the music by
Neuronium, they called me so as to collaborate with them both in the LP
"The Visitor" and in "Invisible Views".

With Carlos Guirao, I collaborated more intensively, in his solo album
“Revelation” in the year 1982 in several themes, adding drums and
percussion to his electronic compositions.

In those times Jordi Garcia re-founded Suck Electronic (the band where
initially Michel Huygen also was)

And I was called to play the drums. We recorded an Lp with Edigsa titled
"L'home reanimat". (the Revived Man)

Through Carlos I met J.Antonio López; I went to his studio several times
and I was surprised to see the electronic devices he had.

-How would you summarize your musical career in the first stage of Programa
(1980’s)? Can you review the events that were most imnportant for you
during that period?

In the beginning Carlos Guirao called me to help him with the arrangements
of his themes for the band Programa.

So we spend a long time together creating and rearranging his themes
in J.Antonio’s studio, and from there, our friendship grew. Besides the
arrangements, I played some synthesizer parts and electronic drums in the
LPs "Reunión de Amigos"(Friends’ Get-together) and "Acrópolis". From this
record on, I was asked to become a member of the band, so I joined them.
This stage was interesting because we appeared on different TV programmes
and also had some live performances. We also came to project the release of
a CD, the three of us, which was to be called "Paris-Dakar", yet, due to
different reasons it never came to be effectively released.

-What prompted you to reactivate the band Programa with Josep Loibant after
years of silence?

We never lost our contact completely, and one day Joseph Loibant proposed
me to reactivate Programa, I had already been composing new themes, yet
they had little broadcast, so this was the chance to make them known.

It also was a chance to fully enter the world of synthesizers and get to
know them in a more detailed manner thanks to the fantastic equipment that
Joseph used to have and still has in his studio, and it also meant for me
the discovery of the world of musical production.

When you have to create a professional product your requirements increase
and you have to work further in the completion of the themes,arrangements,
recording and masterization: You have to take a step further. This is
positive because your knowledge increases and new solutions to problems
that stop being such open to you.

-Tell us about your activity composing soundtracks. How is your work
different with them as compared to your work for your other albums?

Basically it differs in the fact that they usually are commissioned, and
though I have musical freedom to create them, you always have to adapt to
the idea of the director, the theme of the movie and the time it must last,
usually a short one, among the different musical episodes. It is another
way of treating music because as a general rule the music is subjected to
the images. But it also is interesting because you have to adapt to a
framework and to some given rules, and from this starting point only your
imagination limits the margins of creativity.

-Are you more attracted to playing your music in live concerts or do you
enjoy yourself more when recording it step by step in your studio?

Both experiences attract me. They are different and cannot be compared.
Playing live with an audience is something that cannot be described,
especially if there is a good chemistry with the audience and everything
turns out fine. It is communicating with hundreds of people at the same
time with a universal language, direct and deep. The enjoyment of composing
in a studio and experimenting with the sounds and the devices also is very
gratifying. You are alone with sound, an alchemist and a magician
elaborating potions and magic sound formulae that can be fantastic, in the
sense that when listening to them they can take you to astonishing, unknown
worlds.

Surprise is one of the most important factors that you can find in the
studio when composing; You don’t know how, the theme takes you along some
paths that you had never imagined. Those moments are incredible because you
are creating something new, and in the best of cases, something that didn’t
exist before, a combination of sounds and timbres which is really different.

Playing live is a unique, irrepetible experience, with its good points and
its mistakes, the direct emotion of the instant shaped into the music:
There is no reverse way, it is like life itself. The straight arrow of time
always points forward. On the other hand, in the studio you have the chance
to choose, to reflectively create, which part I choose and which part I
discard, shaping the path for each theme, and if necessary, stopping in the
passages and ladscapes you keep finding.

-Which process do you usually follow in order to create a theme? Or is each
case different? Which things inspire you or activate your creativity?

The procces is different for each theme. First, there is the sparkle that
initiates it all, which can be very varied, from a rhythmic motive to a
sequence of chords, a melody, a book, a quote that calls my attention, a
concept, a photo, in short, anything that awakens something, I don’t know
what it is in my brain, yet which motivates me to continue, develop or
further my way into this particular theme. There are also times when the
music springs from something abstract, unconnected to the world, yet music
is the most abstract, immaterial of existing arts.

