Terracotta Blue's "Shores" sounds like what the album cover looks like -- a collection of lush, laid back, hazy hip-hop instrumentals inspired by the sights and sounds of south Florida beaches during a recent family getaway (those are his kids playing near the water btw(. From the smooth funk on "Maxell High Bias" to the floaty "White Sands"", the prolific DC-area producer manages to keep a consistent sound on this press-play-and-chillout project(
Guided by spiritual atmospheres of primeval forests along the Amazon River, Amazonia represents the long-awaited sequel to Mirage (2014).
Oriental percussion smoothly blends together with organic electronic beats, fusing pan-Asian soundscapes with various acoustic instruments and ever-present, detuned bird sounds in the mix.
Thanks to (in no particular order): Van Rompaey-Chen family, Rutger Verberkmoes, Tim Rayborn,Won Ki Kim, Sonn Franken, Maarten Zweers.
Special thanks to all of you out there, the fans, for always appreciating and supporting the music of Eastern Expressions through the years!
credits
All tracks written, performed, produced & remixed by Eastern Expressions / Ruben van Rompaey
Mastered by Rutger Verberkmoes
Featured artists: Tim Rayborn - string instruments / flutes,
Won Ki Kim - didgeridoo
Artwork by Verberkmoes / Van Rompaey
Cover model: Hao Chen
Cover picture by Sonn Franken
Description:
Multi-genre instrumental and vocal conquests made with love and fuzz
Fuzzed up Glam punk guitar slinging, mixed up with some energetic youth shout outs!
Getting across some Disco Rockers, Glam-stompers! Guitar riff Dodgems & Modal fanfares.'Here's the science bit… Rampressure rise!
a journey
down the roots of of our family tree
through the marrow of a breath
across the tides that river our veins
into the heart that dances us all
the pulse of a moment
infinite finiteness of a life
risen from ashes of galaxies' pyres
up the spiral ladder
again
hand to hand
me
down the roots…
time is of the essence. time IS the essence. experience. measured, marked by time. it's all we are. all ephemeral. we're in it together, we're in it on our own. we keep tripping, over ourselves, over each other, over the edge. but take heart. none of it matters, it's all a playground, a classroom, a sandbox whose boundaries expand and dissolve, contract and concretize, according to the design and requirements of our souls. and yet it all holds mass and consequence. even thought, intention, lines on a page. matter. inherently devoid of meaning yet not of message, the sole precious portal through which life can be expressed and realized. the nature of everything we know is paradox. whatever is true, there is a context in which the reverse holds. so what to do? these bodies are fleeting. time is not passing. we are. in a great relay race to nowhere. molecule by molecule, all at once. compassion resolves, fear fragments, things get more or less pixelated, harmonic or dissonant, depending on…human condition, here and now. are we nature, bending ever toward the light, evolving and refining our way toward elegance and perfection? or are we careening out, splaying to chaos, refracted, diluted, in folly wilfully bending nature to aimless, nameless faceless feckless urges and impulses? how does it end? does it? do we just pass it along? gift it as it was gifted to us when we ourselves emerged from the void, kicking and screaming? what will the state and shape of offering be, when it slips from our fingers and into the hands of the bequeathed? were they born for this? are we?
absolutely. relativity proclaims it. creative is the thread, through it all continues to move us, move through us, archetypes breathing our every move, this only every moment. we build these homes of imagination, thin air, inspiration. small stars in vast expanse of darkness we are, and yet every twinkling has its source and return in one great multifaceted beating heart. shadow only distance travelled between points of light. one way or another, we all get there together. and if from time to time we lose our way, i'll meet you, my friend, in ten billion years…this may take a while…
one thread running through these songs is the sense that the more we attempt to step into one another's shoes, see deeply and even experience profoundly from the perspective of another, the more sane our world, our interactions, our lives can become and ultimately be. some of the phrases in these songs originate from the languages and deeply earth-and-cosmos-aligned understanding of brothers and sisters born of different cultures than the ones that shaped this particular fleshy spacesuit. this heart-soul-mouth is singing these words, visions and intentions with gratitude, respect and reverence, and only the greatest hope that some idea, feeling, colour, flash of inspiration or creative healing light may come through that might be in service of repairing bonds torn asunder by pain, trauma, misunderstanding, separation, ignorance, fear and disrespect. or that might bring a little hope, light, joy, understanding, comfort or inspiration to anyone whose ears have found their way open to this momentary sonic meditation. or that might help forge another step forward toward dreaming a world we can all continue living and loving. thank you for listening. i'm still listening, too…and, to the best of my abilities, attempting to be able to respond.
