Album Review: Alper Antmen - Eşik Altı (2020)
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| Picture Credit: Alper Antmen Photo: Zeynep Girgin Artwork: Hazar Ekinci |
Alper Antmen - Eşik Altı
Release Date: November 09, 2020
Label: Venus Music
Format: CD / Digital
Length: 28:10
Genre: Psychedelic Folk / Anatolian Music
Origin: Istanbul, Turkey
In the reals of Progressive and Psychedelic Rock, Alper Antmen is mostly known for being the guitar player of Istanbul's Kırkbinsinek. Parallel to that, Antmen has worked on his own music for quite some time.
As other things often took a higher priority, the completion of "Eşik Altı" (Turkish: "Under Threshold") got delayed several times. Now in late 2020 we can finally listen to the seven psychedelic improvisations by Alper Antmen who played cura, e-bow, microtonal electric guitar, sitar, harmonica, sipsi, rainstick, tibetan bell, bendir, maracas and synthies on "Eşik Altı". Guest musicians are Hasan Orak Ekinci who contributed with talking drum on 'Penç' and 'Irmak', and Volkan İncüvez who played the ney on 'Peryavşan'.
The instrumental music on "Eşik Altı" is like a fantastic journey. The acoustic sessions may launch in Anatolia and then set off and magically take the listeners to spheres where terminations like East or West, up or down do not matter any more.
Sounds full of desire are the dynamic motor of this mind-enhancing experience. Alper Antmen combines musical influences from Anatolia over Arab and Persian regions up to the Himalayan highlands. When listening to "Eşik Altı" you can imagine being in a hovering flight and enjoying the beauty of the Western and Southern part of the Asian continent from above.
There is a steady melancholy covibrating with the sound on "Eşik Altı" which might be wanderlust. The psychedelia in Alper Antmen's seven improvisations mesmerizes body and mind like a good hit from an opium pipe. The movements of each song ressemble those of a snake, appearing slow and cautios at first sight, but revealing their dexterous agility less than a second later.
Many of the stunning effects on "Eşik Altı" I cannot even put in words. My hearing might be coined by Western music too much. Take the microtonal scales for example that are often foreign to people who were brought up with Jazz, Blues and Rock.
But I can tell you this much. "Eşik Altı" is a mind-opening experience and a beautiful journey that easily crosses boundaries of genres, origins and time. Alper Antmen has created a gorgeous psychedelic séance for body and mind.
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