The tracks assembled for this annual aural treasury are all highly crafted ambient electronic instrumentals, each illuminated and uplifting, with an evident deep moral seriousness and an artistry which expresses a very conscious and deliberate assumption of spiritual ecstasy in which our mind is suspended.
Illuminated and uplifting
The human experience can include a love of certain sounds, and marveling at the way that music can inspire a sense of deep inner knowing, understanding, remembering, or unveiling of one’s true nature, as well as experiences of peace and equanimity, bliss, ecstasy and aliveness, feelings of awe, sacredness, gratitude and reverence, and of abundant, unconditional love. Music can be the product of creativity informed by faith, allowing an emphasis on feeling, on intuitive insight, on a true essence beyond the world of appearances, to restore light and life to a dwindling world. The tracks assembled for this annual aural treasury are all highly crafted ambient electronic instrumentals, each illuminated and uplifting, with an evident deep moral seriousness and an artistry which expresses a very conscious and deliberate assumption of spiritual ecstasy in which our mind is suspended.
Some have suggested the existence of a cosmic consciousness, to gain knowledge and experience and to have joy. Different generations may have different experiences at similar points in their own time-lines. Origins and the ultimate fate of the universe are an ancient and universal mystery, imagine a tunnel of light and spiritual figures, often described in reports of near-death experiences. Awareness of the elements of the environment through physical sensation, might cause you to make meaning of what you perceive. Take a moment to think of all the things you perceive on a daily basis. The recognition stage is an essential part of perception since it allows you to make sense of the world around you. Music can remind you to always try to pay attention, and to practice mindfulness. Perception enables you to attend to the world around you.
A journey through the abyss and into the cosmos ::
The first track on the compilation known as 36 is from the magnificent double album release by David Helpling, simply titled IN, which started as a collection of new musical phrases and ideas that were kept together in hopes of becoming his third release. He had just released his second album, which is titled Sleeping on The Edge of The World. He muses, “Before I fully produced any of these ideas I began working with Jon Jenkins… 3 records and 7 years after that our epic trilogy was complete. It took another 8 years after that for me to create and build many of my original concepts and several new ones into what I felt was something special, powerful and my best work. Once I had everything close to what I felt was amazing I sent the entire project to the record label, Spotted Peccary Music.”
The cinematic music on IN takes us from the infinitesimal to the infinite, a journey through the abyss and into the cosmos, the feeling is of awesome wisdom and strength. IN was born from finding wonder in the tiniest of places, becoming a massive double album. This is notable as an epic effort from Helpling, and Spotted Peccary has supported this project with as many formats as possible: double vinyl LP, double CD, MP3, Apple Lossless, Immersive audio, Spatial Audio, all available individually or in a limited edition bundle.
“I envisioned sounds and textures that I hadn’t created yet and I was determined to make each piece on the record a stunning work of art that could stand on its own. With such lofty goals, there were many periods of feeling rather defeated when things didn’t turn out as I had envisioned or I struggled to create all of the music that a piece was asking for.” Helpling continues, “So, this giant double album was abandoned more than once as I felt so overwhelmed and broken down from the process. Every time I stepped away from it I came back with new energy and hope to get back to completing each piece and to achieve my own high standards.”
Imagine the vast universe as seen through a microscope, represented by symphonic cinematic electronica, through the electric guitar and keyboards, sometimes with transcendent ethereal vocals. This is the sound of unlocking the mysteries of dark waters, creation myths, and revealing things moving across the bright sky, bringing listeners the discovery of unusual and unexpected phenomena. Helpling brings his unmistakable style and dense sound sculptures to a deeper, more powerful and cinematic level, and now topping many “Best of 2022” lists.
Revealing things moving across the bright sky ::
Track 1. “Only What’s Been Taken” – David Helpling, from IN
Cycling melodies break open and gain more altitude, sparkling full orchestral strings sweep over us. My ears part liquid curtains that close again behind me, and my shadow fades swiftly under the water. We soar ever onward, and these vast plains of sand seem endless. Full orchestral strings sweep over us, a melodic pattern is established, a sparkling and cycling melody breaks open and gains more altitude in “Only What’s Been Taken” (6:26). The tiniest sounds are transmitted with a speed to which the ear is unaccustomed; I am always struck by the echo and reverb effects unique to this medium. This sensation is difficult to understand for anyone who has never heard sonic color so sharply defined, the sound of small, thin, white clouds with ragged edges, tinted with fine shades of ultramarine; then, off in the distance, it turns darker blue and fades in the midst of a hazy darkness. Above me, I can see the calm surface of the ocean.
