Inspired by some wonderful posts in the Bagging Area & Dubhead blogs, I've been listening to a lot of music from the years 1988-1994 again. You don't have to ask me twice about that. I always like to return to this time, always a little nostalgic and wistful. The posts gave me the idea that this was a really crazy time. I'm a child of the East, but thanks to the proximity to Berlin and the right radio stations, I was always well informed and, if necessary, I spent half the night in front of the radio recording John Peel on BFBS or Monika Dietl with her acid House shows on SFB. Then the wall came down and suddenly you had access to all the wonderful records, all the fantastic books, culture overkill. And during this time, from 1989, 1990 - 1994, so many great albums were released, it seems to me that it's no wonder that this time was one of the most formative of my life. They laid the foundation for much that came after. However, I also think that the time afterwards was never as intense again.
Jon Tye is the label boss of Lo recordings, where many impressive albums have been released since 1995. Their catalog of over 50 releases includes recordings by Aphex Twin, Blur, Mike Flowers and Squarepusher to name but a few. But it was Rothko who introduced me to John Peel. Rothko are a London based mainly instrumental group. The group mainly used 3 (!) Bass Guitars and keyboards to create their soundscapes. The first album “Negative for Francis” couldn't be found in Berlin at the time, so I had to order it from WOM - world of music. When it was finally available, I was in bed with a fever of 40, but that didn't stop me from dragging myself to Berlin and picking up the album. To immediately put it on tape at home and disappear back into bed with the tape and confide my fever dreams to Rothko. This is hard to imagine today, when many things are available at the click of a button. I've lost sight of Rothko a bit in recent years, but not Jon Tye. I didn't know it back then, but in my world today, with his many projects, whether Ocean Moon, Seahawks, Captain Sunshine, MLO, he is a daily companion.
“Adventures in the Rainbow Vortex” was released in 2021 on Aural Canyon, home to many wonderful ambient gems, and is one of them itself. For a wonderful, magical New Age meditation in which the Seahawks can also be found, listen to “Energy Mosaic,” for example.
In Jon‘s own Words:
„All the ‘Adventures' material was recorded 2017-2018 at The Centre of Sound Maker Heights Cornwall.
I always really liked the basic tracks but I could never get the mixes sounding as I wanted them to. When I came back to the tracks in 2021 all was clear and the new mixes came together really swiftly.
I feel that the material is very different to the ‘World of Light’ album, more visceral and multi-faceted. With ‘World of Light’ I really wanted to create a sense of peace, a safe place.
‘Adventures’ is more about journeys that can at times be turbulent and that go beyond the everyday. There is a shamanistic intensity to some of the tracks that can induce visions and although many of these visions may be beautiful others may invoke a sense of awe and of being engulfed.
I can’t recall which keyboards were used other than the Roland Juno 6 and Yamaha SY-77, I also played zither, xylophone and bamboo wind chimes, Dan Hillman played a Moog on some tracks and saxophone on others. The field recordings were made on the deck in Millbrook.
I hope this album takes you places you’ve never been before and that it takes you on adventures that are enriching and empowering.“
Ocean Moon
Adventures in the Rainbow Vortex
Label: Aural Canyon
2021
No comments:
Post a Comment