Customer Reviews

Translucence/Drift Music

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While the two CDs are of a piece, I prefer "Drift Music" because there is no identifiable source of music. On "Translucence" the piano is more obvious, but not obtrusively so.

Unlike "The Pearl", it's difficult to discern who did what. Also unlike "The Pearl" there is no "sonic grit", like the cricket noises and other Enossifications that made "The Pearl" such a singular masterpiece. "The Pearl" aside, though, these are two damn fine CDs in the truest tradition of ambient music; they work equally well for background as well as more focussed listening. Those who enjoy "Translucence/Drift Music" should check out artists like Jeff Pearce, James Johnson, Mathias Grassow, Klaus Wiese, Robert Rich, and Steve Roach. Also check out John Foxx's "Cathedral Oceans, Vols. 1 and 2."

I love this music and make it part of the soundtrack of my daily existence, but I would caution against late night drives with this music on, particularly if one is a bit sleepy to start off with. Safe journeys, space fans.....

This music is very much ambient. Ambient music is music which does not try to fight for your attention. Rather, it fills up a space and allows the listener to either pay rapt attention to it (as I do) or concentrate on some other activity while listening (doing homework). I value music like this because it so RARE to find real, quality ambient music. Most so-called "ambient" music is ruined because it borders on that weak genre known as "new age." "New Age" music is generally horrible and of extreme low quality, filled with too much cheap excess.

What Foxx and Budd have crafted here is a true epic of ambience. Two cd's run the gamut through this genre. There are four types of songs found on this collection - the airy landscape, the sweet memory, the underwater themes, and the dark themes. They are all wonderfully done. Give it a listen.

When I listen to anything by Harold Budd, I forget everything about this world and submerge into mind states that are indescribable. The music has the distinct effect of transporting your very soul into a place - for me - of solitude / isolation, peace, transcendence. It feels like being removed from the physical body and carried through the universe, maybe alighting on another planet, extraordinary and perfect. For best effect, find a quiet place to listen where you will NOT be disturbed.

Very hard to avoid slipping into adjective overload.

Minimal piano sounds, tastefully manipulated and enhanced.

A good recording of piano music is amazing enough, but when this familiar instrument is looped and stretched in this way, the piano becomes even more amazing.

Mr. Budd worked with another famous producer in the 70s-80s, and made some of my favorite records. Mr Budd never quite returned to that sound, and I always wondered whether those records were just a product of the era, or perhaps Mr Budd didn't quite care for those sounds. I still don't know the answer to that, but I do know that Mr Budd is still quite capable of taking the tiniest, most delicate strings of notes and evoking powerful emotions - sometimes romantic or wistful, sometimes hopeless, isolated.

Adjectives again.

Buy it before it disappears.

Translucence is the sound of piano drops falling onto an underworld sea of synthesisers. Glimmers of Satie's Gymnopedies.

On Drift Music the synths swim to the surface - slightly less piano. A band of silvery fish slowly swimming by or a pair of eagles floating high up in the sky. Stronger echoes of Brian Eno on these pieces (both Foxx and Budd have worked with Eno in the past).

The album titles are apt. Music to play on a warm day with windows open, translucent curtains slowly moving in the gentle breeze - music to rest with, close your eyes to and just drift.

A focused and discreet collection - but maybe to delicate? The albums could have benefited from some light "treatments" for contrast. Maybe the duo thought of it and found it unsuitable? If Budd and Foxx add some touches of disturbance (Helge Sten from Supersilent?) the next album could be an ambient classic. I hope this is not a one-off partnership.

File with Biosphere and Brian Eno under wonderful ambient music.

This is music I feel like listening to more and more, the older I get.

I guess many people would compare this recording to those of Brian Eno and that would be fair. However, I do feel that this recording has some unique qualities. The use of the piano is quite characteristic. Some of the music has a beautifully deep and hymn-like quality to it. If you liked the three Cathedral Oceans CDs, then you will find Translucence / Drift Music very agreeable, too.

I like to listen to this recording often. I have played it through and then played it again straight away.

I wonder if John Foxx ever plans on presenting any of this music live? Perhaps an orchestra would be interested in playing it?

Translucence surprised me in familiarity - Mr. Budd's minimalist piano melodies have a timeless feel that evokes The Pearl (perhaps his finest work), and sends the mind into nether regions that connects to experiences long past. Dangerously beautiful. Drift music is more abstract, but a wonderful companion piece. This set is an absolute must for fans, and well worth the price, as this is two full albums. A hidden treasure trove of ambient delicacies.

Translucence + Drift Music are the two most supremely beautiful ambient c.d.'s I've yet heard. I am extremely difficult to please when it comes to c.d.'s I fall in love with. One selection that misses for me,and I'll get rid of the whole c.d. Each selection in this 2 c.d. set is all of a piece, and the piece is BEAUTY, beginning to end. In a way, this music transcends the Ambient category,it has reverberations of Classicism, as well. Harold Budd & John Foxx have created a healing, soothing, spiritual masterpiece. BRAVO!!

I can't add much to what has been said before. This is a two CD set. 'Translucence' is typical Budd fare, minimalist piano with plenty of echo, very fine work. 'Drift music' is more synthesised and the album title is very apt. This is a an excellent piece of ambient work that will carry you away.

Many Budd fans keep hoping for another cd along the lines t The Pearl. This is the closest you will get. The piano parts are simple and melodic and the layered synths are timeless.