AMBIENT MUSIC GUIDE - Essential Albums
Read the full review by Mike G here but these are the highlights...
- "...echoes of Vangelis"
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"...more emotional than Eno"
- "Visions of Paradise (1986) is stunningly pretty ambient psychedelia. Its two long pieces - each with three movements - flow like the deepest river, their textures glowing and swirling like luminescent mist."
- "...arguably the most gifted of them all [in Australia], and his best recordings from this period are now ambient classics."
- "...his distinctive musical voice has an appeal that expands beyond fans of therapy music to anyone who likes their ambient lush, sophisticated and trippy"
- "...the textures and subtle melodic themes are intricate, varied and constantly shifting, the tones swaying between rich harmony and alien dissonance. The album's production and synth sounds clearly mark it as e-music of its time, but that's also part of its charm, and its good ideas still shine through..."
- "...bona fide masterpieces of early ambient: Visions of Paradise (1986) and The Radiant Self (1987)"
- "[the track] 'Cascade' is a glittering wonder, built with a multi-layered crystalline melody that echoes Vangelis at his quietest and most elegant..."
- "[The Radiant Self album] is striking, both because it works in the context of the album and because few in the ambient genre at the time would have even attempted such a piece."
- "...musically this collection of 'colours and moods and shades' has an emotional undertow that Eno's similar efforts lack..."
ART OF HEALING magazine
"Peace & Quiet is the perfect music for your guided meditation. Japetus has taken the best music from a 20 year career and remixed it to create a deliciously relaxing flow of tranquility. Every track oozes peace and quiet. There are two CDs in the set - the first 'Peace' has the moving and relaxed tracks, whilst the second CD 'Quiet' has the still and relaxed pieces. If you like background music that sets the true tone of tranquility, then this double CD is a must-have for massage, studying, driving cars and meditations."
BYRON SHIRE ECHO newspaper
"Peace & Quiet is the kind of music which should be listened to when you are naked, lying on a table covered in oil, being worked on by your masseuse. This is the perfect soundtrack for breathing and getting in touch with that deep quiet within, perhaps a spot of yoga... a perfect accompaniment to those extended Tantra sessions... it's like having your psyche teased with a feather... perfect for conflict resolution sessions, perhaps in court and even better... in council chambers to enhance the likelihood of thoughtful decisions."
NEXUS magazine
"Japetus has been a leading ambient musician in Australia since the 1980s. Over the last year he has been remastering all his earlier works. Deep Space is a collage of cosmic moods that wash through you, taking the soul on a trip through the universal mind. The CD is divided into two lengthy tracks: 'Starlite' - winner of a 2000 Dolphin Music Award and 'Celestial Ocean' which ebbs and flows into the soul. Deep Space is a broad sweep, taking you on an extra-human journey, not unlike Kubrick's 2001. Very powerful and profound music."
LISTEN.COM
"Japetus draws you into his soft, ethereal works without overindulging in bombastic melodies... the common pitfall of many ambient composers. Cascading harps and ambient synthesisers slip through your pores."
WHOLE LIFE TIMES magazine
"Ambient composer - Japetus - similar in style to Kitaro and Vangelis, has released two very good albums 'The Great Great Silence' and 'Once Around The Sun'. Melodic interpretations of natural cycles within and without using synthesisers to create a peaceful, spacious yet awe inspiring atmosphere. As good or better than Kitaro, this is by far the best Ambient music to emerge from an Australian composer so far. "
NATURE AND HEALTH magazine
"Japetus has recently emerged as one of Australia's leading ambient musicians. As his compositions show, there is certainly no reason to feel a sense of cultural cringe with local product. Japetus is every bit as good as many of his overseas counterparts. 'The Great Great Silence' sets a very high standard indeed, exploring several different aspects of self realisation with muted and delicate sounds. His second tape 'Once Around The Sun' captures the grandeur of a planet circling the sun, in a seasonal framework, melded with the life-death-rebirth of its inhabitants. The music and sounds of Japetus are welcoming, sensitive, varied and colourful - and... very accomplished."
SOUTHERN CROSSING magazine
"Of all the releases by Japetus, I find 'Visions Of Paradise' the most accessible, but also the hardest to describe. It is music unto itself, an emotional sensation, a cosmic mood. As with places we may journey to, we feel we have been there before - deja vu. If that sensation could be translated into music, you would have 'Visions Of Paradise'. Composed, arranged, produced and performed by Japetus, an Australian master musician.... this is deep soul music."
THE CRYSTAL VISIONARY magazine
"Australian artist - Japetus - is well known to listeners of meditation music. His past recordings are all adventurous works being applauded in the press as belonging alongside popular overseas artists. 'Visions Of Paradise' was inspired by and composed for International Year Of Peace. This music is superbly suited to meditation and transcendental states of consciousness. Each side moves through three different phases, blending together to form an unbroken flow. A fine example of ambient music at its best!"
