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 BUY + TRACK LIST |
LAYERED SOUNDS 2 (BEDROCK) |
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Terry Grant (feat. Jennifer Horne) leads off this 2 disc audio getaway with the Bossa Nova tinged chillout bit of melancholia entitled “I’ll Kill You Softly,” which moves with langorous wave, like the ocean laps the beach on a lazy day, and ethereal melodies that seem skybound yet touch the heart in a way of sad loss. From there the listener is set adrift in a collection of tracks that want to make the listener forget what he or she is doing and go find a low hanging cloud to lie on and ride up to the space above. There are a number of standout tracks here. “The March (Original Mix),” from Voyager and Kris Avedon melds new age space music, synth lines that feel like gentled Philip Glass bred with Jean Michel Jarre, all-consuming ambience and muted percussion that sounds like smoothed down drums from a Genesis track. William Orbit flavorings are summoned in Yunus Guvenen’s “Open Arms,” with a dash of The Cure laced in for good measure. Tribal-tinged ethereo-pop (a vocal track as was the album opener) fills track 5, Luke Chable Melbern’s “Arn Bee En (Tea Mix).” On “The Edge (Ambient Mix 2),” the listener is hopelessly captivated by progressive ambient that begins with expansive, light, cotton candy textures that flow into watery, downtempo beat beauty. The first CD ends where it began, with an ambient mix of the opener. And this isn’t to mention the other great tracks on disc one. “Bedrock (Emerald Grayarea’s Speakeasy Mix” is one of the whopping good remixes populating disc 2. Slender and sleek melodies like laser beams fused to an ambient edge make this one a compulsive trip through one of space’s wormholes of happiness; the progressive, building nature of the track - which increases texture and energy but also the carryaway ability of the song - make this one a top flight piece. The gritty cybernoir tech house goes dub of “Aimless Dame Rjones (Delayed Dub)” from Astro & Glyde is an pace changer that brings together house, dub and rigid, slightly Germanic techno on a piece that’s chilled but oddly aggressive in a subdued way. Weightless but flittering with energy, expansive but not sparse, ambient yet driven and moving ... thus is “Happy to Be Sad” by Derek Howell, a track that hints at house but is really etherea augmented by a beat texture that doesn’t bog it down. Another more energy-motivated track is the house trance of Tim Skinner’s and Martin Accorsi’s “Playing for Digweed,” a darker, mid-tempo beat, with textures thick but not heavy, shadowy electronic melodies and the ability to grip you. Disc one is the more chilled of the two, if that’s what you’re going for; if you feel like some eclectism, but while still keeping a foot in the chillout arena, then the second disc is a flavorful ride through Mixland. “Layered Sounds 2” is a solid batch, no doubt, and it runs a moderately eclectic gamut of chillout, exposing listeners to all the different ways music can make them trip. Groovy stuff, for sure. -- review by Kristofer Upjohn
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