MINIMAL WANDERINGS - AN IMPROVISATION SESSION ( W/MMI)

6LA8's jam session with MMI really created some interesting sounds, some wound up on the true album release The Stereotypes of Tomorrow and really balanced it out. Here we get practically 2 and a half hours of the balancer which is pleasant but not something you want to listen to any time. It's great music, ambiance at it's best, and the guys truly had fun making it.

Most tracks are long and laced with beautiful synth and heavily layered sounds that is one of those records that makes your eardrums almost sweat with dense intensity. If indesity was a word, it would perfectly describe this record.

A good listen to soothe the mind but not much more. For an album that truly captures the listeners attention and holds on with all it's might try The Stereotypes of Tomorrow.

I've mentioned before that 6LA8 are very good at creating beautiful and dreamy epic length ambient monoliths, such as the last track on This is Not a Conceptual Album, and I knew upon hearing that one track that this group absolutely needed to release more ambient material. Well, this first collaboration with MMI, Minimal Wanderings (An Improvisation Session) is exactly what I hoped for and runs just under 2 hours and 10 minutes in length - yes, this is an ambient monster.

If you're someone who is being forced to study for the majority of each day, constantly pressured by your abnormally anxious conscience to receive good marks and well- deserved recognition for your hard work, you're probably quite stressed. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to lay back and take a deep diaphragmatic breath and let "Time Progressions" lull your mind. The pace of this hour-long track never exceeds a steady crawl, but the ambient style is engaging enough to keep the song from being boring but is also open and airy enough to let your mind wander in the blank space if necessary. The sound is very reminiscent of Ashra's New Age of Earth but with the spacey hyperactivity pacified almost entirely.

"Mistakenly Exotic" is another monster at over 45 minutes, and is considerably less optimistic sounding than the previous track, but makes maintains a relaxing atmosphere with exotic (maybe mistakenly) tropical rain forest esque elements that make this track sound very organic.

"Coffee Break" is a short interlude that is very empty and sparse, resulting in a deep dreaminess before the beginning distant, bassy drumroll of "The Yelling Man" pours its drones out of the speakers and into your mind. The latter track is a very slow but consistently building canvas of expanding layers of deep rumbling percussion rolling, nocturnal ethereal drones, and distant and sharp psychedelic guitar noodling.

Although I think this album is truly enjoyable, it may not be suitable for people that are not fans of ambient music, but this could relaxing atmosphere I'm sure is universal. Over 2 hours might seem a bit overlong for some people, even ambient electronic fans, but the runtime flows through in no time at all if you allow this album to drift throughout the background as you carry on with your daily stressors or simply use Minimal Wanderings as a sleeping aid. 6LA8 and MMI really did a great job of crafting this beautiful experience, and I highly recommend this album to anyone in need of some serious relaxation.