Cybermonkey - Planes, Trances and Life s Karma Wheels

Home Artist links

Cybermonkey - Planes, Trances And Life S Karma Wheels

Artist:	Cybermonkey
Title:	Planes, Trances And Life S Karma Wheels
Label:	self produced
Length(s):	59 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2003
Month of review:	[01/2005]

Line up

Tad Winklarz - keyboards
Marlon Kempmmann - guitars
Lisa Turner - voice
Eric Kempmann - mandolin on 5

Tracks

1)	Gdansk	15.46
2)	Shakyamuni	7.12 MP3
3)	Invocation	7.13
4)	Caravan To Dharmasala	13.22
5)	Border Highway	8.09
6)	Into The Ether	7.39

Summary

My first encounter with this outfit.

The music

Gdansk is the introspective opener, meditative in fact. Due to its sad violin oriented sound and overall Indian feel this song fits in well with the current Asian tragedy. The musical style lies in the direction of psychedelic music, and may be compared to the Ozrics, albeit on this track at least in a very subdued mood. Plenty of room to breath on this one. I also have to think of Gandalf and especially his More Than Just A Seagull, although the music here is not acoustic, and there is a noticeable 'beat' although it stays very much in the background. Halfway, we turn more towards electronic music, of the cosmic kind. Thematic this is a simple track, but the band really is very strong at using the ingredients they have with impeccable taste and subtlety. But why would this song be called Gdansk is what I wonder?

Shakyamuni opens with marimba styled playing. The spoken words are by Lisa Turner, who has a good reciting voice. The spoken words give the music and band a New Age feel. The marimba and percussion dominate this more up-beat tune. The music does continue to be background music though, easy and pleasant to follow when you pay attention, easy to ignore when you are doing other things. Later on we come to a Tangerine Dream oriented part, so in which the electronic influences come out more.

Invocation continues the medatitive side of the music with Eastern/Indian wailings and sparse sounds. Later the music turns for the darker, and it becomes even more subdued and sparse. The Indian wail is something that has been used by too many artists and has become something of a mark of commerciality. Fortunately, Cybermonkey does not use it much.

With Caravan To Dharmasala we come to the second long track, this time with more voicings and vocalizations. In view of the title it is not strange that a kind of Northafrican mood is evoked. Plenty of percussives here. Later on the music becomes more jam like, more percussive even, although Cybermonkey never seems to want to impose itself. Border Highway is of a kind, except a bit more positive sounding. The percussives are again veyr prominent, while the vocals are more up-beat. They carry the melody, for the main part. This is also the track that features the mandolin, which is used to good effect and brings in some variety. The guitars are also audible in the back, but on the whole I have heard surprisingly little of them so far.

Into The Ether is the closer. This is a more introspective track again with pan flutish sounds, a bit of a lament. The song has a bit of a David Sylvian feel at times. The marimba of Shakyamuni sets in half way.

Conclusion

In long winded tracks, Cybermonkey builds it moods with an extreme of repetition. The title of the album indicates Trance, and this is certainly part of the music, albeit in a very subdued and relaxed fashion. Pointers can be given to electronic music (a bit of TD, a bit of Gandalf), and to the Ozrics with which they share a psychedelic feel. Some of the chosen ingredients of this band have been used a bit too much to evoke a world music feel in the past, and this does reflect somewhat on my appreciation. But that does not prevent it from being an excellent album to relax with.