Reviewed by: 'Ffabbia'
Date: 30th May 2001
.....and the drop from the module to
the lunar surface seemed to be a chasm, but the low
gravity, combined with the feeling of buoyancy experienced
by the crew only added to the sense of expectancy as, one
by one the astronuts touched upon the actual surface of the
moon. 'One chilled step for man' intoned Neil Armlock -
beginning the historic words -'one giant trip for
mankind'......And so Moonwalk is a very chilled piece of
music indeed - and I think I know exactly what your trying
to achieve here man!
Yes - the toon works as a piece of ambient vibe, the intro
is certainly directed toward this feeling of atmospheric
decompression with the guitar samples nicely snycronised
together to form a dual hook that remains constant
throughout the track, the beat is regular and clock like -
a slowly winding heartbeat that keeps the ambiance moving
inexorably towards it's logical conclusion, via a gradually
fragmented outro.
I feel that the main point that needs adressing is the fact
that Moonwalk desperately requires the use of stereo
panning. Unfortunately, this is sadly absent within the
track, and yes it's a shortfall that is VERY easy to fall
prey to, as much of my own early stuff suffers from the
same problem. Stereo panning used properly can add a great
deal of life and emotive content to a track; this is
particularly important within the scope of ambient and
'chill out' music as the emotions that the songs attempt to
portray are often those which need to be 'felt' (within the
inner ear or subconscious) rather than 'heard' at the usual
audial response level. Some of the spheres used within
moonwalk contain fantastic scope for this, however without
the use of this wide stereo effect, the result often sounds
somewhat flatter than the obvious intention of the song.
This is one of the reasons why it is so important to always
compose and mix via headphones rather than speakers.
The other area that I feel needs to be extended is the main
beat (i.e the loops) used throughout the song. Towards the
last quarter of the track I was dying for a slightly harder
beat to kick in - simply to add greater emotional depth to
the already established vibe. The use of an added snare of
slightly increased velocity, together with the use of
constructive fills within the right places would have
achieved this.
Both of these issues can easily be adressed within future
mixes of the track, because all in all, 'Moonwalk on it's
way' is a complex, and intelligently constructed piece of
music. The post mix production is first class (save for the
stereo thing) and the entire track is very tightly edited -
the fat and waste all nicely honed and toned leaving a
pleasant aftertaste. Good work Dreamer, let's see what you
can really throw at us in your future projects.
Track Name: Moonwalk On Its Way
Reviewed
by: 'Slippy-T'
Date: 30th May 2001
Dreamer has the faraway
look as her thoughts turn into a walk of stellar kind. The
fine slow motion spray of lifeless grey dust rises slowly
in front of the slowly raising boot.. The slightly
distorted speech as the moonsuited figure hops forwarded in
the low gravity towards the crater. Earth glistens like an
iridescent pearl on the low horizon.. The helmeted head
turns an the sunrays glance off of the darkened visor..
This trippy dance of lunar delight has a pleasing effect
when entering your aural canals. The guitar line slips in
and out between the synth lines like an eel through waving
seagrass. And the backbone of bassline ëní drum loops hold
the song in their firm grip. The interspersed staccato of
space comms give the song its atmospheric lunar feel.
Want a walk to Mare Imbrium ?? Here ís where to start