New Age Instrumental Review: Ryan Michael Richards-Experiences

Release Date: 2014

Label: Independent

Website

When you read about the path a professional musician takes often it starts when they are 3 years old. There are many that do not start their life in music until their teens. Such is the path of Ryan Michael Richards who began his musical journey at around 14. 

Experiences is his first full length recording. The album consists of 11 instrumental tracks that fit squarely into the acoustic guitar new age genre. The atmospheres created are light and inviting and set you up to immerse your consciousness into a total relaxed and spiritual state.

Experiences was recorded with Grammy award winning producer and guitarist Will Ackerman and master sound engineer Tom Eaton. As many artists do, Ryan traveled to the Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont to take an unforgettable musical journey. You can hear the influence of Ackerman in his picking style and the sound is crystal clear throughout this CD, making it an instant success. There is something about those studios that allows acoustic music to come alive into a full bodied sound. The flow and confidence of this recording becomes apparent at the outset of the lead off track.

The ever important opening track kisses you gently with the sunshine of a new day. “Her Garden” is full of earthly delights as Ryan introduces delicate guitar passages that open your eyes to a new world created by well placed notes and rhythms. Then you are led to “Pathway of Love,” a strong track indicated by the title. The music emulates the given title and it follows strongly with superb guitar playing to a path of enlightenment and joy. It made me feel clear and pure of body, mind and spirit, like a pristine mountain stream with the melting ice of spring to chill it just right.

The closer “Day of Play” is showcase of guitar virtuosity as you hear Ryan’s hand going up and down the fret board, you know he is working hard to coax all of those sounds out of his instrument. The hard work pays off as the end result is beauty and divining that closes the curtain on a masterful outing in instrumental music.

Ryan Michael Richards has created a new age instrumental classic with Experiences and anyone that has the opportunity to listen to this album should. You will walk away feeling refreshed and whole while be mindful of the fact that you can do it all again whenever you like. This is not just music for New Age or instrumental fans; it is something anyone that enjoys acoustic guitar tracks can appreciate.

5/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Pathway to Love, Her Garden, Day of Play

Tracks: 
01. Her Garden       
02. Heather Moon       
03. Pathway to Love       
04. Coastline       
05. Delightful Mysteries       
06. On the Way to the Shore       
07. Joyous Days       
08. Townbank Bay       
09. Victorian Love       
10. Daniella's Dream   
11. Day of Play

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-New Age Music Reviews Founder

October 8, 2014

Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews

Learn how to get your song on itunes at ReverbNation.com

New Age Instrumental Review: Steven Halpern, Michael Diamond and Michael Manring-Ambient Alchemy

Release Date: September 9, 2014

Label: Inner Peace Music

Website

Steven Halpern is well known for his work using music as a healing tool. In his latest album Ambient Alchemy with talented producer and artist Michael Diamond and guest Michael Manring, he takes the alchemy of sound and ratchets it up into a spectral place of ambient effects and flowing symmetries of audible experience.

The first track on the album is “Ambient Alchemy.” A blend of ambient sound, flute and multi instrumentation takes the listener far inside themselves. Chimes flit in and out as the cloudscape changes, becoming adrift in a sea of peaceful resonance.

“Rain Dream” has to be one of my most favorite tracks on the album. As I set my iPad up to play the song, my dogs’ ears perked up thinking it was actually raining with the natural effects used in the piece. Ambient sounds, percussion elements and electronica took me into a place of relaxation that I sorely needed after a month of hard core deadlines. It even put my dogs to sleep and that is a feat worthy of praise. My writing cave can sometimes be compared to the story about the monkeys jumping on the bed. In my case it would be dogs and now the dogs are sleeping happily to the sound of rain, chimes and electric guitar. Wonderment…sheer bliss.

“Atlantis Revisited” is the last track of an album I was sad to get to the end of. Electric guitar, ambient softness and a pleasant hum reached beneath the waves of my mind and found a lost place beneath the tides. It is a swimmy sensation of weightless meditation that reaches beyond the mundane world and into something more. Something that echoes of eternity and ancient civilizations that will never truly be lost, if only because of our ardent belief that they still exist somewhere in time.

Steve Halpern is a Grammy nominated award winning composer, artist and healer of minds and souls. His music has gone beyond the pale to help people battle depression and illness, making him a leader in the industry. His new work with Michael Diamond, a producer and recording artist in his own right and voting member of the Grammy’s, along with guest artist Michael Manring is an album rich with healing energy and is sure to be a hit with anyone who enjoys respite away from the everyday world. Take a walk with the healing energies of Ambient Alchemy and let it cast a spell over you.

5/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Ambient Alchemy, Rain Dream, Atlantis Revisited
 
Tracks: 
01. Ambient Alchemy   
02. Molecules in Motion   
03. Isis Moon   
04. Celestial Suite   
05. Deep Diver   
06. Return to Shamballa   
07. Rain Dream   
08. Lunar Orbit   
09. Ancient Shores   
10. Above the Clouds   
11. Echoes in Eternity   
12. Earth & Sky   
13. Stellar Drift   
14. Atlantis Revisited   
 

DanaWright, Sr. Staff Writer

October 6, 2014

Review Provided By New Age Music Reviews