Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pure Drop Reborn, March 26, 2003
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.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Redwood tree of majestic African/Celtic beauty!, June 30, 2003
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!
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Their best album yet?, June 14, 2003
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.
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