~Genuine Electronic Music~
I am Ed Castro, a producer from NYC - I'm constantly evolving, and making music that I hope can inspire, and make some folks believe a bit more in Electronic music.
Click on my Soundcloud and Bandcamp links to listen. There's an array of different styles to get your head into. Comment, follow, and please let me know how I'm doing. You can also contact me at the bottom of the page with any inquiries or thoughts. Thanks!
-Ed
“Behold , Here comes the dreamer, let us slay him and we shall see what will become of his dreams”
Enjoy this Melancholic Chill Journey!
~Originality~
Last night the sky was clear. It had rained - the wind was incredibly stiff -
it cleared the atmosphere. I stood on my deck next to my gardenias and looked
straight up into the midnight sky. Even at sea level, I could see millions -
billions of stars - and I knew many of them weren't stars at all - but other
galaxies. There was the moon - the Kamona that separates us from its dark side
in any case. Separating the mix was the blackness of space. "That's where
I want to go", I thought to myself. "That's where I want to go - how
do I get there - how do I get there without a ship?" I went indoors, fired
up my studio, logged on, and there awaiting my arrival was Gem's "We Made
Contact". "Hmmm - another prayer answered", I thought. At first
- I wasn't sure where his ship would take me - but I was welcomed aboard his
craft with a native cry 16 seconds into liftoff - and the vocoded spirit of its
pilot told me to strap in for a very cool trip. I did - and it was.
Music can be a magic carpet - Ed has created a lucullan weave of voice, synth,
percussion and samples onto his mixing loom and then quilted the effects into a
very spacey masterpiece. I'm on my way with this one - riding through nothing
and everything at the same time - my attention drawn to the majesty of every
instrument in Gem's universe - everything that surrounds me. What is this
genre? Swing - no. Jazz - no. Ambient - not really - maybe - sort of. Hip/Trip
Hop - don't think so - what do I know - but what the hey - who cares? It's a
really great piece of work! Since I can't classify it - doesn't that make it
unique? It IS original - it is the piece that has answered my prayer - I'm on
my way without a ship! Ed is controlling my vertical - my horizontal - these
are the Outer Limits! This is the Twightlight Zone!
~Essence~
Ed went for science fiction - but there's nothing fictional about this.
This moves me in substantial ways. It harkens me back to Walter Cronkite at 3am
on a weekday morning watching Apollo launches on black and white TV - while
hoping I can stay awake for class and girls in the 9th grade. I'm in 1969 with
this piece - astonished - gob smacked - first steps on the moon. I'm in a
theater in Los Angeles watching 2001 - praying, hoping, lusting for space
exploration - hoping I'm one of the lucky ones - to go - to explore - at
whatever cost. Ed has captured the essence of science fiction: the origins of
science fact! I'm not only interested in the whole track (common problem -
stops too soon!) but really enjoy all of his transitions. I really like the
vocoder up front and have stopped midway a couple of times just to catch that
voice again. I would ask Ed, - please - more vocoded Martian-ease peppered here
and there in this track - it's very, very cool!
There's a sample in the middle - starts at about 3:25. Says I might experience
some kind of severe trauma - Ed - dude! - still waiting for that severe trauma
and yet nothing but pleasure so far! What's with that?
~Production Technique~
Ed has gotten as close as anyone to a professional mix with this. There are
no disturbing transients in this piece. He's got voices and textures coming and
going everywhere throughout this piece and manages to keep it all together -
evenly balanced - really great placement in the field - really great job at
maintaining an overall volume even though highs, lows, and mids alternately
step up as lead. The other bands fall back into supporting roles - just as they
should - and the piece as a whole remains even. As a listener I'm presented a
potpourri of sounds - stepping up one at a time while the others never far from
reach. It really is like speeding through space dodging in and out of a huge
variety of textures, voices, and color. Really well done! Really well done!
(yes - and still - twice is not enough).
~Sounds/Samples/Instruments quality~
Okay - so what does he NOT have here? Maybe a flugelhorn or lyre - but I
can't be sure. Imagine taking your well stocked spice cabinet and sprinkling a
bit of everything into a mortar. That's what this is - but rather than
introducing the pestal and smashing everything into a noisy powder, Gem brings
the individual pieces up front, says "Here it is!" and then allows it
to retreat to the bed - tucks it in securely - and brings something else
forward. It's so well produced that I'm satieted and starving for more at the
same time. Really well done! (hmmm - de ja vue?)
