Search - Emmanuel Tuts-Schiemsky :: Rust Voor De Stilte

Gentle Bath of Vibraphonic Ambience

02/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The guy who tuned me onto this record wrote,
"This one's a bit more new age, but may also be to your
liking--I don't know; I'll use it in mixing for sure."
He's a seasoned dj, with a very open mind and a taste for the eclectic. The sounds on this record are principally from vibraphones (played in a near-virtuosic fluttering pattern), treated piano, understated flute and analog synth atmosperes. It is more active listening than earlier pieces like Eno's 'Airports' or Roach's 'Structures'. More heady than the two classics, but just as gentle overall. Listening to it makes me feel that a tough day is finally over, and that I can always come back to the space created by the music. I don't like generic 'new-age' music, and this is not even close to that. It is really a work of art --though not as structured as a tone-poem like the Eno/Hassel collaboration 'Possible Worlds. I compare it's artistry to many of Eno's and Roach's records. There was a lot of effort put into the layout of this, dare I say 'album' of ambient music. It's music for sure and melodic, but it will also melt into any atmosphere or mood. The last track is a bit sad, which is unlike the rest of the uplifiting, but never overbearing record. Lack of ego or overt cleverness make me like this better than 'Music of Stones' by Stefan Micus with which this shares an affinity (though 'Rust' is less minimal and not at all trying to impress with Buddhistic pretentions). Such music makes me forget myself, without trying to take me away to an idyllic rice-paddy to facilitate my connection with the dao. It's fullness and melodicism is ironically closer to silence than many of the ultra-minimal records I sometimes listen to --eg. Frank Perry's 'New Atlantis' or 'Moments' bu Lull. The moody final track is, I think, meant more to induce sleep than melancholy, I hope --you don't have to listen to it, of course. There is, at times a very light allusiveness to the tribality of the best Roach/Rich material."