NATURE AND HEALTH magazine
"What a beautiful, soothing way to work away the stresses and strains of day to day modern life. Slip into something comfortable, put on this video and be visually and aurally caressed while the problems of the world slide down the drain for twenty two relaxing minutes. Known to many of our readers for his composing abilities, the multi talented Japetus goes a step further with Visions of Paradise, The Video and combines his music with a wonderful visual experience. This video flows so smoothly, it literally hypnotises the viewer with the sweeping natural vistas, including mountains, waterfalls, forests and Sun transitions. The music, arguably some of the best from Japetus, is an abridged version of the original album, Visions of Paradise. As an aid to relaxation this video is one of the best, and serves as an easy-to-use tool to help with any regenerative or rebalancing processes such as healing, meditation relaxation and stress release and lends itself to use in the home or wherever a state of relaxation is beneficial. What a great way to connect the beauty of this planet with that special place deep inside each of us, helping to create one's own vision of paradise."
NATURE AND HEALTH magazine
"Japetus stands out as one of Australia's most adventurous synthesiser musicians, and he has ventured into unfamiliar areas where few others have dared to go. On the Radiant Self he is exploring new territory. It is at times melodic, but there are also sequences that are confronting and mechanistic, as he contrasts the utilitarian world of mankind with the infinite reaches of space, beyond. The Radiant Self is intended as a musical journey of self-exploration and makes few concessions to the blandness which characterises much ambient music."
ALL MUSIC Guide...
NB: All Music is the company that supplies all the metadata for all the digital media on the planet (like to iTunes) and these reviews and very cut throat often assigned to writers who are not necessarily into such obscure genres as Ambient. Still, that is the risk you take sending out work for review. The reviews below are very honest, even if they don't quite get some of the concepts. There is also the irony that out of all my amazing albums they selected 3 of the most obscure titles!
- Infinity
In the liner notes of Infinity, Australian ambient composer Japetus writes that the record is supposed to be played at or just above hearing level, and can even be put on continuously at this low volume for days to provide a subtle, relaxing background. There are no track titles on Infinity, as Japetus urges his listeners to experiment with shuffling the songs to create a slightly different sound each time. The emphasis should definitely be on the word "slightly," as each track is practically a continuation of the previous one, with gentle, nearly rhythmless synthesizer noises and echoes that melt into one another, more similar to a painter's palette than to an actual album. Japetus' intent, after all, is to create auditory colors, and he seems to be particularly drawn to the soft pastels rather than more vibrant or forceful primary ones. The music sometimes borders on eerie, so that while it might be suitable for daytime meditation, it could cause a slight sensation of unrest as it grew darker. However, its low, soothing, drawn-out chords and sounds are perfect for providing a level of tranquility and inner peace for those within hearing distance of the music, and overall provides a very calming soundscape.
- The Kabbalah/The Zodiac
The first of his Mystic Pathways Series, Japetus tackles two more traditions in The Kabbalah/The Zodiac. As the composer is wont to do, the first disc includes spoken directions and explanations of both Kabbalah and the Zodiac over music, while the second is simply the instrumentation of the first disc. The Kabbalah, which begins the album, is divided into four listening sections -- "Preparation" (comprised only of spoken breathing instructions), "Elements," "Praxis," and "Transformation" -- while the Zodiac has just three: "Preparation," "Elements," and "Praxis." Though Japetus' gentle Austrialian-accented voice certainly is calming, he tends to give a very cursory explanation of the traditions, introducing their more universal aspects as opposed to delving into the intricacies of each. Musically, Japetus doesn't venture much from what he's done for the past 20 years, using gentle, often rhythmless synthesized chords and sound effects with each of his pieces, though he does include some vaguely Native American-sounding chants and something that resembles a waltz in the Kabbalah section, which adds some nice diversity, though its connection to the ancient Jewish tradition is a little unclear. Without the spoken guidance, the instrumentals seem a bit directionless, relying solely on a low, constant drone to bring them together as opposed to any greater cosmic significance, but for the most part the tranquility of the music could be a good aid in the meditation or relaxation techniques of the listener.
- The Major Arcana of the Tarot
This is the second album in the prolific Australian ambient composer Japetus' Mystic Pathways Series. Meant to be a guide through the 22 cards in the Major Arcana, which are often believed to be an allegory of the journey of the soul, Japetus offers his listeners two approaches in understanding the symbology of the Tarot. On the first disc, Japetus provides what he calls a "guided visualization," introducing each of the cards in the set, explaining their elemental value, and then describing a scene that illustrates the card over a generally calm, synthesized background. Japetus has a smooth, serene voice that fits well with the soothing instrumentation, and his use of the first-person plural is decidedly comforting, reassuring us that we can take this voyage together. For listeners who feel more equipped to take the trip alone, or wish to simply enjoy the soothing music, the second disc contains only the instrumentation from the first. It's 22 short songs, whose brevity can actually be a bit distracting, simply because the tracks often end right as tranquility is setting in. However, Japetus has been using synthesizers for over 20 years now, and he is very capable of producing descriptive soundscapes to both guide and inspire his listeners, and The Major Arcana of the Tarot accomplishes this.
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