The strong 20-minute «Celistia» kicking off the 70-minute album already propels the listener into mesmerizing higher spheres along a trail of nocturnal environmental sounds where the veil of night shimmers through beautifully. It’s an ambient expanse full of meditative, powerful, graceful, serene, and luminous splendor evolving slowly but surely before the mind’s eye even when some of the tracks next in line prove much shorter.

As Max wrote in his press notes he treated this recording as a mysterious and serene world that slowly awakens to unfold a previously hidden magic and that’s stirring the subliminal «Heart of the Night» and «Indigo Sphinxes…» most clearly. «Timelapse» picks up the uplift drift again with textures morphing into infinite depths where after the 20-minute «Moon Apparition» brings along an intense immersive closing to this slow breathing ambient space with imminent organic currents.
«Nocturnes II» is a very well accomplished achievement.

As an artist, I have been fascinated by the deep meaning which these objects have held for humanity since the darkest of times. Their connection with man´s deeper primordial dreads, fears, and desires form a map which defines some of the most complex aspects of the human psyche.

«The Talisman feels like awakening in an ever-evolving ocean of pure sonic bliss»

…tapped from Max Corbacho’s deepest sound-research, one of Spain’s finest soundpainters, here he represents his latest most exquisite release to date, ‘The Talisman’.

Working, studying, digging on this sacred project for quite some time, envelopping, constucting, growing into various forms, it finally has reached for the light. The title refers to the mysterious, sacred meaning of the amulette to those people who wearing it, believing in the fortunate, the spiritual them to happen.. only for those who truly believe, them will happen the incredibility ..

The Talisman is divided in 11 tracks stretching nearly over its 73 minute during soundexcursion. Ranging from 11 till 3 minute pieces, all full with miniature details and sonic twists. It took me some time to take a grab on this ever-morphing ocean of simmering fuzz. But once that gate is open, the discoveries within are endless.. and beyond. The Talisman is defined as Max’ most intriging, finest and deepest work to date.

From the opening track ‘Amnios’ we are slowly on spiralling -as you can feel the air starts to thicken- into other-worldly, dense atmospheric realms of stark expansiveness beauty and wonderful luminosity. There’s a constant flow, rising and ebbing, of deep intimicy and utter calmness. Vibrating tone zones where Max find it’s comfort and challenge at the same time, reflecting upon them. We move from the expanding & the majestic with rising and falling soundoceans ‘Reborn in Expansion’ to slowly blooming, beautiful pieces like ‘Connected Spirits’ & ‘Three Circles’ We can hear hints of distant angelic voices surrounded by sonorous synth pulses, floating in and out.. all nourishing from start till end. The soundscaping here is elegant, deep & sensitive.

We can feel that Max meditated carefully and deeply onto this project, and the results here are simply exceptional.. feel and hear, surrender yourself to the world of ‘The Talisman’.

(Stéphan Geschiere , independent reviewer, Holland)

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Stéphan Geschiere , independent reviewer, Holland

«The Talisman feels like awakening in an ever-evolving ocean of pure sonic bliss»

…tapped from Max Corbacho’s deepest sound-research, one of Spain’s finest soundpainters, here he represents his latest most exquisite release to date, ‘The Talisman’.

Working, studying, digging on this sacred project for quite some time, envelopping, constucting, growing into various forms, it finally has reached for the light. The title refers to the mysterious, sacred meaning of the amulette to those people who wearing it, believing in the fortunate, the spiritual them to happen.. only for those who truly believe, them will happen the incredibility ..

The Talisman is divided in 11 tracks stretching nearly over its 73 minute during soundexcursion. Ranging from 11 till 3 minute pieces, all full with miniature details and sonic twists. It took me some time to take a grab on this ever-morphing ocean of simmering fuzz. But once that gate is open, the discoveries within are endless.. and beyond. The Talisman is defined as Max’ most intriging, finest and deepest work to date.

From the opening track ‘Amnios’ we are slowly on spiralling -as you can feel the air starts to thicken- into other-worldly, dense atmospheric realms of stark expansiveness beauty and wonderful luminosity. There’s a constant flow, rising and ebbing, of deep intimicy and utter calmness. Vibrating tone zones where Max find it’s comfort and challenge at the same time, reflecting upon them. We move from the expanding & the majestic with rising and falling soundoceans ‘Reborn in Expansion’ to slowly blooming, beautiful pieces like ‘Connected Spirits’ & ‘Three Circles’ We can hear hints of distant angelic voices surrounded by sonorous synth pulses, floating in and out.. all nourishing from start till end. The soundscaping here is elegant, deep & sensitive.

We can feel that Max meditated carefully and deeply onto this project, and the results here are simply exceptional.. feel and hear, surrender yourself to the world of ‘The Talisman’.

]]> 378 https://maxcorbacho.com/moontribe-bill-binkelman-wind-and-wire/ Mon, 23 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000 https://maxcorbacho.com/moontribe-bill-binkelman-wind-and-wire/ Leer más]]> Bill Binkelman, Wind and Wire

Max Corbacho’s Moontribe is a heady collection of ethno-cyber-ambient rhythmic soundscapes that makes my blood race even while its darker elements cause the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up!

Hauntingly beautiful yet also shadowy and foreboding, the propulsive combination of ethnic beats with fractal and skitch rhythms on the opening “Suntribe” are buoyed by flowing washes of synthesizers. Obviously, comparisons can be made to either tribal or groove-oriented Roach recordings, but one could just as easily compare parts of this to psychetropic’s china radio sunshine. However, this is neither imitative nor derivative. The echoed booming effects that open “Out of Nothing” yield to kinetic fractal beats wedded to sensual primal rhythms (faint rainstick and rattle sounds surface now and then) along with a slurping sense of viscosity later in the track.

