" The duality of Saul Stokes is made clear on the album Radiate (6:51). This volume presents 50+ minutes of live material from 2003, plus two bonus studio tracks from around that same time. While listening to this material, it becomes apparent that the approach Stokes takes to his studio work is vastly different from that of his live concerts. The studio work is concise, brief and as tightly arranged as a gear driven machine while the concert performances are more expansive, roaming and spontaneously organic. The concert program portion of this disc flows across five tracks. Here we find Stokes further exploring texture, timbre and his minimalistic sound field through the wavering oscillators, flicking filters, grinding crossmodulations and undulating drones of "hand forged" synthesizers. The originality of Stokes' tonality is unsurpassed, coming from an intimate understanding of the technology he's using (as he has designed and built most of his live rig) and the resulting immediacy with which his creations are brought forth and shaped... ebbing and flowing between challenging experimentation and soothing enlightenment. This otherworldly musical environment is, for Saul Stokes, an expressionistic excursion - the language of his inner life." - Chuck van Zyl (STAR'S END) - March 2004"

Saul Stokes is at his hip, subtle, glitchy best with Radiate, a combination of recent live and studio tracks. The title track oozes cool as only Stokes can, blending odd noises and buzzes with jazzy notes dropping in every now and again. Though the familiar Stokes bite is there, the edges are little softer, the tone a bit quieter than he’s sometimes been. “Wave Image Wave” is a subtle drone piece, with occasional ticks and abrasions to give it Saul’s signature touch. “Nano Flame” has a nifty clicking sound that is so crisp it is like listening in 3-D. “Oceans Light The Shore” starts on the abstract ambient side but then develops a bit more structure, at least compared to the rest. Still, even as it approaches a form of musical cohesion, it is more sound collage than true notes or melody. “Hard Landing” is an awesome rendering pure science fiction, starting like Forbidden Planet but then moving to quirky sparse alien sound worlds. Two studio tracks close out the disc in similar fashion, the primary difference being that “Curve Of Symphony” and “Vast” have a definite beat to them. Radiate is another piece of unique understated brilliance from the musical mind of Saul Stokes." - © 2004 Phil Derby / Electroambient Space

With the proliferation of inexpensive, easy-to-use music workstations available to any budding musician with a few hundred bucks and a lot of time on her hands, there aren't many artists building their own keyboards or forging songs entirely from their own self-created sounds. But Berkeley-based Saul Stokes has been making enticing, homegrown, ambient electronic music for the better part of a decade. "Fields," his seventh record, finds Stokes stretching for more serene sonic dominions, particularly on standout tracks "Furioso" and "This Road is Glowing." But there is an oneiric roominess to all seven of the albums' tracks. Stokes also demonstrates a flair for punchy, almost tribal, rhythm programming that recalls Brian Eno/Michael Brooks' murky, mid-80's masterpiece "Hybrid." Nevertheless, Stokes' greatest achievement on "Fields" is his consistent ability to generate genuine emotional warmth from cold synth sounds, making this a perfect album for a midnight drive under the stars in the dead of
winter. The only thing missing from Stokes‚ impressive compositional pedigree: some film soundtrack work to help his inviting, euphonious music reach wider audiences.
~ Joel Hanson, Resonance Magazine - January 2004 Issue

Echoes - A syndicated radio show on more than 150 Stations worldwide has chosen Fields as an "essential" CD of 2003:

25 ESSENTIAL ECHOES CDs for 2003
The listeners had their say, now we have ours when the Echoes staff picks their 25 Essential Echoes CDs for 2003. These are the discs that made us want to get up and produce a radio show everyday, music that pushed our envelope and attained a certain pinnacle of perfection.
Ranking Artist Name Album Name (Label)

****1 AfroCelts Seed (Realworld) ****
2 Saul Stokes Fields (Hypnos)
3 Jairamiji Kindred Spirits (Dakini)
4 Tim Story/Hans-Joachim Roedelius Lunz (Narada)
5 Pat Metheny One Quiet Night (Warner Bros)
6 Patrick O'Hearn Beautiful World (Patrick O'Hearn)
7 Suzanne Teng Miles Beyond (Autumn Light)
8 Rhonda Larson Distant Mirrors (Bear Behind Productions)
9 Erik Wollo Emotional Landscapes (Spotted Peccary)
10 Rasa Shelter (New Earth)
11 Samite Tunula Eno (Triloka)
12 Loop Guru Bathtime with Loop Guru (Hypnotic Records)
13 Kila Luna Park (World Village)
14 Savae Ancient Echoes (World Library)
15 Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells 2003 (Rhino)
16 Michael Gulezian Language of the Flame (Timbreline Music)
17 Joe Ebel Primebel (Ebel Alley Music)
18 Kevin Bartlett Near_Life Experience (Aural Gratification)
19 Gigi Illuminated Audio(Palm Pictures)
20 One Alternative Pendulum (One Alternative)
21 Cliff Martinez Solaris (Trauma Records)
22 Ghazal Rain (ECM)
23 Amethystium Aphelion (Neurodisc)
24 Adrian Legg Guitar Bones (Favored Nations Acoustic)
25 Code Indigo Time Code (AD Music)

