Stéphan Geschiere, independent reviewer, Holland

«Wow, what a impressive release Max did! It was really worth waiting for. Knowing Max’s other well received releases ‘Vestiges’ and ‘Far beyond the Immobile Point’, this one is ‘even’ more overwhelming to me.. The 4 pieces takes you into new ‘enlightning’ places… The opening piece ‘Remote Sensing’ starts with long stretched breathing sounds and .. then after 10 minutes it changes into a some darker -incredible- powerfull space (but which is never forced). It sounds / feels like a approaching desert storm of an unknown

measure & power. I haven’t heard such an endearing sound in some time…wow..

After this giant storm we gather into a cristal-clear, serene and very silent out-stretched place. A place of loneliness as well as a place where a feeling of warmth embraced you. Quite ‘visceral’ to me! Remarkable, but while writing this review and hearing those pieces at

the same time, I realize how well the titles describe those ‘images’. ‘Magenta beauty’ has a similar feeling. I really like those metallic-like floating sounds. The final piece, continues the beautiful shimmering warm waves of sound with an excellent, entrancing rhythm-pattern, into -I wish- a never ending place… Definitely a ‘very’ inspired, oh so..subtle album which give each listen something new… Max’s travels to such -quiet- places as the African Sahara Desert, los Monegros in Aragon, province Lleida and Cap de Creus (which was also a inspiring / inviting place to Salvador Dali) in Catalonia brings him to new levels of psychically awareness, so to be heard. Highly recommended..

]]> 355 https://maxcorbacho.com/vestiges-phil-derby-expose-magazine/ Mon, 18 Dec 2000 00:00:00 +0000 https://maxcorbacho.com/vestiges-phil-derby-expose-magazine/ Leer más]]>

Phil Derby / Exposé Magazine

«Vestiges is a great ambient expanse of soundscapes much in the style of Roach, but with a Spanish flair, particularly in the percussion that is added. This is immediately evident on the first track, «Desolada.» Despite a healthy dose of drums, the sweeping synthesizer textures that surround them convey a sense of calm. Like much of Roach’s more organic works, the music lives and breathes. «Night Caravan» continues the feeling of spaciousness, as the ambient sounds envelope the very pleasant drumming. Slightly more active at first is «First Rain,» but the relaxing ebb and flow continues thoughout. In fact, the drums disappear for the first time over the latter half of this track. The drumming returns, slightly more tribal, on «Erosion.» Throughout, one is reminded of classic Steve Roach discs like Dreamtime Return, or Desert Solitaire.

Titles like «Death Valley» draw such comparisons even closer. This is the sparsest piece,though each of the last three tracks is very free flowing, very ambient, with little or no percussion. The title track has some brighter tones mixed in, and reminds me somewhat of American space music artist Glenn Deardorff. It makes a perfect closer to an extremely relaxing and very enjoyable CD.

Chuck van Zyl Host: Star’s End http://www.starsend.org chuckv@starsend.org

«It is especially incumbent upon every spacemusician to know and understand the audience for which their music is produced. In this genre of aural impressionism and sonic expressionism it is the audience who completes each piece in the listening. On the cryptically entitled «Far Beyond TheImmobile Point», Max Corbacho invites the listener to make a personal interpretation of a tale told with contour, harmony and timbre and to gow here only music influenced contemplation can lead.Corbacho’s unfolding soundscapes tell of a «quiet point» beyond which the introspective traveller aspires to pass. At times the soundstream is a torrent of churning contrast while elsewhere it is a warm gentle wind. Whether influenced more by ocean current or desert breeze, that which is to be translated comes to us through Corbacho’s capable synth craft. Consisting of well arranged temporal pads, interestingly modulated synth accents and cavernous reverberation, the wealth and range of sound on «Far Beyond The Immobile Point» is surpassed only by the vivid translations made by open listeners.»

Morpheus Music & The Mall Magazine

STYLE

Gliding ambient serenity with hypnotic hand drumming. Max Corbacho’s first CD drifts over the listener like soft sand and silk, weightless wafts and gossamer veils of synthetic tone rising and falling in delicate harmony. The tone is light and dreamy, floatational and airy – atmospheric rather than oceanic, skybound rather than subterranean. The percussive content is confined to the first four pieces – here gentle loops comprised of organic beats with an ethnic flavour roll round evenly, trance-inducing, repeating until a part of the fabric of the environment. As the album progresses the introspective nature of the music increases – the beautiful Erosion lulling and spacious leading into the final three beatless tracks. The shadows pull in somewhat toward the end, Vestiges opening with a twilight moodiness that seems to open into a clear night – the listener a solitary presence in a vast panorama.

ARTWORK

Desert scenery, blue skies and windswept grass patches support a huge red rockmass transported from elsewhere. The craggy surface is engraved with an enormous square spiral – a hint of tribal mystery, a futuristic symbol calling to the distant past. The rear cover holds another desert scene where track titles and credits sit in a lightened oblong panel. Inside a two page booklet opens out to extend the front cover photograph – track titles fading into the picture at the far left. The innermost panels are black and white – another desert, pale and drained forming a backdrop to an explanation of the project.

OVERALL

The artwork on Vestiges intentionally places the album in the desert ambient genre – a style that Max Corbacho develops with considerable skill. The album was produced, written, performed, recorded and mixed by Max Corbacho, at Max´s Studios in Sabadell (Barcelona) in 1998. Released on Freerecords, the CD consists of seven mid-length tracks around six to eight minutes each totalling 53 minutes 54 seconds in all. This album will appeal to anyone looking for something buoyant and expansive with tribal beats and smooth synthetic polish.