~Overall Appeal~
I have absolutely no idea what genre this is - and I don't care. This is an
awesome piece of musical art and it belongs on my iPod. When I pass - I want
everyone to know the whole story - including my yearning for space - I wanted
to go - to be there - a race through space - if this is as close as I was able
to get - it was close enough. Thank you, Gem! Thank you, Ed!
David
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http://soundcloud.com/soft-enerji/soft-enerji-kibeja-pacific
Review written by Archimedes (David Stuart)
~Imagery~
Modern sailors on an ancient ship are making their
way. The Captain
knows how to keep order; knows how to call the
adrenalin to arms and move the lumbering beast through this viscous plain.
Massive Mackies on the fore and aft masts wired to the bridge where the
quartermaster pipes general quarters; this is music to the men and women on a
journey. Music the crew likes most as they prepare to latch on to nature’s
tail. “Let go the halyard, sheets and braces. Slacken braces and sheets! Haul
halyard! Sheet home the sail. Make all!” the Captains sing in their acoustic,
hallowed native tongues. Their musical voices bind souls as the vessel is
wrestled into order and the oceanic boulevard is made. Stress vanishes as the
crew integrates with the flow of the world. SoftEnerji and Kibeja command the
crew to make sail
– we will be underway on this sunny day at sea –
in the Pacific!
Two thirds covered by water – teeming with life -
vast expanses of
motion heaving, surging, shielding the wonder that
wends below – our Suspicion of Life occasionally confirmed as they surface and
leap and comingle with a simpler “us”. A percussive keyboard invites the
ocean’s life to appear as the ambient bed harkens the wind to billowing sails.
There is so little earth on Earth. We are dust and
to dust we shall
return – but not here – not now. Moisturized by
our surroundings, we
live to sail the Pacific.
For days, weeks, months we
travel in our humble craft escorted by all manner of being. Dolphin, whales,
sharks, and flying fish greet us off the leeward side. We covet this
trespassing and thirst for a part of this something so distant from us and yet
so enveloping. We are consumed with bitterness that we are not so well
connected to life below this malleable plane. The edge through which we dare
not pass is mysterious – forbidding – seductive – and carrying us forward
through time. Pacific plays on – and we are moved to intrude. Pacific uncloaks
the world – gently and slowly lifts a looking glass to our eyes and then leads
us to this place.
We are awed by the sea and its wonders. Is joining
and becoming one just a simple death visiting itself upon us? Not through this
music – not through this beautiful proxy for that seductive, foreboding place
we have named the Pacific. Only now can we begin to grasp all that it is. That
is – an inexplicable beauty.
Still, we yearn for a union. We want to be a part
of this Pacific. It
calls to us. Machines and contraptions are
assurances we will survive to tell the story. They get us closer – but wanting
more. Devices are symmetrical, hardened, cold, cages that gift our senses but
keep our emotions at bay. Music is curved, smooth, and transitions us gently
into that other place and our emotions are allowed to bind with “there”. The
Pacific – it calls to us – we think, we believe, we’re convinced – it’s home.
A cry from the nest and our aim is elevated as we
gaze onto the horizon. A shadow outlined in the sky - a darkened suggestion of
safe harbor ahead as we slowly, purposefully reach. Our arms outstretched - our
eyes affixed - forward. Australia - A Tribal Planet. From which we will again
embark as our lust draws us back to the open seas.
~Essence~
This piece by SoftEnerji and Kibeja is a beautiful
transom that allowsus to exist in a world we are only able to witness and yearn
to join completely. This new age, ambience masterpiece by two extremely
talented artists is best measured by the images it allows us to create in our
minds. Dreams and fantasies are wonderful places for us. We don’t have to
transport our bodies – just our minds. Our dreams become more than photorealistic
– they become experiences that influence us, change our views, provide respite
and relief and allow us to collect ourselves before rejoining the average. We
can just as fully absorb new places – we only have to imagine going there and
with a little help from music like Pacific – we succeed.
When two highly talented artists like Mark and
Chris craft art that carries us into those places – or at least chauffeurs us
to the door and politely casts the seam asunder, they’ve provided the means fortaking
us to places we are unlikely to visit any other way. We can
breathe in the vacuum of space, fly with flocks,
swim with schools and get connected in transcendental ways. Music has that
power – and skillfully composed, scored and engineered music makes this easy
and natural. That is what this piece represents to me. It’s a portal that, once
opened, allows me to absent myself from the cacophony of the daily grind. Quiet
settles upon honking horns, angry persons and devastating misfortunes visited
upon innocents. It’s more than easy listening and ambience – it’s a path that,
once taken, and trusted, lifts the veil off of human imagination and let’s
human life become the intellectual potpourri it was meant to be.