Somehow converging bloopiness with grandeur, Noise Coast spreads along a rhythm-speckled shoreline of imagination. Feathery Furioso's delicately writhing dreamgrooves are laced with mutedly exotic thumps in a more-than-11-minutes floatation... so dreamy! Imiye ups the percussive element, its rippling cloudiness injected with shuffling beat particles, then topped my elastically warping leads. Against a background vapordance, vague-yet-seductive Iris… My Observatory (6:39) flutters in obtuse sweetness, semirythmically bumped into by percussive bits... beauty! From its superquiet opening, Fields grows into an expanse of ringing wavers, eventually shifting to a beat-throbbing effervescence. The iridescent fluids of The Bright Tones (Even Brighter) (12:42) bubble up to mingle with with microtribal rhythmic effects; a reflective fantasy mantra unfolds into the discs final minutes. Saul Stokes' new multitrack skills add much to his style, and in fact also seem to subtract... stripping away unnecessary elements from the gauzey layers to reveal hidden wonders inside. Fields is sexy stuff! 7 tracks/67:38

Ambientrance - David Opdyke

It's been a while since Saul Stokes' last solo CD, 2001's Abstraction. That disc, cobbled together from live material, was a living mass of curling wires and tones, splayed out in complex patterns and rich atmospheres. Since that time, we've heard a greater focus on rhythmic work from Saul, exemplified by Thermal Transfer (with Vir Unis) which operated in quasi-techno pulsescapes. It's a great disc, rather like orbiting a distant planet at great speed, waiting for an inevitable fiery decay into the atmosphere. And what Sci-fi dork doesn't like a disc with a track titled "Replicants in Orbit"? And now, Fields. From first listen, it is apparent Stokes has taken the length of time necessary to push his signature style forward, creating a completely new and fresh perspective on the hand-built synth sounds we'd heard on prior efforts like Outfolding. Though previous albums focused more on inspired, improvisational synthscapes, Fields is aligned to a composed, rhythmic style only hinted at before. One need only listen to the first few moments of "Noise Coast" to find Stokes operating with melody and texture approaching musicality from a completely different direction than before. "Noise Coast" features lush synthbursts that subtly oscillate, leaving sonic afterimages throughout the track. This is Stokes announcing his arrival into the new millennium. Track two, "Furioso" begins in a downtempo manner with snappy percussion and an urban sounding synthwhine--this is as close to jazz as Stokes gets, featuring a pretty piano backed with some expansive synth. There's also a strange ball-bouncing effect way in the background that reminds me strongly of the final track on the Namlook/Biosphere collaboration Fires of Ork 2. Track four, "Imiye" is a standout, with close-to-real drum sounds, gorgeous, billowing synths, and twanged melodies--all the while accompanied by those intriguingly odd hand-crafted synth sounds. The next track "Iris ... My Observatory" is familiar, having appeared on last year's Portraits compilation. I never got a chance to review that disc, so here's my chance to at least touch on a part of it. For me, "Iris ..." sums up Saul's recent work. Still the fascinating synth sounds, but with greater concentration of downtempo grooves, and a new luster that seems to be derived from ambient or minimal techno. The end of "Iris ..." has a melody that is melancholy and joyful all at once--and isn't this the effect all of the best music has on us? "Fields," the title track, in turn sums up Fields, the album, beautifully. The double meaning of "fields" comes into play, where Stokes conjures up both thick green vegetation surrounding, and a bright cityscape dotted with visible electric motion. So many ambient/electronic works have a tendency to focus on urban dystopia, but Stokes has a positive, naturalistic outlook which is quite refreshing. Perhaps it was not his intention while creating Fields, but Stokes has enabled a type of musical urban renewal; all bright gleaming buildings and clean, busy streets. Suddenly the city around took a brighter, uplifted tone as I listened to the CD in midtown Manhattan. This uplifted tone gradually floats higher, into "The Bright Tones (Even Brighter)." Here is the culmination of the album, a lengthy track with still more positive, progressive rhythmic ambience. And that sequence at the end is just fantastic, really ending the CD with a blissful soar across the glowing skies of the megalopolis, headed for more celestial terrain. Throughout the record, Stokes plays with unusual rhythms and off-kilter melodies; all while remaining quite listenable. In fact, this is some of the most "mainstream" electronic music I've heard out of the Hypnos camp thus far. I wouldn't be surprised if this music appealed to a broad spectrum of electronic fans, and not just us dyed-in-the-wool ambient junkies. The sounds are so well produced and lush they are almost tangible. Every detail is easy to separate from the rest, never descending into a murky sonic mess. Honestly, I just love everything about this album, which represents, for me a perfect blend of abstract electronics and luxuriant ambience, not to mention the intoxicating corona of near-IDM percussives. Stokes has crafted a gem here; one I'm steadily hitting the repeat button on, nearly three weeks later. In its way, this is paradigm-shifting work; I hope to find other artists branching outside their chosen styles, taking what they need, and crafting new forms accordingly. Exemplary work from a major talent. ___

