MAX CORBACHO[Max Corbacho has been creating Ambient Atmospheric – Electronic Music for over two decades, combining spiraling, synth-driven drifting harmonies with breathing, timeless soundscapes.][Ambient Atmospheric – Electronic Music - Soundscapes - Space Music]

THE OCEAN INSIDE – Review by MORPHEUS MUSIC

max — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:16:17 +0000

January 2013
Long-form drifting, beatless ambience.

STYLE
The Ocean Inside wells up out of silence in silken mists of tone that imperceptibly condense into an immense ocean of sound that surrounds you before you know it. The initial feeling is warm and softly wondrous; a sense of floatation is well established and you are immersed, carried willingly by tides unnoticed. Tracks segue seamlessly from one into another and so the experience is unbroken, constant, pervasive. Shifts in tone or character are subtle: brighter string sounds introducing currents of sharper intensity; deep atonal pads suggesting descent; choral hints inviting reverie. The seventh track on disc one eventually fades away into silence – allowing the final piece to stand somewhat alone – almost half an hour in length Towards The Bottomless Sea is a velvety minimal tidal impression of great delicacy drawing the meditative nature of this album to an impressive slow-motion conclusion. Disc two continues where disc one leaves off: further exploration of fluid enormity and buoyancy developing this restful opus into near-total absorption.

ARTWORK
A matt-finish double-disc digipack; The Ocean Inside is drenched in deep night blue hues throughout. The subtle panorama that is revealed when all three panels are spread out suggests a body of water of indeterminate extent. Touches of light dapple the lower parts whilst faint beams gently illuminate the higher regions. Text is unobtrusive: titles on the rear with track times alongside; credits on the remaining outer section. Within, nothing disturbs the smooth watery expanse of colour except a single repetition of the title.

OVERALL
The Ocean Inside is the eleventh solo album from Spanish ambient master Max Corbacho. Released via his own ad21 label, this double album sees Max demonstrating the tranquil immensity that this genre can encompass when at its best. The aural equivalent to a vast, vast colourfield painting, The Ocean Inside fills your mental space with densely saturated morphing zones that extend for almost two and a half hours in total. Most pieces are of medium length ranging from four minutes to almost sixteen; the recordings that conclude each disc however are of greater length – twenty-nine minutes thirty-one seconds and twenty-four minutes eight seconds respectively. Max himself says of the music: «More than two years ago I started this project from an Eastern concept that has always been present in my work: the analogy that exists between the mind as an ocean, with constantly changing waves at the surface, and the inner stillness and silence at the depths.» You can hear the music at Max’s official website where there are a range of purchase and download links.

ARS LUCIS / Marius-Christian Burcea, «Journeys to the Infinite»

max — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Marius-Christian Burcea, producer/host «Journeys to the Infinite»

If Goethe called architecture frozen music, it seems that Max Corbacho succeeded in his latest recording to release music from stone without losing the sacred geometries. ARS LUCIS delivers a perfect flow of space, sound and silence manifested in seven tracks of pure meditative harmonies. Every piece of music shine with aural beauty from a quiet inner centre opening to the infinite. Delicate resonances are melting into an uncognoscible light, calling the senses to perceive beyond any form, infusing the mind with spaciousness that permeats and pervades an entire world of subtle experiences. Listening effortlessly, finally you will feel your entire being as a unique stained glass window crossed by abundant luminous waves projecting a radiant display of color on distant ethereal planes. ARS LUCIS proves to be an effective tool for expanding consciousness and a treasure for fans of deep ambient music.

BREATHSTREAM / Phil Derby, Electroambient Space

max — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Phil Derby / Electroambient Space

I really like the direction Max Corbacho has taken with his most recent releases, The Talisman and now BreathStream. He seems to be delving deeper and deeper into pure floating music – no rhythm or melody at all, just serene calm tones that thoroughly soothe and placate. BreathStream is a particularly focused work on the art of diffuse sound, as contrary as that may seem. Track titles are very appropriate; “Act of Light” has a shimmer and sheen to it; “The Great Breath” seems to echo into infinity. Perhaps the most delicate and subtle of the lot is “No Day nor Night.” The beauty is in the way Corbacho makes something special out of next-to-nothingness. The challenge is for me as a reviewer describing this minimal musical excellence. Suffice to say if you enjoy ambient music as a means of escape or relaxation, look no further than BreathStream.

THE TALISMAN – review by Matt Howarth

max — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Matt Howarth. SONIC CURIOSITY

This release from 2006 offers 72 minutes of calming ambience. Expansive tonalities conspire with dramatic electronics to generate lavish soundscapes linking abstract realms with human ambitions. Textures flow seamlessly, ascending to untold altitudes while simultaneously burrowing deep into the listener’s cerebellum. Ponderous tones swirl and coalesce while delicate embellishments waft through this sonic medium. Tenuous sounds gurgle softly in the distance, approaching to loom overhead as they evoke moody sedation.

Swaying from lobe to lobe, the harmonic streams connect instinct and deduction, blurring the distinctions between these ruminations with fragile structures of drifting resonance. Contemplation is urged into being, rousing cognitive associations between outer physicality and inner reflection.

While generally harmonic in nature, this music does possess a hint of melodic substance which remains meticulously just beyond clear perception, inciting the listener to reach past their peripheral hearing and discover an external psychic territory. This extraneous region is seasoned by luxurious electronic effects of subtle definition which suitably flavor the harmonic flow without interfering with the tuneage’s overall soothing efficacy.

Minimal substantiality adopts a greater proportion as the textural currents produce an infinite panorama of pensive disposition. Introspective passages are drenched with shrewdly crafted ambience that stimulates cellular memory, filling the listener’s mind with vast potential.

This music achieves a lofty presence very much in the vein of Steve Roach’s tranquil compositions.

NOCTURNAL EMANATIONS / Glenn Folkvord, Electronic Shadows

max — Thu, 25 Sep 2003 00:00:00 +0000

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.