The gaye device
Perfect exotica. Done so well you'd think it was recorded when this genre of wonderful music first appeared. The spirit of Martin Denny lives on!
Favorite track: Sargasso.
Daniel H Bigelow
Great music for drinking rum and fruit-juice concoctions from a hollowed-out pineapple, or just for wishing you were...
Favorite track: Sargasso.
nerrik
I love Ixtahuele in general (well except the Christmas album, I can't stand Christmas music). But I started getting into exotica in the last year and most of what I hear is older stuff so it's good to hear younger people are still doing the genre justice. This album is tied with Pagan Rites for my favorite. It has a different sound than the other albums though because it's all composed by one member with the other members doing guest performance. It's spacey-good music.
Join Mattias Uneback from then band Ìxtahuele on a fantastic exotica underwater adventure in sound! Sail the high seas, explore their depths, marvel at their strange and colorful inhabitants. Beneath the waves and through the depths, forgotten worlds lie waiting. Bioluminescent creatures that have never seen the light of day, ancient beasts of gigantic proportions, sunken continents and underwater caves all await you. Using a variety of both classical and novel instruments, Mr. Uneback paints a vivid and living tableau for the receptive listener. Amusing and entertaining one moment, dramatic and fierce the next - but most of all, serenely beautiful. This is exotic orchestral seduction for those willing to embark on a journey of imagination.
Mattias Uneback grew up in a family where both his parents and siblings supported him in his interest in music. He got his formal musical education in a music collage and then as a percussionist in The Royal Swedish Army Drum Corps. After finishing his military service he studied more music at high school with a special orientation for guitar. After that he took and completed his degrees at the Music University of Gothenburg. He is now mostly active as the vocalist and double bass player in the internationally acclaimed band The Test Pilots and as the vibraphonist and bandleader of Sweden’s internationally famous exotica ensemble Ìxtahuele. Mattias is also a much-requested freelancing studio and session musician for radio, TV, clubs and various jazz bands, both in Sweden and internationally.
For recreation and fun Mattias has lots of interest; one of them is his longstanding interest in Tiki-culture. He says it’s hard not to like Exotica with it’s jazz-, Latin- and impressionism inspired soundscapes. This is something he really enjoys on the sides of many other musical genres. Music was also his natural entrance ticket in to the fantastic exotic world of Tiki and building his home Tiki-bar and mixing exotic cocktails was something soon to follow.
Stefan Kéry, the CEO of Subliminal Sounds, musician, music historian, among other things, had long dreamt about getting some musicians together to create an underwater themed album. First Stefan suggested the idea to Ìxtahuele, but several of the band members were busy with other projects at that time so this never panned out. Stefan then asked Mattias if he could try to do it as a solo effort with some guest musicians. Mattias really liked the idea and agreed to dive in to the project.
Stefan’s life-long search for historical recordings that could somehow be related to the broad term ”psychedelic” had led him way off the beaten path long ago. Vintage recordings with an outer space theme, that came out decades before the ”space-rock” genre was coined, sometimes mirrored the psychedelic inner space quest and had an amazing ethereal quality. But there were also a precious few titles, mostly in the exotica, electronica and library music genres, that dealt with the musical fantasies of the underwater depths that had a similar quality to them. The sea as the mysterious unknown and unexplored frontier on earth mirroring the exploration of outer space and the cosmos as well as that of inner space of the mind. Stefan suggested Mattias find inspiration from recordings like these as well as from the suggestive sleeves of many of the underwater themed album covers for records from the exotica and easy listening genres. As the two continued to talk and listen Mattias started to get many ides on how he would like to depict an underwater environment musically.
The process of creating the album, composing, arranging, recording and mixing etc, became a new an interesting process for Mattias and something that broaden his views, both as an arranger and composer. The compositions on the album grew to be very personal and a little ambiguous during the process with several songs invoking personal memories.
credits
released March 20, 2019
Mattias is deeply grateful to his guesting artists/friends that has all been there for the production.
Amalia Beauregard Camp has been working with Ìxtahuele both in the studio and live. Mattias says she has been an enormous asset to the album and really put the silver lining to the track ”Sargasso”.
Sara Uneback is Mattias sister and a classically trained violinist. She usually works with Baroque music but here makes her debut in the underwater music genre where she also regales the viola.
Siobhan Parker; originally from Scotland and now immigrated to Gothenburg, is a classical oboe player and has previously contributed to Ìxtahuele album Call of the Islands as well as performing with the band live. Siobhan has gilded the title track of the album with her tone and ornamentation.
Wictor Lind is a classically trained percussionist as well as band member of Ìxtahuele. Wictor also has solid knowledge of World Music and guest on the album with both classic percussion and hand drums.
Jonathan Kronevik is a trumpet player that shines on the album with horn and trombone. Jonathan is usually heavily employed by various big bands, both as section musicians and soloists.
Carl Turesson Bernehed is a multi-musician and the original pianist of Ìxtahuele. On this album we hear his tenor voice in the choir. Carl, with his sense of stories in writing, has also written all the liner notes, which take the music to a new level.
Anders Ljungberg is primarily a bass player and jazz musician who moves within several genres and here wraps the music into his steady way of playing. Anders offers safe bass courses interspersed with improvisational elements for those who listen carefully. And after his 40 (!) gold medals from the Swedish Championships in canoeing, it's time for him actually to get below the water surface.
ÌXTAHUELE is a Swedish exotica band. They come from Gothenburg; a damp, foggy harbor town that ever since its founding in
the early 17th century has been an international melting pot, associated with exotic, faraway destinations ever since the days of the East India Trading Companies....more
supported by 15 fans who also own “Voyage Beneath The Sea”
Received vinyl, played through without issue, but it's not 180G, maybe the black is that weight, but special edition feels to be 130G maybe. Still sounds good. Mubla Na Thguob
A jazzy tribute to glittering Havana in the 1950s on limited edition double 12" vinyl in beautiful gatefold packaging. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 27, 2016
The Melbourne-based pianist's dream-like yet deeply emotional compositions are reminiscent of a lost Italian film score. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 29, 2023
