"Cobalt
144 is powerful stuff, a delicately overpowering masterwork
of perfectly
flowing musical ambience.
Whatever Ashera is doing, he's
certainly doing it right. I award an unprecedented 9.6 for the
gorgeous
mind-caressing nuances I hear. "David
J Opdyke - AMBIENTRANCE
"Strikingly
original and at times almost ethereally beautiful, this album is a
marvel ... Ashera has produced some really unique ways of using vocalizings
as part of this music. This is unlike a lot of what you have probably
heard .... Cobalt 144 is filled with ambitious, even ingenious music.
It stands several ambient conventions on their posteriors and strikes
out in some interesting directions. Frankly, I can't believe this
guy is not going to be a major player - and soon. Hell, he may be
one already! " ...Bill
Binkelman Wind & Wire. for complete original review
click here
"Quiet,
introspective, minimal, shades of Harold Budd circa The Pearl; these
are sonic excursions into meditative spaces. fragile compositions
and simple melodies that suggest classic ambience. Those that like
the shimmering imagery that Budd created on The Pearl and Plateau
Of Mirrors will like a lot of this.
Hans
Stoeve - POWERSPOT ( about Cobalt 144 )
"Ashera's
Cobalt 144 will reward you as one of the most essential ambient
recordings your collection will ever contain"
BEAR
...for
complete original review click here
"Ashera"
is an Australian artist whose ambient productions are very
much in the "classic" spirit of Brian Eno.....
....Like
a lot of the more successful "soft ambient" sounds, these
pieces give the feeling of gazing into a reflecting pool of
water, which is occasionally stirred by wind, or by fish just
below the surface. Ashera's music certainly does its job of
calming the listener down; in fact, it can get downright sleep-inducing.
It's best to listen to this album late at night, or at least
at some time when you don't mind slipping off into dreamland.
Rating: 8 out of 10 . Hannah M.G. Shapero _ ECLECTIC EARWIG
REVIEWS
"Ashera
- "Cobalt 144" (self-released 1999, CD) Ashera's music is
typically quiet, slowly moving space ambient music. There
seems to be so little going most of the time but I felt
like I was traveling down a dark but heavenly corridor.
The ethereal female vocals on tracks like "Cobalt Friends",
"Vertical Tunnels", "Moonlight Tides", and "Swimming Cobalt
Waters" embellish the music nicely and were among the highlights
for me. On "Vertical Tunnels" in particular, the voice is
more prominent, it's ethereal presence just as much a part
of the landscape as the music. Ashera excels at creating
beauty and tension out of subtlety, not unlike much of Eno's
work. Less is more indeed. In fact, most of the tracks are
in the 4-5 minute range. But as the music just continually
"happens" I'm not sure the extended tracks matter in terms
of Ashera being able to "stretch out" more. "144" is the
one track that breaks the 10 minute mark, but rather than
developing more than the other tracks it takes on a somewhat
different character being a fuller symphonic piece and maybe
even a little New Agey at times. Yet it's a really nice
track that conveys a spiritually uplifting feel. "Ultima
Thule" delves just a bit into the avant-garde with what
sounds like raking over piano strings and such. The sounds
fit well with the ambience and help to give variety to the
album. Finally, "Lord Shield Pakal" is one of my favorite
tracks with its tense rushing waves of ambient sound along
with slight bits of percussion, bird chirps, and other minimalist
bits thrown in. Overall, nothing special or different here.
Just really well done ambient soundscape music. Reviewed
by Jerry Kranitz Aural Innovations."
Cobalt
144 by Ashera (Anthony Asher Wright) Private production,
1999 http://www.ashera.com "Ashera" is an Australian artist
whose ambient productions are very much in the "classic"
spirit of Brian Eno. You will hear the by-now-familiar sounds
of Ambient in Cobalt 144: rhythm-less floating synthesizer
or electric guitar tones, sighing and whispering wordless
female voices, tinkling or rattling percussion accents,
heavily filtered electric piano notes, bells, and environmental
sounds. All the tracks are soft in volume, designed to be
a kind of "audible incense" to perfume the environment.
Even though the style of these pieces doesn't offer a lot
of variety or change, and they are (as it were) designed
to be ignored, it is worth listening more closely to one
or two of the tracks, because Ashera has added some smooth
and pleasant tone-colors to his delicate mix. His chord
choices are an ultra-diluted tincture of modernist jazz.
Track 6, "144," which is longer than the others at about
13 minutes, is especially pretty. It drifts along on sonic
shimmer with a few moments of heavier percussion and gongs,
and at some points actually gets loud. Another longer track,
number 8, "Ultima Thule," has a slightly "darker" feel but
is also good listening. (Note: I think these are the titles;
this album has the most unreadable type I've ever encountered
on a CD cover.) Like a lot of the more successful "soft
ambient" sounds, these pieces give the feeling of gazing
into a reflecting pool of water, which is occasionally stirred
by wind, or by fish just below the surface. Ashera's music
certainly does its job of calming the listener down; in
fact, it can get downright sleep-inducing. It's best to
listen to this album late at night, or at least at some
time when you don't mind slipping off into dreamland. Rating:
8 out of 10 Hannah M.G. Shapero 1/7/01
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