Customer Reviews

Seed

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Iarla O Lionard and his posse are back with an Afro-Celt release that is full of the spooky mist and multi-rhythyms that have set them apart. From the opening soundwashes and acoustic guitars of "Cyberia", the tone is set for odd-metred grooves and Celtic majesty. This time around, Mayo born reed whiz Emer Mayock deftly handles the haunting uileann pipes. Mayock's solo releases are absolutely worth hunting down via Ceirnini Claddaigh, and she is a natural for this ensemble, quite willing to hold down the pure drop while simultaneously pushing it into new oceans.
Drummers Moussa Sisoko and Johnny Kaisi lock in the many rhtyhms and time signatures of this entirely danceable CD. In fact, if you're not dancing, even in your seat, you need to have someone dial 911 quick.
There are a boat load of terrific session players including the incendiary Eileen Ivers and the mesmerizing Martin Hayes on fiddles. Screaming Orphans (you'll figure it out) appear on "Rise Above It". Be it African chant, flamenco guitar touches, programmed keyboards casting techno-ambient spells, the whole seed being planted here takes root deep in the soul. And this is SOUL music of the most delicious kind. Who knew metaphysics could get so jiggy with it? Imagine Columbkille and Senegal's best kora players, percussion Moorishly Spanish, slap bass and uileann pipes, fiddles scratching deep in the very veins that bring the blood back to your heart. This music locks in on you and never releases until the final washes of sound fade away on "Green."
This disc and Ashley Mac Isaac's latest, just released in Canda, are CDs to inspire wonder and keep you dancing, like dervishes, enthralled with all the mysteries your imagination can conjure. By all means, pick this one up. It is their best release to date, and hunt down Mac Isaac, the Hendrix of Celtic music.

I said in my review for ACSS's previous CD "Further In Time" that "I doubt that their fourth album will rival this one whenever that one comes out". To my sheer and utter surprise, they have managed to reach the heights of that incredible album with their fourth album simply entitled "Seed" they have proved me totally wrong. "Seed" ranks up there with their third album from two years before then and is by far the best CD of 2003 so far at the time of writing this review. I absolutely loved "Further In Time" but I must admit that the techno was a bit overdone and too rich but nonetheless it was an extremely adventurous and awesome album and remains so to this very day. "Seed" finds the musicians steering away from the more mainstream path and the album as a whole is kind of a return to the colder atmosphere, and more organic elements that defined the bands first two albums "Sound Magic" and "Release" but with a stronger New Age twist and featuring no major music stars guest appearing (Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant) and focuses more solely on the band alone. This album does not disappoint the slightest and is a must-have for New Age, pop, world, and electronic music listeners. In fact, this album flows much better than any of their previous albums, giving it a much more `stable' undertone to it.

