WAVE: A Los Angeles Compilation review - A collection of moods
Antriksh Bali gathers an eclectic mix of local musicians with the WAVE: A Los Angeles Compilation. Besides Bali, we've got appearances from Lunar Drive, push.audio, Arma Puros, and Animals Over People. The whole soundtrack is worth a listen, and now I'm going to have to dig deeper into each of these individual talents as well.
The WAVE compilation with ambient but weighty sounds of Lunar Drive. "Wupatki Crater (Instrumental)" flows with some deep bass and feels extra wavy, just like the compilation title suggests. After listening through the full album, I've realized this track really sets the mood for the rest of the tracks to come.
Now we got a pair of tracks from Antriksh Bali, the organizer of the album. "Hive Minds" is some intense ambience with dripping water, glitched out noises, and an ever creeping background hum that makes you just slightly on edge. As I'm writing, I'm getting a disturbing feeling from this track. It has a constant pressure to it that ebbs slightly but never goes away.
In much the same mood, we get "Crawl." A blanket of endlessly lingering sounds move all around as a piano just too slowly keys out a melody. The music itself begins to warp and invert until a strong melody appears with some heavy drum and bass work. This track really builds into something I wasn't expecting, but what could you expect with that opening. The track almost degrades from here. Glitches and screeches begin to seep into the music. Finally the music comes to an end. The track itself is still going though, in a mixture of warped sounds.
"101 Machine Sounds" is like the start up sounds of an old arcade machine, and quickly cycles through what I have to assume really is 101 different jingles and sound effects, because I am not going to count them. The sounds aren't disparate though, and flow quite well between each other. I'm not sure if I just listened to a hundred little songs, or one experimental collection of sounds formed into a song. I know I enjoyed it though. I expected it to be as jarring as going through the sound effects menu of an actual game. It takes that aesthetic of scrolling through a list of sounds and makes a whole piece out of it.
Ama Puros quickly builds up some catchy sounds in the track "Revival." A head bobbing hip hop beat, backed up by some chill jazz instrumentation. So extra smooth. I'm really keeping this one with me for a while. It just feels extra uplifiting. I think it's that dreamy piano mixed with the rising sounds of the track finale.
Animals Over People proves me wrong when I said earlier that this is an electronic album with the smooth sounds of "Genesis." Smooth guitar strumming without any impediments in the way. It's sunny, it's calm, whatever happened in tracks two and three are behind us now, and we can take a moment to rest. Combined with Ama Puros on the previous track, these two cuts make for a wonderful little oasis between the intense atmosphere of the surrounding tracks.
I think this is the point where I fall in love with this compilation. I think I am more a fan of compilation albums than most, but I was blessed with a few really good ones I enjoyed in my youth. In my line of blogging now I also enjoy the compilation because it is a fast way to introduce me to lots of great new artists very efficiently. I love to listen to full albums more than singles, so when a band tends to release mainly, or only, singles, I have a hard time keeping up with them. An album seems final, and a good jumping in point. Episodic content is good too. I'm getting off track.
There are still 4 tracks left and I for one am excited. I'm immediately rewarded for that with "I.AM.EM - Continue? (Interlude)" by push.audio. The track immediately drops that Daft Punk old school pump it up style to it, before vibing back into a chill summer mood. The hard hitting beats pop up again as the chorus comes through.
Antriksh Bali image via bandcamp
Now we get some real atmospheric sounds from "Ninja/1869 - The Woman in the Walls." This track combines Guitars by Ninja/1869 along with effects and production from Antriksh Bali. The track is also the lengthiest on this compilation, clocking in at an intense nearly 17 minutes. All of it very disturbing. I'm having a lite night writing session here and I'm a big wuss so I'm pretty creeped out by some of these noises. Especially since I have (cheap) noise cancelling headphones on and I can't really hear the real world around me. When Ninja is dropping in a tinge of creepy effects hear and there throughout the entire track, it gets to you man. It does.
We've got another one though. The far more melodic, but no less creepy vibes of Antriksh Bali's "Eyes." Things don't stay all that melodic for long though, as the track takes a deep dive about midway through, like entering another dimension. Maybe this is what passes for soothing music in this weird realm I find myself in now. Oh, but then that piano starts to shine through like a ray of light. That gives way to some futuristic sounding tones and beeps. It's chill for a moment. Until it isn't with the crashing of glitched out drums and constant metallic whistles. Then it all just drifts away again. I feel like I need some context. I also feel like I don't want any context. This song just happened, and it was an experience. And when combined with the previous track, I have been some places mentally and musically today. This is what I'm here for.
Things end the way they started, with catchy music from Lunar Drive. "Day What A Day" is an invigorating way to come out of the foreboding sounds of the previous tracks. The track quickly shifts into a lofi dance track with haunting, slightly whispery vocals. Then comes some more confident vocals from a second singer. As we hit the chorus, sounds seem to get more spaced out as the track drives forward.
I had an initial list of artists to look into and see if they've done anything since the last time I wasn't depressed and had the spoons for writing. Unfortunately I'm a year late to this album, but I knew for sure I had to check out what Antriksh Bali was up to, and yeah man, take a break after this one. You all knocked it out of the park. Go grab the compilation over on the Antriksh Bali WAVE: A Los Angeles Compilation Bandcamp page.
“WAVE is a compilation made possible by a collective of musicians, artists and composers based in Los Angeles / California
Tracks 1 & 10 made available courtesy of Lunar Drive
Tracks 4 & 7 made available, courtesy of push.audio
Track 5 made available, courtesy of Arma Puros
Track 6 made available, courtesy of Animals Over People
Tracks 2,3 and 9 written, composed and performed by Antriksh Bali
Guitars on track 8 by Ninja / 1869, Synths & Mod Effects by Antriksh Bali, track mixed and produced by Antriksh Bali
All rights reserved by all artists that have generously provided their musical and visual expertise for this compilation
credits
released November 16, 2020”
