Genre: Ambient / Minimalist / Experimental

01 Fragmented Waves 2
02 Coolness Drone
03 Cat And Hat
04 Teenage Guitarist
05 Constantinople
06 From The Edge
07 Tropic
08 FeedWave
09 Gritty Teeth
10 Many Channels
11 Very Still
12 Solid

Mystified seems to be a really productive artist: just look at its impressive discography. 2007 issue called “Solid” on W.A.R. Productions is limited to 19 pieces (!). And it seems not to be sold-out.

Quite usual sounds are featured on the first track: it reminds some kind of quiet IDM, but it’s monotonous, tidy, apart from a more chaotic background sound. Moreover this sound will be more representative of the following tracks. A mildly distorted sound without rhythmic elements, with some vague sounds appearing, few variations, focused on the sound rather than rhythm or structure: this second track is quite a good example of the kind of track you can find in this CD. The whole is really linear apart from a weird, surprising sound (as when the needle of your vinyl jumps) appearing quite steadily… A droning slightly echoed sound space is featured on the 3rd track. Noticeable use of stereo effect. Here, we’re closer to some industrial music, and farther from ambient. “Many Channels” is closer to such a track, but is one of the few track to exhibit more perceptible changes and even maybe some voices hidden behind.... “Constantinople” begins with really deep synth sound, oscillating with tones oscillating… “Very Still” seems to go in the same direction with a low sound, almost growling, and also oscillating, while “Solid” features sounds closer to an organ… “Teenage Guitarist is more disturbed: still kinds of drones, but filled with parasites here, and with global oscillation of loudness combined with some stereo effect. It effectively sounds as some destructured guitar loops, with some remnants of tone here and there and some grating slides. “From The Edge” rather depicts some industrial atmosphere. Sounds are more metallic. Tonal changes. Anguishing atmosphere of lugubrious howlings... “Gritty Teeth” has more industrial sounds, too: echoed, vague tones, no apparent structure, closer to some industrial noisy thing.

“Tropic” sounds really different: with some kind of rhythmic beat, stereo effect, parasites largely using stereo effect, a chaotic mildly distorted background, a kind of deformed melody… Here also it’s really linear. Few modifications. Some who like the game of the “seven differences” between two pics can play it across parts: challenging. Anyway, this track is far more interesting. Sounds are nice. But, no evolution (at least almost imperceptible), no change, no surprise. It’s a fixed sonic landscape, a noisy picture almost without dynamic. “FeedWave” starts as a kind of game with waves… sometimes they’re matched, sometimes they interfere. It’s well-done but quickly boring.

Sorry, I couldn’t get into « Solid ». Sometimes noisy, but really much more ambient, mostly tidy, hardly distorted, monotonous, mostly no rhythm, (almost) no structure, minimalist (not an indicator of quality, anyway), focused on sound oscillations and hardly perceptible modifications. I guess it might be ideal for the true fans of monotonous ambient music and for those who already are dedicated fans of Mystified. Maybe the best suitable label is “experimental”. ‘Experimental’ is certainly the most convenient label in this case, when the music sounds really hermetic, addressed to specialists or other sound-engineers… At least, unattractive to my “naïve” ears. Hopefully, the price of such an item is cheap, so that you wouldn’t take huge risks regretting such an acquisition! I don’t know if « Solid » will be sold-out soon or not. No matter : the goal of such a specific music sub-genre is not commercial benefit. Actually, I guess that the few (19 to be accurate) who’ll buy this rare item will be satisfied. I could notice that the few titles available on Mystified’s MySpace are rather different and much more interesting (f.i. « Burner », or « w/K Siratori Technophobia »)… So, it’s sure I cannot tell about other Mystified’s releases ! Although no tracks from this release are available online, you may have a listening and make up your mind on Mystified’s MySpace!