Sverre Knut Johansen has taken on many fantastic themes and notions with his electronic music, such as interstellar travel, secret extraterrestrial technologies, terrestrial time and natural history, evolution itself, dreaming, and with his album Metahuman he embraces Enlightenment, Awakening, and the Great Liberation. Employing music to inspire a new spiritual perspective on our life in the Universe with the infinite potential to remove the limiting belief systems and negativity of our personal reality, Johansen delivers this and more, all in a musical form that brings light to the world. His inspiration for this project, Deepak Chopra, is an Indian-American author and alternative medicine advocate. The ideas Chopra promotes have been criticized by medical and scientific professionals as pseudoscience. Chopra has likened the universe to a “reality sandwich” which has three layers: the “material” world, a “quantum” zone of matter and energy, and a “virtual” zone outside of time and space, which is the domain of God, and from which God can direct the other layers. Chopra believes that “aging is simply learned behavior” that can be slowed or prevented. Great changes are preceded by chaos, to move past the limitations constructed by the mind.”
Track 2. “Immortal” – Sverre Knut Johansen, from Metahuman
The strength builds and broadens into a wide atmospheric dancing ground, a kinetic form that brings light to the world. With wide circles and graceful glides, a solid beat sustains, the pulse is strong, and rising. You might want to wear your sturdy cosmic dancing shoes, much territory is spanned and then floats upwards, to fade into a pleasant extended psychedelic rock darkness, “Immortal” (5:44) allows life to make sense as never before, life becomes transformed as you explore the infinite potential, the miracle of our very existence. Chopra claims that one may attain “perfect health,” free from disease and never age or die. Human aging is fluid and changeable, it can speed up, slow down, stop for a time, and even reverse itself, yielding indestructible new dimensions of stress-free living and joyful living, positioning building blocks taking you stepping on a journey through this current fairytale we call life.
Perhaps knowledge cannot be defined through perception, because of the vastness of space-time, with its myriad stars and planets, and the distractions of the ceaseless drama of life. We are the authors of space-time, we must embrace our true role. This powerful electronic music presents an opportunity for using your ears to explore impossible and fantastic landscapes inside your own mind, considering the possibilities for healing and intentional positive growth that can be cultivated, the music might be a catalyst for new ideas, new interpretations of the evidence we have found so far, new ways of finding more evidence, and new lessons to apply for how we move forward. In the midst of movement and chaos, where nothing is impossible, be fearless for the people of today and the challenges we all face.
Electronic inner space journeys using the magic of music unlocks a quest into the colorful regions of the cosmos inside, blending the far distances with the infinite interior spaces, frequently evoking the neural processing of vision as well as hearing, creating marvelous audio sensations of spatial locations relative to the listener.
Track 3. “Adrift In Memory” – Craig Padilla, from The Discovery of Meaning
“Adrift in Memory” was inspired by Craig’s brother, Tim Barrett, who hung out with him in the studio while he was creating this song. “It is a fitting tribute to the memory of my Dad (Dan Padilla) as well as the memory of my brother witnessing my recording session… I remember playing this track while driving by his former home and suddenly I got hit with a flood of great memories. Hence, the title. It’s a play on memories of my Father and the fact that my youngest brother hung out with me while I created the tune. Great memories indeed!”
Flutes are possibly the earliest known identifiable musical instruments, sometimes found in the deepest and darkest parts of some ancient caves, where the acoustics work the most potent magic. I do not think these once lost instruments will be found to have lost so very much of their original sonic fragrance and flavor. This type of ancient musical instrument is sometimes called an aerophone, it is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. What I hear on this next track are birds and breath, swimming in multiple harmonics that sound as if we are in huge echo-rich jungles, the sound is very big but not in a loud way, rather, the sound appears to be suspended in the air in a clever and delicate sustained calming way, this is deep listening you can follow into unknown territories. The artist known as Zero Ohms adds his flutes and woodwinds to his electronic soundscapes and gets a very unique and serene, mellow and meditative sound, evoking gravity-defying remote places and fabulous scenery, coaxing ecstatic wanderings at once as ancient as they are contemporary, with flutes and woodwinds from around the planet interwoven with electronics and well placed savory-pungent acoustic spices. Zero Ohms (Richard Roberts) is a writer, painter, musician, teacher and producer, who follows what he has termed Tao of Zero Ohms (literally: way of no resistance).
