Gravity Album - Review

Бельгийский музыкальный портал ConcreteWeb опубликовал большую рецензию на альбом EugeneKha 'Gravity'
LINK / ЧИТАТЬ

Sometimes it is almost an orgiastic pleasure to introduce an underestimated act, one that truly deserves deep-going fame. Okay, EugeneKha surely is a well-known name within its specific genre, and within the Russian Electronic / Ambient scene especially, but I wonder about his notoriety right here. I do follow this project for a couple of years, but this act has tens of releases, with several I have not got through yet. But what I listened to in the meantime was really satisfying, without any exception (live material included).

EugeneKha actually is the most active solo-outfit of multi-disciplined artist (dancer, poet, musician, visual artist, writer, journalist, editor, DJ and event organizer) Evgenij K. Kharitonov. This project creates ‘Intelligent Ambient Sounds’ with more than 150 releases under this specific moniker. Besides, Evgenij is involved in some other projects, such as Microbit Project, Spacebirds, Yoko Absorbing, Nameless Dancers and so on, but by far I prefer his EugeneKha outfit (my personal, and therefor subjective, opinion)! Evgenij, by the way, is the guy as well behind labels like 45 Echoes Sound (a largely underestimated Ambient label that houses artists like Jack Hertz, Christopher Alvarado, West Remi, Scott Lawlor and so on - indeed, some of the most prominent names have released material via this Russian label), Microbit-Records, 45RPM-Records, Laser Viza and Another Hemisphere. As (Rock) musician, Evgenij was active as from the Eighties, but his interest in Ambient and Electronic Music started at the very end of last century.

Грабитация, to be pronounced as ‘gravitatsiya’ or something, gets translated as ‘gravity’ on this album. Actually, it must be ‘gravitation’, but that’s just a minor detail. So I’ll continue with ‘gravity’…

Gravity is the xxxth EugeneKha album, a conceptual recording, and being, like stated on the Bandcamp-page of (superb and mighty) Frozen Light: ‘a fusion of meditative space ambient, progressive post-krautrock and dreamy synth-electronics’. Sounds somewhat trusted, does it not? It’s a double-CD with fourteen quite differing hardware-recorded studio tracks (especially Korg and Roland equipment were used) and two live pieces as bonus. Evgenij did record everything himself at the White Art Studio in Moscow. The result, both live pieces included, lasts for almost two hours (!)… 300 double-digipack copies have been pressed, being available hand-numbered, and with the whole visual aspect taken care of by Frozen Light trustee Olga Matveeva.

To keep it easy, I’ll name the album Gravity. Or is it because of laziness?... I will do the same for the tracks, if mentioned: using their English translation…

Gravity is a mixture of different related genres, but in this case, the organic symbioses has resulted in an own, new unnamed genre, courtesy of the artist. There are elements from Electronic Music, different types of Ambient (Ambient, Dark Ambient, Psybient), and hints from IDM (Intelligent Dance Music; mind the effects in e.g. Rhapsody), Psych-Electro (I just invented it, but why not?), Space Rock (without the guitars or the drums), Dark Electro (without the EBM-beats), Cinematic Drone and Ethnic. Besides, EugeneKha make use of some samples and sounds, tribal percussions (cf. Fading) and even female vocals (spoken words by Anna Guseva on the mesmerizing and semi-droning track Trust).

As said, there is quite some adventure to experience, but the global thing is one-directional. The main basics are based on soft, melodious and mindful Ambient-Electronic structures, without the harsh beats, yet full of psychedelic, cosmic and progressive sounds. Despite the ‘soft’ approach, it’s energetic for sure, yet not of the danceable kind (though, with your eyes closed, there is no reason not to turn slowly with your head – or any other part of the corpse). Let’s take the (short) opener Winds Of Mars (Part 1), for example. A hypnotic dark repetitive background line, varied yet well-balanced dreamy synth lines, some spacy interludes and the addition of different samples / sounds come together (maybe bizarre, but it does remind me of the interludes on Project Pitchfork’s Entities album). Saga then again, which is the next track, is comparable, yet rather seen from a New Age approach, and permanently injected with subtle spacy sounds. A first glimpse of the ethnic-oriental influential aspect appears in this track, by the way. There are both ‘lighter’ parts (the majority withholds that levitating character), often quite chill-out oriented, and some which are obviously darker (cf. Winds Of Mars (Part 2) or the title track, which comes, by the way, with a huge dose of Dungeon Synth alike majesty), and that equilibrium is excellent for it focuses on the whole experience of this lengthy album, rather than the individual efforts on it – you won’t lose interest or your attentiveness. With tracks like the esoteric, floating Noiseless Steps or the lengthy Tangerine Dreams-alike Crossroads, EugeneKha show a more intimate side, transcendental and meditative at first, and at the same time constantly building up to harsher proportions.