LiveJournal for The Ambient Review, reviewed by Brian Bieniowski

Constructing his music from the gear on up has provided Saul Stokes with a truly fascinating musical voice. His music's success comes from a combination of his singularly idiosyncratic sound designs and, on Fields (67:38), a more conformed approach to composition. As expected, at the foundation of this album are the unique rhythms and timbres realized by Stokes using his custom built synthesizers; but more significant is the particular mental outlook required to undertake such a mission. On Fields, Stokes evloves beyond pure abstract expressionism and wiring wizardry by wrangling seven coherent "songs" out of the familiar chaos of his aural experiments. Attempts at analyzing this music through comparison are futile as the music's originality defies analogy. Aligning Fields with Intelligent Dance Music, classic Spacemusic, New Age or even the Avant-Garde proves inadequate. Stokes should be commended for his uncategorizability. Fields is an album full of positive energy and distinctive contrasts. It is many things: refined, warm, uplifting, comforting and contemplative as well as cold, unsettling and raw - its catchy, friendly hooks running contrary to its directionless free-form. Here Stokes revels equally in tightly arranged progressions and timeless amorphous drones. When Saul Stokes first came to the attention of the Ambient/Spacemusic scene, he was often referred to as an "up and coming" musical prospect. With the release of Fields, Stokes has definately "arrived"; however briefly... and continued straight on passed us and all our notions about Electronic Music. Today Stokes is a leading inspirational force in our diverse and talented community. ____

Chuck van Zyl / STAR'S END 26 June 2003

This is just one track, Sub.Terra, and remixes by four musicians as well as one remix by the artist of Sub.Terra. This is one John Koch-Northrup, aka Interstital. He creates Sub.Terra by processing his trumpet playing. It's a nice, a bit jazzy piece. Not spectacular, but the remixes take the track into a new territory. Vir Unis for instance adds a nice dose of hypnotic ambient rhythms to the playing and offers a nice trance like piece. Vidna Obmana, who has been a keen collaborator with various musicians (such as Willem Tanke on church organ or Serge DeVadder, a guitarist), knows how to expand a single instrument into a rich tapestry of ambient sound. Majestic atmospheric drones is his trademark, and his trumpet processing aswell as the addition of other flute instruments work great here. More beats are to be found in Saul Stokes' piece, who, more then Vir Unis, attempts at ambient techno. Beats and bass synth lines with the trumpet being slightly remotely away. The most experimental take on the material comes from M. Bentley (The Foundry label chef), who takes the material apart and stretches it out. Here to ambient prevails, but works in a lesser way then say the Vidna Obmana piece. In the last piece, Interstital, takes the original again and the four remixes and takes the whole thing further. All the elements return but somehow this is the weakest piece of the lot. Too much of a patchwork I guess and not taking it further. But all in all a nice work overall. _____F

From Vital [Number Vital 376 - Week 25/2003] written by Frans de Waard

explore Sub.Terra further, click here to view a .pdf booklet all about the making of Sub.Terra

Saul Stokes designs and builds his own synthesizers. Or at least he tries to. By his own admission, his engineering skills are less than perfect — the inner workings of some of his creations having shocked more conventionally minded engineers. But nevertheless they work — in the sense that they produce sound and they haven't burnt his house down yet!

To be fair, the irregular construction of these machines is the very thing that makes them interesting. These hybrid synthesizers, containing circuitry from Moogs, TB303s and even EMS VCS3s (not to mention whatever else Stokes has seen fit to include), are capable of producing unique mutant sounds. Indeed, Stokes has based a successful career in ambient electronica on the sounds generated by his homemade instruments; building rich sonic landscapes and textures, but also using them as the source for all of his percussive sounds. Over the years he has built up quite a collection, sampling them onto an Akai MPC2000 for use in his compositions and live performances.