Then there is the technical process which consists in orchestrating and
arranging the themes: Despite using the term “technical”, it is by no means
something mechanical, tedious, as it also has its creative part, sometimes
full of surprises too.

I cannot imagine always following the same patterns, because it is boring
and does not take you anywhere or, well, yes, it does, it takes you to
well trodden paths without interest precisely because they have already
been explored by yourself or by others. This is why I like using new sound
elements for each theme, as well as new structural elements too, because in
them there lies surprise, the element I was referring to before.

Although I also have to say that in some occasions, the theme was already
elaborated in my mind, and I only had to translate its melodies into the
computer, as happened to me with some passages from my latest release
"Mobilis in Mobili", a CD with a unitary concept as a homage to Jules Verne
book:" 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".

-Do you consider yourself as musically attached to some specific musical
trend or a particular label?

No. Not in a conscious, deliberate manner. I believe that we are all linked
to our times, to the music we have heard and all the music preceding us.
What I do does not come from a miysterious void with no connection
whatsoever, on the contrary, it is the fruit of what has been previously
heard and which I have liked, and which has excited me.

I like music, not a given style as many other people claim, who are
fanatics of jazz and don’t like flamenco, or those who only listen to
classical music, or only country, or blues or world music; I could name a
band or several for each music label. Let’s not forget that labels used to
crop up in shops when they wanted to order the music according to styles so
as to sell it.

I think it has been bad for music in general. If you truly like music, good
music, you enjoy and get emotionally involved both with funky themes by
Prince and with such different themes as those by Steely Dan or Joe
Jackson, or the Fifth Symphony by Beethoven.

I like anything, ranging from those considered to be the Classics(Bach,
Beethoven, Mozart, Stravisnky, Varese, etc.); to jazz: (Coltrane, Miles
Davis, Weather Report, Chik Corea); to symphonic rock (Genesis, Yes, King
Crimson); to pop, to soul, to blues; in short, the list would be
never-ending in fact.

Just to finish, if I had to name somne favourites it would be: Mozart,
Stravinsky , King Crimson, Weather Report and Frank Zappa.

-Tell us about your creative process in the album Ylem.

It was my first solo CD, and a priori, as I was composing the themes, I did
not have a global concept It was as the themes were being shaped that I
decided to give it a total idea.

Each piece has its own universe and responds to fifferent patterns for each
motive that inspired it. The title reponds to the Greek name that a
scientist gave to the beginning of the Big Bang, and consequently to the
Universe, so most of the themes refer to motives from the universe, be it
such concepts as The Paradox of Olbers; names of stars such as Wolf 359;
star clusters such as the Magellan Cloud, where I made a double homage, in
a sense, both to these galaxies that can only be seen from the southern
hemisphere, and also to Magellan, the navigator who sailed around the
Earth; or Dark Matter that is the most common, abundant matter in the
universe, so to speak.

Others, like "Noa Noa", refer to the heavenly islands from the South
Pacific that Paul Gauguin brought to his paintings and in his diary titled
"Noa Noa", which means "very scented". Or "Fractal", which responds to
those wondrous structures that contain the outer shape within them, thus
the musical theme is repeated and transformed without ever losing its
initial structure. I am very much interested in this concept of fractals,
and I do not rule out the possibility that I will continue working with
them in the future. In fact, the cover of the CD is a fractal image.

- Did composing your album Mobilis in Mobili respond to a global idea? Tell
us about this release too, please.

In this case yes, it was so. As I have already mentioned, it responds to a
unitary concept on the book “20,000 leagues under the sea" by Jules Verne.

The title reflects the motto that captain Nemo used on the objects he had,
including the submarine Nautilus, and refers to motion within motion; The
submarine, the particular world that Nemo had created within another world,
The Earth, which in its turn also is in motion. Actually, in the beginning
I had thought of calling it "Nautilus", yet due to the abundant use that
has been done of this word I decided to name it "Mobilis in Mobili" because
it was more suggestive and less used. And left "Nautilus Suite" as a subtitle.

