" Nice
whisper of an album; as a fully licensed Ambient DJ,
I am required by
law to own at least twelve (12) albums such as this"
(Ambient Selections ) Dan
Foley - AMBIENCE FOR THE MASSES
"One
Enthusiastic Thumb up. You
can hardly go wrong...
Ambient Ashera Selections is
2 discs of nicely varied, beatless ambience"
David
J Opdyke - AMBIENTRANCE ...for
complete original review click
here
"...His
efforts lead to music that has dazzling sonorities and unanticipated
structures. This produces the effect of drifting warmth, serene beauty,
and insightful depth... ... Ashera: Ambient Selections draws its sense
of thepth from a different source: the music's structure. The sonic
textures go back several layers deep, yielding different pearls of
beauty on each hearing..."
Titus Levi, Discoveries / KEYBOARD mag.
"This
2-CD album, produced in Australia by Anthony Asher Wright and a couple
of guest performers, is well within the "traditional" spirit of Brian
Eno's original concept of ambient music. It is designed not to intrude,
but to exist in the aural background of the listener's consciousness,
and enhance calm or meditative moods. The album cover says "Play at
lower level; do not operate machinery or drive vehicles." This sums
it up pretty well. "Ashera' s" sounds feature, in different tracks,
whispers of synthesizer chords, gently tinkling bells, Australian
environmental sounds, and crooning female voices. It's soft, really
soft. Even if you turn the volume up, it's still soft....
....One of "Ashera's" good points is that he picks good chords to
float in. He likes modern jazz harmony, or perhaps a bit of French
impressionism, all of it ever-so-drifting and ethereal, with that
smooth shimmer that makes this kind of ambient so easy to listen to.
There are a few slightly dissonant chords, which have a somewhat Roach-like
feel to them, but even Steve Roach at his quietest was never THIS
quiet. And "Ashera" stays well away from any evocation of either deserts,
aborigines, or space; his track titles mostly allude to landscapes
or nature....
Rating: 7 out of 10 Hannah M.G. Shapero 1/4/01
"
