Yagya - Rigning

It is raining. I drag myself out of bed onto the wet pavement for a daily crawl to work. The raindrops typewrite poems on my umbrella. Time to put on Yagya. After a certain point, I can't tell if the sound of the rain is coming from outside, or strictly from my headphones. And does it matter anyway? The subdued dubbed out bass patterns and swelling pad sweeps shove me towards the lazy train against my will. And I trot on, splashing in the water with the beat. On the train, the sleepy commuters fog up the windows with their indifferent morning breath. I wipe away their misery from the glass and stare at the rotation of the city life outside. The bus picks up its passengers. The lights change from yellow to red. People follow predetermined rules. People don't look at each other. Yagya carries the humanity forward. One beat at a time. Yagya carries me to work.Rigning is the long awaited third full length album from Icelandic producer, Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson. This is the second Yagya release on the Dutch label, Sending Orbs, which has released Guðmundsson's Will I Dream During the Process? in 2006. Sending Orbs is also a label which brought us such amazing artists like Kettel, Secede, Blamstrain and Legiac. So I always keep my eyes on their releases.Rigning, which, of course is "rain" in Icelandic, is one of the most beautiful ambient dub-techno compositions to date. But lets not put the emphasis on "techno", since the background pulsing beat exists purely as the rhythmic glue around the wet structure. From beginning to end, the album is a complete conceptual piece wrapped around variations on the main theme, from simplistic track titles (counting up from one to ten) to careful selection of atmospheric elements, to delayed dub minor chords in maintained perfect harmony. It is an album you must hear in its entirety. Over and over.This is an amazing start for great music in 2009, and I'm looking forward to the year if it will bring more sounds like this. After a three year wait, Yagya does not disappoint! Be sure to add this record to your collection along with Yagya's very first release, Rhythm of Snow (Force Inc., 2002), if you can find it. Highly recommended if you like Gas, Biosphere, Intrusion, Echospace and Basic Channel sound.

Just as good as his other albums. The only non-Yagya dub techno album since Cuantico (which, by the way, was a good album) that doesn't suck, or isn't simply a regurgitation of old sounds and non-existant melodies.

Check the vaguely Boards Of Canada styled "lead" line in Fjorir, and the gorgeous key change. Six and Sjo do lack even vague hooks though, beyond the usual pads, cute though they are. Most of the tunes do follow a similar tempo but Niu is a little faster than the rest, and this is a VERY welcome change of pace, along with its unpredictable bassline and shuffled hats. Atta has some pretty quirky stabs alongside some more BOCish lines.

It's nice to hear some beatless tracks, varying tempos, and - shock horror - some new sounds, in dub techno. I know that elitists won't want to hear this, but if artists in this genre stick to the same palette of sounds, it will stagnate. I'd go as far as to say that it has, badly, but thankfully Yagya has given the genre a much-needed kick up the backside.

Recommended highly to any fan of electronic music.

The third full-length from Icelands' Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson under the Yagya alias sees a partial return to the deeper and dreamier sounds of Rhythm Of Snow. This will be a welcome change of direction for those who criticised his 'Will I Dream...' CD for being a unbalanced collection of tracks; 'Rigning' (translation: Rain) provides a beautiful and soothing soundtrack to a walk in the rain. There is enough diversity in the music to captivate you, yet sufficient depth to allow you to drift within youself. The first time I listened to Rigning I closed my eyes and found myself walking through puddles, warm, dry and carefree, along the old harbour in Reykjavik.

Unsurprisingly all tracks are based around the sound of rain, either fading in/out with a gentle pitter-patter or continuing to rain softly for the length of the track. The vinyl release sadly omits Rigning Einn and Fjórir; a real shame as Rigning Einn is a gem of a track and left me with no choice but to buy the CD as well. To summarise, this release is outstanding in every sense of the word; more mature than 'Rhythm Of Snow' and more accomplished than 'Will I Dream During The Process?', Yagya continues to astound me, keeping his head firmly above water in a sea of increasingly soulless ambient/dub releases. Highly recommended!

Yagya is definitley in a class of his own when it comes to dub techno. The Rhythm of Snow and Will I Dream... were both albums full of elements of house, ambient and of course, techno. Ringing (I've been told its english translation is just Rain) continues these trends but sees Yagya try a couple of new tricks. Rigning Fjórir (4) is a beatless track while Rigning Átta (8) has a intro that almost sounds like a piano, but I can't quite tell whats creating the sound. Its tracks like these that make this effort different then his past 2 albums. Yagya fans will certainly have another great album to add to their collection.