"Cloudseeder" CD Reviews

Review Wave World - Cloudseeder

An ambient Symphony

 

Following the trilogy Species/Structures/Dimensions, the EP Sphere, and the "Gonxa" album, Wave World has recently released the brand new double CD Cloudseeder on its own Virtual Factory Records label.

Already during the first minutes of the first CD, it becomes obvious that Wave World is not resting on its laurels. Cloudseeder is not a ruminated version of earlier Wave World works, but a new step into the vast territory of Electronic Music that this multi media project has been exploring since 1997.
The new album differs in a couple of obvious - and not so obvious - ways from Wave World's earlier work, although "experts" will surely recognize the style!
Wave World member Gert van Santen notes that, for Cloudseeder, Wave World has temporarily abandoned all its analogue and digital synths, hardware effects, as well as the large mixing console. In fact, they only used a regular studio during the final phase: the mastering process. Just a couple of laptop computers (Mac and PC) and a small Korg Electribe sampler were travelling with them on plains, trains, and automobiles to inspiring places in the United States, Canada and Germany, where they composed the material for their new album. Far away from home they descended into the virtual realm of software synthesizers, samplers and sound processing.
Harry Kessels, "It was our goal to make an ambient album that would go much deeper than just being a collection of nice tunes and immediately recognizable sounds". Nevertheless - although this might not be obvious - Cloudseeder is filled to the brim with melody. "But it’s not the usual kind of melody," says 3D graphics wizard Rolf van Slooten cryptically, "and it's partly hidden."

So what does that mean?
After the "normal" process of playing chords, rhythmic parts and melodies, Wave World began mangling, tweaking, shrinking, crushing, bending, pitch-shifting and time-stretching their recordings, using modern digital techniques. In a way, one could even say that they completely destroyed everything they had been working on so painstakingly to create! And finally, when everything was all but completely unrecognizable, they started rebuilding and rearranging their material - a lengthy, but most interesting and rewarding process!
Slowly Cloudseeder was born - an ambient symphony.

Cloudseeder consists of two CD's. The first is called Cloudseeder, and the second Nebulae. Although the first CD has 4 tracks, and the second 2, both actually consist of one long track. Cloudseeder's sound and atmosphere cannot be easily described. In a sense the album evolves quite naturally from some of the more ambient parts of their earlier music. It feels like an enormous wave of anti-gravity is bringing the listener into deep space, to strange new worlds with breathtaking panorama's, weird flora and beautiful fauna - Wave World! Just to check, I watched their video while listening to Cloudseeder over my headphones; a superb trip - they should release this combination of graphics and music on DVD!
One of the most interesting aspects of Cloudseeder - probably a result of the way Wave World has been working - is the fact that, no matter how many times you play this album - you keep discovering new sounds, new rhythms, and new melodies.

Since they released Species, Wave World has been gathering quite a following - and not only in Europe. As a statement of this, Cloudseeder contains parts of a live concert that Wave World played on Chuck van Zyl's radio show Star's End (Philadelphia, USA), as well as an interview for Echoes. This American radio show is produced by John Diliberto, and is broadcast on over 150 (!) stations in the USA.
It is to Wave World's credit that they are taking the effort to develop their music, rather than simply making the same album over and over again. They could have easily done another Structures - but they didn't! With Cloudseeder, they have proven that they're not scared to explore new territories of modern music. And what's more; they have released one of their most intriguing albums to date; a must for everyone who is interested in modern music in general, and a landmarq within the electronic scene.

 

written by Dif

 

Review "Cloudseeder"

WAVE WORLD: CLOUDSEEDER
The brand new Wave World CD expands further their environmental, rhythmic electronic influences into a whole new realm of sound. Sequences and melodies combine with samples and strange celestial synthetics to form a swirling, cosmic wave of sonic particles, filled with rich tone colors and high propulsion waves of energy. CLOUDSEEDER is a masterpiece of modern EM to be sure.