Geomatic - "64 Light Years Away"

Artist: Geomatic
Album: 64 Light Years Away
Year: 2010
Label: Tympanik Audio
Genre: Tribal, IDM, Electronica
Website: www.myspace.com/geomatic1












Basics:
2nd full length album for Geomatic after a successful release on M-Tronic. To be honest I'm not really sure why an industrial/idm label is releasing this; it's mostly tribal electro which could be compared to This Morn Omina, T'zolkin, Juno Reactor, Banco De Gaia, Amythestium, Shpongle, Kitaro (seriously), etc. The name of the album, I imagine, refers to HD189733 which is a planet that scientists recently discovered contains water and is 64 light years away from our sun. If that is indeed accurate, than the title is kind of fitting for this music.

Good stuff:
- tribal shit. I like the fact that this album is predominately a tribal album, rather than just an electro album with tribal influence. The tribal elements are well done and sit nicely in the mix. If you like tribal/world music and dark electronic stuff than this is the one for you.
- atmosphere. Similar to the first point, Geomatic conveys convincing atmospheres through their solid use of tribal elements coupled with modulating synths, pads and complex, yet organic sounding, beatwork.
- production. The production and engineering is really good all around. There are a lot of programs out there that "replicate" the sound of physical world instruments (badly), and I'm happy to say that 64 Light Years Away sounds like the genuine traditional music of an advanced alien race, rather than crappy imitations of traditional instruments slapped over some synths.
- unique style. When someone asks you what a similar artist to This Morn Omina is, not too many names pop into your head now do they? Just so no one gets the wrong idea, Geomatic is hardly a TMO clone; their music is distinct and mature enough to set them at the top of list of tribal electro acts.

Bad stuff:
- lack of dynamics. I've heard a few people comment that new Tympanik releases have become part of the "loudness war", which is, in short, trying to make an album as loud as possible at the expense of dynamics. To claim 64 Light Years Away is an offender is not entirely false; it is a bit over-compressed and could have more of a dynamic range, although its not noticeable enough to get on my nerves.
- lack of melody. I'm a huge melody junkie and, just as a personal preference, I would have liked this to contain more melodies. The ones they use, however briefly, are good ('The Fourth Plane' comes to mind) and serve to massively enhance the otherworldly atmosphere, and I wish there were more. Sometimes the album can feel a bit plodding, as if it was missing one driving element (a melody) to keep it moving at a steady pace.

Summary:
Do you like This Morn Omina? yes? buy this now

Overall Rating: 8.5/10