I got a CD yesterday by Delerium called 'Semantic Spaces.'...
The Cd was a part of a package that came to my show which included a
brief discography if anyone is interested.
The members of theis group are either members or producers of Front Line
Assembly (I am unsure which)...but the music is promoted as ambient.
They were promoted on the promo page as being known for their looping of
monks and chanting before it got 'big'...
Tracks :
1. Flowers Become Screens 7:55
This song begins with an eerie blend of spacey keys and a female voice
(Kristy Thirsk) that weaves in and out and almost gives you goose bumps.
She whispers "rain" "pain" and various lines related to the lyrics.
"Rain is pain" "Trickling down" etc etc...
The keys build up with the layers and then the layers fade into the beat
at around 1:57...enigma-esque beat...some sort of mannheim steamrolloer
sounding keys pop out...(screwing up the otherwise mysterious feel...)
Thirsk sings the first line....chorus...(id write the lyrics, but i might
get sued)....strong atmospheric keys....layers of samples...second
line....
The vocals are overlapped by this "ahhhhhhhhhohhhhhh" sample...very
spooky....
more singing more samples....
As a lyrical piece this is good. I will play it on my show more than
likely to please those who like vocals...(I do a new age/ ambient show
and I have a lot of enya/clannad fans in the audience...)
Some of the keyboards are in the way of the power of the song...it is
almost like hyped up cocteau twins...but the voice is not as good as
frasers...not as hollow and haunting....
As an ambient piece i do not think it will pass other than the first two
minutes...again the keyboards get in the way and so do the canned
beats....but this is far better than anything on its level (Enigma, Deep
Forest)
2. Metaphor 7:49
Eastern samples...light chimes...blended with atmospheric keys....
Slight Vangelis sound for a brief moment...beat kicks in at 1:00...a
better beat than the first...samples of these pymy types...beat shift to
a heavy bas, bass, snare pattern...monks on top of pygmies....
deep bass kicks in at 1:55...old new order like back ground effects...
Some vocal samples that sound like very very fast monks...keys flow in
and out...layers are very thick....it is hard to pay attention to any one
particualr sound...then the layers quit suddenly...about half are gone
and replaced by a pink floyd sounding loop and the pygmies....
hip hop beat in back...keyboard transition to native or oriental
flute...beat returns almost simultaneously...the monks come back...
the structure is complete and it cycles back around to the end...
This music is much better when it does not have to be concerned with
lyrical structure...this song is slow paced but at the same time very
uplifting...it is not as minimal as ambient can be...but it is not as
hyped as any sort of techno...i think it is in the category of Enigma and
Deep forest in that it doesnt match any formulas, but it sure is better
than most of the crap on the radio.
3. Resurrection 9:24
Choir sample and horn loop.
rough synth sizzle..horns fade...low groan of synths and then synth
strings...low synth reaches top of arc...Beat hits at around 1:00..
snare loop...choir comes back...various effects...
Oriental or eastern flute loop and bass come in....keys annoy you in the
foreground....contrast the mood....this music tells you to dance and sit
down and relax at the dame time....some plinky high pitched keys in the
foreground....this is getting annoying...
choir comes in and out...its still that cheap "lets see how many ways we
can use samples of a body of people singing"...it just sounds better than
the other two groups.
4. Incantation 6:24
Another vocal track with Thirsk...
Synth intro...the songs begin sounding like they will be cool...but then
the beat kicks in...this one is not horrible, though...the song makes a
drastic BPM shift at :40...old school techno beats...bass is sounding
more and more simialr to the rest of the album...You know...with deep
forest, enigma, b tribe and these people...we may be seeing a whole new
style of music...all the bass is the same...the loops are of similar
nature...
the vocals are similar in many ways to opusIII...keys sound better with
the vocals...obvious Front Line Assembly influence...but not as rough...
ok enough...
5. Consensual Worlds 10:04
Organ with effects...
Not spooky at all...
242 sounding key loops...