"Cyberia" starts off with a cold, harsh ambience combined with robotically amplified vocals and at first it seems like it's going to be like a echo effect of the techno bed that was "Further In Time" but instead melts into a strongly Celtic-African track with relatively little of the explosive polish of what the beginning part of the track made us think it would have. "Cyberia" is an absolutely lovely weaving of Celtic, African, and occasional electronic melodies. Absolutely lovely. The title track "Seed" is a more mainstream song that meshes the more blues-oriented side of "Further In Time" and the highly traditional drums of the "Sound Magic" era to produce an odd but very enchanting song combined with haunting African chants. "Nevermore" is a hypnotizing yet energetic, and danceable song with a mix of strongly Celtic vocals and exotic, echoing African chant. This is truly such an amazing song! There isn't much I could give out about this song but I can easily say that it's one of my favorites on this CD! "The Otherside" is one song that would've fit quite well on their last CD "Further In Time" having a fast, high energy rhythm and intense chanting laced with fast drumbeats and intense atmosphere combined with a mix of modern and ancient instruments. If you enjoyed "Colossus", you'll go head over heals with this track. "Ayub Song/ As You Are" is a definite return to the organic style that defined the obscure landscapes that was "Sound Magic", having almost none of the electronic techno dabblings and far more traditional, more acoustic recordings to it. Although this song is closer to their debut album than their third album, "Ayub Song" has some warmth and daytime brightness that is relatively absent from their debut (I do love the dark, and wintery feel of that album a lot too) . Still, for those who were taken aback by their 2001 album, this song will be a real treat. I absolutely love it. This song offers even more than I could ever give out. The next two are two separate tracks that are kind of like one long track. The first part entitled "Rise" is a dark, haunting, ambient interlude that gradually grows more intense with ambient crescendo, Celtic harps playing. Eventually, an intoxicatingly enchanting African voice comes in with a mesmerizing chant and finally, the ambience grows stronger with plucking 12-string guitar that merges the ending of this interlude track, into the centerpiece of the album "Rise Above It". "RAI" is my personal favorite song on "Seed". It starts with the ambience growing more intense but with textured, electronic melodic bleeps and gradually growing darker and less eerie but then it becomes a haunting danceable number with an amazing blend of dance, world, pop, and soul and has awesome vocals. The song is just incredible. Give it a listen to know what real power this track really has. I just don't know how to describe the song with this review.. Even better, the song clocks in at over 10 minutes long! Whenever I listen to these two songs, I can imagine myself floating above the Irish landscape with African huts dotting the landscape with a fiery pink/red sunset in the west! How bout that for imaginative music! "Deep Channel" is another awesome and uplifting track with haunting melodies and Celtic flutes all interwoven over a dramatic melody. Gradually, the song becomes a relatively danceable number similar to "The Silken Whip" from "Further In Time" but not quite as techno-oriented. This song will transport you into a whole other realm of beauty and majesty! "All Remains" is a darker and more melancholy track with haunting electronic New Age texture combined with a jazzy and downbeat African color to it but gradually becomes a warm and semi-uplifting track. This is such a gorgeous track. The closing track "Green" is basically an extended instrumental version of "Nevermore" with slightly altered melodies and different instruments in some places but overall, this song is an instrumental version of "Nevermore" but without the vocals. This track brings this album and this review to an enchanting close, leaving one to wonder what kind of creativity these guys are planning to come up with next on their fifth album, whenever it comes out! Perhaps they might even top this one too! Who knows? As so ends this review. Please buy this album!

Possibly so... The AfroCelts (formerly known as Afro Celt Sound System) have released their fourth album "Seed" and it does not disappoint. After bringing out the amazing "Further In Time" back in 2001 I really didn't think that the AfroCelts would be able to make another record as phenomenal as their last two but they've definitely proven themselves as great artists and I am very impressed. New CDs have been pouring in like crazy, as I'm quite addicted to music, but I haven't been able to listen to anything else lately and it only gets better every time I hear it.

Despite my love for them, at first I was a bit reluctant on buying their new album because so many people were using the word 'change' to describe their slight modification in sound, which terrified me since I already liked them the way that they were, but after hearing "Seed" all the way through I can feel rather than hear the difference as it's more organic and less commercialized (not that there's anything wrong with that). They're more of a group now and less of a studio act for they have brought in real musicians to perform live recordings of actual instruments, such as Jesse Cook on the flamenco guitar and Hossam Ramzy on the mazhar shaker and the Egyptian tabla.

That, worried hesitaters, is the difference everyone keeps referring to.

Although they took the sound system out of their name, there's still club-friendly dance beats melding in with African and Celtic melodies. And, of course, the beautiful, ethereal vocals are never far away and very much present. Their approach this time is simply a gentler flow with less of a high-energy drum presence that's much more soothing. And instead of using well-known names to help sell their records, the AfroCelts have shown that they are indeed a strong band and that they can stand out on their own two feet without having contributions from big-name artists like Sinead O Connor and Peter Gabriel.

"Seed" represents the fourth production of Afro Celt Sound System (here known as Afrocelts). This is one ensemble that only gets better with time. Their first and second albums I enjoyed, but nowhere as much as their third one. And this album, I find just as solid as their third production.