This archive forms the basis of the Punch ERM (Expansive Rhythm Module) CD. Comprising 400 of these home-brew electro percussion sounds, the collection is available in either Refill or WAV format and takes up 33MB on one disc. The library is divided into five rather tenuously titled sections — Kicks, Snares, Hi hats, Percussion and Effects. Emulation is certainly not the name of the game here, and there are obviously inherent problems in categorising a collection like this with traditional drum and percussive labels. A great number of the sounds don't even fit into the frequency bands you might expect, let alone sound anything like the instruments they've been catalogued under. Some of the 'snares' for example, would do equally well in the Kicks section. But this is a minor gripe, and I suspect that the only realistic alternative would be to use labels like Clicks and Squelches, which probably wouldn't be too helpful either! While I'm on the subject, I feel I should also mention that the Effects section is just a convenient container for all those weird noises that don't fit into normal percussive envelopes. Not that this is by any means a bad thing, and when I say weird, I mean 'Aphex Twin on brown acid' weird!

The sounds themselves are amazingly varied, ranging from harsh metallic drum hits and bass drums, so crunchy they might have been sampled at four-bit resolution, to light atmospheric noises and 'hi hats' which sound like a glass being tapped, high-pass filtered and time-stretched. Some use of delay and reverb is evident, and the great thing about such abstract material as this is that realism is not an issue, so if a sound is too dominant there's nothing to stop you from processing it further until it sounds exactly like you want it to. By this way of thinking, Punch ERM could be a source for a good deal more sounds than it currently contains.

Whilst this collection is undoubtedly aimed at the electronica crowd, it might be interesting to other electronic and dance musicians who want to get a bit more experimental. And if you happen to find yourself doing the sound effects for a sci-fi movie, it would be ideal! The other reason you might want to own this CD, is that you probably wouldn't have thought of half of the noises on it yourself, let alone taken the time to build your own synths to create them. ~ David Glasper ~ Sound On Sound Magazine December 2003

Collaborations are tricky things. Balancing the contributions of different personalities, sensibilities and priorities can be almost impossible. It becomes even harder when the artists are working separately, without the immediate give and take of face-to-face composition and construction. Despite these obstacles, including sending tapes between California and Chicago, this recording reflects an effective pairing, with Vir Unis¹s mathematical grooves underpinning Stokes¹s resolutely electronic timbres. The two met when sharing the bill at an electronic concert in Philadelphia, and later that same night they spontaneously improvised a duet live on the radio show Star¹s End. Stokes builds his own analog synthesizers and his unconventional wiring and design produces sounds that cannot be imitated. Sampling his own sounds after long sessions of improvisation, he builds dense clouds and spiraling double-helixes of notes, full of motion and complexity. Vir Unis too is obsessed with movement, unwilling to let a rhythm stagnate in a groove, always tweaking a filter, advancing an accent or switching to a new variation. There¹s a risk of getting too busy, but on tracks such as "Modea's Liquid Metal," the duo has managed to add percussion that reinforces Stokes¹s chirping, warbling sequences, rather than distracting from them. "Blurring Maguro" could rock a dancefloor but most of the rhythms are better suited to powering a private trance. "Replicants in Orbit" and "Thermal Transfer" are more indicative of the overall mood, featuring gently shifting textures over lighter, skittering beats. By erecting futuristic grooves under sweeping, multilayered timbres that could only come from aggregations of unpredictable electronics, the duo finds a rich and complex sound, both earthshaking and skyscraping. _______

Jeff Town - Echoes Radio

"Bouncing along like slightly heated molecules, Thermal Transfer warms the air with vibrant layered blips, meandering synths, and delicate tinkerings. Released on the new Hypnos sub-label, Binary, the electronically hyperactive thermal Transfer from Chicago based Vir Unis and Berkeley based Saul Stokes sets the standards for a new era in relaxing uptempo electronic music. The nine tracks glide through minor transformations with a sweet and comforting mood throughout and an airiness to the beats and synths that cleverly disguises their speed. The energy of techno infused IDM transfers into atmospheric soundscapes, resulting in a meeting place between the two where both elements can simultaneously appreciated on equal footing. Subtlety is key in the sound of Thermal Transfer; however, there are plenty of different intriguing noises, reverberating light beats, swirling synths rhythms, high end squiggles, and glowing sound washes to keep interest peaked from the opening "Kinetic Center" to the closing "Blurring Maguro (Interstitial Remix)." The final equilibrium is a fascinating and inviting sound experience that will tickle your brain and won't tire your ears." _______

Outburn Magazine (Octavia)

