PLACES

Jazzcomputer.org is a French underground ambient project, and one I have not yet heard prior to today. Driven by musical electrician Yves Potin, the project passes itself off as 'ambient jazz electronic' music, although as far as his latest album 'Places' is concerned, one of those labels is missing from the music itself. Althoguh dense and relatively complex in its orchestration, Jazzcomputer.org's 'Places' takes the listener on a relaxing journey through a mellow use of electronic sounds. There is nothing here that particularly excites me, but the album is quite good at what it sets out to do.

Yves Potin's music is ambient in every sense of the word. A listener is more likely to get lost in the music, rather than feel a lasting impression from the music. The truth is, the music here is far too slippery to remember, even after a few listens. Unless a listener is making a real effort to memorize different tonal ideas that Potin crafts here, one might be hard pressed to remember the music of the album, save for a few descriptive words; 'relaxing', 'atmospheric', 'spacey'. The truth is, the music works well this way; by giving a sort of no- commitments experience for the listener, it becomes that much easier to enjoy the sounds for what they are; pleasant textures to the ear. Really, it is hard to go wrong with a formula like that, but as 'Places' indicates, it can be difficult to really excel. The sounds here are sometimes reminiscent of the ambient music Klaus Schulze composes, although Potin is clever to adopt some live instruments into his sound, such as the electric guitar and koto. Like everything else here, even these live instruments wash into the sound; there is a sense of composition here, but that is more to do with the structure of the pieces- which sometimes gradually build to adopt new sounds- rather than the ideas themselves.

Jazzcomputer.org is pleasant music, but as has been stated, there is little here to keep a listener coming back for third or fourth servings. 'Places' is the sort of album that would be perfect to listen to while meditating, or going through stress counseling. Yves Potin is excellent at crafting many sounds together to still sound smooth to the ear, and while 'Places' has not been an entirely convincing listen, I will be sure to see what other music the man has engineered.

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