George Isaakidis - Navigating The Kali Yuga Vol. 1 (Optimo Music)

 

Title: Navigating The Kali Yuga Vol. 1

Artist: George Isaakidis

Label: Optimo Music

Cat Number: OM 53 D

Genre: Ambient Meditation Aid

1: Ourania

2: Sa Caroca

3: Apana

4: Deer Horns (The Lower Triangle)

5: Slow Ecstasy

6: Deer Horns (The Upper Triangle)

7: Le Jardin Et Son Jardinier

So ‘Ourania’ sounds like an updated version of the Buddha Machine. One of those little boxes that plays a single loop which is designed to induce calm and reflection. Plenty of other things of course, which is no surprise as George Isaakidis is someone who has, in the midst of an ever-changing for the worse world, used yoga as a way to make sense of it all and to pin down his own life. The different pieces presented here are an aural representation of his journey and, I assume, an accompaniment to the philosophy he has embraced. I’m not even going to try and make sense of something I really don’t have the knowledge to make informed commentary on. However, the different compositions here each deploy an ambient structure which is difficult to ignore and which fluctuates according to different requirements. More or less beat less, rhythm is elicited from the listener by a subconscious coaxing. ‘Deer Horns (The Lower Triangle)’ sounds like slow, friction-led techno played underwater. ‘Deer Horns (The Upper Triangle)’ is a 12 minute piece of undulating nebulosity which invites the listener to pour whatever into the void. The slightly abrasive ‘Slow Ecstasy’ comes across as a simmering jog to the senses in the midst of the meditative fug, while ‘Le Jardin Et Son Jardinier’ is a marathon length vibration within an imaginary sensory deprivation tank. “The Kali Yuga, the fourth and final part of the yuga cycle – a ‘dark age’ filled with war, conflict, and declining spirituality.” Here soundtracked 

feels like a voyage into an expanding universe, the boundaries of which will be forever tantalisingly out of reach.