Hypnagogue reviews are back.

[Hypnagogue]

Hypnagogue Reviews (hypnagogue.netfirms.com) are back, and the site's just been updated. Here are some clips from this month's featured reviews.

Igneous Flame, "Astra"
Pete Kelly, the man behind the Flame, lets the actual guitar sounds come more to the front on "Astra" than he did on his last guitar-based release, "Satu," and the CD truly benefits from his subtle and graceful playing style. This, layered on top of ethereal drones that drift like wind-pushed clouds, makes for a deep, relaxing work that is, from my experience, simply Kelly's best.

John Vorus, "Transmuting Currents"
It is impossible not to completely immerse yourself in this work. Vorus has seamlessly layered myriad elements here, and "Currents" reveals more of itself and the elegant density of its crafting with each subsequent listen. It is an ideal headphone experience, and superb for meditation or low-volume repeated play.

Steve Roach, "immersion : two"
The sole long-form piece, the aptly titled "artifact ghost," moves through its 73 minutes like a half-glimpsed parade of wandering spirits or the etherea of fading dreams that float around us in half-waking moments. The music affects the space around the listener sonically and temporally; time slows almost to the point of stopping and moments are lost, given over to the flow and the warmth of Roach's textures. The air shifts and calms in its wake, and perception changes.

Mingo, "This Side of Night"
There's a real sense of the artist at play here in the way in which Mingo seems to try just about every possible approach to ambient music. He has his lush drones, he has blip-and-drum pieces like "a thought to hold the sky," he has work that sounds analog in nature ("the hum of land's engine," which has the mark of being the distant cousin of Roach's Possible Planet), he has short work, he has deeper stuff--and together, it all works very nicely.


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