Gel-Sol IZ - Advance Copies (2 Viewers)

[psycho]

Until our website get's updated we have advance copies for sale up on Ebay :
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gel-Sol-IZ-Ambient-Fax...idZp1638Q2em122

A really moving, beautiful album. - Pete Lawrence, founder, Big Chill Festival

Stunning ambient album this - lovely. proper ambient. keep it up i say! - Ben Fragile [Fragile State]

The new gel-sol is headphone heaven really.. - Monty Chomley [Big Chill reviewer]​

​

Artist: Gel-Sol​

Release: “IZ”

Release Date : May 2nd 2008

Record Label: Psychonavigation Records​

A joint release between Psychonavigation and Canadian label Upstairs Recordings. Seattle based producer Gel-Sol presents his new album entitled "IZ," and in his own words ‘Is an all-ambient adventure I wrote for my niece Izabella, who was born early last year’. Gel-Sol aka Andrew Reichel, whose dichotomous sound spans from ambient soundscapes to complex, rhythmic electronica, creating a dynamic psychedelic universe with heavy emphasis on improvisation. His influences range from 70s prog and kraut rock to electronic and psychedelic.The album’s music showcases Gel-sol’s trademark melodic edge combined with sweeping Synth pads reminiscent of 90’s ambient albums from the likes of Pete Namlook & Global Communication….

For more information on Gel-Sol please visit[FONT=&quot] http://www.gel-sol.com [/FONT]

 

[psycho]

Buy it now option just added :http://cgi.ebay.com/Gel-Sol-IZ-Ambi...oryZ1049QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[psycho]

The new album from Gel-Sol 'IZ' can be ordered directly from our website
http://www.psychonavigation.com/iz.html



Another review just in this week.


Gel-Sol 'IZ' Psychonavigation / Upstairs

Since the 2006 release of Andrew Reichel's critically acclaimed
'Unifactor' LP on Canada's Upstairs Recordings label, he's obviously
been a busy chap, writing and recording its follow-up, 'IZ'.

The time taken he's taken to construct this new piece of work has been
well worth it - this album doesn't disappoint. The opening title track
sets the prevailing ambience perfectly, rising slowly like a golden
eagle drifting on the air currents. This blends seamlessly into the
second track 'Mourning Wok'; a combination of classic ambient and edgy
shoegazer.

'As Far as the Eye Can See' slides into view, and this is the first
track on the album to contain steady dub rhythms; the bassline and
shimmering ambience collide gently, keeping my head nodding steadily. As
the bassline subsides we sink into 'Disco Bay'. This is Eno-esque
territory; reminiscent of a favourite comfy sofa, the pads enveloping
you like warm cotton wool.

Absolutely sublime.

Crashing waves mark the entrance of 'Bubble in the Sky', coming on like
a stoned Harold Budd with the added benefit of lush orchestration, spun
out with heavy reverbs and analogue synths, FX burbling and bubbling
away throughout. 'Secret Island' wafts in with a wonderfully melancholic
chord structure that literally makes the hairs on the back of my neck
tingle. This is music from the chasms; a mellow bassline underpinning
subtle choral arrangements.

We dive deeper still on 'Raneboze', a mysterious track which sounds like
it's been recorded deep underground in a cavernous space, chords left to
hang in space. The penultimate track 'Orca' slithers around in the
darkness, gradually fading away to nothingness.

And then we're rising again, awakening to meet 'Your Day in the Sun'
where an optimistic chord structure brings us back into the light and
beyond.

There are a mountain of influences here, ranging from Spacemen 3 and the
Cocteau Twins, through to the very best ambient electronica albums that
you care to mention. Gel Sol has adapted and fine tuned these influences
to create an genuine aural trip that in my opinion is up there with some
of the best atmospheric chillout I've ever heard.

Check it out.

Bruce Bickerton (Alucidnation)

 

[psycho]

Down to the last 3 cd's from the first batch of promos.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gel-Sol-IZ-Ambi...oryZ1049QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So if you fancy buying the disc before it hits the shops in early May grab one! Only €2 postage for Ireland

Cheers,

Keith

 

[psycho]

