TUU - Mesh
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Track Listing
- Crack Between the Worlds 8:13
- Migration 7:28
- Kalpa Taru (Tree of Wishes) 5:09
- Mesh 12:06
- Stone to Sand 5:19
- Four Pillars 8:12
- Great Wheel 6:21
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- Debuting in 1992, TUU has hit their stride on Mesh with a musical intelligence that is both accessible and uncompromised. Slowly evolving clay drum rhythms, layered keyboards, exotic Asian flutes and sounds spun from ancient bells and bowls are their signature soundsTo Mesh is to interlock, and the music of TUU brings together the natural and the synthetic in a vivid hybrid relating the programmed sounds of high-tech keyboards and the warm element of human players with live instruments. Despite the shimmering electronic aura enveloping each piece, the overall sound is very organic, and it is this feeling which has deeply impressed listeners in Europe and the U.S.
Working from a modern ethnoambient template, the British trio delve into the collective unconscious, conjuring up timeless, primeval aural worlds. On the surface the music is deceptively serene, but restless undercurrents churn below. MARTIN FRANKLIN says that at some concerts, audience members - inspired by the effect of slowly evolving drum rhythms, layered keyboards, and seductive drones - describe recollections of deeply buried memories and images from their early lives. Coalescing gracefully in a liquid ambience, the music stirs as it soothes, provokes as it placates.
In an interview with Italian critic Gino Dal Soler for the book Trances & Drones, Franklin lists the inherent polarities in his group's music: drones and the possibilities of sound surrounded only by space; harmony and the possibilities of dissonance; repetition and the freedom of each event to happen only once.
The tracks "Mesh" and "Migration" fuse these polarities into a rich kinetic flow propelled by earthy clay pot rhythms. On the minimal side, "Four Pillars" consists of just three elements: keyboards, Tibetan bells, and gongs. It intelligently contrasts the high frequencies of the bells with the low tones of the gong and synthetic whispers, while the elongated electronic drones act as the base for the ever-evolving percussive elements.
On the rhythmic side, "Kalpa Taru" interweaves slow-moving, low ambient tones with mesmerizing flute and slowly cycling bells. "Crack Between The Worlds" explores the possibilities of end-blown Turkish ney flutes and ambient keyboard layers. The windy flutes, which open the piece by dramatically cutting through the air, are slowly engulfed by the ethereal electronics. In "Stone to Sand" the keyboards dominate, contrasting distinct melodies with notes resting suspended in the air as an intermittently struck gong and quiet Tibetan bells provide rhythmic punctuation. The album ends with "Great Wheel," an hypnotic work shifting in slow motion, where the slow decay of a repeatedly struck singing bowl hangs suspended over lush keyboard atmospheres.
These are aural paintings mixing shades of light and dark which cannot be separated. TUU's music inspires an authentic sense of mystery and wonder, diving into ambient depths without becoming too immersed in the darkness, extracting from the deep the elements it feeds upon for its power while also keeping an eye to the light at the surface for balance. Mesh will have much to offer connoisseurs of dark ambient and space musics while also drawing listeners who might prefer more traditional forms of electronica. As thunderous electronic dance music seeps into the 90's mainstream, TUU offers a tranquil, atmospheric antidote.
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TUU - Tuu + Nik Parkin: Terma
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OR CALL 212-580-9200 x10
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Track Listing
- Djinn 4:43 (MP3)
- Water Memory 8:45 (MP3)
- Magus 8:22 (MP3)
- Ghosts in the Landscape 8:51
- Terma 5:46
- Plateau 5:17
- Serpent Fire 4:56
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- TUU takes the listener on a mysterious journey inspired by the hidden teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Seven ethereal, trance-inducing aural tapestries paint a deep focus wavescape that will stimulate the synapses of World/Ambient/Electronic fans. Like other powerful ambient music, the transcendental works of Terma don't have a beginning or an end they serve as a pathway to a state of mind.
The first full collaboration between TUU leader MARTIN FRANKLIN and flautist NICK PARKIN takes a turn into darker terrain than previous TUU works featuring Parkin as a sideman. Meshing synthesized drones with resonant percussion instruments, exotic flutes and considerable studio magic, Franklin and Parkin weave ethereal tapestries which are both beguiling and trance-inducing.
Like elusive phantoms, the seven composi-tions seep out of your speakers, creating a mysterious backdrop for nocturnal musings, and opening a mental space where your senses are heightened to the subtleties of the darkened world around you. It's a place wherein the words of one title, the "Ghosts In The Landscape," can be revealed. Slowly you immerse yourself in the album's dark waters, but rather than return to the surface for air, you stay submerged, swimming deeper into a mysterious underworld to encounter the unknown.
"The title is actually a Tibetan word which I came across reading an essay by the Welsh reincarnated lama Ngakpa Chogyam Rinpoche," explains Franklin. "The idea is that the Buddha, in his compassion, left certain spiritual treasures and artifacts to be found by later generations, encoded somehow within particular parts of the landscape. Special lamas are trained to detect these treasures. When they pass the certain spot, the Terma may enter their consciousness, and then it is their skill which will cognitise it into form."
"There are stories that before an audience of hundreds they will cause a rock to open and reveal a scripture or ritual object. The idea I'm drawn to is of the unknown potential of landscape and particular forms within it; the idea that there is this hidden potential in the geometry of the land itself."
In composing, Franklin and Parkin were exploring the dormant possibilities in their own music. Their minimalist approach is deceptively simple, for it is within their rippling walls of sound where one loses oneself. Each piece is another step on the journey.
"Djinn" opens the album with hypnotic frame drum rhythms which dissolve into the fluid ambience and water drums of Water Memory. The more ethereal side becomes dominant in "Magus" as a haunting Turkish ney pierces the complex drones which drench the sonic landscape. The track "Ghosts In The Landscape" best sums up the record musically and meta-phorically with its spectral synth swirls, ethereal winds, and deeply reverberating drums intertwining in a dark ambient haze.
The last three tracks move deeper into the ambient mode. On the title track "Terma," the ominous whirling of a bullroarer sets an eerie tone as it whips over high-pitched drones, while on the closing tracks "Plateau" and "Serpent Fire," Franklin and Parkin keep you submerged within their deep listening domain with a mix of haunting drones, resonating gongs, and spooky synths. While the atmospheric works of TUU and Parkin seethe with subtle intensity, they also soothe the body with their soporific sounds. Thus for different listeners, the music may have different effects. For some, it will be the perfect way to chill out; for others it will spark the imagination, and for still others it will serve as a catalyst for unlocking long-forgotten memories, as has been reported by many at live TUU shows. In every case, these engaging ethno-ambient elixirs will transport you to a very different frame of mind.
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