Ethno-flavored field recordings. Given his inspired flair for ethnic music and affinity for travel, Loren Nerell is unquestionably the ideal candidate for producing an audio documentation of Indonesian culture. Compiled during a series of visits to Java and Bali between 1992 and 1997, INDONESIAN SOUNDSCAPES is a varied travel guide via intensive location recordings of native ceremonies, natural environments, and other places of interest. The most intriguing pieces tend to be the ceremonial entries such as the predawn sanctity of "Call to Prayer", the aggressive native percussion ensemble in "Galungan Ceremony", and most of all, the primal rage of gamelan monkey chants in "Kecak". Thoroughly effective are the tracks of natural ambience found in the self-explanatory "Frogs", "Morning Insect Sounds", "Evening Sounds", and "Morning Rain". -- Adam Bialek, Outburn Magazine

Crank up the central heating, puff on a clove-scented cigarette, and use this album to transform your sitting room into a Balinese bus station. Or a bustling market, a garden in pouring rain, a gamelan maker's showroom, or a frog choir in a rice field. Make no mistake, these frogs are good, crisply recorded while busy rehearsing their minimalist improvisations. INDONESIAN SOUNDSCAPES is a spinoff from a field recording trip by Loren Nerell and Dale Strumpell. Stepping back from a tight focus on music, the ear discovers how it is integrated into other activity, whether it's a shadow play for a New Year party, or Muzak oozing through a Surabaya airport lounge. The general feel is pleasantly ambient, and the brain-shredding racket that is also part of Asian street life is kept at arm's length. -- Clive Bell, The Wire

1.	Call To Prayer	MP3
2.	Shadow Play	MP3
3.	Wind Through Bamboo Forest	MP3
4.	Galungan Ceremony	MP3
5.	Bus Depot	MP3
6.	Frogs	MP3
7.	Kecak (Monkey Chants)	MP3
8.	Morning Insect Sounds	MP3
9.	Maulud Nabi Festival	MP3
10.	Surabaya Airport	MP3
11.	Gamelan Maker Showroom	MP3
12.	House Blessing	MP3
13.	A Walk Through the Market	MP3
14.	Evening Sounds	MP3
15.	Morning Rain