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CONVERGENT EVOLUTION
Various artists, 1999
Greenhouse Records
http://www.greenhousemusic.com

	Ambient music has been around about 25 years now, and has become a
recognized genre, which even has its own subgroups such as “dark ambient”,
“drones,” and “techno-ambient.” The basic requirements for the “core”
ambient style haven’t changed much in those years: long, minimal note lines
drifting through an ocean of reverb, accented with bits of percussion here
and there. And yet even within these restrictions, musical creativity can
shine forth, and ambient has developed over the years. Some of this is due
to the influence from other genres such as “classical” minimalism, or
trance-rock; other changes come from technical innovations like the use of
computer-generated “fractals” to determine rhythm and tone-color.
	This compilation from the up-and-coming ambient/space label Greenhouse is a
good measure of what ambient composers are up to at the end of the century.
There are pieces from well-known artists like Vidna Obmana and Steve Roach,
and there are some others from people I’ve never heard of who use strange
pseudonyms like “Mono No Aware” (I think that’s Japanese), “Samsa,” and
simply “Me.”
	Obmana opens the set with his optimistically titled “Euphoric Bliss.” This
is one of the best short Obmana pieces I’ve heard to date, with its
bell-like accents tinkling through audible clouds of microtonal notes –
perhaps a sound-picture of Obmana’s perpetually foggy native land, Belgium.
A piece by the mysterious “Samsa” (the name of the poor guy in the Kafka
story who turns into a giant roach – an allusion to Steve?) follows, rather
darkly and aimlessly clanking away with metallic tones. After that, there is
an uptempo piece by “Vir Unis,” who is perhaps the most exciting newcomer to
the ambient field in the last five years. This piece, “Beneath the Hive,”
shows off his “fractal rhythms” which have so revolutionized the newer work
of Steve Roach (in their collaboration BODY ELECTRICfor instance). In
my opinion this is the best cut on the album. After this, there is a very
slow, spooky track by “Exuviae” (Latin for “spoils taken from an enemy” or
“sloughed-off skin”…?) that builds up to one of those shuddering electronic
“walls of sound” that you either love or hate.
	If you were put to sleep by the first few pieces, “Mono No Aware” will wake
you up. It begins with a loud snarl of retro-electronic roars and whistles,
and builds into a banging techno-rhythm before beeping off into space. The
Steve Roach piece which follows, “Resolution Point,” is certainly good and
very characteristic Roach, but it does not cover any new ground for him. The
next piece, “Becoming Light” by Jayme Washburn, is a European-sounding
meditation with a mournful, out-of-tune synthesizer melodic line. The
compilation ends with the drone-filled “Holus Bolus,” by “Me.” (no, not this
writer.)
	Convergent Evolution gives you a sample of what’s going on in all
the sub-genres of ambient these days, as well as the “core” style. It’s a
mixture which ranges from very good to mediocre, but you, the listener, will
have to decide which is which.

HMGS rating: 8 out of  10                                   11/15/00


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