(Instinct - 1994)

I definitely recommend these 2 CD's compiling 17 ambient cuts from Instinct Records. No real clunkers in this peaceful bunch. Their marketing slogan could have been... "Always placid/never flaccid".

Voodoo Warriors of Love open with Sweat, which features prominent tribal percussion and light electronics. Despite the jungle atmosphere, I find it more serene than sweaty. Serve Chilled contribute Eve's Theme, a lengthy piece which mixes a warbling keyboard, insect and bird sounds, a slowly throbbing bass and no percussion.

Exotic Apadana by Sad World rides on its own tribal sounding drum patterns, along with a solo vocal chant. The strumming of some ethnic stringed instrument flavors Terre Thaemlitz's Fat Chair, as do buried vocals snatches in some third-world foreign language. (Could be Botswanan for all I know...I'm a music reviewer, not a linguist!) This is the only song I know with a surprise ending. (I won't give it away though; I'm assuming the sample is "real"...?)

Smoothly shifting organ, with a beat and bleep accompaniment, plus the spoken word sections about caves make up Deep Space Network's Zenn La. Ambient harbingers Cabaret Voltaire provide more than 15 minutes of uneasy atmospheric drones, distorted samples, occasional beats and synths, in the form of Project 80 (Extract 1).

Mysteries of Science are breaking the mold as far as constraints upon song title lengths. Their drifting, spacey piece is called Creatures made of light glide softly across the slowly ever-rotating homeworld in gentle undulations of warm dub through the encircling golden ether common to system 35. Apt enough title, too. Human Mesh Dance closes Disc 1 with Wet Moon, a 98% beatless excursion, with light keyboard and a very deep bass throb, eventually intermixed with the occasional sample.

Disc 2 begins with R-Gent by Sun Electric, a lightly droning piece with no beat, but a rhythm of sorts is established by the watery, clunking background sounds and some occasional cymbal percussion. Dolcevita by Optica is more energetic, as its pulsing electronic rhythm and various keyboard arrangements (ranging from arpeggios to sweeps) propel it.

The beautiful, sparse Blue Calx is Aphex Twin's contribution. A quiet metronome tick and muffled echoes accent this piece which resonates with a haunting, alien emptiness. Prototype 909 provides Disc 2's long-runner with the 11-minute long Understand. Over a burbling, pulsing background of synthesizer effects, a robotic voice babbles on with a series of repeated phrases and snippets. Various distortions keep things from getting too overtly repetitive.

I guess it's not surprising that The Drum Club features a prominent, yet subdued, bass drumbeat in their Spaced Out Locked In. A pleasant guitar jangle, the female vocal sample and the muted keyboard riffs somehow harken back to New Wave days. Air Liquide's Sun Progress is a spooky, spacey affair. Ominous chords abound, distorted synthtones attack and decay, an electric rhythm percolates... scary, otherworldly stuff.

Tranquility Base by Omicron continues in the spacey mode, but as the title suggests, occupies a more soothing celestial sector. Peaceful synths swirl and flutter in this beatless realm. Another extraterrestrial outing via Space is the Place by The Irresistable Force? Not nearly as spacey as its predecessors; It's really just down-to-earth electronics of the warm, meditative variety. A slight rhythm decorates the sweeping, bleeping foreground.

Orbital add piano to synth to form Belfast. Intricately patterned drum machines create a steady beat to hang the everything else on, including the wordless female singing, and that high-pitched warbling sound that goes from side to side. Eventually, the rhythm slows, winding down and providing an ending to the whole collection.

chill out phase two  is one of the finer comps I own. With varying degrees and shades of ambience, this provides any ambient seeker with more than 2 hours of mostly soothing electronica. I particularly recommend this a starting place for beginners, or those just getting used to these types of sounds. One strong thumb up!