|
Runtime: 35'18''
«Our russian ambient master Philip Croaton returns home, this time with a reissue of a 2008 CDR-only (and very, very limited) release called 'Easy'.
Once again, he worked with long-time collaborator Ilia Belorukov on saxophone but also with Maxim V. Komov on guitar and Tatiana Komova on spoken word.
'Easy' is a deep ambient masterpiece, with heavily melancholic and sometimes dark soundscapes. Sci-fi soundtracks also come to mind when listening to 'Abandoned', specifically Cliff Martinez's 'Solaris' work - curiously or maybe not, this film is a remake of a 1972's original, by Andrei Tarkovsky, famed russian filmmaker. Another film that comes to mind is 'Stalker' (1979), also from Tarkovsky, but in this case is the ambient of the narrative itself that Croaton's music evokes, post-apocalyptic and abandoned facilities, near damaged nuclear plants and the like. 'Stalker' also inspired a video-game franchise with the same name (ukrainian made) in which 'Easy' would fit like a glove as soundtrack.
'Abandoned' is easily the best and most accomplished track by Croaton on this release, a true ambient masterpiece, simple, dense and deeply nostalgic.
The production design and mastering is also of note. Every single bit of 'Easy' sounds as if it was processed using very old, very vintage synthesizers and devices, giving it all a sense of russian analogue production. You imagine rooms filled with wall-heigh electronic machinery working to produce all the sounds you hear.
Awesome work!»
- Pedro Leitão |
Downloads:
| 01 |
• Easy Open ................................................................................ |
pt |
us |
| |
[2'36'' • 4,45Mb • VBR] |
| 02 |
• Abandoned .............................................................................. |
pt |
us |
| |
[9'20'' • 15,0Mb • VBR] |
| 03 |
• Dodged Over The Edge ............................................................. |
pt |
us |
| |
[6'00'' • 9,44Mb • VBR] |
| 04 |
• Away ....................................................................................... |
pt |
us |
|
[6'20'' • 10,2Mb • VBR] |
| 05 |
• Silence ..................................................................................... |
pt |
us |
| |
[4'54'' • 7,85Mb • VBR] |
| 06 |
• Easy Close ................................................................................ |
pt |
us |
| |
[6'08'' • 9,45Mb • VBR] |
| |
• artwork ................................................................................... |
pt |
us |
| |
[PDF-Zip • 4,59Mb] |
| |
• all tracks + artwork ................................................................ |
pt |
us |
| |
[Zip • 45,0Mb] |
|
Reviews:
«I had a charming post all written up about this lovely new work by Philip Croaton, Easy on the test tube netlabel. There was some witty lines and I even re-listened to some of his earlier work on test tube that he had paired up with Ilia Belorukov, Still Fire and Un[view]mask[ed]. So I got my review done and decided to read the liner notes as test tube always does a great job with them. D’uh. Turns out Easy was originally released in 2008 as a CD-R, not really a new release. Damn. So all morning, I hemmed and hawed about what to do? Do I trash all my listening time because the album is 2 years old? Also, Easy came out back in July. Not reviewing an album I liked seemed quite draconian, I mean, Easy is good, really good.
Nine times out of ten, I’d label this work ambient, but there is something about Easy that doesn’t lend itself to the ambient sphere after many deep listens. Easy traps the listener with its gorgeous slowness. Pedro Leitão, the curator of test tube writes, “Every single bit of Easy sounds as if it was processed using very old, very vintage synthesizers and devices, giving it all a sense of Russian analogue production. You imagine rooms filled with wall-height electronic machinery working to produce all the sounds you hear.” Yes, that’s it, Easy this fullness, a beautiful fullness.»
- Disruptive Platypus / September 14, 2010 |
|
| Player:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Copyleft:
cover:
©2008 Maxim V. Komov
©2010 aeriola::behaviour
music:
©2008 Philip Croaton
©2010 test tube
This work is licensed under a
Creative
Commons License.
How to download
music tracks:
• right click the individual links
to the files;
• choose 'save as' and
point it to the place of your preference (eg:
your 'desktop');
• single click usually
works, too.
How to play music
tracks:
• choose an appropriate mp3/ogg player
(we recommend Winamp)
and install it on your system;
• usually,
you double click the music files to play them,
but you might want to follow the program's specific
instructions. |
|
|
