Sep 14, 2014

Sundaze 1437

Hello,  as the IS persists in killing defenseless people, most of which we don't get to see, yet somehow extremely violent games are ok. In fact there's so much violence on tv and specially in the movies, I wonder why joe public needs to be 'protected' from seeing the obscene violence of IS. These are insane people serving an insane alien socalled god, the same creep that is worshiped by Jews and Christians who have had their insane slaughter days...and still billions don't get it..


Ishq means "love" in Persian and Hindi, it is also a word used by such past masters as Rumi to express love of the divine and the ecstatic love of the Sufi or lover of God and all God's creation. It's also the name of a band that will feature these weeks... ...N'Joy

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After various attempts in Cornwall, England, trying to make the most of a guitar-based sound, Mark Hillier decided that the U.K. festival scene was the new direction to turn. Inspired by Ozric Tentacles, Hawkwind, Steve Hillage, and others, Hillier moved into electronica and ambient music in 1991. Working under a number of aliases, including Indigo Egg and Cyandragonfly, Hillier has used various philosophies such as raja yoga, Buddhism, and Sufism to influence his music and his approach to it also.

Ishq are Matt Hillier and Jacqueline Kersley, they are based in St Ives Cornwall, UK and have been making music since about 1995 under various guises including Indigo egg, Ishvara, Elve, and a few other alter egos. Ishq music skirts between IDM electronica, deep ambience and even has some newage overtones. The emphasis seems to be on music as harmony.

Ishq's music has something of this overflowing and romatic spiritual quality and "'Beauty", it could be summed up as music of the heart (though also of the head).

Matt and Jacqueline also run Virtual (3), a limited edition CD label which releases their more experimental soundscape music and other studio works.

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INTERVIEW:
Matt Hillier & Ishq - Painting the Invisible Landscape

by Mike G, June 26 2014...see last week



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Elve is yet another musical incarnation of Matt Hillier. Also known as Ishq, Ishvara and Indigo Egg, Hillier's work as Elve is decidedly more towards the Ambient, yet keeps it author's signature Earthen atmosphere. More than an album of environmental field recordings under stacks of synthesizers, Emerald (64'35") uses the natural sounds of woodlands as a textural element to be mingled creatively with electronic tones, swirling modulations and gently sweeping harmonies. The result is a work that creates a sensory experience of being deep within a surreal living forest - a place powered by the electrical current of the mind. With the constant texture of nature expanding and shifting throughout a soundfield of buzzing electronics, smooth breathing drones, stretched bells and mellow keys, Emerald fades into the listener's state - providing a profound soundscape full of natural and synthetic detail, or just as easily a barely perceptible Ambient dreamscape. At either level, the perpetual place conjured up by Emerald welcomes new inhabitants to its cathedral of aural wilderness.

As with all the Virtualworld series of releases the album was written with immersive headphone listeners in mind and sounds best on high definition headphones or hifi systems .It probably not best to describe this as ambient chill as the idea is to create moments of slight intensity aswell as moments of release in these works and so expect a ride .Its invocative music really and also more about painting a landscape with sound and stimulating the senses aswell as chilling them.



Elve - Emerald  (flac 321mb)

01 Epena Ceremony 4:13
02 Plant Cell Perceptions 9:02
03 Tree Memories 9:08
04 Pollen Forms 2:10
05 Delphinium Dream 4:31
06 Green Lake 2:05
07 Waterfalls 3:23
08 Emerald Forest 2:41
09 Mesmeric Sun Kingdom 11:59
10 Plateua 8:52
11 Eden 6:32

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Ishq makes a welcome return to Interchill with an otherworldly excursion into sublime ambience. And Awake is the next chapter of their meditative chronicles that began with the 2004 debut album 'Orchid' (Interchill/Dakini) and left off with their most recent release 'Sama' (Electronic Soundscapes). Imbued with mystical properties, the rich harmonic layers of And Awake create space for the busy mind to unwind and drift away to a subtle realm of inner quietude.

And Awake sees Ishq return with a fine album of their trademark tropical liquid sparkle. Colourful, vivid and intricate; Ishq establishes a warm sense of the exotic right from the start. Drifting pads with meandering melodic phrases, a childlike voice mouthing "...and awake..." are given a special lustre by means of bright electronic effects. There are many layers to most pieces: interwoven harmonic motifs; secondary melodies; underlying drones; water and nature sounds; glitch flicker and, on the initial tracks, a dreamy digital beat.

The tone of the music is always inviting; suggestive of soft sunshine and the wonders of the world: somehow managing to carry the listener from floating on the lapping calm of a clear lagoon to wandering among the curves and curls of moist frondescence right down to marveling at the veins of a single leaf. Soft flutes, oriental strings and Jacqueline Kersley's wordless vocals along with heaving tides and the cries of seagulls all combine to ensure that the Ishq journey is lush, expansive and truly captivating.



Ishq - And Awake (flac  447mb)

01 And Awake 9:56
02 Diving Into Sun 11:43
03 Leaf 14:34
04 Mizu 8:34
05 Skylike 10:32
06 Blue Drop 11:50
07 Kong 6:05
08 A New Life 4:01
09 And Awake [Return] 6:20

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'Skyspaces' by Ishq is the first release in the ' Virtual light '' series of limited edition. The Virtual light series of cd releases will all place an emphasis on space, light and minimalism rather than the more complex and detailed soundscape style of the Virtual world series. Skyspaces' as a work is inspired greatly by the open sky and its ever changing dreamlike quality. The album was written to capture something of the nature of the sky as it changes over a 24 hour period but also to invoke in the listener deeper meaning and an inner stillness.
'Skyspaces' is in a sense a twofold work. From one angle it can be percieved as a simple meditative work in the classic ambient style but deeper listening on headphones in particular will reveal hidden depths and layers and invoke a more complex inner landscape to the listener.

Well, this meditative, highly textural and flowing minimal music featuring a careful layering of gentle soundscapes is very suitable to put a busy mind to rest with. Alternatively, it can also open the doorway to the listener to find deeper meaning in the gracious core of "Skyscapes" inner stillness. It’s quite easy to lean back and imagine peacefull green meadows, a gentle breeze and pastoral landscape panoramas blanked in the sun as the textural music with field recordings smoothly evolves and passes by. Headphones will especially do the trick for this, while revealing the delicate and detailed structuring of Mr Hillier’s well-mastered expansive sound tapesteries during the journey.



Ishq - Skyspaces  (flac 248mb)

01 Dawns First Light 6:49
02 The Sun Arcs A Smile 4:50
03 Haze Of Yesterday 6:50
04 Distant Shores - Long Before 7:35
05 Evensong - Still 9:36
06 As Starlight Shining Bright 8:44
07 Moonlight Sea 7:59
08 A New Day 10:09

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3 comments:

Nothe said...

All links are dead, please could I get a re-up? Especially the first two (Elve - Emerald & Ishq - And Awake) in flac format.
Thanks.

T. S. said...

Hello, Rho:

This is my second and last request of the week. Could you please reup the links of this post, please? (http://rho-xs.blogspot.com/2014/09/sundaze-1437.html.


And this is my first request of the week (http://rho-xs.blogspot.com/2017/08/sundaze-1732.html).

I hope you are doing well.

Thank you,
T.S.

Anonymous said...

Hi Rho,

Please re-up: Elve - Emerald

Thank you, and thanks for all the brilliant uploads!!