Broken Beats - Pogo

Track list:

1. Gitch
2. White Dresses
3. Symphony #69
4. Hate from Love
5. Get Out...
6. Come In...
7. SlowMo Rain
8. Drunk in the Mat-Mobile

Running time: 22 minutes
Released: 2008

Random insert time. This is apparently a 2013 album according to Amazon, iTunes etc. but I could have sworn that I have had these tracks for much longer than that, lying around unappreciated after I grabbed them when they were offered for free on LastFM. Going back to that source, and via there Wikipedia, it seems it was a 2008 release and that the creator is an Australian. My only inkling is that this is some kind of electronica, and I can only assume that I picked it up because I noticed it as free - even if it no longer is. No idea what I will make of it.

It is almost impossible to read that first track name and not insert an "l"; glitch being an actual word. It has a rather cheesy tune behind, not over, some programmed beats. Here the melody is clearly background to the rhythms by virtue of the amplitude of the recordings. It is thoroughly inoffensive stuff, though the little vocal sample is a bit blah, and it sets a tone that is continued by the second track. Some old-timey style sounds in a distant sample and percussive structure layered on top. I find White Dresses less engaging, like a poor man's Public Service Broadcasting; there are vocal snippets that feel like they should be used PSB style, but there is a lot less innovation or interest in the music crafted around them.

I don't think the PSB comparison is fair, though. Those guys built tracks around their samples. Here the old material is being sampled in and sprinkled for interest. It's not as good, but it is not setting out to do the same thing, either. Symphony #69 is longer at 4 minutes (the first two were short pieces) and it really shouldn't be. There is not enough happening in the tune to justify the extra run-time and I find myself wishing it closed before it concludes. It is replaced by a darker sound, a more interesting sound initially - but one that gets stale even before its sub 2-minute time is up. For my taste there is not quite enough happening in these tunes; the structures are alright but there aren't the elements in place around that to lift the pieces to a level where I feel I really want to listen to them. I feel like I have heard the whole track after the first 10 seconds. I feel...

I feel... uninspired. This gives me the impression of early experiments; a young artist playing about, finding a style, hitting on some reasonable patterns and then perhaps not having the nous or experience to build upon that and deliver something that reaches beyond the bland. I hope he learned and improved, because there's something to it in places. Come In... is a step in the right direction, softer, subtler. It sounds more engaging than the 4 tracks before it, but I can't shake the feeling it is just resetting to the same baseline Gitch was working from.

The last two tracks lose me completely though, just offering nothing to get engaged with. The final track in particular is a mess; I guess that is intentional given the name, but frankly I can only suppose that you need to be drunk or stoned or high or something to find it other than awful. So, yes... weird freely downloaded music is weird I guess. Nothing here to be excited about, but two tracks that weren't entirely forgettable to maintain.

The Barometric Sun - Deepspace

Track list:

1. Hymn 1 (Through the Barometric Sun)
2. The First Glimpse of the.....
4. Crysanthenum Ocean
5. In the Outer Reaches
7. Endless Glass Metropolis
10. Silence
11. Dream (The 49th Sheep)

Running time: 48 minutes
Released: 2007

A quick follow-up to The Barometric Sea, I can only guess that The Barometric Sun was meant as a companion piece, especially as it was within a year. I have 7 tracks from this disc. 5 are free right now, and 2 must have been in the past.

It has been a busy week, so I haven't got to many of these. Out Monday, guests Tuesday, unexpected co-op with a friend on Wednesday and my weekly Blood Bowl game on Friday. I did squeeze in a post on Thursday though. Today was a family birthday so it has been tough to find time to just sit and listen until now when I have that chance. It is late(ish) on a Saturday evening and I have just watched something about rebuilding a Spitfire - I am suitably relaxed.