Stokes is known for a cutting edge, one-of-a-kind ambient sound, created almost exclusively through homemade gear. By virtue of his signature sound, this release will have a familiar ring to fans of his other works such as 'Outfolding' and 'Zo Pilots.' Those discs featured a combination of both formless textures and punchy, rhythmic pieces. This time around, the emphasis is on floating. It is still unmistakably Stokes, but in perhaps a little mellower mode than he's been in before. The result is highly satisfying, and thoroughly electronic. Though a mostly ambient work, it grabs attention, a far cry from sonic wallpaper. 'The Twin Worlds Of Abstraction' has long, wavering tones, with a smattering of quirky, fun bleeps and warbles. I can picture myself in a scene from a vintage science fiction film. 'Fireworks' is thickly layered electronic pulses and drifting, with a gritty edge that is irresistible. It's the edgy quality permeating Stokes' work that sets it apart, fascinating to hear as the layers unfold. 'Million Mile Gong' very slowly swirls, fading in and out and back in again, with an appealing rawness to it. As always, Stokes' music lives and breathes, despite its very synthetic origins. Though rhythm is largely absent, there is a percolating undercurrent to 'We Resolve,' the longest track on the CD. Images of deep space abound. It's a total mind trip. 'Gaskill' is louder, with an abrasive edge that gives it life and character. The coarseness then softens a bit, but there is an almost playful manner in which the music keeps things just a bit off-balance. 'Where We Are' slowly builds abstract layers of sound, eventually fading into light static and deep space pulses. It just reeks cool. 'Ageless Agate' buzzes and floats, part music, part radio emissions. It's amazing how he takes all the different subtle elements and weaves them together. 'Abstraction' is another very successful sonic outing for Stokes.______

Phil Derby, Synth Music Direct

".....this is a real treasure in the ambient world, one that shouldn't be missed." ~ The Instrumental Weekly- reviews of contemporary instrumental music "....Saul Stokes and Green House Music have released a very fresh, and very bittersweet recording in "Abstraction"; think Pierre Schaeffer and John Cage’s “Imaginary Landscapes” fused with 21st century, state-of-the-art recording technology and you’ll get a really good idea of the kind of work that Stokes has crafted here."_______

All Music Guide - Matt Borghi

Laced with sheening hisses and glares, layers of steamy soundwaves drone into the twin worlds of abstraction where vague energies writhe and disappear in alien-organic (de)formations. Sci-fi shimmers spew from fireworks (3:20) into smoother streams as deeper convolutions murmur below. Hoots and rumbles occur deep within the wash-and-waver of we resolve (18:30); an overriding pattern of rippling clunks texturize the lazy rivulets and, occasionally, distant electrowails add an intriguing, mournful presence. All seeps into radiantly thrumming gaskill, which (in several phases) grows considerably and increasingly LOUDER (making for a strange "the- mothership-is-landing" awakening if you're using it as a sleep disc, let me tell you...).The seventh and final piece passes through ageless agate, as descending twitters pass upward chords. Gritty grumbles and electrified strands converge in its interior. Build-your-own synthesist saul stokes strides into never-before-heard territories; filling its namesake with actively evolving entities, the electron-swamp soundscenes of abstraction make for edgily experimental listening. These pieces kept me more wary than lulled, though moments of beauty and peace were savored when uncovered amid the otherwise alienating atmospheres._______

Ambientrance.org - David Opdyke

--Phil Derby, SMD . "Top 25 Essential CDs of 2000." _____Echoes syndicated radio

"Best of 2000 list."_____ Eric Meece, Mystic Music, KKUP Radio

"The new Saul Stokes CD Outfolding is outstanding." _____Bill Fox, Host of Emusic, WDIY radio

Hannah M.G. Shapero, Ambient Visions

"Also from Hypnos is Outfolding, a pulsating, flowing sound by Saul Stokes, performed live in gallery concerts on analog synthesizers built by the composer." --New Age Retailer . "Electronically forged from Stokes' fertile imagination, Outfolding unfurls an audio panorama of primordially stirring soundworlds... places which seem so paleolithic yet ageless in their power and humidity. Decidedly misnamed, Hurried Space drifts in on streams of lush serenity to be gradually underscored by rougher buzzes and electro-organic blips, then eventually penetrated by a murkily primitive rhythm which manifests itself within the sparse arrangements. Dark clunky stirrings and slow rhythmic pulsations open Greys (4:09), which is then set afloat on faint buzzes and meandering currents through some protean swamp which teems with the rattles of synthetic insect life. Somewhere Current's warm stew of low tones is overlain with a sparkling array of electronic arpeggios; cascading soundbeams, light brassy riffs and additional neo-ancient percussion add to the sultry moods. The Far Edge of Suburban Station must be the very far edge... I hear no suburbia in the quietly twinkling drifts which emerge from silence. Intermittent throbs and feedback-like swirls rise like phantasmally remembered heatwaves from prehistoria. An airy cyclone whirlpools above Below (10:14), sweeping majestically then entering a bassier phase of protoplasmic ooze and more stratospheric activities as dense synthchords levitate heavenward. Trancey keyboard loops rise and fall amongst the shimmering mists of Cloud Shaping; an expanding bed of percussive effects seeps beneath, surging in volume and density until all fades. Muffled but insistent, the beats of Conundrum are the most pervasive, stirring the ephemeral mists which spiral all about. A pattern of pulsing lows, Quiet Antenna is draped with criss-crossing sheets of gauzily synthetic material, as well as chittering power surges. Fluffy, though somewhat discordant, clouds hang over Thick Streets; gleamingly brassy rays shine through as do wavery fibrillations. The piece lifts off, then levitates... away. More gorgeous work from Saul Stokes. Outfolding can take you wherever you want to go... unbotrusively primal-rhythmic explorations of amorphous locales rank a very satisfied 9.0. While his sounds are abstract enough that you can supply your own exotic mental visuals, feel free to borrow my electro-paleolithic synth-swamp journey..."___

