Music:
Member Since: 4/15/2008
Band Members:
Alain Eskinasi- Synthesizers,percussion and production
Jim Wafer- Didgeridoo (Brainscapes)
Derek Mulder - Crystal Bowls (Chakradancer)
Natalia Gotbolt- Vocal(Brainscapes 2001)
Kailash Kokopelli- Native American Flutes
Influences: Also find me on :
http://www.myspace.com/alaineskinasi
http://www.myspace.com/electrococoamsterdam
http://www.myspace.com/professortranceandtheenergisers
Sounds Like:
DISCOGRAPHY:
Brainscapes 1992,rereleased in 1995 CyberOctave Records,USA
ChakraDancer 1997 CyberOctave Records,USA
Brainscapes 2001 2000 CyberOctave Records,USA
Before Amsterdam native Eskinasi came to Higher Octave in the lively African dance band Soto Koto,before his time with Frank Natale of "Professor Trance" and long before he became a founding member of the jazz-imbued band 3rd Force, he was known as Holland's first New Age artist because of his devoted work on the project that produced Brainscapes.
"There was absolutely no commercial consideration when we created this music, " Eskinasi admits. "In fact, originally it was aimed at just a few listeners, an audience who wore headphones and experienced the "Brainscapes " sounds while viewing shifting colored light patterns in a holistic healing environment. True "Now Age" music."
But far from being only a tool to aid higher consciousness, "Brainscapes " took on a life of its own as those who came under its spell spread the word of its musical beauty. The demand was so great that Eskinasi released it to the public, and it became an ambient music hit in Europe. Now the rest of the world can discover for themselves the sonic beauty and deeply moving effect of Eskinasi and Wafer's music. CHAKRADANCER
Eskinasi,along with Derk Mulder(crystal Bowls,overtone chanting)ventures into the more meditative side on this follow-up to the sonic grandeur of the spellbinding"Brainscapes".
CHAKRADANCER-Brainscapes
This review first appeared in the January 1998 issue of "VISIONS MAGAZINE"
Released on CyberOctave, a Higher Octave label, "Chakradancer" dispenses with the didgeridoo featured predominately on their first release and replaces it with crystal bowls played by Derk Mulder.
The bowls, along with the "haunting moods, the subtle voices, the repetitive and mesmerizing percussion all are ingredients which culminate in one of the most enchanting instrumental releases in recent memory."
Of the eight tracks on "Chakradancer", my favorites are "Earth-Link," "Give-A-Way," "Vishuddha"-with its magical use of whale sounds and Sanskrit vocals, "Sound Of Light," "Crystalline," and the CD bonus track, "A Voice Inside." All tracks are over seven minutes in length with the whole CD running at close to an hour.
After listening to "Earth-Link," and "Give-A-Way,"-with their hypnotic beats, the distant, haunting chants and the layers of "synthesized atmospherics," it wasn't hard imagining myself walking the streets of ancient Sumer with Enki in some long forgotten age.
BRAINSCAPES - BRAINSCAPES 2001
In 2001: A Space Odyssey, visionary film director Stanley Kubrick charted new cinematic terrain as he took viewers on a psychedelic trip into the 21st century. With Brainscapes 2001,visionary Dutch musician Alain Eskinasi similarly employs new musical sounds and forms to take listeners on a sonic journey into the new millennium. If Kubrick's astronauts had happened upon a nightclub in the year 2001, this is the kind of music they might have sampled.
This is the third Brainscapes recording to emanate from the Amsterdam studio of this prolific composer, arranger, keyboardist, guitarist and percussionist. The first two dealt with,respectively, music's effects on the brain and the emotions.Call them sound collages where ambient, trance-dance and meditation music meet in seductive and mysterious ways.
His latest project distills elements from the first two records, but adds an uptempo dance aesthetic to the mix. The music is still imbued with a mesmerizing, otherworldly quality, but is now layered with an infectious groove that moves the feet as it uplifts the spirit.
Says Eskinasi, "After doing two mellow albums and working so much with Trancedance , African and Smooth Jazz projects (including the legendary groups 3rd Force and Professor Trance and the Energisers), it was time to apply some more groove to my own work.
From the throbbing opening bars of the first track, "Sweet Thing," Brainscapes 2001 lives up its creator's billing as intelligent dance music. Eskinasi lays down an uplifting percussive vibe overlaid with a sinuous, haunting melody , lined by a bewitching combination of keyboards, wordless vocals and flute. This infectious groove plucks the listener out of his easy chair and places him firmly in a first-class seat on Eskinasi's pulsating trancedance express.
Eskinasi sums it up this way: "It illustrates how music and style comprise a universal language, one that transcends race, culture,style or language." Hal 3000 couldn't have said it better.
Record Label: Higher Octave
Type of Label: Major