http://www.textura.org/reviews/gelsol.htm

Gel-Sol: IZ
Psychonavigation / Upstairs Recordings

Seattle-based Andrew Reichel (aka Gel-Sol) created IZ as an “all-ambient adventure” for his recently-born niece Izabella, so it doesn't greatly surprise that the hour-long collection is often becalmed and meditative in spirit, qualities enhanced by its uninterrupted flow. It's far from aural pabulum, however, as Reichel extends the album's stylistic template to include psychedelic krautrock episodes and sweeping panoramas reminiscent of early-‘90s ambient electronica. Throughout the journey, speaking voices and field samples (city traffic and sirens, children's laughter, waves breaking, thunderstorms) rise to the surface of Reichel's synth-heavy settings. IZ largely opts for slow and tranquil unfurl, with the insistent bass pulse in “As Far As Eye Can See” providing a rare instance of forward thrust. The ebb and flow in “Mourning Wok” is both beatific and epic while “Iz” and “Bubble in the Sky” present immersive shimmer and symphonic sweep respectively. “Your Day in the Sun” exudes the peacefulness that sets in as a child drifts off to sleep, heartened by the echo of the mother's “I love you,” but the most beautiful moment arrives with “Secret Island” where placid tones and angelic voices draw the listener into their paradisiacal grip. Elsewhere, the billowing streams and whooshes in “Disko Bay” are so free of grit and grime, they call to mind the equally “clean” tone of ‘70s synthesizer albums, while the suitably grandiose “Orca” sometimes sounds like a veritable Tangerine Dream homage in its buildup of bass synthesizer propulsion and galaxial tones.

July 2008

 

[psycho]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/maryannehobbs/

1hr 52minutes in

oohh the way she says Psychonavigation label

 

[psycho]

http://www.thesilentballet.com/dnn/Reviews/tabid/54/ctl/Details/mid/438/ItemID/1622/Default.aspx

Gel-Sol 'IZ' Psychonavigation

Score: 7/10

IZ begins with the calm inhalation of artificial intelligence.Gel-Sol lets the sunset simmer in the pan as a warm wash of synth caresses our ears and bundles us up for our journey. This is one of those albums that makes me believe that the machine playing the CD is actually a sentient being, and we are privy to its personal dreamscape. The machine, in this case, is pretty pleased about life! Think M83's Dead Cities, Red Seas, Lost Ghosts meets Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey (minus the menace), and you have a pretty good idea of what Gel-Sol's third album sounds like.

The opening track "IZ" bathes itself in fuzzy ocean waves and a warm pelt of synthetic chords. An oboe soars high aloft like an albatross on the solar wind. As we drift above the planet, we get a few echoey vocal acknowledgements from the host computer courteously admitting us to its subconscious. These voices are probably from obscure films, originally, but we've never seen them, so the illusion is maintained. Onward to "Mourning Wok"! We pass by a pair of alien species speaking in an indecipherable tongue on their back porch before we slide down a lugubrious river of lush, chordal melodies. IZ is heady and full of cinematic flourishes. If you've ever heard Front Line Assembly and wished they would just get off the speed and take some downers, then this album is for you.

Third track "As Far As Eye Can See" would be the hit single if they played ambient space drone on the radio. For this irresistible song, Gel-Sol ups the vibrancy by stealthily adding a muffled, bubbly bass beat along with a texture of flitting, atmospheric rhythms to get us moving at a delightful little trot. This is the only song on the record with any discernible "beat" but you're not going to be compelled to dance unless you are a stardust-eating, ballerina panda bear, so watch the animals dance instead. On top of this pleasant, motoric rhythm a guitar hooked up to a Tesla coil does a call-and-response with a large crowd of samurai on the main deck of our dream space station (one of my favourite moments). Gel-Sol's use of samples and overlapping melodies makes for some easily-achieved synaesthesia. He manipulates his sound layers quite fluidly, and wow, I am enjoying this record!

The overall sound is a polished, psychedelic ambience, much akin to a beat-less Boards of Canada or Boom Bip. But, where those bands go "glitch," Gel-Sol goes "shimmer," especially through the middle third of IZ. Our computer friend gets to a point where it's between sleep and waking, and it begins to breathe through its giant, metal bellows, and exhale through thousands of 16-bit vents. As if in response, a lady (Computer Gaia? Big Brother's sister?) gets on the dream P.A. with a fairly brain-washing tone and encourages the dreaming computer that its family loves it when it dreams. At first I was really turned off by this voice, as it felt like an interruption, but I eventually forgot she was talking at all. I drifted back into the flow of slow-motion respiration, letting the voice convince me that I was safe, until I was back inside the lunar bio-dome, arms folded over my knees as I stared out the window at Earth, wondering if I'd ever return. The album is an hour in length, but I could have listened to several hours more. Once the final resolving melody, the softly spoken words of love and wash of rain faded away, I pressed play again.

There are many drone and atmospheric records that are lovely, but few really sound as major key as IZ. Certainly, Stars of the Lid are a reference point. This music is so optimistic, it could be a soundtrack to the planet that the Flaming Lips are actually from! Tropical rainstorms, submarine pings, droids singing amidst the spray of the ocean, shape-shifting birds chasing swarms of nano-bots, a metropolis from Blade Runner being bombed in the distance, and an orchestra expressed as the sigh of one string wafting its way through a galaxy - some dudes just know how to use their keyboards. In another's hands, this sound bank would reek of cheese and saccharine novice. Gel-Sol has crafted a wonderful album of songs fit for you and your computer while you both sleep peacefully, side by side, leaving our wanton civilization behind.

-Nayt Keane


Buy the cd here : http://www.psychonavigation.com/iz.html