The first impression generated by Hymn 1 is good. There is more body to this than some of the other Deepspace pieces I have on file and that is appreciated. It is still a soundscape, still inherently lonely, but the depth adds warmth to that so it is not so stark and distant as I felt some of The Barometric Sea was. Less ice floes, more beach or valley flooded with morning light. Some chimes kick in near the end that remind me of those of Big Ben which is an odd juxtaposition, and then we move on to a first glimpse of something. Here the artist proves that, like my younger self, one can be careless when typing an ellipsis. I swear I always used to end up with four periods, here he uses five. The track itself carries on the theme. It felt like a return to emptier sounds for a brief moment, then the additional embellishments showed up, including sampled (?) voice - choral singing by the sound of it. This definitely evokes Vangelis with the atmosphere created totally in line with the Blade Runner aesthetic. The song feels like it goes on forever, but it is actually shorter than the first track. I suspect that means that under the general appeal of the image it creates there is not too much to sustain affection. In any case, I am glad when we move on.

Crysanthenum Ocean - oops, looks like that is a typo in the title - feels like sci-fi videogame music from a downtime cutscene or, more likely, a front-end menu. It seems to fall into a cyclic pattern that fails to enthral. The warmer tone is still present but the ambience of this one is flat for me. What follows is more bombast than I would have expected, louder and stronger notes than have been stock-in-trade until now. This is a nice change, with the intricacies introduced in the fades, the lulls. I realise that I use "swells" a lot in writing - but perhaps I do genuinely see music as waves, building and crashing, rippling and calming. It feels truly appropriate here as there is the sense of a crescendo then a diminuendo on each tonic shift. It creates a really comforting sound space, an aural pocket of calm, a rhythmic effect of relaxation. I like this a lot, right up to the point where it seems to dead-end very suddenly. That ending was a shocker.

LastFM has b*****ed itself up again - it seems to do this if I remove a track from my library whilst it is in an active playlist - and thinks I am hearing Silence when actually it is Endless Glass Metropolis. Too bad, I was going to tag the title for its awesomeness. I would not want to live in a city of glass, but the image that generates is certainly one in keeping with the future/sci-fi ideal, supported by the sounds crafted here. I should really pass on these tracks to the gamers I know who love sci-fi RPGs, I think they would get far more atmospheric use of them than I would as I have never been particularly drawn to that genre (as a whole). Actually, I'll be fair on LastFM, looking more closely it seems to be picking up the problem from WMP giving bad information. You might have thought that the player would load the info of the track when the track starts, not somehow manage to display the info for another track altogether because it pre-loaded it then somehow skipped in the playlist. Actually I would have thought that, until I started working in software design by accident and optimisation (and some methods to achieve it) became a relevant concern. Still, it is an error.

Silence is not, well, silent. It is certainly emptier than the other tracks thus far but even then it contains some pretty bold notes. It feels slower rather than colder or less involving, no obvious rise-fall-rise-fall wave pattern here - more a sense of pulses through empty space. There are background transitions and a reverb effect that underlies most of the piece but they fade and merge together. We wake up from Silence and enter into a Dream. It does not immediately strike me as dream-like or particularly relevant to sleep though after a while it does pick up that sort of fuzzy, intangible quality that is alike the soft focus effect often used visually to depict dreams on screen. It also breaks down as a theme a bit by the halfway mark and feels like a different piece to the one I was listening to a moment ago. I do not really care for the switch initially either, but it pulls around. The second half of the piece then rushes by in a sense of swirls and twirls, to the point that when it ends I am abruptly catapulted out of whatever semi-conscious state my mind had fallen into.

Overall, I think this was better than The Barometric Sea, but less good than Another Empty Galaxy; I like the warmer sounds and appreciated the visuals my brain supplied on hearing it more than the cooler, isolation-based ones that accompanied the last post. I would not say Deepspace is genius, but he has something in these pieces alright that can really make for surprisingly engaging experience.

The Barometric Sea - Deepspace

Track list:

1. Energy Failure On The Sibelius
2. The Astrology
3. Sol
4. The Barometric Sea
5. Leaving The Hub
7. The Drop Of Nowhere
8. Euphandemonium
11. Map Of The Pleiades

Running time: 55 minutes
Released: 2007

A return to Deepspace, whose ambient track Another Empty Galaxy I rather enjoyed. This time it is more free tracks from a different album. Not an entire free disc this time, but most of one. I had 5 tracks already, 3 more were free which I have just grabbed, and a final 3 were not. I can guess this will be more ambient material but not at its themes.

