Reviews


 
Michael Oscillate is a new and fresh solo act on the dark-ambient/drone scene. He has been active since the late 2020s and has so far been very productive with 3 digital EPs, and 3 albums. The first album was digital, the next one got out on cassette and this one which is the latest has been released on a beautiful digipack via his own label Leafland Audio. An 8 track-full-length with eight tracks on it. 
 
The first track called Thermodynamic Redox sets the otherworldly ambient sound just right. A mysterious, slightly melancholic mood sets in. Icy and minimal like a quiet snow-covered landscape in the nighttime.   Humming weightless drones, frosty and glittering electronic glitch sounds, haunting AM radio voices, noisy space sounds like from some UFO going right over your head. Kind of an X-files-episode-kind of setting. Excellent intro by all means!  
 
The second track Serpentine Winds follows it nicely where the former track ended. A bit light and not as murky as the second one. Imagine how the sun sets over a frozen and snowy landscape. When frosty snowflakes evaporate into the thin air… creating a misty vapor for the sun to shine right through. A magical beautiful track that was.
 
The Third track Immunofluorescence starts with a creepy sort of intro, which then evolves into something… very deep and cosmic. A very surreal experience journey through sound. Acid-drenched analog sounds and lo-fi noise (in the background). A perfect soundtrack for one of those early Dr. Who episodes!. 
 
The fourth track DORgone begins with subtle and quiet moods. There is a very kind of organic feel going on here, anyone who is (still) having hard times believing that electronic music hasn´t a soul within could be convinced by this piece. A lot of lovely subtle things going on here, lots of quiet things for the trained ear to notice. I love this kind of adventurous ear candy! Something for fans of Biosphere here.
 
The fifth track Lonely Souls almost reminds me of Lycia. Sort of a melancholic and slightly harsh dark-wave/ambient track. Too bad the track is only a bit over 2 minutes long. Lovely and exquisite two minutes.
 
The sixth track Murmurs being also a short track further adds more of the X-Files sort of a mystery-soundtrack theme to the album. I love the way how Michael slides melodies into the experimental soundscape here. 
 
In the seventh track, Dislodge offers spoken words. If you are relaxing/chilling at this moment in a dark room, then you will be surprised by the filtered voice taking through your speakers (The same experience I had with an album with MZ.412). Interesting words to listen to ( if you ask me ). A very ritualistic sort of feel with this track.     
 
The last track Cloud Condensation With Resonation being the outro for the album and the longest track as well. Sounds of those… humming glass-like drones in some sacred temple of sorts, sounds of rain, and birds in the background. Sounds like you are sitting under a ceiling made out of tinplates (The raindrops have a slightly metallic sound to them). More or those temple-ritual gong-sounds going on later on. A very hypnotic track made for meditation, to further explore hidden areas of your mind. Might just be my favorite track on the album, an incredible ambient track here. 
 
A very cosmic but down-to-earth ambient treat for anyone who digs real ambient music.  Not wellness ambient music here, but something with an adventurous and surreal edge to it. And it feels like a 100% completed album that has a story to tell, the story starts in the beginning and ends with the end. Like a book, if you ask me. a book almost without words but with sound. Go check it out!
 
Link – Review
Link – Kalteldur

 

(english translation)

The cover unfortunately does not translate the potential and abysmal depth of this work by Micael Oscillate. Somewhere between dark ambient and noise/drone, the fields this work walks through are not easy to absorb. In fact, why not say it bluntly… they are unpleasant. Worthy of causing claustrophobia and terror. Perfect, therefore, for the soundtrack of a horror film, or at least for tense scenes where the objective is to cause discomfort to the spectator. And in this aspect, totally achieved. As an experiment, it is undoubtedly a very successful work. As music for regular listening, it will probably cause some internal damage to the most fragile minds. And that’s no exaggeration. Don’t believe it? Venture on then!