Though the titles of the themes correspond to chapters in the book, I have
not followed the novel step by step, I haven’t even re-read it; What I
intended to do was a homage to the fascination that it had for me the first
time I read it and try to transmit it in the form of music.

To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what the initial idea was for
the project. I believe it was shaped at the same time as it was being
composed. What I do know is how I elaborated it. I started from a theme I
had already composed quite a long tine before, one I had not succeeded in
finishing; it lasted for about 8 minutes, and from the moment I divided it
into two separate themes the rest flowed easily enough.

There were some themes which turned out to be more complex to elaborate,
like for example "Maelström", which lasts for about 20 minutes almost, and
all the musical motives were completely new, but as a genberal rule the
music flowed quite fast without getting stuck much in any given theme.

As an example, I played the oboe solo of the last theme in just one take
and with almost no corrections.

I enjoyed myself a lot while composing it, and I hope all future listeners
will enjoy themselves as much as I did when I created it.

- Which are the differences in focusses between your work in solo releases
and works from the bands you are a member of, when it comes to composing?

Really, a priori there is no difference, neither in the way I focus the
theme in the composition nor in the arrangements, nor in the production.
The only difference is the fact that when I am working for the different
bands, the pattern to follow is already shaped.

Each band has its own personality, or at least so we believe, and we work
in this direction with absolute freedom yet never losing track of our
former trajectory, of course, also marked by us.

Thus, when I am composing themes for At-Mooss, the orientation is more
experimental, and is based on abstract electronic sounds, more
“avant-garde”, though I do not like the word because what today
is “avant-garde”, the day after tomorrow it already is history. Perhaps
the word is “risky”; Using concepts, structures and sounds that take youb
along new, different paths, unrelated to the world we call real: To assume
the risk of exploring new paths.

On the other hand, with Programa I use more recognisable structures and so
happens with sound; I allow for more real acoustic sounds associated to
tangible instruments such as guitars, drums, pianos, and obviously
synthesizers.

-Do you believe that in comparison with electronic keyboard instruments the
field of electronic percussion is underused by many musicians? What do you
think electronic drums contribute to you in comparison with the
conventional variety?

Yes of course, most composers limit themselves to uisng already created
patterns, whether because they have deficiencies in their percussive work
or due to simple convenience; Though using already existing patterns is by
no means pejorative, as long as you use them in a creative, original
mannner, not just the way they reach you. For example, overlaying different
patterns with different times: binary with ternary, just to mention a
possible combination, or any other occurring to you, in this way you can
get very suggestive polirhythms.

Electronic percussion contributes a first advantage on the acoustic
variety, which is the range of sounds from different parts of the world
that I have within reach of my ears with just pressing a button or
downloading the corresponding sample. It shortens my workload, as even if I
already have a collection of acoustic percussion that I could use, I would
have to record them using mikes. Yet it also has a negative aspect, since
the instruments played with your hands or the drumsticks are more
expressive (if well played, naturally).

What I never doubt about is when it comes to playing live, for me,
acoustic percussion is the most suitable kind.

-Do you feel in favour of any given kind of synthesis or any particular
brand of synthesizers? Do you think there are “antagonistic” techniques, as
for instance is said about analogic and digital, which turn out to be
difficult to merge because they correspond to different ways of
understanding the electronically created music, or maybe any given
technique depends on the musician utilizing it?

I do not feel partial to any given kind of synthesizers, except for those
that are suitable enough for the production I am doing in any given moment.
Each one has its pros and cons, and you must know how to make maximum use
of the advantages in each one.

They are not difficult to merge because they are not different techniques
but rather different ways of creating sound.

If you have a wide range of colours, your palette will be wealthier: And if
you have a great variety of synthesizers, whether digital or analogic or
virtual, it will be easier to reach the goal you want to reach, and
likewise, it will be faster to do so; you won’t have to use your time
creating the adequate sound, you’ll just have to look for it in your
equipment. For some years analogic was regarded with contempt, yet now it
seems it has made a comeback; and it doesn’t surprise me because analogic
sounds have a warmth and an expressivity that so far digital sounds have
not reached yet. However, I believe that we must not forget the core of the
matter, which is music itself; the result is what matters. Whether the
resulting composition moves the listeners or not, independently from the
way it has been played, with the hand palms, a drum or a state-of-the-art
synthesizer.

