WMRI - EP Discography 2008-2010 (15CD)

WMRI is Russian synthesist Mike Winchester. He has quite a few releases spread throughout the Internet, on sites like Jamendo, AmieStreet, Bandcamp, etc. And while much of it is quite good, I feel that his work really shines on a series of recent releases that he alludes to as the “Ambient Gem Series”.

~ Free Floating Music

The first in the series but the second release for me to listen to and review.

This time round we have Vidna Obmana cited as an influence and I can't disagree with that at all. Red, as a title, conjures up all sorts of possibilities but this time round an instant feeling of heat came into my head. It may mean to have colder connections but I just felt I was safely drifting on the open sea in a small open boat. Lying out under the sun, eyes closed but hearing everything around me. The sounds from a distant shore and life beneath the lapping waves. Peaceful, tranquil but with some ever present underlying threat never too far away.

A real little gem and another great offering from this artist. Yet more thanks to you and another top recommendation to followers of this genre.

~ ciderlord

Tracklist:
01.Red (22:56)

Manages to create an object of sound based on nothing with some intimation of structure. Sounds a bit paradoxical, but then it actually sounds like a very reasonable drone scape. However, I would not say it was dark as such, more empty perhaps, which effectively becomes 'dark'. Nicely done, either way.

~ Ivan1984

Tracklist:
01.Spiral Void (34:25)

The third EP in series of six. Very experimental flow of sounds, may generally look like a total cacophony, but the Warping Cells, which is a common clear synth track with noise washes. Food for those who like an experimental touch in ambient music. No examples - unique sound!

~ Press Info

Tracklist:
01.News from Jupiter (on the Radio) (12:39)
02.Moving in Still Ambience (10:20)
03.Warping Cells (8:11)

I suppose it had to happen, after three top notch releases we have finally come down to earth with this release. It is not that there is anything wrong at all with the bulk of this piece but rather that one part is so overdone it totally takes over and ruins everything else.

The track begins well enough with a rising intro, howling wind and what I first thought was a chiming clock. The main section begins as the rising ends and the winds cease to blow but the chime continues on in what I was expecting to be a declining countdown. I was wrong, the chime continues unabated. On and on it goes, on and on, never ending, over-riding all that is opening up and developing beneath it. All you can hear is the chime, fading a little at times but never going away. Coming back to the forefront and taking over again. After 5 minutes I had had enough, after 10 I just wanted it to end and still with another 15 minutes to endure. Endure is the word for it. I did get to the end but I am never going to repeat the experience of listening to this track again. Shame really as what is going on underneath sounds interesting and well worth the time, if only you could just get to hear it properly i.e. minus the chime.

Sorry but this one fails badly for me. Not what I was expecting at all but underterred I move on your next one and hope this proved to be a mere temporary blip, unlike the chime.

~ ciderlord

Tracklist:
01.Wires (25:40)

During the ongoing "black series" of EPs it was decided to make some kind of different type of experiments. Not inside ambient, but outside common synth music at all. And then this little experiment in modern classical field was made. You can hear only digital piano on this recording with some light effects that create long, wide sounds and atmosphere. Unique music experience!

~ Press Info

Tracklist:
01.Lone Tree Stands on the Edge of Nowhere (5:16)
02.Snow Covers the Whole Landscape Around (4:44)
03.And Wind Blows Through the Frozen Branches (8:37)
04.But the Life Continues… (4:52)

The fifth EP in series of six. This one is the clear space music. A short story of ocean and waves. While first two tracks are ambient in nature, the last one is clearly a sequence-based one. The closest examples are Steve Roach and David Parsons.

~ Press Info

Tracklist:
01.Deep in the Water (7:50)
02.The World of Waves (6:19)
03.Ocean Heart (7:35)

This is the last in a series of releases by a new artist to jamendo but the first to appear on site. If this is an example of his work then I for one can't wait to discover the other 5.

The description mentions Steve Roach influences which I can appreciate but the first two artist names which came to my mind in the opening minutes were Claire Fitch, for the style, and Altus for the music, as it bears similarities to chunks of his "winter embrace" series. Both excellent influences in themselves.

I have not as yet formed any mental picture from the piece but no doubt something will take shape with repeated playings. In the meantime, a very welcome addition to Jamendo, an excellent place to start and thanks for this and all the others which I'm off to try now. Highly Recommended.

~ ciderlord

Tracklist:
01.Drifting in Silence (32:48)

Emerald Sky consists of a single, eponymous long-form (40+ minutes) track. It begins with some subtle pads, amidst which some high pitched notes float, while underneath low tones—almost stringlike—put some solidity down below. The movement is slow, perhaps cloudlike. The patterns repeat, but with just enough subtle variation—like the clouds themselves as they drift across the sky.

~ Free Floating Music

Tracklist:
01.Emerald Sky (40:39)

very rich music reminiscent of the great pealing cathedral bells, echoing throughout the mountains and valleys of centuries old europe. i was immediately drawn in, and can still feel the deep tone of the reverberating bass bells, the 'singing monks' and the sweet soprano bells.

