New Age Music Reviews: Electronica

Release Date: July 13, 2018

Label: Dream Palace Publishing / BMI

Website

David Arkenstone is about to make the summer brighter with a new release in July titled Colors of the Ambient Sky. He is the author of an astounding 65 recordings!

David is primarily a keyboardist, plays the guitar, mandolin, flute, cello, percussion, and many other instruments. He utilizes all the tools of the music trade, including the computer to provide orchestrations that provide beauty and texture. On this album it is all David, there are no guest musicians. You soon realize what an amazing accomplishment this album is once you hear it for the first time.

If you look closely at the CD cover it is like lying on the ground looking up at the treetops and star-filled skies. The music fits well with the album cover. It takes you to a higher place of consciousness like the one beyond the treetops. What you hear is music that could easily be used for soundtrack or other media deliveries, but more importantly it gives you an outlet for relaxation. As the artist suggests, it is like dreaming with your eyes open.

I have been hearing much more of this type of ambient music lately and have thoroughly enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, it has prompted me to seek out other similar artists. Tracks like “Blue Lightning” reminded me of one of my favorite Tangerine Dream albums titled Le Parc. Colors of the Ambient Sky has pleasing spacey and relaxing ambient sounds with the hints of technology swirling around it. For me, there is just enough of all of that Colors of the Ambient Sky to keep me interested and quite satisfied.

I would expect Colors of the Ambient Sky to be one of the more popular releases of 2018 in the ambient and new age genres. I really appreciated the overall consistency and textures of the music from track to track. I was envisioning an artist painting with many different colors and taking the time to put them in the right place on the canvas to create another masterpiece. I felt like it was ear candy that was transformed in my mind’s eye into colors and images. For my musical tastes, this is the kind of experience I truly enjoy. I do not go into a listening experience with anticipation, it would ruin the birth of new thoughts and feelings it could possibly create. That is a good policy for any listener actually.

As the closing track “Ascension” brings the curtain to a close, you realize just how positive and uplifting a musical journey can bring. Your skies will be colored with a broad musical brush that will touch you in so many ways. That is all any listener could ask for.

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck

August 11, 2018

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New Age Music Reviews

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Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews

Tracks:
01. Parallel World
02. Red Sun
03. Starlight Starbright
04. Darkness Descending
05. Rainbow Galaxy
06. Blue Lightning
07. Lonely Satellite
08. Visitors

Release Date: August 19, 2016

Label: Anaya Music

Website

Anaya Music and the latest release titled Eternity is all about collaboration. Anaya Music is Anaya, Tania Mara Botelho, Steve Salani and members of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

I am one of the first to admit you cannot match the experience of being at a concert as to sitting and listening to CD. There are instances in my listening experiences inside the confines of my home that have elevated my spirit and given me positive energy and hope. Eternity turns out to be one of those instances. The parts from the orchestra are live however, so we get the best of both worlds. This is where technology and live off the floor music collide to explode into sights and sounds that will stir your soul.

What I found interesting was how the use of technology made this project come together. Over the oceans these artists added their parts and eventually it became a whole. With the help of many talented people and the sum of its parts scattered about the globe coming together through the advances of communication and modern recording, this became a musical entity. It truly is amazing how all of that works. It is even more of a celebration when it all meets to make the most beautiful and picturesque sounds and colors arriving through your speakers.

Anaya ends the liner notes by saying “Our best instrument is the universal harmony of being.” That one thought and the vibrations it creates is the perfect lead in to this cinematic recording. The soundscapes shaped and molded are things of beauty and grace that can take your spirit to a higher plain. I do believe that is the intent of music like this. Enlightened spirits leading others down the path of light and love…it works well if you allow the music to transport you as the pressures of the world melt away.

The entire listening experience was so enjoyable and uplifting that I felt disappointed that it ended and it seemed to end much too soon. From where I sit that is the highest compliment I can pay to any artist.

Eternity is a blessing to all that will hear it so make sure you give it a few spins and find what I found inside the music.

4.5/5 Stars