-Can you comment something about the projects you are involved in as well
as your plans for the immediate future?

When I finish an album, I am already thinking of the next one. Luckily, I
do not lack this which is called inspiration; what I lack is time. Right
now I am working on several fronts at the same time. On the one hand, I
have finished the music for a short called "Hoax", by a young director who
soon will have his work on the movie theatres (Perhaps when these lines are
published he will already have premiered it). As I was saying, I am already
preparing new themes for the next CD by At-Mooss, where I will include new
sounds from the new synthesizers I have lately purchased, such as the
Andromeda A6, a powerful Analogic synthesizer.

I have also almost finished some themes, with a different style from what I
have done so far, and at this stage I am not that sure about how to include
them in any given project. I will surely wait till I have my CD finished
and then I will decide how to release it all.

On the other hand, I am working in a project where the themes are devoted
to places I have visited and which have impressed me. In each track I want
to reflect something of the essence of the place, so to speak, including
more world sounds of each particular place, and merge it all with
electronic and avant-garde sounds. I am making some tests, and at the
moment I like the results so far. This is nothing new, I simply want to
explore something that I had already started with the theme "El Laberinto
del Minotauro" from the CD "Phoenix" by Programa, in more detail.

And I also have some themes where I would like to explore the world of
dance. Music as a creator of motion. In short, I have no lack of projects
and ideas, as you can see.

At-Mooss Records
http://www.at-mooss.com

====================

THE SERIES "EXTREME MEDITATION" BY MICHEL HUYGEN

Michel Huygen has tackled a new project: the creation of a series of CDs
with meditative music inspired by his recent stay in several places with a
high spiritual and cultural charisma in Asia, specifically the
South-Eastern areas, with Myanmar (Birmania), Cambodia and Thailand as the
most remarkable ones.

Together with the powerful mystic aura surrounding several of these places,
some of which have been declared as patrimony of humanity by the
UNESCO, they also have the tragic load of war and repression in the recent
history of south-eastern Asia. No one travelling along the key points in
the area can remain unaffected. It is not possible to stay aside from the
feelings that the Fragments of Live History awaken in the human being. A
landscape can captivate, yet the emotional load, in all its aspects and
degrees, from light to darkness, impregnates whoever visits such
south-eastern areas in Asia.

With respect to Michel Huygen, there is no doubt that the experience must
have somehow impressed him in a special way, activating in him the creative
springs and maybe establishing in his artistic biography a “Before” and an
“Afterwards”.

These experiences have presented to him within a brief yet intense period
of his life, when the death of a person who was very close to him has taken
him to this unknown ocean that opens at the end of life, very much like
such events have always taken us near to it.

Therefore it is not strange that such experiences have moved him to reflect
the feelings, the hope, the sense of transcendentalism and the “magic” that
these special places he has visited must have generated in him, as well as
his personal career especially at this stage of his life, in the form of music.

The first release of this peculiar musical trek is the CD "ANGKOR", which,
as suggested by its title, has been inspired by the impressive temple of
Angkor Wat, a millenial cultural crossroads.

JORGE MUNNSHE

More information, here:

http://www.neuronium.com

http://www.animamusic.net

====================

REVIEWS:

NEURONIUM:
"SYNAPSIA"
Anima Music
Inspired by the tragedy of terminal illness, "Synapsia" is an album
supporting the euthanasia. With his usual style, cosmic and romantic,
Michel Huygen (Neuronium) has composed for this CD five wonderful pieces
that invite to meditation. All of them are very melodic, full of crystaline
textures. The music tends to be soft, with slow rhythms. Feelings play an
important role in Huygen's music, so in this album he shapes in the form of
music his personal impressions about terminal illness and euthanasia. He
shows his mastery with the synthesizers at creating a work full of emotion
and sonic magic, with a melancholy touch that reaches the heart. "Synapsia"
is an album that transpires sensitivity from all its pores and will not
leave us indifferent to it.
EDGAR KOGLER

