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Artist: Cyber Zen Sound Engine Reviews:
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"Auslander" is a word taken from German, meaning "foreigner, outsider, alien." Indeed, the album is dedicated to people who know what it feels like to be an outsider. The sleeve notes also contain a quote from the Bible: "There are so many voices in the world and none of them is without significance." The music on Auslander comprises eleven tracks varying between around three and seven minutes in length; it is mainly rhythmic in nature with some melodies, various effects, some synth drones, and samples including voices. In the opening track "His Presence in the Streets" there's an underlying rhythm over which a kind of syncopated synth creates an unusual melody. Along with that there is a guitar borne melody and samples of what I presume is an Indian (Asian, not native American) singing. From this start it's apparent that Auslander is different to run of the mill rhythmic music, having a sort of "disconnected" quality. From this piece onwards the basic style is set, although the mood varies somewhat in places. Unlike a lot of rhythm-based music this album doesn't leave one feeling uplifted or wanting to tap one's feet with the music. Rather it comes across as a musical exploration of life from an outsider's point of view, and so is something to pay attention to a lot as well as enjoy. I found faint echoes of the style in IXOHOXI's Sommus-A in some parts of Auslander, although the two are very different albums. This album is worth getting hold of - it is original and pleasing to listen to.
The latest offering from Cyber Zen Sound Engine is an adventurous journey into the netherworld where ambient, rhythmic electronica, illbient, and subtle dialogue samples intermingle, yielding a mesmerizing whole that can only be absorbed, let alone appreciated (as it deserves), through direct and involved listening. This is not the more atmospheric textural work of their previous release (the magnificent collaboration with Matt Borghi,The Intercepted Transmissions). Instead, this an immersive auditory experience, having some similarities (particularly in regards to the intertwining of electronic music soundscapes with unique rhythmic structures and beats) with the duo's debut CD, Moonscapes: How Stones Became Enlightened. Auslander is drenched in melancholy of a most unique variety, i.e. frequently disguised behind rhythms and more active musical phrasing than the casual ambient fan may be used to hearing (such as on the opening track, "His Presence in the Streets" which floats on ebbing synth washes while faint world-beat rhythms induce a trance-like feeling aided by twangy guitar, reverse tape-loops, and a sampled snippet of a chant). Other songs on Auslander may bring The Intercepted Transmissions more directly to mind, albeit with a different slant (the kinetic rhythms and distorted guitar samples that merge with haunting synths on "Called From Light"). After three playings, I have barely scratched the surface of the brilliance and daring of Auslander. The first time I heard the CD, I played it in the background and was, I admit it, unimpressed. I next listened to it on headphones and was summarily very impressed, if not blown out of my chair! So, be forewarned - headphones are de rigeur to extract the beauty from this intoxicating and hypnotic blend of rhythms and excursions into assorted ambient electronic soundworlds. From the jangly guitar meets assorted scratches and beats of "Brightly, Brightly and with Beauty," the CD morphs into a dark shadowy pseudo-drum and bass number ("Innocent") featuring spoken word samples that are chilling in a David Lynch-ian way, and then the music strays over into very cool beat-driven ambient EM ("Mu Psych - The Mathematics of Angels"). And so it goes on for another seven tracks (some of which will be "hidden" cues on the actual CD release, since this is a pre-release CD-R I'm reviewing), all of it incredibly intriguing and ultra-cool as long as you allow this album to grow on you - and if you give it the chance, it will surely do so! And maybe that's the biggest testament to Auslander. Without meaning it as a criticism to less complex recordings, an album that is "easy to love" is certainly satisfying and rewarding. However, a CD like this which demands concentration and involvement is, in some ways, more fulfilling. Auslander takes the "envelope" and doesn't just push it, but tears it in two (on tracks like "The Invisible" with it's strangely distorted vocal samples, dirge-like rhythms, yet serene flow of synths). If you play a 21st century schizoid song like "Life on the Grid" in the background, you will completely miss the point - in the case of Auslander, one must absorb the music to reap its benefits. The slow cadence and stray electron zaps of "...Grid" will only sink in when you stop what you are doing and really listen! Suddenly, you feel like you are on the Grid - a bio-neutron in a William Gibson-ish futurescape, coursing through a cyber-neon city populated by empty people with empty lives all going forward with mindless purpose, as if their souls are the water molecules in a society's river. Heady stuff, to be sure - but comparing Auslander to Gibson is so appropriate to my way of thinking. Both share a sense of emotional displacement linked to a textural input of desire and even sensuality - but a new kind of sensuality that is hard-wired into circuitry and synthetic life-styles. This is not to say that Auslander is sterile, distant or remote - just the opposite, in fact. It's humanistic, but stripped of artifice and melodrama and classic romanticism. By the time you hear the last cut, "Shroud (the Final Flag)," you have explored territory that is at once familiar (we are all so alone in this life we live) yet also alien (when did we become strangers in our own universe?). Auslander is music for a brave new cyber world - chilling at the same time it is comforting, warm as a computer power supply yet dark and cold like black ice, always reminding us of our shared humanity (i.e. loneliness, suffering, despair, and also desperate hope) even while it infuses us with the paradoxical desire to stay both isolated and also merge with each other and the new technology we have fashioned. This CD marks the emergence of Cyber Zen Sound Engine into a new and relatively unexplored realm of ambient and electronic music. If I was a millionaire, I'd buy hundreds of copies of this album and give them away to anyone who would commit to really listening to this and letting it weave its spell. It's simply that brave and exciting a recording!