The album's balance between afro, celtic and new age music seems to favor the latter two, though there are plenty of african voice samples and drums. But the overall feel I get after listening to it, is that I've heard a very good new age album with touches of celtic music and a hint at african sounds. With the exception of "Cyberia" and the title track, in general I enjoyed more the shorter tracks. The best example of this is the introductory "Rise" and the 10+ minute-long piece "Rise Above It" that builds upon it. The intro is extremely powerful, yet the follow-up gets to a point where it cannot hold your attention much longer.

All in all, this is one solid production by this world music party. Don't miss it. Like most acts from Real World Music, it deserves a space in your music shelves.

I really, *really* like this CD. It exists in a positive tension between different localities - primarily African and Celtic, but also with bits of Spanish guitar and American rock - and therefore subverts the binary tension found in so much of "world" music: local melodies techno-blasted to death in the name of "global" [=Western!] sensibility.

Of course, the CD still raises some interesting ethical questions about the particularity of local narratives and their relationship/s to one another in "world music", as if the "local" were somehow subsumed to the totality of the "world". Yet, the Afro Celts navigate between different styles of local music without losing them in some sort of world music stew - and that is what I appreciate most about this CD.

The songs move; they never get too boring and are far from repetitive. Songs that start off so thoroughly unassuming burst into throbbing songs of joy that make you want to take out your clogs - or at least watch Riverdance and learn through some sort of visual osmosis. Either way, you will end up tapping *both* feet along and probably bobbing your head, too.

The flutes on this CD are particularly enjoyable. The flute on "Cyberia" has spirit: it will make the hair on your neck stand up. "Ayub's Song/As You Were" also features the flute, but along more playful lines, and "Deep Channel" returns to more spirited and haunting melodies.

The Afro Celts are one of the most enjoyable bands that I know of in the world music scene. They keep the particularities in just the right places, and let them flavor the songs in enjoyable and unexpected ways. The global village looks and sounds beautifully varied through the aural lens of _Seed_.

Perhaps not a good reason to give an album five stars, but AfroCelt's music is so mesmeric - and has been over the previous three albums - that other reviewers can better wax lyrical over the sounds.

Me? I was - again - impressed by their fabulous mozaic of instruments across all cultures and centuries, blended together in a truly unique sound design thanks to digital production techniques, musical talent and, of course, Gaelic passion. If you are a techi, an audiophile, or just a plain old 'Welsh' romantic like me, I cannot think of a better Sound System to be stuck with on a desert island (along with some Bob Marley and Steve Roach, of course...)

Do your soul a favour get clicking in the uppper right hand corner!!!

Afro Celt Sound System (and they are still Afro celt sound system, regardless of name change) are still fusing their unique blend of modern eclectic rythms with celtic, modern Irish folk, afro-carribean and african sounds. And it works. I have been a fan ever since I once heard them playing in a record store some 3-4 years ago, and have never looked back.

Their first CD seemed to place emphasis on the Irish sound, while the second was more evenly balanced between more modern mixing instruemnts and styles with the older celtic/Irish, the third, seemed much more up tempo, some tracks very focused on the modern sound, some with very simple instruemnts that hark back to the first album and, if you're not careful could get you thinking you're no longer in your own home but in an irish pub in Donegal! However, it is all brilliant, and this album carries on the trend, I have honestly never heard music that reverberates through every bone in my body, that can actually shift your emotions simply with change of note or pitch, but thats what they do, and get used to it.

I disagree with the Amazon review, afro celt soundsystem never seem fragmented, or as another reviewer describes "manafactured" or even "over produced" which I have heard banded about in some areas inrefernce to "Further In Time". It is true that, in the third album particualrly a mass of different emotions was enfused in their music, a lot of different sounds in there, sometimes so many that it could indeed seem over produced, however, with Afrocelts a band who can slow music from high paced to relaxing in one beat, it never does.

Their music has developed, and grown, this album seems to have found a very good balance between all the many different sounds they use without becoming overwhelmed by them, and that deserves praise. My favourite tracks are Seed, Never More and Deep channel, simply because they are the tracks that catch your throat, they are the "bone reverbarators" I described earlier, and they sound great.