Track 4. “Unknownland” – Zero Ohms, from Cloudwalker and the Ascent
The composer reveals that he was inspired by Admiral Richard Byrd’s description of green, forested lands free of ice and snow which the Admiral observed ‘beyond the (north) pole,’ he called this magical and remote place “that enchanted continent in the sky” and the track “Unknownland” (2:45) is a science fiction blending of worlds, a pulsing atmosphere populated with mystical and acoustically astounding electronic flute-birds.
Music can provide an atmosphere for thinking new thoughts, a constant reminder that we are faced with unknown possibilities. The sound on the next (fifth) track is of electronica and colorful air, relentlessly changing into new unnamed forms and impressions. It starts with electronics and from there emerges mysterious essences of flutes, harps, drums, as the journey winds through a vast array of electronic illusions that eventually ends within colossal cloud formations. This sound brings the listener through new and unexplainable territory in the electronic ambient universe. Desensitized is two gifted artists, Deborah Martin and Dean De Benedictis, collaborating on an ambitious sonic adventure, a series of creative acts and intellectual contemplation where the “experiencer” and “experienced” might dispute the ways in which supernatural agents formed the earth and peopled it, the methodology to direct the natural forces to produce various effects, and often frustrating at least one ambition of science: to invent an explanation, urgently trying to satisfactorily translate the unknown into the known. However, the constant listener should not make the error of believing that such clarification is even necessary. Our natural urge is to go about seeking order from chaos and complexity that can be compared to what we know, or otherwise studied… or ignored or observed without resolution. No, there is no complete understanding offered, mystery abides here. The borderlines are imaginary, only the feeling of the music is what remains.
Track 5. “Sleep Of Innocence” – Desensitized, from Chaos in Premonition
Yes, that is a welcoming spirit or eidolon hidden in there, I think so. I also hear a noisy crack in a distressed void, with a soothing effect realized. If you are listening while waiting for sleep, this track is the perfect send off. The way has been dark and scary in places, now it is time to let go and ease into a sweet sleep. “Sleep Of Innocence [Embulata]” (4:52), where we go into the great release, the gentle flow upwards. Imagine gentle clouds with hidden voices singing, lullaby tones floating in a night rainbow sky with hidden layers of caliginous kaleidoscopic shadow spirits, angels signaling through the distance, whispering good night to everybody everywhere, summoning the universal siren you must follow.
Jeff Greinke is well known for his keyboard work, his orchestral compositions for small ensembles, his work with improvisational jazzers, as well as his intrepid solo electronic sounds. All of the sounds heard on his album Noctilucent are electronic, made by keyboards with samples, forming textures and atmospheric presences. Noctilucent is a term used in meteorology to define a rare type of cloud phenomena, best described as night shining clouds, which occur in the upper atmosphere, higher than any other clouds. They exhibit tenuous wavy patterns, are often silvery or bluish white, and are typically visible on summer nights in high latitudes.
“I decided on the title after I had finished the album because it captures how I experience this music,” said the composer. “To my ears this is night music. The sonic shades and colors tend to be darker, the music has considerable mystery, some of the tracks are a bit unsettling, while others quieter and more peaceful. That said, many of the works contain some brighter characteristics – “shining” timbres – like points or rays of light within these otherwise darker soundworlds. Scenes such as, perhaps, an abandoned urban street, late at night, with street lights illuminating fog. Or how I imagine viewing the Aurora Borealis or noctilucent cloud formations.”
Merriam Webster dictionary defines Noctilucent as “visible or glowing at night.” Tonight after the midnight bell sounded there was a light in the dark tower, visible from the train passing in the darkness. We seem to fly over all this with a feverish craving for testing the naturally woven barriers between reality and imagination, seeking marvelous interpretations, and cautiously traversing sensations of awe and fear.
Track 6. “Tunnel” – Jeff Greinke, from Noctilucent
Sounds pulse and emerge from the dark tube ahead, “Tunnel” (5:34), and the breezy tension beats like a submerged railroad track, and luminous spectra are frequently seen. Here inside the mountain, impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the hidden oceanic gulfs down below.
