Various - Excursions In Ambience 3

Various - Excursions In Ambience 3 - The Third Dimension (Astralwerks, ASW 6119-2, 1994) (FLAC)

01 Spacetime Continuum (Jonah Sharp) – Floatilla
02 Grain (Jimmy Johnson) – Birth .Son
03 Seefeel – Charlotte's Mouth (Avant Garde Mix)
04 Spectrum (Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember) – Pulse Drone (Neon Sigh)
05 Air (Pete Namlook) – Trip #2
06 Divination (Bill Laswell & Co) – Ancient Evenings (Najm-Al-Din)
07 Future Sound Of London – Deep Into Your Subconscious I Slide
08 Steve Fisk – Express God
09 Mike Kandel (Tranquility Bass) – Slow Boat To China
10 Aphex Twin – #19

Spacetime Continuum should be no stranger to anyone who frequents here.  Perhaps i'll post a bunch of his amazing output.
Grain is new to me (as of this posting, I've heard this song, but did not do the research on them until now)  I'm thinking about dropping $5 bucks to some guy online who wants to sell their cd.  I'd prefer to just pay the band.
Seefeel is one of my all-time faves.  These kids really know what they are doing.  I wish i could have seen them live.  That said, their new stuff has yet to grow on me.
Spectrum is an animal of one.  Sonic Boom and J. Spaceman were Spacemen 3.  There is some meaning there for some, but for others it means nothing.  Either way, this is a good representation of his stuff.  I was lucky enough to see Spectrum with Jessamine back in the day.  Good times and lots of duct-tape on the keyboards.
Air/Pete Namlook.  I'm still bummed about him not being around.  Great song.  Years before the french dudes.
Divination is Bill Laswell and his bass-booming self surrounded by killer musicians.  Seriously, what has this guy not tried?!?!  Major talent.
FSOL is one of my all-time faves.  And they are still bringing the quality.  Check their Environment releases for some incredible sounds.  'Lifeforms' is probably still my fave.
Steve Fisk is a crazy dude.  Has his hands in a lot of stuff.  I have his "999 Levels of Undo" and recognize his names on a lot of my grunge-ish cds of yore.  Reminds me of Dean Garcia/Headcase stuff.  Crazier ambient, which i adore.  I want to track down his older stuff.
Mike Kandel, who is Tranquility Bass, which also should be no stranger here.
Aphex Twin should need zero introductions.  but if you are in the dark, this is as good as any of his massive works to get acquainted.  tuck yourself into it.  immersion is kinda key.  as probably most of this comp is.

004Dreamfish (Mixmaster Morris & Pete Namlook) - Dreamfish 2

Dreamfish (Mixmaster Morris & Pete Namlook) - Dreamfish 2

The follow-up. Not as good, but it's nice to zone out to.

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003Dreamfish (Mixmaster Morris & Pete Namlook) - Dreamfish

Dreamfish (Mixmaster Morris & Pete Namlook) - Dreamfish

A review I found:

In 1993, Pete Namlook and Mixmaster Morris paired up to make Dreamfish, an album that perfectly captures what the Fax +49-69/450464 record label was about at the peak of its output. The opening track, School of Fish, has to be one of my favourite pieces of music of all time, right up there with Bach's Aria and Brian Eno's An Ending (Ascent). In my opinion, this sublime track is about as good as music gets. Like much ambient music, it's composed of a few simple elements that blend together well: it has stepped sequences, plenty of slowly evolving pads, a marimba for rhythm and some filtered noise for effects. Such a technical description doesn't begin to do it justice, however. Emotionally, it's a wonderful, dreamy piece of music that washes over you like the ocean washing over sand. It's simply beautiful.

Charting deeper waters, the second track, Hymn, is a much darker piece. Fueled by short step sequences and swirling pads, it has an ominous, almost scary atmosphere as Terence McKenna talks about patriarchal monotheism. This track compliments the first well, but personally I'd rather have had the chance to explore the happier, more playful side of things more.

The third track, Fishology, is downright weird. The pair of musicians worked out how to coax strange noises like frog calls out of synthesisers, but I have to wonder why. This album is generally seen favourably by most people who have actually heard it, so perhaps I'm missing something, but I didn't think this swirly, bleepy track was worth releasing.

Dreamfish ends with Under Water, which amounts to a bit of noodling on a synth for ages. Again, it doesn't really contribute much to the album. This time, I doubt it's just a matter of personal taste, either: listening to it objectively, this track is embarrassingly simple, featuring a few strange synth noises starting up and spinning back down again. The whole thing's caked in reverb, naturally, and... that's it. It just doesn't feel like much effort was put into this track, as if the duo felt they needed to fill up the remaining space on the CD.

This is a hard album to rate, because I'd recommend it to anybody who likes ambient music for the first track alone. However, the pair of musicians understandably seemed to run out of creative energy after producing this sublime piece of music, leaving arguably most of the album with what amounts to filler.

According to Mark Prendergast in his book The Ambient Century, this album was created in only two days. While impressive, I think it does show. Maybe if Pete Namlook and Mixmaster Morris had spent more time together, they could have created a whole album that fulfils the promise of the first track. That would have really been amazing.

If you can justify to yourself buying an album for just one track, then I urge you to try to hunt down Dreamfish. At least the track in question is over eighteen minutes long. Just don't expect the whole album to live up to its fantastic start.

I'm not sure I completely agree with the review. But hey, what do you do.

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