Where production technique, sounds/samples/instruments
and quality are concerned, it’s worth noting that, beyond some point, these are
assumed. There is nothing to say about how well a piece is mixed, or whether
the voices chosen for the synths were wise or naïve. We’re beyond that. We’re
beyond noticing any flaw in the mechanics of production. We’re beyond the
details. Those are long gone. Soft Enerji and Kibeja are fluent in this art and
they haven’t forgotten a thing.
The focus is on the voyage in this music and not
whether the piano,
the percussion, bass or woodwinds are appropriate.
It’s not even a
matter of settling for what they have produced –
because those details are so far away from being scrutinized that it’s
pointless to address them. At this level of maturity, the only discussion to be
had, really, is whether the music moves our minds – and if so – in what
direction.
~Overall Appeal~
"Semper idem sentire ac non sentire ad idem
revertunt“ – but not when we are listening to high caliber music produced by
these artists individually, or this collaborative piece in particular. I’ve
listened to every song on Soft Enerji’s site dozens of times. I’ve listened to
Harvest Song every weekend since downloading it. Kant was wrong – always the
same is not the same as nothing. Musical miracles over and again are simply new
divots in a timeline that offer portals into new places and each listening is a
new trip.
David
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http://soundcloud.com/g-e-m/its-all-within-yourself-1 Soft Enerji's Special Review of It's All Within Yourself by Harry Henderson and Gem The quality of this collaboration between Pete (Harry Henderson) and Ed (Gem) will not surprise anyone. As solo artists, both consistantly deliver outstanding music to this community and I doubt if any of my peers in the Music Forum would disagree with me on that. Together, these two artists have crafted something extraordinary, something exceptional. Now, since this is a special review, I'm going to do it in a similar way to which Ed and David did their reviews of my collaboration with Kibeja, and try to convey how the song affects me from an emotional point of view. So here goes, press play..... An atmosphere of mysticism and a feeling of warmth is instantly apparent. The lush pad floats out of my speakers carried along by the deep tones of the synth bass. The shaker sets a pleasant, relaxed pace, and I embark on a journey to my inner self. I feel as if I am floating just above a path. I don't know what the path is made of or what it passes through but I am moving slowly along it. I have no idea where this path leads but I have no fear of what may await me. The music soothes and comforts me. The percussion and vocals kick in an I am lifted to the next level. The depth of feeling Ed has portrayed in his vocals is nothing short of brilliant. There is tension, there is hope and there is passion. The lyrics work around the Metta theme beautifully. The first few lines: "There's a place in time, I am trying to find, I'm reaching out to be there” draw me in and carry me onwards. I begin to see a little a little further ahead of myself as the first two verses progress. The intigueing backing vocals between the verses are like a siren song for my soul. My path is becoming clearer, more tangible, but my destination still remains a mystery. The middle section of the song seems to pull me aside and somehow allows me a view back along the path I've just taken. A sort musical out of body experience, for want of a better description. I don't know if this was intentional, or even if it is possible to deliberately create that feeling in a piece of music, but that is what I get, everytime I listen to it. The tension builds once more with the introduction of the vocoded spoken words and then once again, I'm back on the path, only this time my destination is clear. The last verse is the key. As it surges away from the middle section I feel as if I'm travelling faster and faster even though the tempo has not changed. As the feeling of realisation descends upon me there is acceptance of the place my mind has been taken. There is comfort in knowing that this journey has been a worthwhile one. As the song fades out I look around myself to view my surroundings and I see that I am in a good place. A friendly place, a place full of love, a place where kindess is all around me. There's a place in time and I've found it. Pete and Ed, congratulations on this collaboration. Everything is perfect, from a production point of view and musically. Thanks for allowing me to review this, it has been an absolute pleasure. Mark ______________________________ David Stuart Reviews “It’s All Within Yourself” A long day - a long week - a long, miserable month. I'm tired - I'm wound up - I'm NOT down with what I tolerate to make a living. But there is a place - a place I visit too infrequently. It's a sanctuary - a womb to which I return when I want to shed the "real" and dream of things possible. It's a place to revel in the brilliance and genius of others who express their dreams through sounds. My mind is starving for the comfort of their craft. I covet those moments when all that surrounds me is their work. Such dreams, such art, such deep movement in the rythym and timbre of their genius. I click "on". Ten different