Title: Tunguska Chillout Grooves Vol. 11
Artist: Various
Release Date: 11 April 2014
Genre: Chill / Downtempo / Ambient
License: CC BY-ND
Label: Tunguska Electronic Music Society

Chillin’ Out With Tunguska

I chose to focus on All Objects Lost in my first Tunguska EMS review. However, I could have chosen to showcase this release instead, or several other releases. And, honestly, it would have been good to choose any of them. One of the things that impresses me with Tunguska is that I can be chillin’ out with Tunguska one minute, and turn to deep jungle the next, and go in a completely different direction in the third.

So today I’m taking a look at one of many compilations from Tunguska, which provides more insight into the range of music available from this collective of musicians and sound artists.

Modern Chill

This release has something for everyone, quite literally. With twenty-five tracks, over two hours of music spread across two compact discs this collection really does offer something that every one can appreciated on one level or another.

One of my favorite tracks is ‘Traces On Sand’ by Baldych, which sounds very reminiscent of a theme from Angelo Badalamenti’s soundtrack for Twin Peaks, with its ethereal descending central figure, haunting melody and light percussion. Another favorite is ‘Secura’ by Pianochocolate, a simple piano and cello pieces with lots of air and gorgeous interplay between the instruments.

There are a lot of artists represented in this release: Empiric, Baldych, Pianochocolate, Art Project, Desperate Mars, Alesky Chistillin, and Jane Ray to name a few of them.

I was surprised to find two tracks by Empiric. I have listened to a couple of releases from Empiric, and thought his forte was more in the dark, abstract ambient range. And, he is still fairly true to form on this release, however his tracks offer a break from the more groove oriented tracks. Which is a welcome breather, especially from some of the more of the intense tracks.

Some of the types of music represented: symphonic soundtrack works, ambient piano / new age, ballads, ambient / experimental, abstract EDM, space music, drum-n-basss / jungle style. And, of course, more.

It’s really difficult to encapsulate everything in this release. The range is really phenomenal. And, I would say that I would love to hear full releases from any artist represented here.

Conclusion

This was really my first (or second) introduction to Tunguska Electronic Music Society as a listener. I downloaded four releases from this label and popped them into my player and started listening. I didn’t even keep track of which release was first in the player, I just started listening.

But, chillin’ out with Tunguska proved to me quickly that this was a label I was going to want / need to start tracking. I kept going to my player to look at which artist was playing which track. That’s the mark of a label and a collective of artists that is able to grab your attention, and make you want to know who they are.

And, that’s the point of a release like this: give the listener a taste for what the artists can do. And this release succeeds brilliantly. I know I will be looking up nearly all the artists on this release to see what they have available to add to my collection. And, I will be adding a lot more of Tunguska Electronic Music Society’s releases to my collection.