POD

As Lonely as Dave Bowman

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2007)
• Original Release Date: July 16, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Projekt
• ASIN: B000QEILGK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #277,647 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dense electronic textures evoke a dark void that seems to press in on all sides as it stretches out forever. The tones pulsate with languid regularity, slowly mutating just beyond perception so that changes occur with deceptive progression. A trace of mysterious substantiality ebbs and flows amidst this expansive sonic fog, achieving the hint of a presence that refuses to coalesce into clarity, thus generating a sense of momentous portent.

Although each track adheres to this motif of a sonorous vacuum, the music is crafted with unique dispositions which incite different responses to this sense of immersion in infinity. The vacuum is not really devoid of substance; each song throbs with lush ambience and tantalizing harmonics. An impression of humanity is cleverly infused in these soundscapes, capturing the onset of isolation and the mind's responses to that subjective solitude.

Tonalities ring with crystalline purity, seething from the distance to wash over the listener without making actual contact. This artful illusion results in an invigorating experience for the audience, allowing the mind to expand to fill the beguiling void. The ethereal electronic textures act as an inspirational medium in which intellect can generate its own interpretations.

This music was inspired by the musician's son's fascination with the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: the Year We Make Contact. "Dave Bowman" being the first film's human protagonist. This creative intention proves wholly rewarding, as the music creates a milieu of vast emptiness that is far from empty, stimulating the psyche to fill in the gaps produced by the type of visceral isolation which accompanies the subject's detachment from the rest of humanity.

Stripped of all these intellectual aspirations, the music is a finely adept dose of peaceful ambience. The calm is nicely seasoned with a touch of potential implication that dutifully remain just out of reach, prompting a sense of mild anticipation in the audience. --Sonic Curiosity

Product Description

Electronic side-project from Projekt and black tape for a blue girl founder Sam Rosenthal...
Exploring the vast isolation of cold, dark space, POD creates a chilling ambient environment. Detaching and drawing back into itself like droplets of mercury, expanding and contracting into eternity, it calls out like a haunting beacon signaling to earth from the deep reaches of space.

Inspired metaphorically by the 2001: a space odyssey character Dave Bowman, by the absence of human civilization, and by the texture of pure sound, As Lonely as Dave Bowman explores the next stage of ambient drone. POD crafts a singular sound of metaphoric loneliness that is not just a strand that drifts through space but is an enveloping, permeating cloud. It travels in an infinite trajectory, exploring the realm of the unknown.

For this recording, Sam worked in the studio in new and organic ways. Forsaking his usual melodic and lyrical approach to song-writing, he quickly developed musical pieces that are principally texture and spacial landscapes, created from a flow of synthetically produced loops and old-fashioned outboard effects.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look, here's the deal . . ., October 10, 2007

By	I am the "mindfunker" (Live from Kolob) - See all my reviews

Whenever an artist with an established fan base and a discernable style produces work that departs significantly from what his admirers have come to expect, there are going to be those that are left scratching their heads. I think that some Black Tape for a Blue Girl fans might not be accustomed to minimal ambient drone, and hence might not know what to make of this. I found this release via Amazon's "People who bought that also bought this" feature, and being a fan of Steve Roach and other ambient minimalists, bought this on a hunch after listening to the sound samples. I'm glad I did, because when it comes to ambient drone, this is as good as it gets. Moody, evocative, isolating, sinister, peaceful, serene-- all of these at once. This isn't the kind of music you listen to on your iPod. You don't put this in your car stereo on the way to work. Last night I leaned back in my recliner and put this on in a pitch black room. Try that, and you'll know how it feels to be as lonely as Dave Bowman. This is a great piece of work that compares favorably to the best of Steve Roach, Oophoi, and Lustmord.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ambiant, August 24, 2007

By	Marie Moyer "Life is a strom.U can be basking... (North Augusta, SC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Soft Ambiant wave wash over one as if lying on a beach with thier eyes close and their sensories are more acute to the sounds, smells, tastes, and feel of nature surrounding them. Hauntingly beautiful.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIVE STARS , August 24, 2007

By	Michael Laird "Bibliographer" (Central Texas Hill Country) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I LOVE THIS CD! I loved it since the moment I first heard it; the music sounds extremely cold and extremely dark; the only thing I could compare it to would be Harold Budd's "Abandoned Cities." Whoever gave it "two stars" doesn't understand what this CD is all about! It's uncompromising and difficult and magnificent. That reviewer's suggestion to infect this CD with some "space blips" or "NASA chatter" is simply IDIOTIC. To me this CD is PERFECT as is.

If you cannot think outside the box, if you watch endless reality TV (including all the banal commercials) or if you needs to be spoon-fed formulaic pop-songs, then this CD will *not* be for you. However, if you want to hear something truly original, then this might be for you. As for me, it's now one of my "Desert Island" CDs -- check it out for yourself!