Both live pieces differ from the original studio recordings from this album, but hey, that’s okay of course. Geometry Of Light was recorded in St. Petersburg in early 2017, and it’s part of the Silent Tea Room session, which previously released via Evgenij’s 45 Echoes Sounds, if I’m not mistaken). This interpretation is a full, rich Drone / Ambient experience with many levels and layers, and a pity that it lasts for such a short time (5:44). The other live piece is a Moscow-recorded edition of Crossroads, offering much more ‘intensity’ and ‘bravery’ as from the beginning. Excellent en worthy bonus material it is indeed, terminating another fine and surprising Frozen Light release.

Ivan Tibos.

DW8KBPS Review

ATMOSPHERE

EugeneKha - Atmosphere
Label: 45 Echoes Sounds
Catalog: 45E027-2014
Country Of Artist: Russia
Style: Light Ambient
Total time: 33:24
Format: Lossless (FLAC); MP3 320 kbps, VBR MP3
Release date: March 2014
Album Recorded on White Art Studio, Moscow, 2013.
PDF Booklet



RELEASE ON 45 ECHOES SOUNDS
RELEASE ON BANDCAMP
ARCHIVE.ORG

Track-list:

[02:38] 1. EugeneKha - Dew On Her Eyelashes (Part 1)
[02:43] 2. EugeneKha - Sun Voice
[02:33] 3. EugeneKha - Dew On Her Eyelashes (Part 2)
[05:32] 4. EugeneKha - Atmosphere
[10:39] 5. EugeneKha - Deep Blue
[06:36] 6. EugeneKha - Dust Song
[02:41] 7. EugeneKha - Dew On Her Eyelashes (Part 3)


REVIEW FROM KAI NOBUKO

To be free’ is a cherished concept in the music world, but it’s rare to come across music that is as free as a flying feather while still flying in an comfortable and easy comprehensible direction. The latest release of EugeneKha features a track that captures this concept in quite an breath taking way. It’s called ‘Dew On Her Eyelashes’ which is a beautiful title for an equally beautiful sounding piece of music. It’s as if EugeneKha has put his life-long music and love research  and made the gained knowledge so to its own, that he could play the keys without obstructions of musical rules and borders, playing this soft melodic music as if it’s fingers translate the feeling of affection, of beauty and love. It’s pure and precious but comes across just as if it’s so easily done, as if there was no pressure, no obstacles just a pure melodic form of love. There must be someone very special in EugenKha’s life to trigger such a beautiful and free composition.
With ‘Sun Dance’ EugeneKha’s music will for sure warm the listeners by embracing the sweetest and angelic prettiness that feels all dreamy, cute and full of sunshine sparkles. It is definitely music you would share with a close loved one, someone dear to you, someone who’s ears deserves to be filled up with the most beautiful-lest and honest music in the world.
EugeneKha’s ‘atmosphere’ brings more the sounds of a calm and cooled down night. A pleasant relaxing piece that would be good when the love vibes are coming to an overheating point and need a refreshing beverage in the shape of pleasant night music.
With ‘Deep Blue’ EugeneKha takes us to a dreamland where everything is pretty and blue. We swim with the dolphins while the rays of sunshine sparkle through the surface of the water. It’s a magical place full of warm synthetic pads and glitters, oceanic romance that does it’s utter best to make us all feel good while swimming in a delicious blissful state of mind.
EugeneKha seems to have captured pure joyful beauty within these lovable tracks of inner and outer peace. The ‘Dust’ track is no exception and provides deep and warm layers that dance sensually among each other. A sight that sounds sensual, and bursting with romantic opportunity’s for couples that needs music to entangle their body’s too. It’s all beautiful, angelic and absolutely pretty! An free downloadable album that is a must have for anyone that needs calm ambient to relax or stimulating music for those sublime romantic moments.
If you want pretty and wonderful, than you will find it at the following link:
 https://archive.org/details/45e-027-2014Eugenekha-Atmosphere

Close Space / December 9 (Single)

