Fluidities

Jonathan Hughes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 2004)
• Original Release Date: July 1, 2004
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: The Foundry
• ASIN: B000EXDXO8
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,474 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Jonathan Hughes - Snowdrift

2. Saul Stokes - Summer

3. Jonathan Hughes - Photogenic

4. Jussi & Jaana Väisänen - Memory II

5. Jonathan Hughes & David Mussen - Crescent

6. Susanne Brokesch - Hostile Phone

7. Jonathan Hughes & Naryan Padmanabha - Feel the Photons

8. Ambient Temple of Imagination - Dr. John Lilly's Precise Instructions (instrumental)

9. Jonathan Hughes & Hussalonia - Dictaphone Salesman, 1956

10. Dean Santomieri - Seahorse Pajama Haiku

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Tetsu Inoue - Soft Dome

2. Jonathan Hughes - Vellum

3. M. Bentley - April

4. Jonathan Hughes & David Mussen - Two Thirteen

5. dreamSTATE - Molten

6. Jonathan Hughes - Reda

7. High Skies - The Shipping Forecast

8. Jonathan Hughes & M. Bentley - Atlantic

9. Ian Boddy - Suburbia

10. Jonathan Hughes - Luminaria

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Review

Individually, several of the tracks stand out - Hughes' opening "Snowdrift" is an excellent piece... played together, certain combinations are stunningly crystalline --John Gibson, Grooves Magazine, January 1, 2005

Product Description

Fluidities is not your usual double CD, but rather an open ended project designed to generate many unique musical collaborations. The tracks on these two discs were designed so that any track on one CD could be combined with any track from the other CD to create a hybrid piece. In fact any two tracks on Fluidities can be played together to create new composite tracks that are, in effect, virtual collaborations between artists who may have never recorded together. For listeners with access to only one CD player Fluidities is still a complete listening experience; each piece functions well as a self contained composition and the two discs contain more than two hours of music. For those with two CD players 726 minutes (over twelve hours) of unique music can be created from the 121 possible combinations of tracks, and while each listener will undoubtedly find some combinations more pleasing than others, the possibilities are enormous! Fluidities features eleven tracks by Jonathan Hughes (including collaborations with M. Bentley, Hussalonia, Naryan Padmanabha, and David Mussen) as well as eleven tracks by some of the most prominent names in the electronic music scene, including Tetsu Inoue, Ian Boddy, High Skies (Mat Jarvis), Saul Stokes, Susanne Brokesch, ATOI/Seofon, dreamSTATE, Interstitial, Jussi & Jaana Väisänen, Dean Santomieri, and Michael Bentley/eM.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Experimental electronica that works... and works... then works some more., May 31, 2006

By 

skytwo "skytwo" (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fluidities (Audio CD)

So you've got a new ambient album. Even if it's by an artist you really like, it's probably going to be a mixed bag. That's the nature of the genre, and your personal view of what a subtle-yet-evocative soundscape should be probably isn't going to be a perfect match with the mental cinematography of ANY single artist. On the face of it, Fluidities lives down to that expectation. The two CDs consist of 22 tracks of mostly minimalist ambient that range from dull to inspired.

But that's where the bad news ends. Because Fluidities is much, much more than the sum of its parts. And that was the idea behind composer Jonathan Hughes' brainchild. You might call it futuristic Ornette Coleman by design-- every artist worked independently, but each track of Fluidities has the same running time and works within the framework of the whole. That is, playing any track on disc one in sync with any track from disc two creates a new whole. Each of eleven tracks is compatible with each of eleven others.

But you've probably already realized that even basic familiarity with a computer obviates the need for complex speaker logistics. The use of a couple of media players increases the number of possible permutations dramatically, with each track being a possible combination with 21 others. Not to mention the complimentary extra tracks that Hughes has made available on the Net. That means each song can be combined with almost thirty others.

That's the brilliance of Fluidities. For the price of a double CD (and, say, five minutes online), you will have gained access to hundreds upon hundreds of ambient compositions. I've been taking it all in for about two years now, and I still enjoy it on two levels-- matching up two tracks at random, and seeing how a personal favorite track melds with... well, any of the other 26 or so available.

Fluidities is a unique experience many times over, and while individual compositions might be lacking in depth, this "organic compilation" represents an inspired evolutionary moment in electronic music, surprising only in that someone didn't think of it sooner. Recommended for any ambient fan who isn't limited to a single CD player.