CARBON BASED LIFEFORMS: HYDROPONIC GARDEN (2003)
1) Central Plains; 2) Tensor;
3) MOS 6581; 4) Silent Running; 5) Neurotransmitter; 6) Hydroponic Garden; 7)
Exosphere; 8) Comsat; 9) Epicentre (First Movement); 10) Artificial Island; 11)
Refraction 1.33.
There is nothing particularly revelatory about
this album, but for once, this actually works in favor of the music rather than
against it — Hydroponic Garden is
not an exercise in technical innovation, where the listener spends more time
trying to «get» the music rather than enjoy it, but just your old-fashioned
attempt at creating a vibrant musical landscape. No wonder the opening bassline
of ʽCentral Plainsʼ immediately reminds you of Pink Floyd's ʽOne Of These
Daysʼ: Hedberg and Ringström persist in drawing more influence from classic progressive
rock and «vintage» electronica than from their modern day inheritors.
The record has been described as belonging to
the «psybient» genre, whatever that means, because, honestly, if that's a
contraction from «psychedelic ambient», then most ambient music is psychedelic
to some degree; and beyond that, there is nothing particularly «psychedelic»
about Hydroponic Garden —
«psychedelia» essentially means opening up an extra dimension of perception,
usually through various studio trickery, and there's very little actual trickery
here, just the standard array of tape loops and samples, all of them handled in
a very straightforward manner. But the results are actually better than
psychedelic — they're just... beautiful. Well, at least some of them are.
ʽCentral Plainsʼ is constructed out of that
relentless bassline, which sounds like a thick, crackling electric wire caught
in an eternal wind blast, and a limitless wheat field of synthesizers
stretching across the horizon, with breezes and crickets and an occasional snow
shower and no signs of man's presence — not a lot of ingredients, really, but
the ones present suffice to build up an atmosphere of lonesome natural elegance
and ominous tension at the same time. I could actually do without the
percussive trip-hop rhythms that «enliven» the track towards the end, but I
guess the genre somehow demanded that, even if it somehow detracts from the
general ambience, unless you want to picture a robot-driven combine harvester
rolling across the field as well.
Everything that follows largely falls in two
classes of soundscapes — slightly dryer sci-fi abstractions like ʽTensorʼ and
ʽNeurotransmitterʼ, clustering around staccato blips and bubbly bass, and
warmer «naturalistic» panoramas like ʽExosphereʼ or the title track, with
cloudy synthesizers, ghostly vocal harmonies, and nature sounds a-plenty (wind,
water, chirping birdies, you know — everything in one's power to produce a
convincing balance between manly digital and godly analog). My personal
preferences clearly lie with the second kind of tracks, but even the first kind
has its merits — particularly impressive is the expert way in which they build stuff
up and tear it down, so that the music is static and dynamic at the same time:
ʽNeurotransmitterʼ is a great example, with an exciting bass crescendo that
gradually rolls upon you and then just as gradually fades away, like you've
been lying on an imaginary railtrack and a steamroller was passing above you,
inches away from crushing your skull into the ground.
There is, of course, the length issue — 76
minutes of this stuff might seem like overkill, but then we should all be
accustomed by now that there is nothing unusual about a modern album sounding
like a small chunk from some classic album thrown under a microscope and
stretched as wide as it can be stretched. It's a perfectly acceptable length
for contemplators of the minuscule and admirers of the little pimples and
pustules on the belly of each individual note. It's not really «minimalistic»:
despite the lengthy running times of individual tracks, most of them have
themes that undergo development, usually by means of additional sound rings
slowly penetrating the mix (ʽRefraction 1.33ʼ) or the appearance/disappearance
of rhythm tracks. Which is nothing new under the sun, but Hedberg and
Ringström make this «sonic plant growth» the
primary focus of their art — indeed, the whole album is like one huge hydroponic
garden, where meticulously generated artificial conditions cause luxuriant
natural growth.
It's not immediately gratifying, and most
people will hardly want to spend so much time trying to focus on all the minor
details — but even as background muzak, Hydroponic
Garden will still be creating a certain atmosphere of classiness, and,
furthermore, this is the kind of electronic music that you can very safely play
around people who have little tolerance for electronics, so ultimately
traditional and emotionally accessible are its melodies and harmonies. For the
lovers of microsound degustation, it might turn out to be a masterpiece; for
everyone else, it might turn out to be boring, but not in the boring kind of
boring, more like a moody, «there's-still-something-to-it» kind of boring.
Personally, I prefer this by far to,
say, almost anything by the far more popular, far more overrated Boards Of
Canada, and give it an unflinching thumbs up (not that there's any real reason for
flinching — the whole experience is as aurally smooth as can be).
"I prefer this by far to, say, almost anything by the far more popular, far more overrated Boards Of Canada"
ReplyDeleteWell I always figured since they were doing these albums close to the same time frame they were bouncing off of each other in music wise. So I may enjoy CBL's take on ambient more I still think the more popular BoC with The Campfire Headphase influenced the moves these guys were making.