Inspired by Post-Bop, Jazz, Jam Bands, and Electronica. Percussionist and Musician SMiley has branched out on his own to create music that differs from what you hear in any genre. “Ocean Tech” is smartly crafted chill-ambience, mood-inducing and pure ear-candy. For anyone who is absolutely new to SMiley or what he calls “an array of psychedelic genres,” I should say that it really is a viable, meaningful form of music that goes beyond the long-standing stereotype of lifeless, computer-generated compositions.
“Ocean Tech” is the perfect example of really great electronic ambient, for its music seems to send you on an endless journey with every song. It presents a musical experience, going beyond the typical musical beats found in most electronic music, absorbing the listener in a collage of extraordinary sounds. The album is a 22-track, extended collection of songs, which you pop into the media player, then sit back and experience.
One minute you may imagine yourself at the edge of the earth, the next floating in space, the next in an emerald-green forest. All the songs within the album amalgamate into a beautiful painting of sounds. “Ocean Tech” has everything going for it. Trippy beats and crisp percussion with lots of atmospheric synths and floaty horns. These songs flow seamlessly from one to another.
To lump this album under just “ambient” or “electronica” would be doing “Ocean Tech” a disservice. What is ambient music anyway? A layer of synths, some extract sounds, blips and noises? SMiley sometimes uses all these ingredients but what makes this album interesting is the perfect craftsmanship of the recordings and the willingness to push boundaries. SMiley does not throw sounds in a big swirl in an attempt at mere fuzzy ambience. He places sounds deliberately and the composition here is superb, together with a flawless sense of rhythm.
Each song has a distinct style and identity. From the driving “Rocket Power” to the exotically laid-back, “Chacanna”, onto the up-tempo title-track, “Ocean Tech” or “The Saying Shuffle”, “Forest Grove”, the percussive “Drum Circle 2 Downtown” and “Attack From Space”. Each track fades into another weaving in and out of your subconscious; a timeless tapestry of aural wizardry.
This is the way electronic music should be. If you get tired of all the dance stuff this will be a welcomed change. “Ocean Tech” has depth, power and complex structures that appear simple on first listen. It will make the listener find different levels of music, analyze its concepts, and discover new sense of ordinary sounds. The end result is that this album does not get tiresome, and its timbres and sound collages are excitingly different.
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