Found at: http://trance.net/article/articleprint/255/-1/29/
|
Top level
Music reviews
Chill out/ambient reviews
Chris Conklin is the man behind Lumen. He released his first Lumen album on Psychic Deli Records in 2000. Now he is out with his second album, this time on the Israeli label Avatar Records. His first album was a psytrance album for the dance floor. This time he has gone another direction, and has come up with a chill out album!
Lumen “ Esperanto” Avatar Records 2003 (AVA016)
1. Automata
2. In The Air
3. Ayin
4. Never Forget
5. Hold On
6. Purple Bubbles In The Stratosphere
7. Under/Over
8. Yantra
9. XXXY*Z = HZO
Lumen isn`t known for going in other artists foot steps. His first album was pretty different from most other trance released at that time. A fresh breath for some, too weird for others. The first track starts slow with weird floating sounds. Then we get a guitar sound that follows the track all the way to the end. Some very relaxed rhythms come into the track. Relaxing track, but very little happens, and it gets too little varied, especially since the sounds he has used in this track isn`t that interesting. Track 2 starts more promising, with weird psychedelic sounds. We get a little humming voice sample now and then and a strange little melody. Pretty different from all chill out released these days, but I like it. Sounds more like some old goa chill out than anything new these days. Track 3 starts like a very slow ambient track. Then we get some down tempo tribal rhythms and a beautiful little voice now and then. Again it sounds pretty different from most other artists. Track 4 has some very interesting rhythms and floating spacey sounds. Reminds me a bit of music by ambient artists on Warp Records etc.
Track 5 is my favourite track on this album. Really relaxing rhythms and sounds. In track 6 he has got a little help from P. Martin. Could it be Pete Martin known as Slide? This is a track with really weird sounds. Sounds almost scary and industrial! In track 7, he has got help from Gus Till, known as Zen Lemonade, Bumbling Loons etc. One of my favourites on this album. Cool sounds and relaxing dubby rhythms. Track 8 sounds a bit more acoustic, mixed with floating ambient soundscapes. The last track is the weirdest track on the album. This is very experimental and strange. A lot of noisy samples and twisted sounds. If you wait a few minutes after this one, you get a hidden track. This track is just floating and relaxing, with some samples from other tracks on the album.
This album sounds probably too strange for most people. It is pretty experimental, but personally I find it a bit boring, and I feel that this will drown in all the good quality chill released these days.
PK