Immediate electrics hum and give a deliberate (I would guess) sense of being underwater through an intangible oscillating quality that seems to slow everything down. It is quite an oppressive piece, atmospherically speaking and veers into discord in places. Energy Failure on the Sibelius is not winning me over, but I could see it being decent mood music for a deep-sea or deep-space adventure. There is a part of me that thinks I should be assigning tunes like this some metadata, or maybe just to a playlist, to take advantage of  actually listening and building a picture of them because thematic background music is a plus in at least one of my hobbies. I have to say though, I think I will stick with simply deleting it this time.

The Astrology is the first of the longer pieces (there are three around 10 minutes each), and it starts more promisingly but then fails to build on that. A haunting tone is all well and good but it does not play with it enough to create lasting interest. I got really into Another Empty Galaxy but somehow I am not feeling the same draw here. I don't know if the cold outside seeps in a bit with these vast empty sounds - this tune reminds me more of icy wastes than any other kind of land- (or sea-)scape. And as I commit that, something else is added to make it feel a little less empty. A mechanical kind of chugging bass loop. Maybe a caravan of some sort, slogging across the floes. Repetitive as it is, this loop really adds depth to the track and lifts is enough to make it work.

As it ends, I have a moment where everything is borked - I'm listening to one track but it is reporting and recording another; I do not know whether I am coming or going. So I sort it out by deleting the album and re-downloading everything except Sibelius and sort it out, listening to the end of The Astrology again as a result, but that's an acceptable enough price. Only the LastFM scrobbler does it again as Sol starts, recording it as The Astrology again. Some odd things have been happening recently; most Mawkin:Causley tracks were scrobbled twice during that listen a couple of weeks back. I'll put that aside though and go by the on-screen in WMP. Sol then. It is vaguely reminiscent of Vangelis in some respects and I approve.

Yup, every track now seems to be scrobbling as the one before it. Oh well. This is a lonely pursuit at the best of times, albeit one that through its engagement wards of loneliness, but tracks like this really emphasise the feeling. I can see this as being stuck on a rock in the middle of nowhere, looking out over vast swathes of nothingness, a big empty sky above and no landmarks to guide. Bleak, that's the word. And yet there is a warmth of sorts to the music itself that undermines that sense, even as it creates it. Since the opening track, I have fallen in to rather enjoying this again. It does help that I can see other uses for it but there is enough here to be oddly fulfilling in its own right. Leaving the hub is suitably dark, trepidatious mood to it, that you could see it as a fearful step into the unknown. It reminds me a little of prog rock, with long-held chords transitioning from one to another, but this is stripped back not embellished so the comparison quickly falls down.

The tracks have definitely gone a little darker to my ear; The Drop of Nowhere is less interesting as a result. Perhaps my attention has wandered a little, but this track is more of a drone with not enough to lift it or provide gems that sparkle against the black backdrop. Euphandemonium (great title!) lifts things a bit, which is welcome, but only brief. The strains that gave it the lift fade fairly quickly then linger there just in the background a bit in a way that makes the track really not work for me. Then it is over, for this is a short song, and we are on to the final piece, the "bonus track" - this is also shorter and has more obvious instrumentation rather than the strict ambience of prior tracks. The sustained chord is a little wearing though and this will be joining a few of its disc-mates in my recycle bin. For the second time tonight, too!

All in all this was a hit and miss set of tracks with the middle better than either end. Another selection of Deepspace's freely available work, The Barometric Sun is next, unless I fiddle with the order.

Another Empty Galaxy - Deepspace

Track list:

1. Another Empty Galaxy

Running time: 59 minutes
Released: 2008

So this is one long ambient track. I do not have a clue what got me to look at Deepspace and then grab all the freely available tunes on LastFM and I suspect that by the end of this project I may regret having picked them up. Pick them up I did, though, so now I have to find an hour to listen to this. If you are curious, the track can be found and downloaded here.