The AmbiEntrance, David J Opdyke

"Top 10 of 1998." --Chuck VanZyl, Star's End Radio, WXPN, Philadelphia . "Top 30 of 1998." __Eric Meece / Mystic Music / KKUP Radio .

"Wonderful, wonderful album -- chock full of dense, sweeping swathes of bristling drones and lilting half-melodies, with the odd smattering of understated, rubbery rhythms surfacing here 'n there. Everything does in fact have a slightly 'tweaked' sound to it, which I'm assuming is a result of Saul constructing his own synths. I can't, off da top o' me head, think of anyone else to even begin to compare him to, as his sound is so genuinely distinctive... Check the Hypnos site for sound clips, if this sounds at all appealing (which it should)." __

Joel Krueger (on the Ambient mailing list)

"...this disk is great - it must surely be the custom synths - there's a texture to many of the tracks quite unlike anything I've heard before. I recommend this, too! " __

Mike Bennett (on the Ambient mailing list)

"I tend to describe this as Richard T James without the bad attitude. Like RJ, he builds a lot (perhaps all) of his own gear." __Dr. T, Emile Tobenfeld (on the Ambient mailing list)

"A faint noise slowly gets louder and louder, almost like the approach of a propeller aircraft. When it is overhead lonesome synth pads join in one after the other in many different melancholy varieties. The sounds used are exquisite and ever changing. Just four minutes in and it becomes obvious why Saul Stokes seems an almost permanent feature on American Electronic Music radio shows, as far as sound sculpting goes this is high art. The first track might sound like a traditional ambient piece and it is but much of the album is in a much more modern ambient mode though without any dance beats, these being replaced by very laid back drum loops. The sounds used are perfectly crafted and combined to make sonic paintings of unique images and new colours that the eye can’t usually see. It is these sounds which make Saul’s music stand out from the crowd. Sure, the music is also perfectly crafted but it is the sounds that hit home and to me, as I have said many times before, it is these unique possibilities that makes Electronic Music so appealing. On the second part of "Altitude and Architecture" we get the introduction of a looped four note sequence and the addition of a rhythm, if it can be called that. It is more like a deep space rumble. "First Jump" isn’t a million miles away from what you would have found on the recently released Morbius album. The hypnotic pulsations are exquisite, I just wish it had lasted longer than six minutes. Different drum sounds are used on "Downtown Inaka" but they are again low in the mix, the searing synth pads grabbing most of the attention. "Open Your Eyes Maitreta" is another floater, again very descriptive and though probably encouraged by the title it makes me think of being unconscious and struggling to wakefulness. "Wire Light Hills" is a mesmerizing chugger with synth detail flickering in and out of the rhythm, swooping pads diving low before blasting back off into space. We finish with the title track and what sounds like an alien craft coming in to land, we then enter the vehicle and all sorts of other futuristic sounds can be heard. This would have been great music to use in a sci fi film. No rhythm at all is present though non is needed as we return to the standard of descriptive music found on the opener." __

Neu Harmony, UK

"This newcomer from the American electronic music scene puts forth a music in the line of his remarkable participation in the compilation The Other World, reviewed elsewhere in these pages. The environments are varied: dynamics are the style of of "First Jump," "Downtown Inaka" and "Wire Light Hills," in which rhythms propelled by "blips" and "bleeps" lend a light and hypnotic pace; or languid and plaintive like "Fast Creatures" and "The Zo Pilots." Saul Stokes uses traditional electronic instruments, and integrates elements of the artist's own design, thus endowing the music with a personal touch. This is an evolutionary ambient music, alive, of almost organic construction. Very refreshing! An excellent discovery by a label with a very promising future. " (translated from French by Monsieur Griffin) --David Fabre, Continuum (Orleans, France) . "The one that hypnotizes. Here, space music shimmers, cascades and swarms, with a more upfront set of sounds that are altogether louder than the normal drifting music [on the Hypnos label], still spacey and cosmic, and joined by the occasional deep, slow percussive rhythms. The majority of the music features the sort of phased synth-meets-mellotron style sweeps, similar to a cross between the orchestral part of side one of Schulze's "Irrlicht" album, Tangerine Dream's Zeit" and Cluster's "Fur Die Katz." The music constantly flows and evolves, yet it's so completely mesmerising, wiht a strange, eerie beauty and inner depths. A late-night listening gem." __

