Portal Of Perceptions – Celestial Dragon

A very horizontal, laid-back global chillage journey boasting an awesome line-up of the more intricate chillout artists around, this followup to Androcell’s Emotovision is bloody impressive. Ishq’s Aphrodite is a warm, unfolding like mist clearing in the mornings. Makyo’s Jasmine is gorgeous, in keeping with Gio’s contemplative grooves. The emphasis here, over about eleven minutes, is utter cinematic psychedelic bliss, with new agey sounds that morph and guide the tune through progressing shifts and changes. Very nice. Adham Shaikh is cropping up everywhere at the moment, Ohm (Transfix Mix) being a warm fusion of tribal drumming, eastern instruments, warped and glitch-tinged beats and smooth dub. Aes Dana’s Haze, one of the nicest tracks on last year’s Memory Shell CD, gets a very competent rework from Celestial, preserving the tearjerking chord changes and adding some more playfulness across the topend, with digital percussion and cut-up vocals adding to the vibe. Androcell’s Carribeyond is awesome, having a kinda Leftfield-esque dubby groove to it and electro stabs and pads littered around the corners. Cell’s Twisted Sun is a very smooth, soundtrack-to-a-dawn kinda tune, with warm pads risning and falling across a pleasant chord sequence. Androcell makes another appearance, this time with an Acoustic Mix of Fungus Garden, which lends itself incredibly well to an acoustic guitar. Personally, I love acoustics in chillout, and when the rest of the track is as superior as this, the layering is perfect to keep the organic and digital soundms playing off each other nicely. HUVA Network’s Rain Geometries gets a remix from Solar Fields, and it’s a building, escalating tune that wouldn’t be out of place on a soundtrack to a sci-fi movie. Menacing. Finally Ishq closes in his unmistakeable way, big feedback-dipped sounds rising and beatlessly falling, bringing Portal Of Perceptions back where it started. There’s something very different about this album, it manages to get a journey from start to finish and it manages it well. All the bases are covered, and the flow from each tune into the other is impressive, making this a worthy investigation for late night laid back herbalism.