Here is a little clip from Jan Kounen's film Renegade ( a.k.a Blueberry) 2004. The movie itself is not bad - I enjoyed it despite it's poor reception by the media on release. Anyway this little scene is mind bogglingly brilliant. The author of this video has labeled it as a DMT / Ayahuasca trip but I'm not so sure on that - seems like a mixed brew of various psychedelics. It's nice to play along with a bit of your own favorite psychedelic ambient music in the background.

Living in a big city such as I do here in Osaka I am always faced with the possibility of some form of construction going on not too far away from my apartment. I don't possess any sound canceling headphones so for some time now I've taken advantage of a few websites which offer free relaxing sounds online to block out the noise from my immediate environment. All of these sites offer sounds which are so relaxing.

These include sites that generate relaxing sounds relating to sleep sounds, sounds of the ocean and relaxing beaches, thunderstorm sounds online, sounds of nature, soothing sounds, rain forest sounds and sounds to do with sleep and relaxation and some sound machine online sites.

I especially like white and brown noise generators when I'm reading and the neighbors are being a little too noisy or a building across the street is being knocked down. You can also record these sounds and put them on an mp3 player so you have relaxing sound effect with you for when you travel. So I thought it might be nice to group some of my favorite ones and share them here on the psyamb site.
 

1. Sound Sleeping
Sound sleeping is a cool little sleep sounds online generator that allows you to create a kind of trance inducing tribal rhythm with sounds including drums, crickets, thunder, wind chimes, ocean sounds, birds and so on. One of my favorite free relaxing sounds sites.
Listen now.



2. Simply Noise
Simply Noise is the best noise generator I've come across so far. The user interface is clean and simple. The site provides white noise, brown noise and pick noise creation tools to help you block out noise in your environment. When a mate put me onto this site I was quite surprised at how well it was able to block out the sound of the construction going on a few doors down from me. When it comes to online relaxing sounds this is one of the best. Highly recommended for those of you who are having trouble sleeping.
Listen now.

3. White Noise 24/7
This site has a number of great relaxing sounds to listen to including rivers, sounds of the ocean and rain sounds. It also has a number of mechanical sounds which are also surprisingly soothing including washing machines, ventilators a dishwasher and a shower ! Great stuff. A good thing about this site is that a number of the sounds can be downloaded for play later on.
Listen now.

4. Rainy Mood
This is a great site that simply has one huge button that continuously plays the sound of a thunderstorm. Simple and brilliant. Possibly my all time favorite online relaxing sounds site.
Listen now.

5. My Dream Cloud
This one is a work in progress so keep an eye on this one. I really like the interface - very slick and cool. With a few more sound options this should be a big hit. One thing it does have over the other sound sites is the ability to program an alarm - very handy in-case the soothing sounds send you off to sleep. Has excellent relaxing water sounds.
Listen Now.

6. Nature Sounds
Just found this one recently. Its really well presented with a mixture of four tracks that you can select from. Each track can comprise of natures sounds such as rivers,oceans and rain sounds or you can choose from various animal sounds. That's not all however as you can also select things like traditional Tibetan instruments and even the sound of Darth Vader's breath ! Although last time I tried to use Darth Vader's breath it didn't load. Maybe Mr Lucas and Co. didn't like the idea the idea of relaxing Vader and came down hard on the site ?
Listen Now

7. Ambient Mixer
Here is a new relaxing sounds one I found a while back. Now this one is really cool - you can choose a theme ( eg grassland, summer forest, small creek and much more) and mix in other sounds to create a unique mood just for you. Personally I love the sounds of being on a ship in the ocean one. The themes are all user driven by a dedicated group of users and fans. Once you load a theme you can adjust sound levels or add new sounds and save the setting for the next time you visit. Fantastic ! Some great free rain sounds for sleeping.
Listen Now


Well that's about all I can remember at the moment. If anyone out there has some other good links for online nature sounds, relaxation sounds , sleep sounds etc drop me an email or comment here and I'll add them to the list above. Happy sleeping.

It's time for a little психоделическое расслабление [ psychedelic relaxation, Russian style ! ]. Well, when I say Russian what I actually mean is Russian and Ukrainian

The Russian trance and psychill scene has seen huge growth over the last 10 years. In the psychill side of things, Russian and neighboring region artists have sprung up out of nowhere bringing a fresh take on psybient music. The number of artists gaining releases on compilations and major labels is quite impressive. In the mix I hope to introduce the Russian sound to those people who might not have had a chance to listen to it before.

We start today with a track from Shpingida [ Igor Orlovskiy & Yulia Levchenko ]. Shpingida hail from Kiev in Ukraine. Igor also goes by the name of Irukanji through which he released the Z Lisu album in 2009 on Sentimony Records. Sentimony is a big supporter of psychill music from around Russia and the Ukraine so if you do happen to enjoy this mix head over to the Sentimony site and check out their other great artists and releases. Yulia herself has gone her own way as a solo artist under the same of NeiRula.

Next is Alexandar Daf [ Alexander Ivanov ] with his tune from the Dark Room Beats compilation on Aleph Zero records. Alexander is also working out of St Petersburgh as label manager of Microcosmos Records. He has worked on a number of collaboration albums in the past. Most noteable of these being a collab with Matt Coldrick [ Pan Electric / ISHQ ] in 2009 on the All around The World album and 2010's Prism album with Microcosmos partner Aedem.

Artist : Martin Shulte
Title : Silent Stars
Label : RareNoiseRecords
Release : March 2011
Genre : Dub Techno / Ambient
Rating :

Martin Schulte - Silent Stars

01. 911
02. Galaxy
03. Monday
04. In My Memory
05. Evening
06. The Fog
07. Space
08. Observatory
09. Angels
10. The Butterfly




Dub techno. Dub tech. Dub electro. Electro Dub. Whatever you want to call it, there are few artists or band that get the sound just right. There are plenty of groups that might kick out an occasional tune but hesitate to call it their day job. One young man who isn't afraid to wear the dub tech hat is Russian, Martin Schulte. Martin's newest album is a dub tech diamond that gets better and better with each listen. Silent Stars is an album full of lush, deep, dub chord stabs and waterfalls of echoing feedback that resonate with your molecules and relaxes you to your very core.

Martin states that his intention on the album was to reflect the thought patterns of the stars in the sky. If stars had thoughts what would they be thinking or wanting to share with us. I tend to ignore what artists say their music is about because when it comes down to it we can only make up our own minds and react to music in our own way. That's probably why I don't do reviews like this too often ;>

The album begins with the thematic 911 - a minimal glitchy dub number interspersed with samples of 911 emergency call outs. Yeah okay that could be a cheesy disaster but not this time , here it is expertly handled and Martin produces a track of edgy brilliance.