HiRez Poll Booka Shade - Dear Future Self [Blu-Ray Audio (Dolby Atmos)]
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After due consideration and repeated playing of this "Galvany Street" and "Point", I have to say that this tops them all. Atmos seems to bring all the different channels together into a single coherent whole, in a way that I've not experienced with any other quad or a 5.1 mix, even in my 5.1.2 system. I am completely blown away by this disc. The run of tracks from "Sacred" through to "I Go, I Go", then the last three are just immense. Electronic music, and especially dance music I believe lends itself to an immersive, enveloping experience in a way few other genre's do. This is evidenced by previous efforts by Pete Namlook on DTS CD, Schiller's "Leiben" on SACD, the Depeche Mode albums "Ultra", "Violator" and "Songs Of Faith And Devotion", Yello's "Point" and Kraftwerk (watching on a projector in 3D with Atmos going is complete sensory overload BTW, you should try it). But this beats them all. The last few months, starting when I got Schiller's "Morgenstund", then "Galvany Street", "Point" and now this have been, as I've said elsewhere, nothing short (IMHO) of a paradigm shift in demonstrating what surround music is capable of delivering. But "Dear Future Self is, in my view, the current pinnacle. I'm giving this 10, because it's as high a score as I can give.
This surely is an album to own if you have an Atmos system! Height speakers are used in a great way. Bass is fantastic as well. The only thing that keeps me from voting 10 is that I am not too crazy about one or two tracks in terms of composition. That's personal of course, and all in all to me this is a solid 9.
Not every track is my cup of tea musically, but the Atmos mix blows most surround music titles out of the water, stomps on them and then farts in their face for good measure. The only competition I've heard that competes with this mix is Booka Shade's own Galvany Street and Yello's Point album (which I maintain is Atmos' Dark Side of the Moon equivalent as the current god of Atmos music and I love almost every track on that album), but to not give this album a 10 would make a mockery of the number 10 because most of the surround albums rated 10s aren't in the same ballfield as this album in terms of surround sound. I feel the ratings system fails in that regard.
I also have to say "Perfect Way" may be the single best Atmos track of all time. I play Yello's album track after track, but even when I'm done I feel be need to play Perfect Way afterwards because the all encompassing bass drum surround starting in the front, moving like freeway passing lines on both sides of the room and then thumping more traditionally in your very skull is like Sonic Nirvana. It's like a safe high. And I'm not a big club type fan, but this crazy good. I can't get it out of my head.
If you have Atmos, you NEED to hear this album (and Yello too!)
I also have to say "Perfect Way" may be the single best Atmos track of all time. I play Yello's album track after track, but even when I'm done I feel be need to play Perfect Way afterwards because the all encompassing bass drum surround starting in the front, moving like freeway passing lines on both sides of the room and then thumping more traditionally in your very skull is like Sonic Nirvana. It's like a safe high. And I'm not a big club type fan, but this crazy good. I can't get it out of my head.
If you have Atmos, you NEED to hear this album (and Yello too!)
OK, I'm looking for a copy now!
I agree 150% with your comments on Point and Galvany, my 2 go to Atmos albums to listen to and also to demo for friends. Great stuff here.
Dear Future Self and Point, both miss the mark, for me, musically. Mixes are great.
But I'd put Kraftwerk Catalog and Galvany Street far above both, just in Atmos.
And then there is Auro-3D... There are titles that not only rival, but, IMO, top Atmos titles in sound, mix and musical quality...
But I'd put Kraftwerk Catalog and Galvany Street far above both, just in Atmos.
And then there is Auro-3D... There are titles that not only rival, but, IMO, top Atmos titles in sound, mix and musical quality...
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tbh i think i may be one receiver down from the Auro-3D capable models in Yamaha's new Aventage AVR hierarchy but i will double check tonight by spinning a few BD's and see how it goes. thanks for all your insight
sixandnine
Member
I'm a dance music fan. I really like electronic music, to the extent that my tastes are quite rarefied. So there's a lot of dance music I don't like and whole sub-genres that I despise. I start with this declaration because on the first listen I didn't care for this music much at all. It was way too safe for me, too commercial, without bite; not enough soul, not enough electronic glitches or fractured beats to rough up its edges.
However I liked the mix a great deal. The Atmos side of it isn't particularly aggressive, but it does a much to spatialise the sound pushing it out and up in the room - I have a tall ceiling, the Atmos present here gives my living room a cathedral-like openness I can revel in. When I concentrate on that feeling, I find I could loose myself to the space somewhat - even when the mix makes bizarre choices, like channeling the seagulls in track 7 through non-height speakers. Aside from the heights, the general use of surrounds is also quite strong. The call and response between channels is fairly constant, pulsating and open. The listener is always spatially aware of the expansiveness of the soundscape - it's like dancing without moving, in so much as the music is doing the moving for the listener.
So the mix pushes up and out, which I like in the context of dance music. It cradles and supports movement of the body in space - which is what dance music, at base, should do. The exultations - the glissandos and drops - could be more pronounced in my view, but the mix here gives them due space at least. Additionally, the moment the filter (a completely overused DJ hack) floats up and down the room at the end of track 10 kinda reinvents the device for me. It shimmers and flexes like one might by being sat right over the twisting of a knob - the very action it is on an Allen & Heath.
So, though not my cup of tea especially, I've still listened to the album 3 or 4 times, in the last 10 days. And so far I'm not tired of the mix at all - even if I crave more edge in the music itself. The final tracks on the album get better - largely by eschewing vocals and just concentrating on bouncing about the room. I still wouldn't dance to this music - either at home or in a club - but its listenable enough and gives my speakers a work out, even without my movement.
Music: 5.5-6
Atmos mix: 9
The final vote given above accents the mix over the music because that's what is driving me to listen.
However I liked the mix a great deal. The Atmos side of it isn't particularly aggressive, but it does a much to spatialise the sound pushing it out and up in the room - I have a tall ceiling, the Atmos present here gives my living room a cathedral-like openness I can revel in. When I concentrate on that feeling, I find I could loose myself to the space somewhat - even when the mix makes bizarre choices, like channeling the seagulls in track 7 through non-height speakers. Aside from the heights, the general use of surrounds is also quite strong. The call and response between channels is fairly constant, pulsating and open. The listener is always spatially aware of the expansiveness of the soundscape - it's like dancing without moving, in so much as the music is doing the moving for the listener.
So the mix pushes up and out, which I like in the context of dance music. It cradles and supports movement of the body in space - which is what dance music, at base, should do. The exultations - the glissandos and drops - could be more pronounced in my view, but the mix here gives them due space at least. Additionally, the moment the filter (a completely overused DJ hack) floats up and down the room at the end of track 10 kinda reinvents the device for me. It shimmers and flexes like one might by being sat right over the twisting of a knob - the very action it is on an Allen & Heath.
So, though not my cup of tea especially, I've still listened to the album 3 or 4 times, in the last 10 days. And so far I'm not tired of the mix at all - even if I crave more edge in the music itself. The final tracks on the album get better - largely by eschewing vocals and just concentrating on bouncing about the room. I still wouldn't dance to this music - either at home or in a club - but its listenable enough and gives my speakers a work out, even without my movement.
Music: 5.5-6
Atmos mix: 9
The final vote given above accents the mix over the music because that's what is driving me to listen.
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Very cool album with lots of separation and good use of Atmos verbs! Definitely on par with Kraftwerk and Yello mixes (which are on top in my book). I also like the very good use of keys in the 3D space. The vocalist in me can't help but to wish there were more singing parts, lol.
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