http://www.animamusic.net

DAVE SIMMONS:
"THE DISINTEGRATION PRINCIPLE"
Dave Simmons shows in this CD a wide range of stylistic directions as well
as a good dose of imagination. There are pieces near to Folk, others with
touches of Jazz, and several with elements typical of the Blues, even
though all of them keep a fresh character near to the acoustic Ambient
trends. Using the guitar as a solo instrument, the artist has created the
music of an album that sprouts from the deepest regions of the soul.
VIRGINIA TAMAYO

http://www.davesimmons.net

JOHN FLUKER:
"THE SOUND OF PEACE"
It's a Fluke Productions
The fourteen pieces that John Fluker offers us in this work, can be
labelled within the contemporary instrumental music. The album is very
emotional, with romantic and also melancholy traits. The piano has a
remarkable role, and it is perhaps here where Fluker's skills are most
outstanding. The result cannot be more convincing: a work of an exquisite
sensitivity and introspection.
VIRGINIA TAMAYO

http://www.johnfluker.com

ELISE LEBEC:
"POSSIBLE DREAMS"
Lebec Entertainment
This is a piano release of a romantic quality, with traits of Folk and some
Classical touches, presided by melody. The music turns out to be relaxing,
at times melancholic, at times blissful, with some mystery touches, with
warm textures and soft colors. The artist take us step by step into a world
full of sensitivity. All the compositions of this CD constitute a good
sample of the Lebec's skills.
HECTOR JORDAN

http://www.eliselebec.com

BRUNO SANFILIPPO:
"InTRO"
AD21 Music
The music by Bruno Sanfilippo is an imaginative combination of elements
typical of Space Ambient and others of an avantgarde character sometimes
near to Contemporary Instrumental Music, whose result in this album is an
impressive colection of electronic symphonic pieces, in an atmosphere
typical of a soundtrack for an adventure movie. The music turns out to be
dreamy, even oniric, with ethereal sounds, cosmic textures and a careful
musical sensitivity that make of this album an ideal vehicle to let
imagination soar through unearthly worlds.
EDGAR KOGLER

http://www.bruno-sanfilippo.com

VARIOUS:
"ECHOES OF TUVALU"
New Vibes Music
This compilation includes fourteen themes with the common characteristic
that they are beautiful melodic music mostly inspired by nature. The title
of the CD comes from the islands in the South Pacific, where the sea level
is rising by the global warming, threatening these paradises. The pieces
that shape this album are: Gulan: "Early Morning". Bernard Chavonnet:
"Amaebi". Thomas Bakas: "Madrecita". Australis: "Conciliation". Mild:
"Karlsplatz Square". Amilcar: "Forgotten Islands". Australis: "The Sound of
Hope". Trevor Stewart: "Grace". Jose Gonzalez: "Fight of Jimmy Angel". Matt
Lorentz: "Someone Who Cared". Aorphia: "Right of Passage". Gulan:
"Sunrise". Jon Sebastian: "Mysty Mountain". Gabriel Garcia: "Yvonne's Waltz".
HECTOR JORDAN

http://www.newvibesmedia.com/

DAVID WRIGHT:
"THE TENTH PLANET"
AD Music
No doubt this CD will appeal to the fans of David Wright's music as well as
the lovers of Space Music in general. "The Tenth Planet" is a work within
the frame of Space Music, full of poetry and beauty, which leads the
listener to a world of wondrous soundscapes by means of the masterful use
of synthesizers and sequencers. The melodies are very symphonic, often with
spectacular orchestrations. The rhythms are sequencer-based mostly, thus
resulting into complex and powerful ones. The structure of the music also
consists of dense, atmospheric environments, and sound effects that come
and go.
EDGAR KOGLER

http://www.admusiconline.com

FONTAIN'S M.U.S.E.:
"MYSTIC KISS"
This is a daring, fresh release by the duo Fontain's M.U.S.E., merging
World Music with Pop and Folk influences. Fontain Riddle and Farhan Khan
prove that there are no stylistic barriers for creativity, and they
contribute their musical skills to achieve a fresh, emotive sonic journey.
The expressivity that Fontain Riddle achieves with her voice is remarkable
indeed.
DEREK DOARN

