Hello?
SD | 01/13/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album deserves so much more attention than it received. Gentle and elegant rhythms, warm yet complex - all that good IDM deserves to be!"
Intriguing Forest [4.5 STARS]
mrgypsum | Boston, Ma USA | 07/30/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you are a new comer, like me, to the secret frequency crew (hereafter referred to as sfc for brevity) you might be asking yourself - who are they? And what do they sound like? And, what's up with that name?
Well, after purchasing this album - I can answer two of those questions - they are three artists who make really, really good hip hop music - as to why they decided to name themselves sfc - I think it's not that great of a name, but it's not the name of the group that determines how good the output is - It's the output!
Like I said this is a hip hop -ish album of sorts, but some things you should know before buying: There is only one track on here with vocals -Baron of the Bog- the rest is just music, one might think of this as a very trippy or drug endorsing album - with the forest reference and I also get an "Alice in Wonderland" type of vibe, but all of this refers to the dark organic sound that makes up the music on "Forest of the Echo Downs", if looking into this album because it's on Schematic, you might want to listen to it before buying, this album is unlike anything on Schematic.
The best thing about this album is that it's fun to listen to. A lot of stuff, on some electronic independents, are filled with dare I say it, pretentious music trying too hard to be artsy or deep. This album says "we don't care about that", and instead make an album of luscious music.
Neon Bridge - has this shimmering synth line that you will be bobbing your head to after about a minute and a half, its really a great opener track.
Black Moss Caves - starts with these shaved beats and really loud tones, and then comes in this beautiful melody - this continues on until the last minute or so and you get this great horn sound, this is really a beautiful track.
Baron Of The Bog - Like I said earlier this is the `hit' - it sound like it could be straight out of the 60's or 70's! I really love the horns in this one and to think, the artists made this all with electronic gear! Although this track starts off kind of harsh - it turns into a really mellow track, and those distorted vocals really add to the murky atmosphere, the best track on this record.
Photovoric Inchworms - has to be heard, I can't describe it, very claustrophobic, very lush, a nice chilled out ending - superb track.
The tracks I didn't mention are also pretty good. This album is highly recommended by me, I haven't been able to get it out of my cd player for about 3 weeks now!
"