devices awaken and the lights glow blue, green, red and yellow. I know where I'm headed - can't wait to get there. I shed the incadescent proxy for dreams and wait. Why must this take so long? Silly little icons - they get in my way. Just get me there - time to finish dinner, run out the door, and join my friends this evening. I glance through my window and spy those kids gathering bats, mits and balls. I know that elsewhere, some are donning skates, pads and sticks. Others suit up for a round of hoops and others are mounting saddled beasts for an evening gallop through the plains. Playtime is upon us. The seeds of our fantasies are sewn. The kids are organizing. There's only one playground of interest to me. Here I come. I have my ears, I have my gear, I have my ideas, I have my dreams and can't wait to join my friends as I hurriedly run to join them and give some, take some, and grow - I'm headed to the sandlot of musical instruments, faders, knobs, and acoustic victories. A culdesac of audio craft where, as the sun sets and the distraction of sunny bright days yields to the brilliance of enlightened minds, new visions arise and we reach for glorious stars. Take me to the sound garden. There it is - that familiar red and white logo that understates the spectral breadth I'm about to unleash. This purveyor of tools has opened doors to many of us and, while loosely coupled, we have joined and are creating gifts we share freely. Finally - I'm there. Ahhhh - and as I expected - as I had hoped while weaving through this painfully numb and routine theater, a new post. And, it's folks I know - wait - that's silly - I don't know them - but I do. I've heard their music. They've toyed with my mind previously. But separately - what is this? Two of our kind have joined in a collaboration. My heart begins to race - I read quickly. Too much text - not enough sound - I'll come back and read what others have said - but later. More waiting as my machines crank and churn - and finally - "Harry Henderson & Gem's - It's All Within Yourself" appear before my eyes. Oh....My...God! What is this? At last - I have arrived. I stumble for the mouse and move the cursor into position and press that glorius button that starts my journey. I need to get to the key that opens the door. I need to turn that key - I need to wrestle my way through the webs grasping to stop me as I cross the threshold - and join the chosen. Immediately - the switch is thrown - the switch is .... thrown....and I'm here. Now: Click Play The tempo takes me out of reverse. Forward out of the station we go. Softened shakers billowing smoke as steam powered pistons transfer power via the side rods. Large metal wheels carry the machine forward and we are sampled forward in time. Loved ones on the platform waving a blessed adieu. The bass riff lifts me off the ground - the synth clears the air and parts the sky - revealing the inner workings of a life I could not have imagined. Wheels spinning more quickly and spokes churning the air as a voice appears and takes my hand - we cruise calmly into the night - I'm safe, and I know I am being introduced to new and wonderful dreams. Time to connect with others - time to travel with a good book among stars and galaxies. Time to cruise. I splay the leather cover and witness this rendering of human invention. I see myself in the pages I spy, reading the pages I spy. The first chapter presents itself while gaining speed and moving along. Soft Enerji has been here. He has something to say - he's a trusted friend who has left a note while dropping breadcrumbs tracing his path - but the crumbs stop. He must have ----- he must have decided ---- no need to return. I know him - he's good - he's deep - he's connected. What is he saying? "Mysticism" - yes, but more crumbs. "Warmth" - yes - still, more crumbs. "Lush" - yes - more, but fewer crumbs - he's comitting. "Journey" - yes - I'm with you brother. We are moving - we are. "Lifted" - yes, we are, and the trail has gone colde. Glad to see we're together on this trip. Good to see you, my friend! And I see from a survey of our special culdesac that all the kids on the block are here. I'm late - but I'm here - and I'm grateful to be joined with you on this transcendental ship crafted by our friends, Ed and Pete. You've said it all, my friend. And heads about us are bobbing - motion all around us - eyes closed - connected with this incredibly beautiful piece by two who are among us. Nothing else matters now - we are "out of body" - our souls at the block party - and we know that more is on the way. This is beyond the basic. This is another piece that is "specially reviewed" because it speaks to our souls and takes us places. The review is about the dream - not the body that sleeps. It's about the journey - not the train. The conveyance is a foregone conclusion - masterfully crafted and transcendant of technical detail. It's beyond. It is a measure of achievement and success because I'm not analyzing, being disturbed, or focused on how they did this. I'm focused completely on the realism of the dream - the journey - the images and vision. I'm focused on the pictures created by their music. So...extremely...well...done. Thank you Ed - Thank you Pete! Night is upon us - sleep tight. We'll meet again tomorrow - on the sandlot of our acoustic dreams. David |