This must be a banner year for ambient collaborations. Following on the heels of Lost at Dunn's Lake (James Johnson and Stephen Philips), Forgotten Places (James Johnson and Robert Scott Thompson) and Blood Machine (Steve Roach and Vir Unis), here comes still another fantastic CD, this one combining the talents of dronemeister/minimalist Matt Borghi and electronic rhythmic ambient alchemists Cyber Zen Sound Engine (hereinafter referred to as CZSE). The Intercepted Transmissions is a combination of Matt's tone/drone sound paintings and CZSE's muted yet insistent electronics and beats. The fusion of these two artistic visions (well,. actually three visions since CZSE is a duo, comprised of GraceNoteX and Smith6079) results in twelve relatively short (averaging between four and five minutes long) somber yet beautiful ambient musical sketches, many of which are sad and reflective while others are darker and subtly foreboding. The album begins with "Mars Infers," (which, by starting off with a series of drifting high-pitched drones, sounds like it could be from Borghi's December Impressions). However, as the track unfolds, layers of other washes and tones coalesce in the listener's musical field of vision, coming into "view" slowly. A quavering tone and twinkling synth effects smooth out the darker aspects of the drone. Throughout this song, and all of The Intercepted Transmissions, it's difficult for the non-musician (such as myself) to clearly place who is who is playing what on each track. Per the liner notes, the album features Matt on treated acoustic guitars and sound treatments, GraceNoteX on keyboards, synths, and percussion treatments, and Smith6079 is credited with guitars, synths and programming. No matter sorting all this out, though. The syngergistic performance of all three will be a treat for any discriminating fan of ambient music. "Whispering Across Oceans" is more indicative of the remainder of the CD with its sad piano refrain, ascending and descending synth chords, and melancholy lead keyboards. More than once while listening to this recording, I found myself comparing it to Tim Story's more electronic recordings (from earlier in his career), except that there is less of a "classical" feel to this album and more of an overt ambient sensibility at work instead. That's probably good news for hardcore ambient music enthusiasts some of whom (I have read on the internet) hold Tim Story as too "new agey" for their tastes (an opinion I personally do not share). There is a feeling of quiet repose and solitude running through many of the tone poems on The Intercepted Transmissions. A few of the recordings' song titles reinforce this vibe, as well as underlining the sadness inherent in the music: "Echo Location and Lost Loves," "Endless Rain," "Mend," "Passing Us Unaware," and "The Hill Over Nagasaki Harbor." There are also more ambiguously titled tracks, such as "He Called Me Butterfly," "Code Breaking," and "Consider This." This verbal ambiguity is also a similarity shared with Story, who is a master of almost poetic brilliance when it comes to song titles. Rhythmic elements, when they appear on the CD, are insistent but soft. Percussion is never strident or predominant, preferring to anchor a track in a stately cadence, rather than forcefully thump its way into the listener's consciousness. For me, this is one of the album's strengths, i.e. allowing the music to have a natural sense of rhythm. It lends the music an almost organic (or, at the least, a more human) element even amidst all the electronics, drones, and spacy textures. Some songs may elicit more overt remembrances of the individual artists' (Borghi and CZSE) recordings (such as the opening cut or the droning tones of "In Any Language"). Others offer up an alchemy-like alloy of the two parties' disparate styles, such as the vaguely disturbing "He Called Me Butterfly" which marries Borghi's high-pitched drones with CZSE's idiosyncratic electronic percussion (both of which are tied up nicely by what sounds like a theremin, but what is probably a guitar, I would guess). Still other songs are neither alloy nor outright combinations, instead being wholly new "elements," such as on "The Hill Over Nagasaki Harbor," featuring Aphex Twin SAW II textures and pseudo-Richard Bone (circa Etherdome or his earlier ambient works) washes and tones. For me, the album reaches its zenith (and the artists reveal their true collective talent) starting with the ninth track, "Endless Rain," (which continues the current trend of "true" ambient music containing nature field recordings - in this case, of course, the sound of falling rain and thunder). An almost palpable sense of tragedy or deep sadness permeates this track as a mournful series of synth washes and chords is blended with a subtle funeral rhythmic cadence and minimal minor key piano notes, echoing among the distant sound of ever-present rain falling. The last three cuts, "Code Breaking," "Mend," and "And Yet I Float," form a