MUSIC REVIEW

Toward the Horizon

by Craig Padilla and Marvin Allen

Hypnotic, captivating, dreamy, and vivid, the music drifts from electronic soundscapes to atmospheric textures, at times swirling and spinning through dazzling sequences and epic soaring refrains. Toward The Horizon is spacemusic in every sense. It's just what the doctor ordered to drown out the maddening buzz of current events, or to encourage new visions. The track “Tidal Disruption” suggests a better place than ours...a place similar to the album's intriguing cover, with beautiful horizons touching silver seas; “Liquid Heaven” could be the essential exploration of those same mysterious empyrean waters. One’s imagination is inspired to wander.

Electronic, ambient and rock music fans will thoroughly appreciate the resulting explosive melodies and ambient soundscapes. Allen uses Strymon Effects on his guitar, and all of the synthesizer parts on “Distant Waves” were created using only a modular synthesizer that was designed by legendary synth builder George Mattson. How does that sound in the end? In their words, "It’s a combination of our unique sensibilities. There are elements of progressive rock, spacemusic, Berlin-school, trance, as well as influences like Pink Floyd, Camel, and Tangerine Dream, etc..."

Composed, performed and produced by prolific electronic music artist Craig Padilla and multi-talented performer and music educator Marvin Allen, one would never guess it is the duo's first time working together. These skilled musicians have crafted a masterful free-flowing dreamscape that moves through a myriad of moods, revealing the many colors of an ever-changing sonic skyline. Melodic and rhythmic, surreal and drifting, the resulting music is a timeless adventure through illuminating guitar tonalities and majestic synthesizer vistas.

Very few labels offer an album "unboxing" playlist of videos, which was fun to discover on YouTube, and is just one of many quality touches that makes Spotted Peccary such a fine record label to follow; watch the unboxing of Toward the Horizon or visit Spotted Peccary to listen, purchase and browse.

In brief: Pulsing with life and vibrant energy, Toward the Horizon (Spotted Peccary Music, 2019) is a striking collaboration combining electronic music veteran Craig Padilla’s analog and digital synth mastery with the electric guitar wizardry of Marvin Allen.

Toward The Horizon releases today, February 22, 2019. on Spotted Peccary Music in both
physical and digital formats, as well as 24-bit Audiophile format.

Track listing:

1. Toward the Horizon (17:39)

2. Distant Waves (4:58)

3. Tidal Disruption (13:06)

4. Beneath the Surface (13:24)

5. Hidden (11:00)

6. Liquid Heaven (4:35)

Review: Inner Rhythm Meditations

Byron Metcalf is a man that pours his soul into every avenue of his work. The passion that he holds for healing is ever-present in his latest release entitled Inner Rhythm Meditations: Music for Expansive Awareness & Inspired Movement, which is comprised of six soothing tracks that evoke a sense of peace and serenity. Explore his history, and one quickly learns that Metcalf is a man who goes above and beyond what is expected of him in order to breathe life into both his artistic and scientific achievements.

The beauty of the nature of the songs in Inner Rhythm Meditations is that they can be used as the background for personal meditation or listened to as simply blissfully serene music.  The opening “Garden of the Peaceful Warrior” woos the senses with the presence of resonating bansuri flute and very soft percussion running throughout the background.  The stage is set for the listener to delve deep into their subconscious and commence the process of transformation. A bit of trance influence can be noted in “As Clouds Dance” along with the incorporation of more drum work performed by Byron. The intensity and the frequency of Byron’s beats progress into “A Perfect Place” which serves as the climax of the album.  At this point, the listener is fully invested in the journey. Sailing into “The Awakened Heart”, this track evokes a sense of floating and conscious presence. It is the sonic equivalent of existing in the moment and simply being. Capping off the album, “The Presence of Longing” brings the listener back into an actively emotional state with the languid sounds of distant flute and gentle, tinkeling sounds in the background.

Byron Metcalf

As a man whose musical career spans over 5 decades, Byron Metcalf has the adequate tools to create a breadth of music that coincides with his HoloShamanic Integrations.  His enthusiasm for examining the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness has earned him high acclaim and success in facilitating personal growth and healing inner turmoil.  For over 25 years he has been using sound, breath work, and music to buffer his shamanic practices and benefit the greater good in the most organic way possible and proving that the most important tool in healing is the mind.  

Metcalf shares his HoloShamanic Integrations in select workshops throughout the year. He offers an intensive retreat that combines shamanic practice, transpersonal psychology, ancient wisdom teachings, and various contemporary methods of spiritual growth and personal transformation.  The next retreat, scheduled for March 15-19th in Frost, West Virginia, will also incorporate the work of Karen Malik, MA, a uniquely gifted workshop/retreat facilitator, therapist and healer. Tickets are available from The Inn at Mountain Quest.

The Inn at Mountain Quest

To explore Inner Rhythm Meditations and Byron Metcalf's trance dance, meditation and drum music visit www.byronmetcalf.com or Bandcamp.

- Samantha Garcia for BEING