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| View Larger Image | Substrata 2 | Audio CDby Biosphere
| List Price: | $24.49 | |
| | Binding: | Audio CD | | Format: | Import | | Studio: | Touch | | Release Date: | September 22, 2003 | | Sales Rank: | 278,568th |
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TRACK LISTING |
Disc: 1
- Track 1: As the Sun Kissed the Horizon
- Track 2: Poa Alpina
- Track 3: Chukung
- Track 4: Things I Tell You
- Track 5: Times When I Know You'll Be Said
- Track 6: Hyperborea
- Track 7: Kobresia
- Track 8: Antennaria
- Track 9: Uva-Ursi
- Track 10: Sphere of No-Form
- Track 11: Silene
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Disc: 2
- Track 1: Prologue
- Track 2: Silent Orchestra
- Track 3: City Wakes Up
- Track 4: Freeze-Frames
- Track 5: Manicure
- Track 6: Club
- Track 7: Ballerina
- Track 8: Eye of the Cyclone
- Track 9: Endurium
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 11 reviews)
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This One is Really Creepy! :O by M. D. MCGINLEY (United States)  2 Stars
June 04, 2007
I realize I may get a few "unhepfuls" for this one, but...Substrata 2 is SO not like the original "Substrata" by Geir Jennsen. "Substrata 2" is so off the wall, like a Tool video taken to extreme, or Robert Rich's "Stalker" and Steve Roach's "Well of Souls." While some listeners may arbitrarily and automatically mark this type of ambience as genius per se, the fact is there is little redeeming quality to "Substrata 2." Bent pitches and creepy minor chords would make this a great Halloween backdrop for something, but definitely not as something to listen to while unwinding from a busy, stressful day. I look for something--anything--with a melody or harmony to it just for that purpose; otherwise, it can factually be called "noise."
All of my reviews are composed strictly without emotions, but fairly with regard only for their artistic merit. I don't listen to fifteen seconds of a disc or read two lines of a book and rush to review it. On the contrary, I give equal and sufficient time to prove worth. Instead of "Substrata 2", I highly recommend Freedom's "76:14" or Chuck Wild's Liquid Mind Series (although they are for the most part the same), or at the very least, Steve Roach's "Dreamtime Return" [1988]) or one of Tangerine Dreams older recordings ("Phaedra," "Stratosfear," "Rubycon", or perhaps "Tyranny of Beauty"). Melody and music structure are everything. Twisting knobs, bending pitches and twanging chords into something evil sounding is definitely not my idea of "music."
With ambience, electronica or abstract "new age" recordings, there is little middle ground. You either love it or you hate it. The only redeeming value I received from my purchase of "Substrata 2" is that the original remastered "Substrata" disc is included with it. That's really all I have to say about it, because at this point, "Substrata 2" left me with a huge void.
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Ambient music with a total sound experience by Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA)  5 Stars
May 26, 2007
The original Substrata by Biosphere was their first truly ambient album. The theme is Antarctica, imagining desolate plains of ice, snow-covered, windswept peaks and vicious crystalline glaciers. There are actual glacial sounds (creaks of ice) and wind in this stunning ambient, almost environmental album. It is great for relaxation and setting a mood as the music is hardly interrupted. The vocal sampling is from "Twin Peaks", the cult TV series by David Lynch.
This album is a remix of the orignal Substrata and includes a bonus cd of a soundtrack from "Man with a Camera", a Russian silent film.
The most interesting thing about this album is the environmental nature of the sound. A very soothing but sometimes unsettling experience. If you like Brian Eno and Harold Budd, this is less instrumental but just as mysterious sounding. I love listening to it in a darkened room or with an eyemask and headphones. Great for relaxation.
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Seamless ambient by mhouse (Phoenix, AZ United States) 5 Stars
January 28, 2007
I have many ambient albums, starting with Brian Eno's releases and branching into more current artists. I discovered this album on Amazon and listened to song samples at another website. I was instantly hooked. The songs seamlessly morph together/apart and form some of the most interesting soundscapes I've had the pleasure to listen to. This ambient music doesn't put you in one place--it moves you in and out of spaces across the globe. I realize that doesn't quite describe it to the uninitiated, but just listen and try to figure out where you would hear this..and this..and that..
While purists would say the first CD (a remastered version of Substrata) is the better ambient album, I have to say I prefer the 2nd one. It has some of the same uttered phrases (one from the US TV show Twin Peaks!) it ends with two extra Japanese tracks that are ultimately danceable in a chillout way.
CD1 is 58-1/2 minutes; CD2 is 53-1/2 minutes. I easily could have handled an additional 20 minutes on both! You won't be sorry, this is excellent stuff.
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Great Intoduction to Ambient by James Robson (New Joisey!) 5 Stars
August 08, 2006
This is widely regarded as the "must have". And I agree it is, a perfect blend. Track 8 and up are what did it for me.
As said this is a re-release, and you do get a bonus CD, which I am listening to now, and it ALSO is wonderful!
If you have the original, and want to get the new CD, if you find it cheap get it, if you don't have the original , then I cannot stress enough how good this CD is.
GET IT. That being said, don't get ripped off either, I found it fairly cheap on Ebay for only 15.99 + shipping (used)
Jim
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Carefull where you buy this by Ben (Lincoln, CA, USA) 5 Stars
May 16, 2006
Excellent album.
I noticed that there are several copies for sale on this site starting at $40. Yesterday (05/14/06) I bought a new copy at Amoeba Music in Hollywood for $17, and they had at least three more. So look around, you might find a copy at a normal price.
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