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Chill out/ambient reviews
Interchill releases are always worth checking out. This Canadian chill out label has gotten pretty good reputation by the years. They usually have a theme in their compilations. We have for example been through floating ambient in Floatation (Interchill 2001) and more earthy lounge chill in their last compilation called Earth Octave Lounge (Interchill 2002). Now they are out with their fifteenth release called Talisman. In the cover art you can read about what a Talisman is, and the musical theme this time is dub. Andrew Ross Collins has compiled it. I think this compilation was supposed to be released at the end of 2002, but it is finally out now.
Talisman (Interchill Records 2003) ICHILLCD015
1. Manasseh Meets Equaliser Feat Knati – Temper Dub
2. Neil Sparkes & The Last Tribe – Talisman (Dub Praises Mix)
3. Eat static – Caridwen
4. Jumbo Layer – The Lily dub
5. Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart / Molam Dub – Lam Tam Way Dub
6. Suns Of Arqa – Ark Of the Arqans
7. Gargoyles – Evil Do`ers
8. Ott – Scilly Automatic
9. Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell – Orion
10. Stress Assassin – Time
11. Adham Shaikh – Sabadub (G-String Mix)
12. The Kumba Mela Experiment – That Which I Could Only Sense
First out is a group from UK I haven`t heard about. They give us a very reggae influenced track. Slow dubby reggae rhythms and reggae vocals with a lot of echo effects. Relaxing and not too much annoying vocals. Track 2 sounds a bit like Ott, with a bit of mouth organ alike melodies. A very happy summer chilled dub track. A lot of you have probably heard about Neil Sparkes already. He has made the track together with a guy called Rick Mulhall. Track 3 is my favourite track on this compilation. It is actually made by Merv Pepler (Eat Static). Again he proves that he can handle a ton of different music styles. After many, many years of releasing electronic music, he is this year releasing psytrance on major trance labels as TIP.World and Solstice Music, and now he suddenly gives us a beautiful dub track on this compilation. I find this track sort of trippy, with a psychedelic vibe. It reminds me a bit of the beautiful Hallucinogen In Dub album because of the melodies etc. Way to go Merv!
After some trippy dub from Eat Static, we get a slower more instrumental track from a group from France called Jumbo Layer. Relaxing lounge dub with some female vocals, flute and guitar. Jah Wobble is producing a lot of oriental dub these days. Here we get a track he has made with a singer. Very ethnic chill with a lot of vocals. I have lost count of how many albums Suns Of Arqa have released, but I think they are up around twenty albums soon!! Here we get a new track from them. Easy listening dub with beautiful flute and sitar. Ethnic as always from these people. They have also added some weird sounds. Gargoyles is sort of the new super group on the chill out market these days. A very interesting collaboration between mainly Ott and Simon Posford, but they have also been working with Andrew (Interchill). They also released a track on the Backroom Beats 2 compilation earlier this year. This track sounds mostly like an Ott track, with very reggae dub style without the vocals, but you can here Mr Posford has added his beautiful weird sounds etc. I have actually heard Posford play this track in his dj set at the chill out stage at Samothraki Dance Festival last year!
Ott released his debut solo album on Twisted Records this spring. A talented mystical man releasing mostly very dub oriented chill. The track we get here is not on the album. A beautiful track, with some trippy melodies and the usual reggae influenced dubby Ott style. Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble make a lot of music together. They have also released music on Dragonflys side label Liquid Sound Design (LSD). Here we get a deep jazzy dub track, with trumpet, a lot of bass and organic instruments. Then we get a track from Henrik Jonsson from Sweden. This track was first released on his album Within The Office Of Eye And Ear (Spiral Trax Records spring 2002). I have to admit that I`m not a fan of his music. Very slow, sort of minimal dub. Track 11 is in my opinion one of the best tracks on this album. A track from the latest album of Adham Shaikh, Essence, released on his own label Sonicturtle Music at the end of 2002. A great album that was released as a limited edition release. Beautiful organic chill with relaxing flute. The last track on this compilation is a taste of the beautiful album East Of the River Ganges made by Youth and friends (The Kumba Mela Experiment). A nice happy finish for a high quality dub compilation.
Dubby chill out music is for sure getting a good reputation these days. If you like artists like Ott, releases on Liquid Sound Design and Backroom Beats, be sure to check this out! A lot of nice dub for your summer chill this year. You can also check out their site for more information:
http://www.interchill.com
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