Sundaze 1740

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Vidna Obmana is a pseudonym used by Belgian composer and ambient musician Dirk Serries. The name Vidna Obmana, a phrase in Serbian, literally translates to "optical illusion" and was chosen by Serries because he felt it accurately described the music. Obmana's music has often been characterized as anamorphic and organic. He uses the techniques of looping and shaping harmonies, minimizing the configurations to a few notes.....N'Joy

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Belgian producer Dirk Serries, aka Vidna Obmana, is a prolific composer of deep ambient and electro-acoustic music, utilizing slow, shifting electronic figures and sparse environmental recordings to construct long, minimalist, often extremely personal textural works. Taking his nom de plume from the Yugoslavian for "optical illusion" (a concept which carries much weight in his composing, as well), Serries has released material through a wide range of different labels, including Projekt, Amplexus, Extreme, Hic Sunt Leones, Syrenia, ND, and Multimood. Born and raised in Antwerp, Serries began recording experimental noise musics in the late '80s, working solo and in combination with artists such as PBK, exploring the more abrasive side of electronic composition. Beginning with the release in 1990 of Shadowing in Sorrow, however, (the first part of what would come to be known as Vidna's ambient Trilogy) Serries began moving toward an almost isolationist ambient aesthetic, exploring themes of calm, solitude, grief, and introspection in long, moving pieces which tended to chart similar ground as American space music artists such as Robert Rich, Michael Stearns, and Steve Roach (Serries has since collaborated with both Rich and Roach). The first two movements of the Trilogy -- Sorrow, as well as its follow-up Passage in Beauty -- were self-released by Serries in 1990 and 1991, with the third volume, Ending Mirag, appearing the following year on the American ND label. The album was praised as some of the finest post-classical experimental electronic music of its time, and the Stateside connection finally opened his music up to an American audience, leading also to his association with Sam Rosenthal's Projekt label (the entire Trilogy was finally reissued by Projekt sister label Relic as a boxed set in 1996, with several new Vidna releases also appearing in the interim).

Although his textural recordings form the core of his output to date, Serries' more recent solo and collaborative works (such as The Transcending Quest, Echoing Delight, and The Spiritual Bonding) have also found him pushing the minimalism of his earlier works into the Fourth World territories of artists such as Jorge Reyes, Michael Stearns, and Jon Hassell, setting lush, dreamy soundscapes in a larger, more engaging rhythmic framework (usually with contributions from percussionists Djen Ajakan Shean and Steve Roach). Still, as many compilations and retrospectives of his earlier or unreleased work have appeared in recent times so as to confuse somewhat the trajectory of his development, which at any rate seems to trade more or less equally between the freeform conceptual landscapes of his earlier Projekt, Relic, and ND works and the more structured interactivity of the Extreme and Amplexus releases. Collaborations have also increasingly occupied Serries' time, with full-length works with Steve Roach (Well of Souls, The Spiritual Bonding), Robert Rich (The Spiritual Bonding), Asmus Tietchens (a self-titled collaboration for Syrenia), Sam Rosenthal (Terrace Of Memories), and Djen Ajakan Shean (Parallel Flaming) appearing all within the space of only a few years. Both Landscape in Obscurity and The Shape of Solitude followed in 1999, and in the spring of 2000 Obmana returned with Echo Passage and Surreal Sanctuary. Subterranean Collective was issued the following year.

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Originally recorded in 1992 for continuous playback at the Antwerp Zoo, Vidna Obmana's Soundtrack for the Aquarium opens with an austere, deep droning, underwater ambience. The work has been re-released in 2001 on the Hypnos Recordings label, along with a second CD which includes a live performance of the Soundtrack for the Aquarium recorded in Hamburg, Germany, in 1993. Both of the discs in this package are beautifully sonorous. The provocative and comforting atmospheres that Obmana has created with Soundtrack for the Aquarium are deeply resonant and tranquilly serene. This two-disc set is absolutely fantastic. It's quite possibly some of Obmana's best work and it's representative of the drone ambient side of his work. Fans of Robert Rich and Steve Roach will love this excellent recording. This long out of print work is sure to be a classic with ambient music fans, but it's also a great starting point in Vidna Obmana's large body of work.

Vidna Obmana - Soundtrack for the Aquarium (flac 392mb)

01 Aqua 1 (Theme) 7:07
02 Aqua 2a 19:30
03 Aqua 3 8:15
04 Aqua 4 12:00
05 Aqua 2b 14:50
06 Aqua 5 7:30
07 Aqua 6 (Theme) 2:30

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Vidna Obmana - Soundtrack for the Aquarium 2 (flac 252mb)

01 Soundtrack for the Aquarium 44:21

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Echoing Delight is a classic set of electro-tribal minimalism from Vidna Obmana (aka Dirk Serries). It features Djen Ajakan Shean and Tom Kloeck as guest performers. Serries created this deep soundscape just before his introduction to Steve Roach. Serries' work up to this point had been almost exclusively electronic minimalism. This CD shows hints of what is to come. Tribal rhythms and textures are interspersed among the atmospheres and ambient airs. The ethnic timbres are subtle but they are there. Serries' sound design creates a nice balance. It is distinctly minimalist and clearly tribal. This classic CD will appeal to fans of Steve Roach, Mathias Grassow, Klaus Wiese, Amir Baghiri, and Robert Rich. It might be hard to find in its original form. After a lengthy and ugly disagreement, Serries re-acquired the rights from Extreme. Parts of the disc appears on The Subterranean Collective.

Vidna Obmana - Echoing Delight (flac 387mb)

01 Winter Mouvement 8:06
02 Crystal Travelling 9:30
03 The Empty Night 7:54
04 Echoing Delight 17:41
05 Narrow Gloom (Part Two) 10:07
06 Glass Splendour 14:55

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With the help of frequent collaborators (and ambient pioneers) Steve Roach and Robert Rich, as well as percussionist/programmer Djen Ajakan Shean, Vidna Obmana piles layers upon layers of diverse sonic textures to create a seamless, flowing record perfectly suited for meditation or simple relaxation. By incorporating various ethnic instruments (including flutes, didgeridoo, and percussion) with abstract synth textures, natural ambient sounds and effects-layered vocals and chanting, Obmama creates mesmerizing, otherworldly soundscapes unlike anything you've heard before. A nice chill-out disc after a night of overstimulation, The Spiritual Bonding is a soothing, natural remedy for 21st century digital burnout.

Vidna Obmana - The Spiritual Bonding  (flac 252mb)

01 The Feather Cycle 11:22
02 Spatial Prophecy (Song Of The Tribal) 11:05
03 Challenging Boundaries 5:27
04 The Spiritual Bonding 12:16
05 The Interior Journey 4:38
06 Earth Dangling 4:14
07 From The Stepping Stone 4:32
08 The Nebulous Pathway 5:42

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Parallel Flaming is a collaboration between Vidna Obmana (aka Dirk Serries) and Djen Ajakan Shean. It is one of Serries' earlier excursions into electro-tribal ambience and it is a classic. He and Shean work closely together to provide a seamless blend of minimalism and rhythms. The atmospheres are dense and gray; the low drone is organic and vibrant. They form a massive soundscape with huge walls of sound. This is the predecessor of many excellent tribal efforts from Serries.

Vidna Obmana and Djen Ajakan Shean - Parallel Flaming (flac  304mb)

01 Fleeting Space 8:00
02 Parallel Flaming 5:45
03 Triangle Of Dawn 8:45
04 Nocturn 8:36
05 Narrow Gloom 9:40
06 Shades Of Ancient 8:40
07 Doekoen 10:55

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