No big bang to start, but its a galaxy not a universe. This post could go a number of ways. I could get really into the spacey ambiance and go wild with descriptors. I could detest it and write a diatribe about the hour I am committing. I could simply zone out and make a really short entry. Its that latter I am betting on; not certain of my staying power for this. That said, I am in the right kind of mood for ambient relaxation - just come off the back of a Bloodbowl game where I won but lost 2 players to death, had to pay £160 to get some connectors replaced and repaired in my car, and had a busy day catching up on 7 days worth of missed email - and found that my tomorrow afternoon is a wall-to-wall teleconference. And to top it off, I missed (or rather could not pay adequate attention to) Only Connect. Bah, intellectual nourishment denied!

So I am in need of something soothing, and on that score at least I think I am on to a winner with this piece. Five minutes in, and the track is wide open. There is nothing really musical here a lot of the time, background hums, waves and sounds; layered to provide a sense of space and wonder. I am feeling the space, less so the wonder. There is certainly something to this composition as, now at 12 minutes, I am not bored yet. I am also not really paying full attention - I think that is virtually impossible without the shut down of other senses. I am half tempted to turn out the lights and lie back on the couch - how I imagine this track is best enjoyed - but if I did that I would likely fall asleep, wake up in the middle of the night with a crook neck and fail to have an entry (so need to listen again).

The sounds are generally soothing. There is no drone - the longer notes are a more pleasant tone, and the resonance from them softens their impact rather than amplifying it, though on occasion it sounds like the note is about to lose tune. The waves and pulses of other sounds are generally soft, too and there are refreshingly few sparkles (you know, those electronic "star drop" sounds that one associates with the ambient cliché. There is no harmonic metals of the Vangelis kind, but flatter, emptier sounds that suit the vastness of space better. Deepspace gets the distance right - even when there are some bolder sounds, the tone of the background lends volume and everything feels further away, as if it is constantly receding (which it is, of course).

The track is approaching half way; my head is going slightly. Tiredness creeping in, eyes drooping. The track is having a positively reinforcing effect on that natural reaction to the end of a busy day. I have to admit to a little boredom, but I am resenting the time a lot less than I thought I might, and I can certainly see how listening to this in a more appropriate (and less live-logged) format could be mind blowing. There have been a few more falling stars, but they remain rare. The oscillating bass is the most consistent feature, a thrum to underlay all else, but around it things are in flux, the sounds that make for a tune, to provide the part that a melody might in more traditional music, are many and varied and I find it hard to describe any of them sufficiently. Bold one minute, soft the next. Clear now, then muted, or echoey or both. More stereotypical space creeps in more over the length of the tune - you would expect it to in a 60 minute marathon just to keep the change ups coming - but this is easily forgiveable as it is not overdone.

20 minutes to go now. It continues to provide a soothing aural skyscape, the bassy hum has lightened, ad there are more optimistic top end sounds arising. Ah, now that is interesting. There is a notable tonal shift at or about the 45 minute mark which makes me wonder if the piece is, consciously or subconsciously, divided up into movements even if it is presented as a single megalithic track. I cannot say I noticed the others (if they are there) but I happened to be checking how long was left as the clock went 45 and then the sounds shifted on me. Probably just coincidence, but who knows, eh? More chimes and musical stars in this latest segment - it almost sounds like a fruit machine in places (but for the bass).

