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Stephen Philips: Yukon
ByThe next piece, "Isolated Depths," lasts about 26 minutes and is a big long drone affair punctuated by zaps and swoops, and interspersed with heavy pulse tones which are sometimes so low that they are hard to hear. The last piece, "Ominous Stranger," lasts just short of 30 minutes and is all drones, with less variety of sound and more extreme use of ultra-low pulses and click tracks.
This is certainly not "musical" in the conventional sense of the word; it has little rhythm and almost no harmony. It is definitely not for the casual listener or for an ambient fan who wants a relaxing "atmosphere." Its drones and sound effects are purely experimental, along the lines of many highly abstract types of electronica currently being produced in the USA and in Europe. And although Philips wishes to evoke the frigid wastelands of the North, I was more reminded of outer space and even UFO's by these sounds. The toneless low drones could be the sound of the engines of a futuristic starship; the buzzes, bleeps and clicks could be the language of some other sentient, but very alien, visitors.
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Title: Yukon | Year Released: 2001 | Record Label: Dark Duck Records
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