Tango Mango
It's chilled and intricate at the same time. Have to say, Vegetal Sculpture took me way back to Gong/Hillage albums. Bless their socks.
Favorite track: Vegetal Sculpture.
PhilPDX50
I marvel at how artists like Jarguna can be so prolific and yet keep the quality so consistently high. Nicola Serena adds wonderful synths and sequencing to the mix, giving it more electronic energy without losing that Jarguna tribal ambient feel. I hope these two collaborate again in the future. Great album.
Favorite track: Vegetal Sculpture.
Dave Aftandilian
Fascinating ambient visions of a future when the worlds of nature and society become so intertwined that the borders between them disappear. There is some darkness here: shadowed places with unknown, unsavory denizens. But mostly the feeling is exploratory, hopeful, and transformative: warm tears of rain glossing a leaf, dropping to the dirty pavement, then moistening a seed in a crack that becomes a green shoot shining amongst the gray.
The union of two sometimes very contrasting minds made this release possible. Not just the minds of the two Italian electronic artists, jarguna and Serena, but the minds of two different jungles: nature and civilization — the organic growth of flowers and trees and the cities made of iron and concrete.
jarguna, a botanical researcher (ethnobotanist), is always traveling in search of plants and the culture that revolves around them. The other, Serena, is an urban explorer resting his gaze on corners where "distracted" people do not stop and are unable to observe fascinating details, stories permeated in the structures.
A musician for over 30 years, Serena says the album reflects “a journey into a not-too-distant dystopian future where an uncontaminated nature slowly envelops archaeological fragments of disappeared civilizations, recovering its fundamental primary role as a living laboratory. The sounds and rhythmic interweaving of synthesizers and sequences accompany us throughout the journey often letting real forest sounds emerge like rays of sunshine through the mists of an undergrowth in a humid dawn. We created this work through a close collaboration as we live in the same valley here in Italy— or better to say, jungle."
“AMONGST JUNGLES, my 46th release,” jarguna states, "is less exclusively ambient. It is structured by rhythms and refrains, a sound that is partly retro, partly avant-garde (yes, avant-garde!) ambient, progressive, since it never ends how it starts. Two worlds that try to coexist, sometimes one dominates the other. I am referring to the two jungles: nature and civilization. The man who constantly tries to control both one and the other, mere illusion! The synthetic sounds blend with some forest landscapes, which I myself have recorded. Imagine seeing a skyscraper totally surrounded by vegetation. A few years would be enough because the earth carried by the wind enters and with it, a seed. A little water and the Earth takes back its space."
"The search for sound and rhythm was complex and articulated. The expressions of the timbres of some sounds led us into dense and twisted jungles, lights, shadows build mechanical, artificial dimensions, sometimes simple and spontaneous."
Good explorations!
jarguna Bio:
jarguna is sonic-alchemist Marco Billi. He creates organic-ambient-electronic music in mandala-like hymns of richly enveloping ritual music. Since his first recordings in 1998, jarguna’s work has been an exploration of sounds, feelings, contrasts, passion, acoustics and electronics. In the early 2000s jarguna was a student of Serena in a course of sound engineering and DAW (digital audio workstation).
Nicola Serena Bio:
Born in Florence, Italy, in 1960, Nicola first studied piano and in 1977 began exploring new sounds in electronic music. He dedicates himself to the composition of soundtracks for television documentaries (Overland, Rai TV) and audio books. As an arranger and composer, Nicola designs multimedia installations where sound and image coexist in a single project. He is known by the pseudonym Nick Straybizer and has also released 6 albums under his own name. Nicola creates evocative compositions, exploring countless genres over the years from 90’s new age to techno, chillout, EDM and techno electronic.
“I met Marco many years ago,” recalls Nicola. “Thanks to our passion for electronic music and synthesizers, we decided to create this project that combines our musical and cultural experiences. It is an album where there are multiple sound fragments, a synthesis of small experimental studies. This combination has allowed for the creation of a wonderful work that encompasses our experiences in electronic and ambient music.”
Projekt is
America's premier independent label specializing in passionately intense introspective music in the ambient, electronic, ethereal & darkwave genres. 40-year-old Projekt continues to nurture the careers of its select roster of artists....more
★ NAME-YOUR-PRICE DOWNLOAD ★ The immersion continues. This new release features extended and alternate versions of three tracks from Steve's recent SANCTUARY OF DESIRE. Projekt Records
supported by 161 fans who also own “Amongst Jungles”
We have the 'Rest Of Life' to think whole truths morally wrong... no amount of gronce will shonky honesty up.. when dissin to depleted lobotomies is not barked back at too smugly.. cones, jugs & pharmacies
"And all the drama got me stressin' like I'm hopeless, I can't cope..
Me and the homies smokin' roaches, 'cause we broke" - 2PAC skitzo-productions
supported by 155 fans who also own “Amongst Jungles”
If I wanted to point someone to Steve Roach's music, I'd start them here. This record spans some of Roach's signature styles, like the percolating synths in "Currents of Compassion", the dreamy abstraction of "Prometheus Passage", the tribal rhythms of "The Gone Place", and the elegiac majesty of "What Remains". It's stunning all around and guaranteed to make any day better. fyeahmetal
From the always-excellent label Past Inside the Present comes this stunning work of sustained tone and timbre. Gorgeous. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 1, 2022