REVIEW: Santiago Niño - Mind Creates Meaning out on Plasma Torus

Santiago Niño, the head of Plasma Torus returns after two years ago with a collection of fresh perspectives and evolving ideas on his new record titled 'Mind Creates Meaning'. After his previous Electronica / Dance album 'From Scratch', plus releases on Lost Language, Dub Tech and more recently Ministry Of Sound, Niño is finally able to express the infinite possibilities that his inspiration and love for all music can offer.

Mind Creates Meaning is a project with no specific genres or limitations. It's an unpredictable concept, travelling from cosmic landscapes and atmospheres to experimental electronica and beyond. The 19 tracks are full of endlessly evolving ideas and uplifting moments; it is by far the most ambitious piece of work Niño has released to date.

The majority of tracks are wonderful 2-3 minute bursts of energy, like the glitched out 'Starseeder' or the experimental house templates on 'Una Palmera Flotando En El Espacio'. Tracks like 'Traps' come at you a little harder with distorted bass and pounding kicks, but before they get too carried away, Nino feathers them out, eventually mutated into another form.

The collaboration with label mate Alex Hentze showcases both of their styles well. Hentze's more relaxed, melodic style is evident here. The looping main phrase rolls around in glorious reverb whilst the skittering beats accentuate the tempo. The album winds down to a close with the melancholic 'Friends', a collage of micro-edited guitars and thin rhythms. On teh digital album only, we round off with the trip-hop beats of 'Nothing Without You'.

 

 

 

Mind Creates Meaning Tracklist
 

1.Feel This Love
2.Metropoli
3.Exploration
4.No Mission
5.The Good Things Are
6.Starseeder
7.Electric Wars
8.Prototype Race
9.Gestalt
10.Ed Contact
11.You Humans
12.Una Palmera Flotando En El Espacio
13.Give It Back
14.Traps
15.Spring
16.Stay
17.You Are Small
18.Friends
19.I'm Nothing Without You
 

 

  Santiago Niño - Mind Creates Meaning (CD Album Preview) Release Date: 15th October 2012 by santiagonino

 

Dimitri Kechagias review: Mind Creates Meaning is about to hit the stores worldwide at 15th of October. Its creator Santiago Nino, is one of the most influential Latin American dj and producer. The excellent electronica album is released  on his very own label Plasma Torus. These are the hard facts about it. Within the distant but so intimate world of digital social media there is a lot of buzz around this album and there is an explanation about it. Santiago Nino composed 19 pieces of forward thinking music that is not addressing the big rooms but rather want to communicate with those who understand music as a form of art and expression and not purely as a form of releasing the every day pressures upon the dancefloor. You can quickly label it as lounge, chill out album. The reality is a lot different and more complex than this. Mind Creates Meaning as title describes very well what is the purpose of that album. The tracks included are free floating amalgamation of sounds, vocal samples, sound effects, strings, melodies, grooves, that are combined in a such creative way that allow the listener to create coherent meaning with them. At the end of the day all of them are rapid sounds that the human mind according to its cultural background will make meaning out of them and maybe will understand them and get pleasure out of it or will see them as something that is hard to understand and will press stop without listening the rest of the song. Lets press play and let me give you my first thoughts about the tracks included. Feel This Love: intro track with plenty of dubstep style distortions and experimentation in it. Metropoli is co produced along with Airwave. It is a magnificent funky electronica style track with great swirling melodies and hip hop touches as well. Exploration: Funky dub sounds and robotic vocal samples that slowly build into a great crescendo moment of beautiful spacey melodies. No Mission: Awesome ambient track with beats that resemble the heart beating and vocal samples from Astronauts I guess. Mysterious and very atmospheric to take you for a journey reminding me FSOL tracks. The Good Things Are: Superb ambient track with balearic guitars and latin vocal samples creating a magical atmosphere. Starseeder: Spacey breaks meets drum n bass electronica style track with  inspiring sounds for sure. Electric Wars: Skippy effects, distorted sounds, weird effects, experimentation is the name of the game. Prototype Race: The title sounds quite scientific and the track its on the same dark experimental pathway. Gestalt: Cinematic dubby track with Ed Contact: Tough, rough, raw and aggressive with vocal samples about aliens attacking the world. You Humans: On the same sci-fi motif ambient track with the very spooky vocal sample about We Humans and how we manage to survive against all odds. Top twinkle style melody that highlights the vocal and acid samples too. Una Palmera Flotando En El Espacio: Relaxing sexy groovy sounds perfect to chill after a hard night clubbing. Give It Back: Skippy experimental  effects and some acid funk touches. Traps: Tough aggressive basslines that sounds like someone attacking you in your brain. Spring: The title describes the track well. It sounds like Spring coming with pleasant melodies, rewinds and distortions too. I can even start seeing the butterflies all around. Stay: Cinematic, atmospheric, emotional, sensitive beatless anthem to make your lover stay all through the night with you. You Are Small: Playful upbeat track with children voices and lovely baby style melodies dedicated maybe to your newborn kid. Friends: Harps, guitars, strings is an optimistic chilling early morning at the beach with your friends. Lastly I'm Nothing Without You: It sounds the perfect track to close the album and talk to the hearts of the listeners with great vocal samples and fragile sensitive and very emotional soundscapes. Its absolutely magnificent free floating album that invites the minds of the listeners to pay attention  and make meaning from the experimental, weird, known or unknown sounds. Love IT!  

 

 

Additional info:
www.plasmatorus.com
http://soundcloud.com/santiagonino