Migration Album: 31 Sep 2009 By:
HamiltonSterling US$17.98 Helikon Sound http://www.helikonsound.com/music/music.html In
Migration,
HamiltonSterling and Jimmy Haslip take us on a journey that begins in Senegal and ends up on another planet. Using Kyma timbre-scapes and live performances on bass and percussion, Haslip and Sterling create an immersive soundtrack tracing humankind's restless and inevitable journey out of Africa and outward to the stars. Inevitable in part due to what Huntington Ellsworth calls human kind's "innate migratory tendency" and partly due to "Nature's stern urgency" (COP15?). The best listening is in surround-sound with the lights dimmed: Side 1 (white band) of the DVD is a 5.1 Dolby Digital version and a 2 channel PCM 24-bit 48 kHz version. Side 2 (red band) is a 5.1 24 bit 48 kHz DVD-Audio 5.1 version; this is definitely a 'hi fi', 'audiophile' type experience. It's a soundtrack that creates its own visuals inside your head. Listen to a preview and order your own copy from
Helikon Sound ,
CDBaby, or
Amazon.
Discussion (Descriptions, reviews, discussion):
In
Migration,
HamiltonSterling and Jimmy Haslip take us on a journey that begins in Senegal and ends up on another planet. Using Kyma timbre-scapes and live performances on bass and percussion, Haslip and Sterling create an immersive soundtrack tracing humankind's restless and inevitable journey out of Africa and outward to the stars. Inevitable in part due to what Huntington Ellsworth calls human kind's "innate migratory tendency" and partly due to "Nature's stern urgency" (COP15?). The best listening is in surround-sound with the lights dimmed: Side 1 (white band) of the DVD is a 5.1 Dolby Digital version and a 2 channel PCM 24-bit 48 kHz version. Side 2 (red band) is a 5.1 24 bit 48 kHz DVD-Audio 5.1 version; this is definitely a 'hi fi', 'audiophile' type experience. It's a soundtrack that creates its own visuals inside your head.
The music is uniquely imprinted with Sterling and Haslip's experiences and talents. Only the sound designer who worked on War of the Worlds, was playing bass in professional jazz ensembles by the time he was sixteen, and is a card-carrying member of the Planetary Society could possibly have created the evocative cinematic ambiences, accessible ostinati punctuated with alien outbursts, and 'outside' improvisations. The result feels both genuine and delightfully idiosyncratic.
Track 1 (Senegal Suite) establishes a stationery ambient background, ostinato middleground punctuated with ethnic flutes and percussion in the foreground.
By track 2 (Migration), we are on the move with powerful electronic sound masses and African drumming patterns.
Track 3 (City of Light) is one continuously building timbral evolution of insinuated vocals, piano ostinati, drums, and strings, gradually building a sense of hope and promise (with occasional jabs of alien electronics).
Track 4 (Sadness, Away) is time-stretched granular mandoline-like plucking, drenched in rain and distant animal sounds.
By Track 5 (City of Water), we are in deep space on our interplanetary journey. Haslip's crazed walking bass solo with alien craft fly-bys, shimmering vocals and tremolo strings.
Track 6 (Spiral, Dreams of Home) finds us on a new planet. Alien birds and bells and a new form of jazz with D&B tempos, chaotic snare, detuned piano strings (Haslips' ultra-processed bass), and a restless, anxious energy. Even on this new planet, we still feel restless. Nervous grainy bells, voices, and flutes gradually relax into an calm loneliness and ends with a dry-throated drone.
Listen to a preview and order your own copy from
Helikon Sound ,
CDBaby, or
Amazon.
