White Sun – White Sun II (special review by Zzaj)
White Sun – WHITE SUN II: These folks (the core members are Harijiwan, two-time Emmy winner Adam Berry, and White Sun’s singer Gurujas; they got high marks for me in issue # 159, especially for their ability to create songs that “stay in your head” (probably much as the ancient singers and players intended with music that’s based on mantras) – and they do this in a most modern way, so that you feel their vibrations shining through into your soul… just listen to the 4:45 “Suniai“, and you’ll hear what I mean – Gurujas vocal on this is simple, yet a total projection of the unique power she has to wrap the listener in comfort and spiritual goodness. The release of this new eleven-song aural adventure doesn’t “officially” happen until the 26th of August, 2016, but if you visit the White Sun website, you can pre-order it now, and watch some excellent videos of the group. The percussion on the beautiful opener, “Gobinday Mukunday“, is better than any similar album I’ve listened to/reviewed in 2016, and the piece keeps coming back to capture my attention… that may be because the phrase means “clearing the subconscious” – and this powerful piece will do exactly that for all but those whose spirits are inaccessible. My personal favorite on this album is “Chattra Chakkra Varti” – perhaps that is because it is a mantra used to remove fear, anxiety and phobias; a mantra to make one experience victory, and every time I listen to it, I emerge with a sense of new purpose and, indeed, winning against those demons that sometimes plague me (and us all, I suspect)! I can say, without qualification, that this is the most beautiful meditative music set I’ve listened to (yet) in 2016… it gets a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from me, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) of (a perfect) 5.00 – meaning that it also gets the “PICK” of 2016 for “best meditative album”! As noted above, visit the White Sun website to get more information about these most enlightened players and their guests on this album (and tell them you read about them here, of course)!!! Rotcod Zzaj