Release Note: It is promo-single from album Close Space which will be published in 2014.
Publisher: Echoes Sounds / White Art Studio
Catalog: WAS-ES007-2013
Type: Promo Single
Format: FLAC only
Time: 16:30
Genre: Electronic
Style: Instrumental, Ambient, Downtempo, Space Music
Music, Voices, Instruments and Records by Evgenij V. Kharitonov, 2013
Recorded at White Art Studio, 2013

PLAY, SHARE & BUY ON BANDCAMP

Soundcloud
PromoDJ
Last.fm (mp3 128kbps free demo)



Tracks:
1. Close Space (Single Edit) (9:39)
2. December, 9th (Single Edit) (6:51)


REVIEW FROM KAI NOBUKO:

Enter the ‘Close space’, the final ambient frontier annex the latest ‘single’ created by the intelligent music producer EugeneKha. With the speed of a little rocket we are suddenly surrounded in a audio world where beautiful synthesizer sounds hang out with relaxing bell like ambience. Together they provide a warm soft audio bed that is guaranteeing that the future will be bright and relaxed.
The newest single by creative genius EugeneKha is what you can call a perfect beauty passing by.
Let this outstanding prettiness that is so well futuristic as retro beam us all up in a galaxy where everything is like an alien heaven. A place to feel good and where no men has made trouble before!
Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful synthetic music!
WIth ‘December 9th.’ EugeneKha delivers a ray of spacious happiness with an epic sounding synthesizer theme and a lovely down tempo vive. Absolutely uplifting and produced in a state of the art high quality that you can only love and adore. So much prettiness in composition has the opportunity to trigger tears in the eyes, but if they come; they are tears of happiness and joy! EugeneKha has created the perfect feel good music!
Get this promo single over at the following link, and feel uplifted and happy with the amazing lovable melodies and feel good space music:
http://eugenekha.bandcamp.com/album/close-space-december-9-single
November 26 2013

10 NETLABEL AMBIENT ALBUMS YOU SHOULD OWN, PART 2 // MAKE YOUR OWN TEST. – 2013. – January 19.

From this Review:

EugeneKha – Low Sky (Earth Mantra, 2011)
EugeneKha is Russian musician who has been quite prolific. Low Sky is an incredibly eclectic collection of pieces that literally touch upon almost every ambient subgenre you could think of, and every one is done well, from the dark ambient of “November Night” to the ethno-ambient of “Chinese Souvenir” to the almost Berlin-school stylings of “After the Storm.” EugeneKha is definitely a top-level talent and this is a good introduction to his work.

Review (Six Echoes Of A Rain)

EugeneKha is Evgenij V. Kharitonov, a poet, musician, writer, sound and visual artist from Moscow. His music can be found on a number of netlabels. He describes this release as a mini-album, and indeed it clocks in at exactly twenty minutes.
“First Echo of a Rain” opens with thunder and heavy rainfall. A pulsing synth begins, moving in and out of phase, and is overlaid with the sound of birdsong. A slightly glitchy pad moves in, and naive piano notes lie lightly above the pad. Odd, seemingly random discordant sounds appear from time to time, particularly towards the end of the track, and these peal off to the left and right. We finish with rain and thunder, and distant voices.
The second track, “Anna August” has almost mellotron-like chords with high-pitched, Berlin style sequences burbling to and fro. On the shortest track here, “Legrand’s Umbrella”, the rain returns, underpinned by long pads and a Vangelis-style synth lead. It’s quite moving, though I’d like to hear a longer version of the piece without the rainfall.
There’s an oriental flavour to “Morning of the Moon”. A simple melody calls out in plucked tones, first high, then duelling between high and low, above a long drawn-out chord. A single burst of what sounds like a shakuhachi finishes this brief taste of the orient.
“September Rain” starts by completely immersing us in a downpour, though this fades quickly to a pattern of liquid rhythm with long, new age chords. We end the track once again drenched.
The closer, “Sixth Echo of a Rain”, begins with African-style percussion, and those familiar naive piano notes reappear, albeit with a different melody. Suddenly the listener is lost in a dervish of rotating sounds. Noise whirls around quickly and then opens out to bird calls. The rain has ended at last.

Baxter Tocher // EarTickles. 2012. May,31

MICROBIT PROJECT: TIBOL - Lobit Radio Show (Episode 12) - Microbit-R...

MICROBIT PROJECT: TIBOL - Lobit Radio Show (Episode 12) - Microbit-R...: TIBOL RADIO SHOW EPISIDE 12: MICROBIT RECORDS SPECIAL hosted by DJ Chicken length: 1 hour ++ of a special experimental electric psychedel...

