Substrata 2

Biosphere | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 2001)
• Label: Touch Records
• ASIN: B00005KJ22
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,670,114 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1 release, repressed! "Biosphere's 2nd release for Touch after Cirque is a double CD in digipak designed by Jon Wozencroft. The release consists of: CD1 -- Substrata: Originally released in 1997 on All Saints Records, this remastered version of Substrata contains 11 tracks with a total length of 55:20. '...by many (the undersigned included) considered to be the finest ambient album of the 1990s'. CDTwo -- Man with a Movie Camera: Contains 9 tracks, total length 53:32. The first 7 tracks consist of the soundtrack to Man with a Movie Camera [Verdov, USSR 1929], originally commissioned for the Tromso International Film Festival in 1996, released here for the first time. The last 2 tracks, 'Endurium' and 'The End of the Cyclone', were originally released on the limited edition Japanese version of Substrata in 1997 -- they have never before been released outside Japan. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like an ice pick straight through your heart, December 22, 2004

By 

yorgos dalman "yorgos dalman" (Holland, Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Substrata V.2 (Audio CD)

Sometimes, just sometimes, you could do with a little less talent. You need it to survive your own gifts. If you are too good, too soon in your carreer, you might never devellop any more, or improve, because you're all ready at the top.
Norwegian ambient artist Geir Jenssen seemed to have this problem with his re-released Biosphere record 'Substrata'. Such a sublime album might never be succeeded, not even by it's own creator. And Mr. Jenssen isn't that old yet, he still has to go through a couple of decades, filling our hearts with his etherical, icy tones.

With his next to albums, 'Cirque' and 'Shenzhou' he doesn't quite seem to know which way he wants to go; the latter even seems more like chilled piece of inner conflict, of hesitation and a momenterally loss of direction.
Don't get me wrong, they're still two beauts, each in its own way, but they lack the magic and the mystical and the sheer brilliance of "Substrata"
"Au tour de la luna", Jenssens most recent effort, must have been some sort of nihilistic mistake, a quicky of some sort, best be forgotten by both fans and artist.

'Substrata' here, however, is a collection of a dozen pieces of transcendental music and undiscribable atmosphere; but they can also been seen as one long track, for every piece of 'audio landscape' that is being produced smoothly connects with the next one. They flow over in to one another. They come to be, the exist and then drown into the next one.
Jenssen combines his ambient music with sound scapes and spoken words and together they form a collective meditation on deeper feelings of alienation and loss. But not without a warm heart beat though.
From the melancholical sounding opening 'As the sun touches the horizon' to the highlight of the album, the desolate 'Sphere of No-Phorm' in which the outstreched polar landscapes seems to surround you completely.

It's all hauntingly beautiful and lyrical eerie, and so is the second instalment of the 2-disc set: 'Man with a movie camera'. This is the newly made soundtrack for an old silent Russian film, Jenssen was commissionned to do.
Parts of the music are samples from 'Substrata', but the piece stands on itself and is much more than just a re-mix. Cold and heart shattering in it's own way, it's a solid counterpart of 'Substrata' and a partner at the same time.
Stripped down and desolate like the real North Pole, 'Substrata' is a milestone for the musical genre and for Geir Jenssen specifically. And it's a reccommendation to everyone who is into this genre, or, for that matter, into moody, atmospherical music in general.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not realy volume 2, July 2, 2004

By 

Paul Bates (Southborough, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Substrata V.2 (Audio CD)

This album is a remix of the original Substrata with a second CD--the soundtrack written for the Russian silent file, "Man with a Movie Camera," and two bonus tracks included in the "Japanese version" of Substrata.

The music is wonderful, make no mistake. But if you buy it thinking it is something else you will be disappointed.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning double CD release, October 13, 2001

By 

Jay M "jay_mc" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Substrata 2 (Audio CD)

Containing 2 discs, one being the original 'Substrata' album re-released and the other being a soundtrack composed by Geir Jennsen for a Russian silent movie of 1929.

What else can be said of 'Substrata' than it's the best album in the field of ambient music. For me it surpasses the best of Eno and others. From its opening chimes of arctic winds, it leads the listener on a beatless, ambient journey through soundscapes of wind, tinkering electronics and distant, almost medieval, noises. If you don't have it, get it now while you can, particularly when you get another new Biosphere CD with it.

The second CD has much the same feel. But although ambient, it ditches the arctic landscape in favour of an urban one and there are more industrial hisses and textures to certain tracks. The final two tracks, taken from the Japanese version of 'Substrata', sound like Biosphere circa the 'Microgravity' era and are probably the best tracks on the second CD.

If you like ambient music, or you want a relaxing record, or even if you're just interested in electronic music, get this record now, you won't be disappointed.