Mikrokristal – Hidden Way Between Some Rains

March 18, 2013 • Cold Tear Records

Like Sending Echoes, Hidden Way Between Some Rains was another pickup from the dub techno section of Bandcamp. While this album veers way more into the ambient side of techno rather than dub, its aesthetics and presentation still make for a pretty good album.

In fact this album and Sending Echoes share quite a few similarities in sound—beats that are solid but not too heavy, warm background synths, glitchy accents, and an echoing, ethereal atmosphere. Each song has a handful of airy melodies to carry it along, and the rhythms—while simple—can easily drive the music forward in an engaging (and even catchy) way; see "Bubbles" for a good example.

But where Hidden Way shines is its larger sonic diversity than similar techno albums. It also has its share of nice relaxing ambient-oriented tracks like "Kristaliniai Sapnai" and "Pingvinai Vakar" to break up the album a bit; this (to me) is a nice advantage over albums like Sending Echoes, which had a problem with album flow and pacing. Hidden Way avoids this, for the most part. Also standing out is the more organic-sounding, uplifting track "Forest Walk", reminding me of other "acoustic-electronic" artists like Bridges Buildings combined with Floex.

It's not the be-all and end-all for ambient techno based on what I've heard so far, but it is definitely enjoyable while it's on and I am always pleased to give this album a spin. While the Cold Tear giveaway is over and these albums aren't free anymore, they're definitely worth checking out—especially this one—for those less initiated to "normal" techno, like me.

7

Echospace – Silent World

Yes, I'm back! I got pretty lazy last week.

June 17, 2012 • echospace [detroit]

For me it started with Liumin, an introduction to a style I'd barely known and that was the opposite of what I thought of techno as—hazy, dense, droning music, the sort of thing that was already right up my alley and I had been too presupposing to actually hear it. Liumin—and Silent World, which is what this review is supposed to be about—are more contemplative music, the kind of stuff I love, the kind that lets you sit and listen and think—maybe not about anything in particular, but think anyway; maybe imagine the urban scenes evoked by the slow crackling rain on the sidewalk or the lights diffused through heavy fog, or about what you're missing by sitting inside with the lights on and pretending to care about something you don't want to do.

Anyway, if you've heard Liumin, there aren't any surprises on Silent World, as the sound is pretty consistent: deep, subterranean techno beats combined with an incredibly thick blanket of ambience and droning textures, working together in perfect sync to create an atmosphere that's both isolating and a bit claustrophobic. The music does seem awfully repetitive on the surface (even moreso for techno amateurs like me) but there's tons of subtlety going on that might be hard to pick up on—stretched out samples, micro-changes in the way the synths and effects are handled, and one of my favorite bits: the drowning mariachi band in "BCN Dub" (also making a reappearance from Liumin). It's all too easy to get lost in the mix and the swirling drones and thudding beat and simply not think about anything else for a while. (Two and a half hours, to be precise.)

Speaking of the runtime, that is one thing about Silent World that can be a bit intimidating—really, three hours of the same repetitive old techno beat? especially the monster seventy-minute title track? Fortunately it's not as repetitive as it may seem; each track has its own traits that set it apart from the rest, like "Ghost Theory"'s skittery old-school sound or "Orbiting" and "Theme from Silent World" both being almost pure ambient. True, if you skip around each track you won't miss much, but each one still has something interesting to offer.

I still have yet to find any evidence that a film called Silent World with this as it soundtrack actually exists, but regardless this album stands up excellently on its own (as I expected). Unfortunately, for me it won't ever stand up to its predecessor—as I heard Liumin first, Silent World doesn't have quite the same magic and excitement, but they're two very similar albums and are equally enjoyable.

7