“Do yourself a favor, you will discover a universe as fascinating as futuristic”
1 Dusk is the Musk 4:37
2 From Here to There 4:31
3 Ambient Pressure 4:12
4 The Fountains are Singing 4:24
5 Glade 3:38
6 Dutch Knowledge 4:18
7 Parallels 5:03
8 The Ascent 5:07
9 Home 3:54
10 Inner Beacon 2:49
11 Raven King 4:09
12 Empire 3:43
13 Stranice 4:05
14 The Fallen 4:36
15 Hydrostatic Equilibrium 4:27
16 The Turning 4:53
17 Nitro 3:52
18 Nostalgia Bomb 4:30
(CD/DDL 77:00) (V.F.)
(Experimental, Modular Synth Music)
Mixed and mastered by the unique Ian Boddy, the compilation iNDEX 07 offers 2 tracks from the DiN61 to DiN69 albums that the boss has pleasantly melted in a long 77 minutes mosaic, giving so a new sonic vision to their music. We find there the albums of Nigel Mullaney, Dave Bessell, Scanner, Lyonel Bauchet and Ian Boddy, as well as collaborations between Dave Bessell & Parallel Worlds and Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter. As usual, this 7th compilation takes us into the magnificent universe of the famous English label which is known for its musical aesthetics and its desire to make EM progresses outside the known paths.
A very catchy way to start this compilation is with the music of Nigel Mullaney who is one of the 3 artists to offer 4 tracks on this new iNDEX from the English label DiN. Taken from 31, Dusk is the Musk offers its most lively part with a vision of Electronica structured on percussions play and percussive effects where a good Arabic flute and harmonious modular loops nestle. The transition to Ian Boddy's From Here to There of the Nervermore album is as if we were listening to the same album, except for the Theramin and its spectral chants. Ian has captured the most animated portion of the track here. The second part of Ambient Pressure, Lyonel Bauchet's album The Diver, concludes this very dynamic first block of iNDEX07. The sharp and enchanted flute of The Fountains are Singing, from Dave Bessell and his Reality Engine, guides us towards a more sibylline phase of this compilation which continues with the cooing chants of an extract from Glade, the second track of Nervermore. Quietly, we slide towards the other extract of 31, Dutch Knowledge of which the introductory Electronica rhythm also slides towards a dense atmospheric passage painted by synth layers of which mixed emotions intrigue and move us in an intense track that hasn't quite given up its desire to make us tap our fingers. We immediately notice the very Fripp guitar of Markus Reuter in a duet album with the boss of DiN, Outland. Ghostly, the ambiences shimmer in symbiosis with a static rhythm structure stolen from prism reflections. Scanner's An Ascent album was quite a find with its industrial ambient texture. The Ascent just hints at its immense possibilities over a bewitching bass structure. This track fits right in between the two tracks of Outland, the very melancholic Home and its duel between guitar and Theremin fills us with nostalgia.
Taken from the Phosphenes album, Inner Beacon is this intense and unsubdued track with its virginal air and its poignant arrangements which closed this pure masterpiece of the duo Dave Bessell & Parallel Worlds. Empire, which follows the amazing and powerful Raven King from Reality Engine, explains why Phosphenes is a sublime album. We are in the grey areas of the best moments of iNDEX 07. We taste a bit more of Scanner's industrial ambient texture with Stranice which is at its place at this 13th rank of this compilation forged by Ian Boddy who offers the very meditative The Fallen, from the album Axiom, to continue this compilation. Lyonel Bauchet's Hydrostatic Equilibrium shakes up this ambient phase with a creative track whose complex rhythm is sculpted in the shadow of a beautiful melody. Strident, the synth layers add a rather particular intensity to his album The Diver. Nigel Mullaney has shaken DiN's foundation between the 9 albums presented here with 2 of them. Taken from his excellent The Turning, the rhythmic complexity of the title-track should convince you to own this album which is very good from start to finish. Nitro offers us the livelier side, which sounds like good Arc, of Axiom. The cosmic atmospheres of the track travel over to Nostalgia Bomb, one of the two atmospheric tracks on The Turning. Beautiful, tender and with a sensitivity to crack this shell of our soul. That's why I became a fan of this music without rhythm but with a soul.
This is how this other excursion in the land of DiN ends! And what I like about these compilations signed by Ian Boddy is this fascinating sensation of rediscovering these 9 albums in another environment that justifies the audacity of such a compilation, from the order of selection of the titles to its final editing. Do yourself a favor and dive into the 7 iNDEX compilations, you will discover a universe as fascinating as ahead of its time.
Sylvain Lupari (February 17th, 2022) ****½*
Available at DiN Bandcamp
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