~ nifer

Tracklist:
01.Field Variation I (6:29)
02.Field Variation II (5:59)
03.Field Variation III (5:42)
04.Field Variation IV (7:53)
05.Field Variation V (9:47)

have commented in past reviews of this artist on the warm quality of his sound. This time he has gone for the colder approach and generally this aspect of the work has come out fine. He has created an attractive piece of space music which is certainly colder than his previous works but overall sounds somewhat warmer than the use of the word "frozen" in the title would imply. This does not mean I find the work anything other than very good and it stands up well to his many earlier offerings.

By chance (the joys of random play), I happened to follow a listen of this piece with a track called "whiteout" from the "like a slow river" album by Lull. The contrast was noticeable. It is not that I prefer the Lull track over this WMRI one but it highlighted for me a different approach to making a similar end sound. The big difference was the Lull track flowed, gently ebbing and flowing. It washed over you and absorbed you into itself. This WMRI track is far more active and contains many more variations with sudden and faster changes. To sum it up, it sounds "busy" and this busy restricts the colder nature of the music from fully coming across to the listener. It even totally freezes it out at times. Again, there is nothing wrong with the WMRI method and his end result is still an excellent product at the end of the day.

~ ciderlord

Tracklist:
01.In Frozen Drones (19:40)

Ruby Canyon consists of two tracks (Stone Curves & Solid Mass) that do really well at representing enormous layers of rock. The sounds are dense and slow, moving at an almost geological pace. There really are no rhythms to speak of as the deep drones are punctuated by layers of higher pitched stabs that jut out at places but don’t really interrupt the overall flow of the pieces.

~ Free Floating Music

Tracklist:
01.Stone Curves (17:03)
02.Solid Mass (27:22)

Amethystine Cave starts more ominously than the others, with shifting drones and the tinkling of crystal stalactites (the two tracks on this collection are appropriately named Stalactite and Stalagmite. But as our eyes adjust to the dark we become more settled and accustomed to the strange sounds all around. This one includes some Berlin-school-like sequences in places and some generally more dark ambient textures.

~ Free Floating Music

Tracklist:
01.Stalactite (20:45)
02.Stalagmite (21:30)

Another singular long-form piece, Citrine Lake is at once more chaotic and more silent than the other releases in the series. There is more space between the swelling notes, but some of them reach out and grow to a searing pitch before fading away—like a flash of the setting sun glinting on the surface of the water before it sinks below the horizon, or a wave that crashes over a rock only to leave behind a calm tidal pool. The waters calm as the piece progresses, but the overall pattern of rising and falling persists.

~ Free Floating Music

Tracklist:
01.Citrine Lake (43:25)

One way or the other I spend a lot of time up in the air. Later this month, I'm on my fourth trip of this year alone flying between Ireland and New Zealand. Countless hours of uncomfortable boredom interspaced with interrupted spasms of unsatisfactory sleep. Thank heavens for the like of WMRI and others for providing me with a supply of quality music to soothe my mind and ease the pain of the cramped journey. I may be flying high above the "sapphire mountains", I may even be able to see them down below me and now, finally, I can experience the sounds and feel of its brilliant landscape.

My immediate impression was one of Eastern Zen, the sounds clear and fresh like the mountain air. If the last WMRI release - Citrine Lake - was Steve Roach then this one is early AshRa. All it needs is the occasional cowbell and a chanting monk and it would be complete. It is not meditative music like its predecessor, which you could easily get lost in, but more attention demanding and memorable. Put another way, it a high quality soundscape to gently cleanse the inner person/soul/zen or whatever. I could see myself high on the mountainside just watching hot-air balloons soaring above me. Not just any standard balloons either; these are ones of meditating buddhas, sitting full lotus and with contentment written all over their faces as they float by. Interspersed with these are others; of smiling Siamese girls, hands in prayer like posture and heads topped with gold high crowns adorned and glistening with sapphire gems.

That all said, I prefer the lost enhancing lake to the sparkling mountain. Personal preference is what a review is all about and no matter how high this mountain may prove to be (and it is high) it still doesn't quite reach the excellence of the lake at the end of the day. Another gem for sure though. Many thanks for your mind enhancing music.

~ reneeknees

Tracklist:
01.Sapphire Mountains (44:56)

I can understand the reason to call this album (and 42 minute track) "Chrysolite Swamp." A swamp is actually quite a beautiful place, an abundance of wildlife and the soup of origins . . . Its fascinating and besides . . . there are frogs. My neighborhood has reclaimed some acres of wetlands and I go there to get my nature fix . . . the insects humming, the birds, the occasional plop of something in the water . .. the tiny eyes peering at me from every conceivable cover . . . it is full of peacefulness, life and vulnerability. And chrysolite itself is a greenish colored gem, gently glowing with a life of its own. The colors of the swamp.

And yes, the music reminded me of all that . . . and more . . . it was gentle and flowing and ambient . . . entirely created to cause deep relaxation and meditation and a sense of peace and well-being . . . the music performed as well as ever anything done by WMRI. It was very, very good.

~ orangeupurple

Tracklist:
01.Chrysolite Swamp (41:35)