7/10


(original)

A capa infelizmente não traduz o potencial e a profundidade abíssica deste trabalho de Micael Oscillate. Algures entre o dark ambient e o noise/drone, os campos por onde este trabalho caminha não são de fácil absorção. Aliás, porque não dizê-lo sem rodeios… são desagradáveis. Dignos de causarem claustrofobia e terror. Perfeitos portanto para a banda sonora de um filme de terror ou no mínimo para cenas de tensão onde o objetivo seja causa desconforto ao espectador. E nesse aspecto, totalmente atingido. Como experiência, é sem dúvida um trabalho muito bem sucedido. Como música para ouvir regularmente, provavelmente vai provocar algum dano interno para as mentes mais frágeis. E não é exagero. Não acreditam? Aventurem-se então!

7/10

Link – Review

Link – World Of Metal Mag

‘In the deepest, darkest corners of music you will find anything and everything all as one’

– Michael Oscillate Hyperbolic Hypnosis Of Luminescence

You know a genre I don’t talk about enough?

*AMBIENT* man what a great and unique genre of music that is, I’ve talked about a few albums one or twice on here but you guys really have to understand the love and appreciation I have for this genre and why I’m always happy and excited to review a project whenever I can !

In short, Ambient is a type of electronic music that is normally repetitive and subtle In nature, using slow and steady transitions from one sound to the next in each song that passes. The best introductory artists I can recommend are Brian Eno and his album ‘Music For Airports’ and Aphex Twin with well any album you want as they are all outstanding and represent the genre quite well.

Anyway, on this album we are exploring the world of DARK AMBIENT which (as the name implies) is a more darker and moody variant of the staple genre and is normally associated with such aspects as

-Horror

-Shock Value

– Uneasy vibes etc the evil twin so to speak of the two and when done right can present quite the dramatic roller coaster for the listener.

This is one of those examples! With this album and the 8 tracks presented we have Michael exploring a whole range of different and dynamite sounds and effects to expand his use of the infamous genre.

In many songs you can hear

-Subtle repetition

-Loud, obscure noises

-Dark, moody sounds and loops

-Creepy, unsettling keys and sonic bits.

What I find so unique about this interesting take on the sub genre is he’s not settling for just the traditional ‘creepy’ sounds (although they are present) he’s diversified his reach to include more mysterious elements, futuristic vibes and out of this world experiences.

You never know what’s coming from one song to the next, yet within the distance of conceptualisation comes this brilliant bend of chaos and neutrality, light and dark, the ying and the yang presented to us all in one record.

I love this album, I love how creatively focused it is and how dynamic the various elements work along side each other to create this almost ‘dystopian’ feel overall. It’s unpredictable, strange, terrifying and adventurous all rolled into one and I doubt I’ll find another album like this anytime soon! Go check this album out and feel the divine tendencies that is, this album!

Link – Review

Link – Relentless Reviews With Corbz

Michael Oscillate is a solo artist from Austria that plays an experimental form of dark ambient and this is a review of his self released 2021 album „Hyperbolic  Hypnosis  Of  Luminescence“ which will be  released in October.

Atmospheric sounding drones start off the album while the synths also add in a great amount of dark ambient elements.  At times the music also gets very experimental sounding along with some whispered voices also being utilized briefly as well as some distorted soundscapes also being added into some parts of the recording.

Most of the tracks are very long and epic in length while each song also sounds very different from each other. The songs also stick to mostly an instrumental direction along with the music also adding in an improvised atmosphere and as  the album progresses the music also starts adding in some radio and cinemati  sounds as well as a later track also adding in a brief use of spoken word parts.    

Michael Oscillate plays a musical style that takes dark ambient, drone and experimental and mixes them together to create a sound of his own. The production sounds very dark whie the song themes are inspired by existentialism, science fiction and philosophy.

In my opinion Michael Oscillate is a very great sounding mixture of experimental and dark ambient and if you are a fan of those musical genres, you should check out this solo project. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE „Thermodynamic  Redox“ and „Cloud Condensation With Resonation“. 8 out of 10.

Link – Review

Link – DarkUndergoundMusicZine