Рецензия от Frans de Waard на альбом «Zhang Zhung»

SEAN WASHBURN - WAVE MANTRA
Lots and lots of music come to our attention and we'd like to keep good track of all of this. One of the most used words in reviews in Vital Weekly is ambient, atmospheric and drone, by whichever variation they come to us. One of things we don't hear a lot, luckily enough, is all those things that can be loosely labelled as 'new age'. Here however I think we have one. The music is by one Sean Washburn, who plays synthesizers, sampler, processors, voice, ney, suling, native American flute, ocarina, bells, chimes, bowls, gongs, rainsticks, shakers, rattles, stones, frame drum, udu, didgeridoo, natural and urban environment sound recording, and for some reason the copyright (and thus the recording?) is from 2000, but only now released. This is all very spacious, with tons of reverb on every instrument possible to create that wide-open space sound. There is a melody on the flute, wave sounds from water (imitated by synthesizers no doubt) and the rainsticks and shakers add that rainforest feel. With track titles as 'A Sacred Voice - Cloud Tree' and 'Inner Gate', you know the Age of Aquarius is upon us. I, however, stay in the third dimension (or was it fourth already? Damn 2012) and pass on this rather sweet pill of cosy, space muzak to someone who might need it.

SIJ & SERGEY GABBASOV - ZHANG ZHUNG
Of equal massive length, a bit longer even at eighty minutes, but with only two pieces is the CD by Vladislav Sikach (synthesizer, keyboards, singing bowls, field recordings, contact microphones, voice, sound processing, programming) and Sergey Gabbasov (Tibetan ritual instruments and chanting, Armenian blul, Moldavian caval, Kyrgyz sybyzgy, Tuvan shoor, Bashkir quray, Kyrgyz temir-khomus, Tatar kubyz, sound engineering & processing, programming and recordings). That's a whole bunch of instruments east of the Danube, I thought. Here too reverb plays a vital role in the music. Everything undergoes this treatment, but throughout Sikach and Gabbasov have a darker sound, perhaps more obscured if you will. Partly that might be because of the percussion instruments played, or the vast amount of reverb on the voice, but everything is smeared together in these pieces, closing it off. Maybe this was also a bit more improvised, or taken from various improvised sessions stuck together to form one piece of music, but here too I was not that impressed. Maybe I am too closed off (not open enough) myself to see the mystery in this music? Maybe my karma is a bit dark today? Or do I need to rush out and get some incense? Either way, these men perform ritual music that is simply not my kind of ritual. But let it be said: this was less new age minded than the Washburn release, and I can imagine Vital-heads who would join on this trip. (FdW)

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