There is something for everyone to like in Afrocelts, their fusing of so many sounds is unheard of and, to a certain extent, ground breaking since they do it so well. I rarely sustain a like of a band consistenly as most inevitably faulter at times, however this band doesn't know the meaning of the word.

Seed is worth buying purely because it has the name "Afrocelts" attached to it, that's why I bought it, I hadn't even seen any reviews, I didn't need to. I wasn't let down.

For an act known for intriguing and innovative fusions of fresh sounds from around the world, Afro Celts (a.k.a. Afro Celt Sound System) are getting dangerously close to old-school new age. That is, predictable and unexciting. What we have here is less of the innovation and more of the Westernized "world music" (a wishy-washy term if ever there was one) that has been pushed by record companies and used in so-called exotic TV commercials for more than a decade. This is evident in the competent but unexceptional African vocal stylings in "Seed" and "The Other Side" here. Meanwhile, the authentic Irish folk sounds in "Ayub's Song/As You Were" and "Deep Channel" are so authentic as to verge on the stereotypical. About the only sources of excitement on this album are the brooding and ominous "Rise Above It" and the genuinely moving ballad "All Remains." But otherwise, here we see that Afro Celts are moving comfortably into new age sounds that are more concerned with competence and pleasantness, rather than innovation or experimentation. It's a pleasant and interesting listen, but just a little too comfortable overall. [~doomsdayer520~]

I just got this three days ago.
I have been listening to it at work non-stop, ever since I first put it in.
So far, that's about 25 hours. Seriously.

The guest artists (22 according to the liner notes) on this disc are awesome. The energy.. mmmm... Somehow it's able to keep me going with a buzz all day, without forcing a frenetic burn-out as most of my other fast electro-ish albums inevitably do. Absolutely grateful. I have other albums by the Afrocelts, but at the moment, this is definitely my favorite. It's a gem.

They're back! Everything about the Afrocelts' latest offering points toward a consolidation of the band: from the group's shortened name to the more collective effort in writing and arranging, we see that they've finally become a collective rather than the original project led mostly by James McNally and Simon Emmerson. If you've heard their previous efforts you basically know what to expect: plenty of foot-stomping Celtic jigs and reels, underpinned by rhythm grounded in the earthy beats of Africa, blended with a heady mix of propulsive techno and addictive electronics throughout; it's a mix that overcomes its seeming contradictions to produce something truly special. This disc is just as tasty and strong as the previous three, although I feel it doesn't make quite as good an introduction as the previous album. If you haven't heard the band's masterpiece Further In Time yet, go for that first; then take a listen to Seed once you're hooked. When was the last time you heard a mix of ultra-catchy dance beats spiced up with kora, bozouki, tabla, flamenco guitar, bamboo flute, fiddle, djembe and Uillean pipes?

The gorgeous "Ayub's Song/As You Were" is a first - amid all the danceable electronics, it's the only all-acoustic Afro-Celt song we've heard thus far. For the rest of the album there's not much else we haven't heard before, but it's an excitingly (and addictingly) dynamic mix nonetheless. At times I wish the programmed beats didn't coast quite so long on autopilot, but there's enough going on all around them to keep any attentive ears occupied regardless. And if you're only listening for something upbeat and energetic to bounce to, then Seed delivers in spades. Many of them follow the same build-build-burninggroove pattern, but practically every single track is a standout nonetheless. "Deep Channel" builds into a joyous techno reel after an intro of weirdly trippy psychedelia a-la Pink Floyd or early Porcupine Tree. The title track mesmerizes with hypnotic chants. "Rise Above It" soars on a beautiful lyric (it's not Bono singing, it's Mundy, one of the album's 22 guest artists) for ten glorious minutes.

Maybe the change will signal the start of a new phase for the band, since Seed seems like a recap of everything that's come before. But no matter the mode, the Afrocelts sound like nobody else out there.. and everything they've offered yet is a musical treasure not to be missed. Get in on this.