This song has potential as long as they dont throw in a canned
beat....very slow monk loop...ohhhhhhhhhahhhhh....the beat hits at under
2:00...interesting so far...oh no here it comes...and suddenly it sounds
like old ORB!!!
ARRRRRGH! Its perpetual dawn!!!! at leas there is no one singing
"perpetual daaaaaawn" over and over to drive you up the wall...but it
does have that old style dub sound....i have to keep telling my self that
this is much better than enigma...at least its better than enigma....
some jamiacan guy blabbing incoherently for at least 2 and a half
minutes...
there it is...the canned beat....
took almost six minutes but i knew it would be here...keys like johnny O
in the background briefly...remember johnny O?
Remember that category of music called "high energy" in the late 80's...
6. Metamorphosis 8:27
What I call "cinema sounds" in the beginning (cant think of any other way
to describe it)...
slow rolling keys...chimes...ets...in a blend....
ooops...someone left the 808 on...no...more like a casio set on slow
samba...
key loops..very sped up monks sop that it sounds like female vocals...
synth hiss and bass intro...
now it is female vocals...
not saying anything though...just loops...
im starting to hate this...
dogs in the woods, or some sort of tribal thing loop.
7. Flatlands 7:13
Synths and monks intro...
Violins...
OHHHH NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
It is THE enigma beat...i hate this beat...it was ripped off by
enigma....what is this a freaking RULE that you have to use this beat...?
I cant take it....still its better than enigma!
8. Sensorium 12:08
Synth distortions and overlays...very silent in the background....
most dominant sound is bird loop...then a marimba pattern...
rolling keys....
chime sound...
the standard synth "ahhhhhh"
some warps going on...im impressed...but they are in back....
acidic sounds...this may prove to be the best track on this disc...
in and out....nice flow so far....
no beat yet...thats good...acidic loop goes away....a shallow
rumble...here come the vocal incoherencies from the female vocalists...
synths are building up...no beat yet....acidic loops return....
oh no....no....they completely stole this beat....if i remember who from
ill say...it is a loop off of someone else...maybe even the orb....i dont
think so though....oh no!!!!
Its a damn DEEP FOREST LOOP!!!!!!!!
its right before the deep forest cheesy keyboard intro to that song....oh
i forget....but they ripped it off!!! Well...at least they made them
sound good...
Beat dies...sand bvlock beats with deep kettle drum...acidic loops still
here....they come in and out now...oh lord...its the baka pygmy loops
that deep forest used....
the real beat kicks in around 7:20...female vocals come back...
more deep forest loops...
its a tight loop pattern now..i hate when a song of this type goes
repetitive for over a minute...
keys move again...
layers fade and we have the deep forest beat sample and the acidic loop...
then all is quiet except for the appregio...then there are random warps
in front of a low synth grind...chumpy keys end it off...bleeds into the
last track...
9 Gateway 8:13
Synth sounds and rain loop...
"Deep in the forest, there are little people..." (not really)
I dont even want to think about this beat...
Sounds like one that you hear in some "upbeat new age"
acidic sounds come forward though...so the beat is not that
bad....atmospheric synths come flying out of the background...
still sounds like new age....
(Which isnt bad ,but when you TRY to bridge the two types of music it
usually fails...)
Sounds like a sax loop, but is really someones voice...neat...
At four minutes we are still faced with the grim realization that nothing
interesting has happened...
nothing interesting happens for the rest of the song...
----------------------------------------------------
Well that was it...9 tracks of a decent nature..the music is overall
enjoyable if you are in a really good mood...nothing really
innovative...definitely better than enigmas albums put together...and it
is better than deep forest as well...so if you want some light techno to
add to your collection of "stuff to hear while cleaning the apartment" go
ahead and get this...
i guess it will get a B-(C+) just because it was better than the other
two...it wasnt as repetitive so it has to earn something...
but if you compared it to say...real ambient it would get a D+
but on the other hand if you compared it to deee lite or two
unlimited....it would get an A simply because Delerium would have to be a
lot worse than this to achieve that level of annoyment potential.
and if you want the discog i have it sitting around somewhere...
jasonosaj