Emerald Waters, the album from Hollan Holmes, is uplifting, contemplative and emotionally moving. The story is of transcendentalism, moving beyond the corrupted and polluted state of the water left us by the industrialists, and moving into a return to natural purity. Eternally, rain and snow, precipitated by the clouds, give birth to the rivers that carry their waters to the sea, where some of that is evaporated back up into the sky. In that way a continual current is affected which, starting from the sea, returns to the sea, after having traveled through the atmosphere in the form of clouds, watered the earth as rain, and crossed continents as rivers.
“I try to create a rich tapestry of sound that represents a wide sonic landscape. There are very subtle sounds throughout my work that many people may not notice, but they are essential to the final creation. One thing that is NOT obvious to listeners is the sheer amount of work that goes into creating the songs that I release, because for every successful song that gets published, I have ten more that will never see the light of day. Hundreds and hundreds of ideas are explored from which I cull the very few I’m willing to share.”
Close your eyes and become immersed in the soundscapes and transported to another state of mind, a most potent and pure combination of perception altering collection of pieces of music thrilling to the senses. This is music with a logical purpose, and there is always a progression. There are infinite free wheeling electronic sounds but there is an overall tonal framework. The story of water is explored methodically and not simply pulled out of the aether. Each track on Emerald Waters expands upon a water theme.
In the words of the composer, “This album is all about water and my relationship with it. It is a celebration of the greatest natural resource on our fragile planet. Without it, we do not exist. The music I wrote for this album is an attempt to convey the beauty, importance and power of water in our world. This music is a mix of elements of Berlin School, some traditional melodic structures and emotional chord progressions, infused into an electronic music landscape. It is intended to be uplifting, contemplative and emotionally moving.”
Track 7. “Changing Course” – Hollan Holmes, from Emerald Waters
“Changing Course” (8:00) employs a multitude of imagined orchestral harps and horns, the feeling is of planetary vorticity, massive oceanic gyres and towering clouds above, allowing us to see transforming patterns of circulation and motion. The world is alive and flowing, its warp is necessary, the free will of life itself, this motion is caused by differences in density and temperature. This takes place underwater, with large currents and gyres, the size is huge. The feeling is deeper and slower, summoning a sense of swelling and motion with sparkling edges.
Appearances are deceiving, and the truth is that no one is just like everyone else. Music is complex, multi-layered, and different for everyone, it cannot fit into neat categories. Some musicians are forever longing to make a real impact, which translates to actively helping others or finding a life purpose that aligns with this desire. People tend to have a very limited, stereotyped view of what it means to be spiritual.
John Gregorius has always enjoyed fingerstyle acoustic guitar and ambient, processed electric guitar, and the idea of universal cycles. His music comes to him naturally, growing out of a search for meaning within life’s mysteries. His deep love for the guitar intertwines the physical and spiritual, a combination that seems to flow naturally from one piece to another.
Listening, one might imagine some consciousness of absolute or divine reality hidden behind the natural world and within the music, and sometimes music is such a subjective experience in which at times an individual’s ego transcends their ordinary, finite sense of self to encompass a wider, infinite sense of truth or reality, unfolding like a puzzle being fit together.
Track 8. “In Awe” – John Gregorius, from In Awe
The track, “In Awe” (5:28) celebrates the simple and persistent renewal of our minds each morning, with opportunities for mindfulness of all events as they come to one’s consciousness and leaving room for ecstatic visions of the soul’s mystical union with the universe. The mood and tempo is consistently peaceful, the moving patterns progress and breathe at times, sometimes pausing to soar, then returning to the swaying melodic mode.
The music of Spotted Peccary tells of how exploration runs like a rivulet through time. What you will hear is a lucid and precise, free flowing and sincere, set of compositions brought to life. It sinks and rises but is always there. The regions of deep space and strange soundscapes are meant to be crossed and the distant somehow brought audibly nearer. What all of the Spotted Peccary artists have in common is a deep respect for life, for the pursuit of deeper living, and for ultimately finding peace and celebrating wonder in various situations and atmospheres.
“We believe Music Is Art.”
36 is available on Spotted Peccary Music. [Bandcamp]