CD Services newsletter(Scotland)

"Saul Stokes really takes the whole concept of Do-It-Yourself quite seriously... besides fashioning his electric soundworlds, he also constructs his own electronic instruments to take us there. The recordings of zo pilots were performed on Stokes' homemade synths which, if anything, give the pieces a more personal, unusually direct contact with the artist; it shows in these light, lush, electro-powered tunes. fast creatures dwell in a hazily static drone which sets the stage for later effects, like string section sweeps, cycling electric wah-wahs and muted alarm buzzes. altitude and architecture are both amorphously expressed via musical swells which are eventually puntuated by slight, slow percussive elements which subtly drive the piece. Helicoptery effects fly by before the track quietly blips out. Against a more rhythmic backdrop, bubbly and melodious first jump features softly dancing and ringing synthnotes with occasional faraway bird-like cries. Radiant downtown inaka is built upon a concise background cycle and, eventually, cool beats. Notable residents include Oriental-ish serpentine synth strands, jazzy sax-like meanderings, and a growing, glowing sonic shimmer, rising like an electrified mist. From silence, the brassy/buzzy resonance of open your eyes maitreya (6:10) slowly emerges into aural view. Rich, panning drones swelter forward and backward, right and left, not-quite-but-almost disorientingly. Gives me the feeling of riding amongst a hovering swarm of dragonflys, steering here then there; the track, while overtly electronic, still seems somehow organic, with animalistic sqeaks and chitters toward its end. The drone which opens wire light hills is thinner and smoother, propelled by clunky drumbeats and accompanied by assorted electronic warbles and squeals. The track simmers at a steady boiling point until all recedes. Flying in from deepest space, the zo pilots (14:41) pass through several distinct zones, from the intergalactic radio-static opening sequence, to a honking cyber-alarm and electro-warbles, to softer, symphonic-like swells, to an oscillating pulse accented by dozens of computerized bleeps. Yet another quality release from Hypnos Recordings, the pieces of zo pilots buzz by through Saul Stokes's self-made electronic skies. Electrical currents are transformed into softly energized atmospheres, sometimes lighter, sometimes spacier, always interesting. I'm decreeing an 8.3 (out of 10) for these ambient flyboys." __

David Opdyke / The AmbiEntrance AmbiEntrance © 1999 David J Opdyke

"Top 50 of 1997." __Chuck VanZyl, Star's End Radio, WXPN, Philadelphia .

"...a very rhythmic and melodic album, full of dynamics and uplifting sounds, I was impressed with its original style, due to the fact that Saul Stokes is the creator of all his electronic instuments, and has obviously designed them to give way for his own unique touch. The lack of slow drifting ambience, everso present in all other Hypnos releases, therefore cannot be considered as a drawback, but should be viewed upon differently, in light of the specific Stokes auditory expression." __

Vladimir Jovanovic, Inner Space Radio, Zagreb, Croatia .

"Minimalism isn't just for classical composers: Stokes leans toward techno with his rich electronic beats and slowly drifting synth pads, but there's less happening than in the most mesmerizing dance mix, and there's not enough reverb to call it ambient. Something is always changing -- an explosion in the distance, a high overtone that drifts in and out, a noodled melody starting (and then repeating) -- but the excitement level never builds past a comfortable mezzo-forte. The gargled timbres in several tunes may have been deliberately pitch-shifted too far. Few samples, no detectable acoustic instruments, just a carload of throbbing drone tones and intermittent beatbox." __

KEYBOARD MAGAZINE / Jim Aiken, Senior Editor

"A great journey has come full circle with Saul Stokes' debut experimentation WASHED IN MERCURY. His independent magic of spiraling uncanny synths is not only pleasing to the ear, but to the mind itself. A uniquely developed piece, Stokes has ventured into the realm of the uncharted with his imagination as the only true guide. The tracks average roughly nine minutes, as if developed to tell a tale of Stokes' wondrous journeys to the netherworld. In concept, the style is succinct and from a divine mind at work. Tracks like "Kasei" and "Deep in the Grass" stand high above the clouds as sounds crescendo in among the mountain tops, filtering through the hill and dales to the base of the valley, where our imaginations only begin to suspect what really lies 'out there.' " __

