STARGARDEN

Ambient Excursions

mp3.com (2001)

review by Bill Binkelman

The artist who records as Stargarden (Bobby DeVito) lists Aphex Twin as among his influences for his debut album, Ambient Excursions. That's not hard to believe. Some of the cuts on this superlative trip into electronic ambience do sound like they would fit in comfortably on Aphex's Selected Ambient Works Volume 2. Other cuts have a warm analog synthesizer sound, reminiscent of Tangerine Dream. What all this adds up to is an exemplary ambient music and EM release - filled with excursions of both rhythmic and minimal electronics - music that carries an emotional current as well as the bliss of uncomplicated circuitry.

"Mt. Fuji" will certainly remind astute listeners of SAW II, with its muted minimalism and repeated motifs of soft echoed notes and chords. "Chenrezig" is another track that could be lifted from Selected Ambient Works, with its echoed series of synth notes - but a new wrinkle is added with what sounds like samples from something out of Blade Runner blended in now and then. One of the cuts that may bring to mind Berlin-school music is "Ghosts of Ocean Gardens," which is a long-form exercise in minimal repetitive washes and notes, with Teutonic-analog textures. "Ambient 5" explores territory that is more experimental but still accessible - arrhythmic echoed synth notes strike and then fade into blackness. This cut, as with most selections on the album, have an emotional neutrality, a certain openness to them, inviting the listener to bring whatever he/she wants to the party. There is little explicit emotionalism here - which makes the recording all the more intriguing. The music is overtly electronic in nature, and that's also something that I came to enjoy the more I listened to it.

While never succumbing to the sterile coldness of some pure types of EM, Bobby DeVito does surrender to modern circuitry in that he does not try to assimilate any elements of neo-classical, new age, or other subgenres into his recording. This further differentiates Ambient Excursions from some other recordings. There is no attempt to make the synths sound like anything but synths, such as on the sedate and spacy (with rhythms) "Millenia." One of the high points of the album comes on "Bitbucket," a deliciously electro-funky excursion into Berlin-era beats and synthesizer colorings. Percolating bass notes, cascading keyboards, and a sense of, dare I say it, "fun," all contribute to what I feel is one of the strongest cuts on the album.

The decision to purchase Ambient Excursions is a no-brainer. If you like EM, you'll like this CD. If you enjoy electronic ambience, you'll groove aplenty to this recording. While I would have preferred a more adventurous mix, the music itself more than makes up for less than stellar engineering. I played this CD many times before writing this review - which is always a sign that I liked it. I hope Bobby a.k.a. Stargarden graces us with another release of ambient music soon. With this as a starting point, the destination will be something very special - I'd bet on it! Recommended.