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Trance World










 
By “Earth Trybe” (David and Diane Arkenstone) 
Paras Records, 2001 
http://www.parasrecordings.com 

With the name Arkenstone, you know you are going to get professional 
quality, and this his ‘n’ hers recording is just that. The pop ambient 
veteran David Arkenstone teams with his multi-instrumentalist (and 
bright-toned vocalist) wife Diane, along with some other fine players, to 
create a rocking album of world-inspired dance music ­ some might call it 
“world techno.” 
 
Usually, I complain when “world” elements are used in pop music, since I am 
concerned with cultural exploitation, but in this case, the elements are 
carefully selected to be “universal” ­ involved not with Aboriginal ideas or 
beliefs, but with pure melody, rhythm, and tone texture, so I am happy to 
just enjoy this happiness-inducing album with no qualms about anything 
inappropriate. 
 
The flute playing (by George Tortorelli) is enchanting, especially on track 
3, “Constellation Communication,” which is a bubbling fountain of charm, and 
the sensuous track 4, “Freedom of Movement.” David’s synthesizer playing is, 
as usual, right on target harmonically, neither dissonant nor dull, but 
concise and un-confused. The harmonies throughout follow the modal standard 
of much modern world-popular music. An added bit of “Orb” ­ like 
technoseasoning is the inclusion of voice samples, some of them from 
historic spaceflight (as in track 5, “Telemetry”), others from Diane’s 
seductive spoken voice (telling us about undersea glow-creatures in 
“Illuminescence,” track 7). 
 
This slick and colorful album combines all the good things about techno-pop 
without bogging down in pretentious “save-the-planet” or “world peace” 
propaganda. It’s light and airy, unashamed to be entertaining, and so far 
one of my favorite albums of the big millennium year 2001. 

HMGS rating: 9 out of 10 
7/29/01 




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