Various - Lighted Apartment

djabstract, Sep 14, 2006

Compilations can be a tricky business. More often then not these releases will have a portion of good tracks and a remainder that is, at best, boring or, at worst, simply unlistenable.

These CDs also sometimes end up with no flow or sense of direction due to the mishmash of styles the compiler has chosen. In other cases, all the tracks simply melt into one another, which can be quite boring.

Luckily, Lighted Apartment avoids all these pitfalls.

Described by the label as a collection of artists who specialize in "severely atmospheric ambients", this compilation contains ten diverse, but not unrelated, tracks. The choice of song order is excellent, as it maintains a constant yet intriguing flow.

All of the tunes are heavily electronic, with an abundance of pad work and sweeping drones. Several tracks, however, include more organic aspects, found sounds, and experimental percussion.

A prime example is Sabis "Plastic Stains". Build upon a base of swirling synths, it is driven by a glitch rhythm that grows in complexity as the track progresses. More layers of melody are slowly added until the song comes to a beautiful, glittering end.

"Fascination Pour Les Oeuvres Mineures", the albums closing track by Jules, likewise incorporates glitchy elements, though in this case the rhythmic structure is a great deal more loose. Given this and the songs dark feel, its no wonder it is my favorite track here.

There are also several straightforward ambient pieces, like Helioces "Orange", a beautiful track drenched in reverb and aching, distant synth lines. Helioces other contribution, "Liendale", is a bit more harsh, its sirening keyboards slicing through a thick haze of drone.

Perhaps the only misstep here is Xhales "Distress Amount", a tune composed of jittery sounds (clanking bottles, bouncing springs, clattering pipes). It contains too many distractions and quick changeovers for my tastes, effective breaking (however briefly) the overall feel of the album.

Several of the other tracks contain rhythms that are almost danceable, but these beats are placed so well within the mix that they are as easy to relax to as they would be to move to.

As an added bonus, the compilation is distributed through the Miasmah net label, so its free! Its worth the download time, so go do just that at archive.org. There is full color artwork included as well as a complete track listing.

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