I have mostly enjoyed it, though I would admit my concentration has been all over the place. I feel that grabbing it was a good decision, and keeping it is worthwhile, even if the chances that I will ever make the time to listen whilst shutting down my eyes are slim. I could well see it being used as background music for a sci-fi game at some point (playing in a Trek game at the moment so it could happen). Switch between this for exploration, and Ben Prunty's FTL Soundtrack for moments of conflict. Could work really well. That said, I am not a great believer in the use of music for roleplaying sessions - I find having to talk (or more accurately listen) over the music more of a burden to my enjoyment than any sense of atmosphere generated by a soundtrack. This could work though, because it is empty enough. I am into the final stretch, and I wonder if it is because I know that, or whether I can genuinely hear denouement in the soundscape, as if it is drawing in, contracting to a close. It is a tough call, but there is definitely a darkness creeping in, a bit more of an edge than there has been throughout. I find myself wondering how it will actually end - that must be a big decision in a composition like this. The answer seems to be by devolving into the hum, having that become all, then adding an echo before fading out. It is quite an anti-climactic end in truth.

Another Empty Galaxy is awe-inspiring in some ways, and definitely worth investigating if you like spacey or ambient tracks. If you have a good pair of headphones, a large couch and blackout curtains then building yourself a makeshift sensory deprivation chamber and indulging is a worthwhile thing to try, I would reckon. I am certainly amazed by how little I got bored by it, even as my mind started wandering and refused to pay full attention. In a piece this long, that speaks to a good variety; I have got bored a lot quicker to shorter tracks with more going on. So I end with two thumbs up for this, even if I am unlikely to ever give it this much attention again.

All India Radio - All India Radio

Track list:

5. Evening Star
9. Waukaringa

Running time: 9 minutes
Released: 2003

A stub; 2 songs from this album, one downloaded free at LastFM just now, another which I can only surmise was previously available free on LastFM but is no longer, which is why this is in my library.

I do not know much about All India Radio, but I seem to have a fair number (18) of tracks by them from a number of different releases. I would imagine all free and all from LastFM; they still have a number of downloads listed there, though the tracks do not all line up with what I have. I cannot think of any other source, though... I do not believe I ever bought anything by AIR, I have no physical discs, and I am not in the habit of downloading stuff illicitly. Anyhow - 2 songs, lets hear them.

Evening Star is pleasant enough - familiar sounding guitar-provided instrumental over (I would guess) synth backing. It evokes a wide open sky on a warm summer night - which is probably intentional to go by "Australian" and the cover image. It is perfectly listenable, even if it does repeat refrains too often. It is pretty good background music, a settled rhythm to the piece, and entirely inoffensiv.e. Waukaringa is the currently free song linked above. It is sparse. I think I prefer this. It eventually gets a beat after 2 minutes in and goes downhill a bit. The lovely light touch replaced with a generic-sounding loop which - like Evening Star - is perfectly listenable but not really engaging.

I would say both songs are reasonable pieces but there just does not feel like there is any heft to them, anything other than a nice hum to remove silence - a shame because I thought Waukaringa was going to be a stunning ambient track at first. Never mind. Whilst I could listen to either again and not complain, I have no drive to do so, too little engagement. Another casualty.

4 Tracks - Steve Smyth

Track List:

1. Scarlett Roses

Running Time: 4 mins

Released: 2008

Yay, free music!

I do not know Steve Smyth from Adam, but I do know that this was, indeed, a free LastFM download (and is still available as such). What pointed me in this direction I could not say, though since Adrian Crowley is listed in similar artists that might have some relevance.

Sounds like generic blues/rock as it starts. Vocal reminds me of Ron Sexsmith. An awful lot of Ron Sexsmith. An awful Ron Sexsmith who cannot sing. I have never used Sexsmith 4 times in a paragraph before. Adrian Crowley does not appear to be relevant.

Of more interest than the music, at least to me for this project, is that this is the first "singleton" track; there are almost certainly more. It also hints that WMP, which I use to manage my library despite it falling over with scale a bit, treats numbers at the front of album titles as numbers rather than strictly alphabetically, even when combined with letters to make words/units/measures.

Sorry Mr Smyth, but free though this was, I'll be deleting it now but leaving the link above so others might find it and perhaps form their own, better, opinions of Scarlett Roses and your work. Generic music and awful vocal do not make me want to hear it again. Unfortunately it somehow took me 5 plays to determine that... I can only conclude I was AFK for the prior 4.