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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 wonderful meditation aid Nov 18, 2008
Goldman has produced yet another of his wonderful CDs. His work ranges from simple chants to complex layers of various instruments and vocal techniques. He also helped produce Lama Tashi's excellent Deep Voice chanting CD, "Tibetan Master Chants."
This CD is the best I have used for meditation and energy work. It is the public release of work that he has used personally and on a limited basis with others for some time. It consists of layers of chanting, vocal overtones, Tibetan bowls and bells, in an harmonious blend that is smooth, soothing, and steady. It runs without a break for 111 minutes and 10 seconds according to the case, but the CD readout says 71 minutes (and that is what I have found on playing it).
This is an amazing piece of music (?). I immediately felt a powerful effect, and it has radically energized my energy and dream work in just a few days. The effects seem to deepen and strengthen with time and use, and just this morning I spent a wonderful 3 hours in altered states doing some intense energy work, part of the time with it turned up very loud on the stereo.
There are lots of hokey and half-baked meditation CDs out there. This, however, is the real thing. It is powerful and can have profound effects on your energy field and meditation work. Use it with care and conscious intent.
Fantastic work, Jonathan.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 AMAZING VOCALs; GOOD FOR JOURNEYING Oct 19, 2008
i had high hopes for this album, as its' namesake by
Richard Shulman, "Ascension Harmonics," was such a fantastic
entheogenic experience of the Christic & Ascension energies.
this is something different. rather than crystalline
ladders to heaven or the like, we find ourselves in a kind of
dimensional vortex similar to the work of David Hykes and the
Harmonic Choir, but more shamanistic and trance-oriented.
the liner notes tell us that it was recorded quite some
time ago and was used in workshop scenarioes, where it
received some acclamation. even Goldman admits he doesn't
know exactly what it does but that it acts as a kind of
extradimensional portal for journeying.
the first time i listened, i wasn't analyzing or trypping,
but simply being quite blown away by the vocal work. there is
no synthesis on this album, so you start going crazy trying
to figure out how certain effects could be done vocally.
secondly, the multitracking is so dense it is nigh on
impossible to focus on any one vocal track. this is all
framed by an excellent set of Tibetan bowls, which are
either rubbed or faded-in so one doesn't hear the mallet
strikes.
2012: Ascension Harmonics is a 71-minute long form piece
that is basically a mellifluous drone that is continually
morphing with a metallic lustre that produces coronal
shining effects courtesy of the bowls and bells. while
listening the second time, i realized that the overall vibe
of this recording reminded me of a planetary vibe such
as i am familiar with in my NASA/Voyager recordings of
the outer planets and the Primordial Tones by Joachim
Ernst-Berendt.
after some fussing with equipment and recordings,
i estimated that the fundamental pitch was between a
C sharp and a D, but closer to the D. Goldman has made
several recordings at C sharp for the base chakra tone.
i felt though, that the sound was more complex,
reminding me of Berendt's Saturn/Mercury recording which
is near C sharp.
wearing the headphones with the sound up and my
closed eyes facing venetian blinds illuminated by
sunlight from outside, i noticed that this album has a
constant fluttering which shifts and flows, suggesting
a complex interference pattern created by the lack of
a clean dominant wave. indeed, i could not relax back
into a simple wave state as one does with brainwave
music. Instead, i was in a state of constant flux and
kaleidoscopic dream machine visuals. although the
fundamental was around C sharp, the fifth near G sharp
seemed to be mostly involved in the visionary aspect,
as if the throat chakra and third eye were intermixing
and creating a journeyspace between on the 5th plane.
fascinating stuff, very pleasurable and i could
see it as good backsound for massage, ritual and
group lightwork.
i'm giving this three stars because i would give
Jonathan's ESSENTIAL albums the five star ratings and
his BEST (after "essential," of course,) the four star
rating. compared to these other albums, Ascension
Harmonics doesn't know what it wants to be in terms of
where the listener goes in their mind, so it is rather
like zooming around in a UFO which has indecipherable
controls. on the other hand, this is an album where
Jonathan is working very intuitively and experimentally,
which is awesome to hear. 3 stars means it is a good if
not great album. in that it is nonspecific, it has wide
uses as backsound.
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