On the song “Distant Dwellings” the pulsing rhythms are unique, as least to my ears, consisting of bassy pulses and metallic skritches, which when mixed with ethereal high-pitched synths and low dronish chorales results in an imaginative propulsive trip across an alien landscape, teeming with a cybernetic lifestream coursing underneath you as you glide overhead. By the song’s end, though, the rhythms are gone, replaced by nocturnal sound effects and a flowing series of drones and washes. “Unknown Radiance” is a relatively rhythmless song, consisting of echoed animalistic sounds, heard as if from within a cave, along with deep slow washes of EM/spacemusic analog keyboards. “Across the Spectrum” returns the album to frenetic fractal/skitch beats as these are folded in slowly over the patient spacemusic textures. The beats eventually become pronounced and even oppressive (purposely), intermixed by what sounds like exhalations from an exhausted runner. The album concludes with the opus-length (nearly twenty minutes) title song, a slow excursion into dark soundscapes, a la Robert Rich from A Troubled Resting Place, although with a heavy dose of primal rhythms at its start, courtesy of more processed percussion on stone, stick, and hand drums. Percussion is deeply echoed and panned, so this song (if not the whole CD) would benefit from being played in a quiet dark room on a superb sound system. Most of this last track contains drifting mixtures of tones, drones, sounds, and alien effects in a miasma that both comforts the listener (somehow, Corbacho has instilled a sense of warmth in the music) and also creates a vague feeling of uneasiness. It all winds down slowly (maybe too slowly, as your patience may start to wear thin, although to the artist’s credit, he keeps things interesting even as the assorted elements evaporate one by one).

I’m sure people who have digested all of Steve Roach’s, vidnaObmana’s, and Robert Rich’s recordings could hear more similarities than I did on Moontribe, but I found the CD to be more than individualistic enough to keep me interested and entertained. I especially liked the blend of different percussion, beats, and rhythms that Corbacho used throughout the recording. Engineering is excellent, as mentioned above. For my money, while not as compelling as Terra Ambient’s The Gate, this album certainly deserves a spot on the same shelf. If darkly tinted ethno-tribal ambient, with some deep cosmos spacemusic thrown in for good measure, is your thing, Moontribe should prove to be a good purchase.

Bill Binkelman

WIND and WIRE

http://www.windandwire.com

«Max Corbacho, the spanish artist who lives in Barcelona have been quietly working on a new release named «Nocturnal Emanations». well I can tell after some deep listening what a ‘great’ effort this is. A few years ago he surprised us with his strong debut ‘Vestiges’, followed by the glacial, massive and deep atmospherics on ‘Beyond the Immobile Point’ to the long outstretched simmering waves on ‘The Resonant Memory of Earth’, and now he just came around the corner with new inviting deep explorations which draws us back to what he has called ‘the Earthcall’. Always been fascinated and inspired by books, poetry (referring to the intriging lines in the booklet) and of course the beautiful Catalan landscapes of north Spain which has been also greatly influenced Salvador Dali’s works, he makes tremendously mature/mayor efforts on his 4 releases of which ‘Nocturnal Emanations’ is clearly his biggest leap forward. And I was so fortunate to have the first glimp on this very impressive release.

The opening piece ‘A spark of deity’ witnesses us, surrounded by beautiful and intriging use of field recordings, that something is about to come. Slowly from a far distance, thick swelling underground clouds are getting closer and growing bigger, obviously we just have passed our point of no-return.and the adventure starts. The title piece is bringing us to a safer and more comfortable place but we still have to look back over our shoulder. Slowly a pulsing tribal cyber groove gets through, dusty clouds bright twinkling light streams are reaching us and in the meanwhile the groove gets deeper and more powerful into the sublime space of ‘Abandoned wind’ hovering and floating gently around, a feeling of enlightning is reaching us.

Worth to mention again is Max’ use of (processed) fieldrecording, carefully blended with his atmospheres, contributes a rich openness and freshness -I would say- rarely heard. The 5th piece ‘Along the moonlight rift’ starts right off with a fantastic, incredible deep groove, more and more gliding layers of sound are coming in and set course to a powerful setting, the powerful meets the emotional, I guess a favorite space of many. Here, Max clearly shows what he’s capable of. This piece -like the title already suggests- has really the feeling of walking along a giant moonlit ‘rift’ under a huge clear starry night sky. very visceral indeed. From bright skys we step into a morphing and dusty space where -if we want to- ancient singing winds and erosions can be heard and felt, the rhythm here is slow but very intense, like it’s guiding your bloodflow. Speaking about fractal rhythms patterns, on the 7th piece, an elastic groove seems to dance it’s own way through thick fog banks, playing this one loud is an experience on it’s own. The last and probably my most favorite piece ‘Birthplace of the occult fire’ is leaving us in a place where life floats forever. just beautiful.

It’s obvious that Max has a perfect grasp on his machines and knows very well how to set his tone colours through the various stages. After many listening, still new structures and layers can be heard, the repeat mode is definitely a must here to feel Max’ -deep- shifting rides. Each of his disks has a distinct sound and feeling with strong desire and I feel that ‘Nocturnal Emanations’ is topping that. It has been some time ago that a record had such grip on me. I’m very sure that this disk will appeal to many of us. All I can say is; well, well done Max!»