DIGITAL ARTIFACT magazine

"Normally, you would think a mix of "Throne of Drone" like ambience and sublime funk, tinged with eastern rhythms, would be a recipe for disaster... Centered around Saul's home built analogue synth and sequencer, the sound of "Washed in Mercury" is at times retro-70's (not entirely a bad thing in my books...) and yet there is much here which is very fresh. There's no rigid structure to the tracks. Instead they are very organic. You feel they've been given time to grow, to develop. On the more melodic tracks there is no real melody. Instead, short musical motifs which intertwine, mingle and compliment each other. The truly ambient tracks hypnotise with synthetic sounds that remind you of more natural sights and sounds; wind through telegraph lines, half heard converations, the shimmer of a heat haze. And, apart from hi-hat and triangle, there's no standard percussion either. Instead eastern drum sounds are mixed with electronic effects spread across the whole of the stereo spectrum. In fact Saul uses the whole spectrum to very good effect. Sounds are allowed to move around, fade in and fade out, their envelopes expand and contract. Listen with headphones and your soon lost in the variety of sonics you can hear on what is a very cohesive album. The stand out tracks for me have to be "The Tunnel Twins", where vibrant images of India's ceremonial dancers, story telling with their hands and feet, sway to a new sound with a new/old rhythm. Followed by the darker ambience of "Clearing", a wall of evolving sound, balanced by "Kasei" with it's long, space-music like, intro and mellow, upbeat drums fading in, then out. Then just when you think it's all over an infectious, funky ensemble of sounds, motifs and percussion appears which you just can't help moving some part of your body too. Mind you, they only stand a nose above the others as, this album really is electronic music at it's best. How do I really know? Well, it's 62 minutes long and I've just pressed replay for the third time tonight! " __Neal Leacy, Wind and Wire Magazine

"This is pulse-driven synthetic music with quite an aggressive feel in parts. Track 1, We Found It At Io, reminds me of early Tangerine Dream. In fact the bass speakers in my Epos had not had such a good workout in a long time. The music is industrial at times, and I kept thinking back to the music I was listening to late 70's and early 80's when I first started getting into electronic music. Stokes allows his pieces to develop, so consequently most of the tracks tend to be fairly length and somewhat dark and moody and atmospheric in content. It's nice to hear some percussion when it finally comes in, even something as simple as a triangle. There is a distinct sense of dub on a track like The Tunnel Twins and in general a big sound is conveyed here. Zona is pulsating and industrial in feel. Slashes of sound cut in. This is exciting stuff and something I would like to hear more of. There are possibilities here which could be explored. Within this there are also ambient moments happening, especially in the background. I kept thinking of the work of Tomita while I was listening to this. Very nice indeed. The piece becomes almost still like in essence, a quality I appreciate immensely in the music I listen to. Yes, I now, people like Steve Roach have been doing this for years, but I still like hearing it when I do. Kasei is pure atmospherics and ends up going back to an industrial beat and in the process takes you for an exciting ride. It's pretty infectious stuff and a killer of a track. Love it. Clearing has a drone-like quality about it and for some reason it ceases abruptly and takes you into the next track, Sweet Paraffin, which is totally out of character with the rest of the pieces on this release but still a very interesting and positive way to finish the CD. I ended up playing this inditially about ten times in a row. It's infectious and demands to be listened to. I kept thinking that I would like to see Saul Stokes playing live. This sort of material lends itself to live performances. It's overall a very exciting release and it will be intersting to see what he does for future releases, in terms of where he is heading. One to keep an eye out for." --Hans Stoeve, host of Powerspot on 2RES, FM 89.7, NSW Australia . "...the cream of new music that WARP records was pushing on their first Artificial Intelligence series. Fresh, vibrant atmospheric electronic music created to stimulate and not comatize the listener." __

Gregory Kyryluk / Alpha Wave Movement

"Track 1: Subdued, rhythmic stripped-down instrumental in a kind of Kraftwerk/La Dusseldorf vein only slower. Track 2: Cosmic, drifting and very far out. Track 3: Slow synth rhythms, warped, undulating electronic drum rhythms that stutter and crash from speaker to speaker, becoming a more symphonic, bizarre meeting of analogue and slow-motion techno. Track 4: Ethereal and occasional low-end bass sequencers/synth rhythms. Track 5: In Steve Roach territory with ethnic drums and drifting synths going more for mood and feel than pace or melody -- twelve minutes of subdued mood music that gradually becomes more upfront and rhythmic -- an excellent track. Track 6: Richly textured celestial string-like synth layers, drifting and echoing with bass undercurrent that hints of rhythm. Track 7: Slow, undulating electronic drums/synth rhythms and synth top layer effects." __

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