http://www.fontainsmuse.com

JEFFREY MICHAEL:
"AWAKENING"
Fireheart Music
In this album, Jeffrey Michael has carried out a work full of symphonism
and strength. Integrated in the most widely accepted trend of the
Contemporary Instrumental Music, his compositions are nevertheless very
personal. Through 16 pieces with a great predominance on the part of the
piano as a soloist instrument, the artist creates a relaxed, intimate
atmosphere, with his romantic music. One of the most emotional, best
achieved compositions is "Phantom of the Mind".
SARAH TOMBLIN

http://www.fireheartmusic.com

GARY STADLER:
"FAIRY LULLABIES"
Sequoia Records
In "Fairy Lullabies", the artist offers us his mastery at creating a work
full of beauty and mystery, with themes that in some occasions tend to be
of a melodic romanticism, while in other instances they have an enigmatic
air. Listening to this album is travelling throughout musical tales whose
landscapes are set in the world of fairies and other lands of a
supernatural character. The music is bright, full of emotions. One of the
most impressive pieces in the album is, in my opinion, "Garden Lullaby".
SARAH TOMBLIN

http://www.sequoiarecords.com

VARIOUS:
"YOGA MOODS"
Sequoia Records
Although the styles of the different compositions are quite varied, this
compilation tends towards the romantic side of Contemporary Instrumental
Music and approaches soft Ambient. The pieces here gathered are: "Aureole"
by Jens Gad. "Swan" by Althea W. "Staraja Ladoga" by Achillea. "Cape
Porcupine" by Achillea. "Odin's Hill" by Achillea. "Casino Lounge" by Peter
Mergener. In For The Night (Buddha Edit)" by The Moontrane Conductors. "The
Orbiting Suns" by Jens Gad. "Bhajya Sahita" by Hands Upon Black Earth.
"Silver Sands" by Jens Gad. Les Eaux Verts" by Jens Gad. "Chanson Pour Une
Femme" by Althea W. "Zen Garden, Part 1 (Savasana Edit)" by David & Steve
Gordon. An album that no doubt deserves an attentive listening.
PASCUAL JURADO

http://www.sequoiarecords.com

VARIOUS:
"BUDDHA LOUNGE 5"
Sequoia Records
"Buddha Lounge 5" is an album with remarkable and varied stylistic textures
that mix World Music with Atmospheric Pop. The contents of the CD is as
follows: "El Momento" by Jens Gaad. "The Seeress Prophecy (Daydreaming)" by
Achillea. "Deep Blue" by Tya. "Asmar Kahiel Elein" by Nasser Kilada. "The
Star & The Snake" by Hands Upon Black Earth. Her Infinte Variety (club
mix)" by Artemisia. "Shining" by Mtc. "Rain In The Sun" by David Gordon.
"Tout Le Monde Reve" by Tau. "Tulasi Maharani" by Jaya Lakshmi. "Dream
Body" by The Gordon Brothers. Between Tomorrow" by Opera -To- Relax. This
is a release that will surely be liked by a wide range of listeners.
DEREK DOARN

http://www.sequoiarecords.com

EMPTY CAGE QUARTET:
"HELLO THE DAMAGE!
pfMENTUM
The style of this double CD is within Avantgarde Jazz, although it also has
New Music traits represented by the most experimental atmospheres. Some
passages are like urban folk music of the future. With this band, one must
expect the unexpected. The sonic adventures of these four musicians are
surprising.
VICENTE GISPERT

http://www.pfmentum.com

JEFF KAISER / TOM McNALLEY:
"ZUGZWANG"
pfMENTUM
In this daring release, Kaiser and McNalley utilize electronics, trumpet
and electric guitar with great imagination, succeeding in creating
unconventional sonic architectures. The artists build a bizarre world, with
eerie natural landscapes, as well as industrial zones of anguish, madness
and darkness.
DOMINIQUE CHEVANT

http://www.pfmentum.com

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