quasi-triumvirate or trilogy, each song flowing into the next, seamlessly, despite all three have different musical properties. "Code Breaking" may be the most overt Story-like cut on the album, and that is meant as a huge compliment as I consider the Ohio-based minimalist to be a literal musical genius. Repeating piano refrain in the background, melodic yet melancholic synth chords, and what sounds like treated guitar all pack an emotional wallop laced with regret and remembrance. "Mend" carries over this same emotional theme but introduces kinetic beats, while swirling and droning keyboards create a soft yet sad cushioning undercurrent. The CD concludes with "And Yet I Float," which (if I can be so presumptuous as to interpret the title) closes this superb album on a reconciliatory and even hopeful note. Perhaps the title refers to a statement of perseverance in the face of tragedy or pain. There is a certain warmth in the washes, drones, and understated melodicism in this song, featuring keyboards and textures which weave a gentle web of slow romantic ambience. I was not too surprised by how good the music was on The Intercepted Transmissions. I know how talented Matt Borghi and the duo of Cyber Zen Sound Engine are. But I was totally unprepared for the depth of emotion that this recording elicited in me. Stunned is probably a better word to describe my immediate reaction. Listening to this recording is like opening up a worn and faded photograph album of one's life that has passed by. I am consumed with regret, a sense of loss and yet also find myself awash in fond memories as well. Almost uniformly beautiful in its bittersweetness and lovely even when it explores darker soundscapes, the music on The Intercepted Transmissions is suffused with humanity and will evoke deep feelings in the listener who is willing to open a vein in response to the CD. Highly recommended.
The enigmatically named duo Cyber Zen Sound Engine is comprised of the artists GraceNoteX and Smith6079. Names like that certainly do push the envelope of anonymity; but then, so does the music on Moonscapes: How Stones Become Enlightened (push the envelope, that is!). Criss-crossing various genres of rhythmic and progressive electronic music and even venturing into ambient electronica, this recording packs a solid punch of atmospheric and adventurous sounds. It's so varied that it took me well over ten listenings before I even attempted a review. "All Directions Are Up" opens the disc with a whirring and crying synth, not unlike a subtle banshee whail, anchored by a polyrhythmic series of beats and delicate bell-like tones. Very cool way to start things off! Next up is "Wind Without Air" and again the music is overtly electronic in nature. Nothing organic here! Synth lovers who mourn the passing of true whooshes and swooshes and bubbling circuitry should slobber over this CD like a hungry dog over a juicy steak. The mood on this cut is forlorn as spacy underlying synths are counterpointed by a soaring keyboard line that enters and then leaves the song at intervals. At twelve-plus minutes, this is far and away the longest track (most of the others fall between three and five minutes in length). "Too Far Home" has a great opening sequence, featuring rebounding echo-effect chattering synth notes, and shortly afterwards a cyber-funky combination of slow tempo snare beats and a bluesy synth-piano lead line. Definitely Blade Runner nightclub music to my ears. Especially when a Theremin-soundalike tone starts floating above it all. "Lucas Somniorum" is eerie ambient music, full of shadows and mystery, with another kinetic set of beats supplied by snares, hand percussion, and other things that go "bump"in the night of this song. Cyber-tribal-noir, maybe? When the spacy synths come laser-zapping into the picture, the cut really starts to cook. Cyber Zen Sound Engine have a real flair for developing songs in layers as the music progresses. The duo are seldom content to let a song sit in any one place very long without throwing the listener for a cyber-curve! I love this approach. It keeps everything so fresh! From the appropriately named somber cut "In the Midst of Desolation" to one of my faves, the Tim Story-ish "Mare Serenetatis" (which mixes gentle flowing synths, an interesting midtempo rhythm, and deliciously melancholic piano), to the neo-romantic "The Moon in the Water" and closing with the ultra-William Gibson-ish "Falling Like Light," Moonscapes is an exciting and fun trip into different realms of electronic and ambient music. The engineering is excellent, the mix is exceedingly well-balanced (especially given all that is going on) and the rich and diverse pallette of both synths and melodies makes for a very enjoyable listening experience. The title may be a mouthful, as is the duo's name, but GraceNoteX and Smith6079 sure don't beat around the bush when it comes to delivering the goods, which they do with style, wit, and a helluva lot of imagination. Tres cool! |