Green Quest - Wasamix review

Отзыв на альбом GREEN QUEST на сайте WASAMIX.com (цитата кликабельна)
Thanks.
Yes, thanks again to EUGENEKHA for his courtesy soundtrack in 2010 and for his nice ambient new release. There is no track out. This release is something to enjoy a winter sunday morning in the Swiss Alps when exterior temperature is under -10° C. The sun goes up. The mountains are white, then rose, then orange, then white again. This could describe this release as you can easily imagine what you want listening to it, eyes open or not. Many spacy sounds, smooth synth and ambient atmosphere, hard to define the sensations you may feel during the listening. Another must have ambient release in 2012. Early. Ambiently. Newly. Age.
by WASAMIX (2011-01-15)

First Morning Of Planet - Futuristika Review

Отзыв на альбом FIRST MORNING OF PLANET в турецком сетевом журнале FUTURISTIKA (целый раздел, посвященный полету Юрия Гагарина!):

Albüm, Yuri Gagarin’in uzaya seyahatinin 50. yılı anısına hazırlanmış. Beste, düzenleme ve performansc(EugeneKha) tarafından gerçekleştirilmiş. Kapak çalışması Tatiana Bounch-Osmolovskaya’ya ait.
Evgenij V. Kharitonov da enteresan bir kişilik. Şair ve müzisyen. Felsefe eğitimi almış ve hem edebiyatla ilgilenmiş hem de gazetecilik yapmış. Drugoe Polusharie isimli avangard edebiyat/sanat dergisinin yayıncısı. Ayrıca “ARTronic Poetry” isimli işitsel şiir dergisi var. Lapa Azora diye bilinen deneysel sanat festivalinin de küratörü.
Bu ilginç kişilik, 80′li yılları diskolarda dansçılık ve DJ’lik yaparak geçirmiş. Sonradan işitsel şiire yönelmiş.
Yayıncısı olduğu Drugoe Polusharie isimli avangard ses-sanat dergisinde çeşitli çalışmaları ve başka işitsel şiir örnekleri mevcut
2011

цитата кликабельна

Pop-Up micro Review

Крохотная рецензюшка на итальянском:


Ve lo dico in modo papale papale, questo non è "materiale" ma arte! Ogni tanto si può anche uscire fuori dagli schemi che ci costruiamo. Ok, ci sono generi adatti e generi meno adatti, ma questa musica va ascoltata perché c'è dietro un grande lavoro. Questo album ad esempio, ci propone musica in Mp3 a 320kb per rendere ogni suono migliore, un album contente 29 brani che spazia dal Trip Hop al Downtempo, ma anche Jazz e Lo-fi dub.Evolviamoci tutti, dai è necessario!

Low Sky - New Review

The clouds hang low, engulfing the tops of buildings. They are so dense you wonder whether the rest of the building even exists anymore. You could go inside, take the vertical submarine up the heavens and be transported to the heavens. Offices mingle amongst clouds and water droplets. At any moment the pressure would drop and all the cubicles and corner offices would rain down upon the earth in a bureaucratic nightmare.
Low Sky is like the elevator music for a video game inside the submarine. Bits of aural information whiz by you while drones cascade around the chamber ascending upwards. EugeneKha adds layers from many cultures and beats to create phenomenal tapestries for the spirit. The electronic washes and quaint melodies flood the ear canals, leaving behind a haze that rises into the brain and in front of the eyes, making it easy to stumble into furniture.
There is a lack of consistency to this album. It goes from drenching drones (some very somber and tear-jerking) to melodic electronic songs you could almost dance to. There is not a clear segue in between. Given its length, this release could easily have been split in two and the distant feeling stemming from the conflicting moods could be avoided.

Sethmol Recordings.
2011-03-21

Low Sky - Far From Moscow Review

These parallels between resonant sound and ecological promise are even more pronounced in a recent work from Eugene Kha. His newest EP - "Low Sky" - comes via the appropriately-named Earth Mantra label. Although we've touched upon the raison d'etre of Mr. Kha's work on multiple occasions, it's nonetheless useful to see how his efforts of 2011 are framed by Earth Mantra. The netlabel's staff sketch his catalog in terms of "dark ambience, light ambience, space music, electronic new age, textural ambience, and experimentalism[!]."
...dark ambience, light ambience, space music...

David McFyden. Sounds of Natural Slumber // Far From Moscow. – 2011. – 15 March