Morpheus Music & The Mall Magazine

STYLE

Deep spacey ambience with powerful resonant beats. Moontribe consists of a series of confidently developed electro-atmospheres that slide past with velvet smoothness – clean synthetic sweeps and dense multilayered pads, embellished with mysterious bubbling effects and sonic turbulence. The percussive structures combine natural drums with electronic patterns in evolving cycles that are at times tribal, insistently mesmerising, then soft, dispersed to a trickle. When the beats drain away the inventive depth of Max’s electronic soundscaping is most apparent, luxurious rolling densities and luscious drones full of shifting aural strata

MOOD

The mood is mainly one of manipulated primitive rhythm and spacial ambiguity – ancient futuristic immersives, distant, yet touched with familiarity. The organic individuality of Max’s compositions stops the music from feeling cold or remote – rather a hypnotic warmth pervades everything, glowing sonic colour suffusing silky beds of ambient cloud.

ARTWORK

Water surface patterns with graphic enhancements fill all panels – on the front, vivid greens and blues ripple around pinks and bronze shades. Text on the external packaging is uncomplicated – only titles and basic information. Within we find an explanation of the project, a list of sound sources, thanks and contact details.

OVERALL

Moontribe is «a collection of previously not published tracks, destined originally to collaboration projects that finally did not see the light, plus two totally new pieces». This is Max Corbacho’s sixth CD and shows the composer to have developed an engrossing and mature sound – the final two pieces ‘Across The Spectrum’ and ‘Moontribe’ were written two years after the earlier pieces and betray a glorious absorbsion in texture and groove structure. The clarity and transparency of these tracks is a delight to the ear – pulling the listener into beguiling worlds of liquid reverberation and interwoven crystal impact.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM

Moontribe is a CD for ambient lovers fond of electro-tribal beats and lush, polished soundscaping. With similarities to Na-Koja-Abad and Steve Roach’s rhythmic material.

Glenn Folkvord / Electronic Shadows

«Nocturnal Emanations is Max Corbacho’s fourth album, a seamless longform work of ambient soundscapes, subtle electronic-tribal rythms, and sampled sounds. While perhaps not the most innovative combination of styles and sounds (many artists create this kind of ambient music) it all comes together in a pleasant mix and with an uplifting spirit. The sampled sounds fit very well with electronic textures, wether they are jungle sounds or more abstract underwater impression.

For those who think that 73 minutes of ambient floating music is too much, there are a handful of tracks with subtle beats and rythms, such as on The slow and wandering dust where electronic sounds (not typical drum or percussion sounds) are sequenced into gentle beat patterns that gives the ambient pads support and a sense of dynamic movement. On Along the moonlit rift the rythm patterns are slightly heavier, probably sampled sounds and processed electronically, but still quite «light» and full of space. But the general feeling of the album is that of far-out ambient space sounds, firmly rooted in electronic territory, without the use of flutes, guitar or wind chimes. The sound quality is excellent too; a professional recording and production.

Nocturnal Emanations falls nicely between Steve Roach’s Early Man and Jean Michel Jarre’s Waiting for Cousteau (the title track) with many details to discover during repeated listening sessions.