ALIAS ZONE

Alias Zone is a cross-genre take on Ambient Dub. Loops and live musicians perform side-by-side. Grooves range from techno to trip hop and from Asian to African. The vocal drops and spoken word passages are in Swahili, Indian, Malaysian, or Urdu as often as English. Ambiences both natural and industrial appear throughout. Sampled performances range from percussionist Bashiri Johnson to president Lyndon B. Johnson, and include Bill Laswell, David Torn, Peter Maunu, and Steve Stevens. Flashes of reggae, jazz, rock, drums & bass, illbient, Berlin Movement electronics, exotica and new age also make their appearances.

Spearheaded by loopist/dub tactician Chris Meyer, Alias Zone is a spinoff of the Los Angeles ambient groove/spoken word ensemble Cosmic Debris. All tracks originated as live Debris jams, and were then edited, remixed, processed, and overdubbed in the studio.

"The music has a smoothness to it that draws you in. The aural effect from this amazing sound is not only creative, but it also goes to show the evolution of ambient music. The sounds wrap around you and creates a powerful image of musical vision. It's just so difficult to explain the aura, but one will definitely understand by hearing the first song. This is as good as it gets. I can't imagine a better ambient album. Every song is amazing. Most of the music is instrumental, but there is an occasional spoken word cut. You haven't heard great ambient if you haven't hear Alias Zone. Very intelligent and artistic compositions."
Review by Michael Allison/The Global Muse

"The music assumes a strong jungle trip-hop mix with added elements such as Bill Laswell's Acid jazz influencing the sound by virtue of his loop contributions. There's a strong ambient texture in much of the tracks as well as a diverse palette of voices are brushed into the soundscape. The sum is quite beautiful, quite engaging and new shapes appear as if called from the shadows with each subsequent listen."
Review by Gajoob

"One word, no two for (this) release - sensual and beautiful."
Hans Stowe/Power Spot 89.7FM

"Mixing sampled beats + textures with live instrumentation, Alias Zone generate a unique and funky sound which floats somewhere in a virtual space between Jon Hassell and Bill Laswell. Fruity bass loops, hip hop style beats and blissful ambient sounds merge effortlessly with sampled speech and live prose. Featured instruments include flute, piano, electric bass, guitar, sitar and percussion. The album has an interesting organic vibe to it and is simultaneously relaxing, uplifting and intriguing (which shouldn't really be possible!). A beautifully produced and packaged CD - it comes highly recommended from us here at FARFIELD Records"
Review by Nick Webb, FARFIELD