PETER FROHMADER: Advanced Alchemy Of Music CD
From 1993 in the main, here are six tracks and seventy five minutes of music and the effect is shattering. Take the opening track - a twelve minute piece where Frohmader gets angry and unleashes this torrent of electric bass work, sampled drum rhythms, electronic backdrops and swirling synthesizer morass, taking us on a ride through raging soundscapes that are dense and intense, and out the other side into a world of shuddering rhythms, keyboards cascades and massive blasts of sonic delight, all so hypnotic and yet so easy to take in. The musician at his best. In contrast, the twelve minute 'Golden Dawn' starts with acoustic guitars, then you hear another super-solid electric bass rhythm begin as a sizzling electric guitar lead emerges from the background, keyboard patterns are added, the acoustic guitar returns and then the whole sonic soup strides forcefully onwards, the strong layers running the gamut of emotions from the gut-wrenching bass via the blood-curdling guitar to the melodic top layers - stunning track. The near thirteen minute 'Key Of Calomon' continues in this vein, only here we have a mix of power and serenity within the same track, as the piece changes from strong and intense to dark and eerie, again using electric basses, electric guitar, cosmic synths, piano and acoustic guitar to breathtaking effect, the dynamics melting with the melodies to provide a quite awesome track. The fourteen minute 'Phaethon' starts much looser in its approach, less dense and with more emphasis on the textural and layered qualities of the instruments, although around the seven minute point, it suddenly changes into this gorgeous section of string synths, rippling harp-like percussives and surrounding electronic sound, almost symphonic and sweeping you away in its richness, ending in classically powerful filmic mode. The fourteen minute 'La Foret Du Perceval' is dominated by the piano leads above the rivers of bass, synths and electronics, becoming much more of a Gothic Electronic-meets-classical type of affair. Finally, the ten minute Rose+Croix' uses a mix of piano, electronics, sampled electronic drums rhythms, big beefy bass and textural synth layers to provide a really strong track that is not quite as intense as the earlier peices and a good way to end a huge-sounding powerful mix of dynamic instrumental work.
PETER FROHMADER: Armorjka CD
Subtitled "Impressions and Fantasies about Brittany", this is an eleven track, seventy-four minute album, that features synths, samplers, guitars, stick, harp and violin, with tracks from three to over fifteen minutes in length. Surprisingly, bearing in mind the subject matter, the music does not sound particularly "soundtrack"-like, but that said, it does range from serene to positively free-form, sometimes within the same track. Again the feel and sound is very much a mix of orchestral, classical, dark industrially cosmic music, serene ambience, brooding avant-garde, and all points in between. To review in detail would take forever, but there are rhythmic tracks, symphonic tracks, structurally sound yet oddly dissonant tracks and more on an album that is definitely for the adventurous listener, but is accessible, never harsh, totally musical and with plenty to get your teeth into.
PETER FROHMADER: Cultes Des Goules CD
Subtitled 'Ballet Of Death' , this is an epic work from Frohmader on synths, fretless bass, 8-string bass, 12-string guitar, percussion, choirs, electronics and sounds, aided by guests on alto sax, flute, violin and female vocal. It's a vast, multi-layered album recorded in 1981 with such an astonishing variety of soundscapes, complexities and huge-sounding themes, it's the sort of thing you'll need to hear three or four times just to take it all in. There are elements, strong ones at that, of classic seventies instrumental Magma, with bass work to die for, while elsewhere the combinations of synths, bass and percussion are solid throughout, and range from stark to full-on power, but the production is so clean, crisp and clear, you hear every single facet of the music. With just two long flowing, generally dark, tracks, almost as one, this is an astonishing display of compositional and playing skills from one of the most unsung greats of twenty plus years of Krautrock music.
PETER FROHMADER: Cycle Of Eternity CD
From 1991-92, another all instrumental album entirely played and composed by the musician, and this time it's a nine-track, seventy-six minute journey, that opens with a twelve minute synthesizer-dominated composition that slowly builds, adding keyboards, drums and bass, but is incredibly cyclical, almost stumbling over the lead roles while the underlying almost militaristic rhythms maintain their marching pace, a remarkable and hypnotic sea of soundscapes. Throughout the album, the synths and keyboards dominate, while electric bass and drums add more of a solid foundation to the proceedings on occasions, the feel of the album remaining one of edgy originality, almost jazzy in its approach, and the atmospheres created are far from sedate yet remain consistently unnerving while at the same time, cohesive and resonant. The melody lines are largely rhythms and the sheer immensity of swirling rhythms, vari-paced rhythms and cyclical lines that make up this album are positively breathtaking. But it doesn't lose sight of the need for depth, leaving no glaring gaps in the musical make-up. Not one of the easiest of his albums to get into, but rewarding when you do.
PETER FROHMADER: Das Ist Alles CD
Now this album really smokes, steams and sizzles. The majority of the tracks are rhythmic, the average track time is around eight minutes, and the music is just sensational from start to finish. Using synthesizers, electronics, bass, sequenced electronic rhythms, sampled drums and guitars, you have the sound of Krautrock-meets-techno in three of the main tracks and the effect is awesome as these huge, crunching, driving rhythms propel a huge soundscape of electronic-based Krautrock to infinity. So many layers and textures from scorching electric guitar work through swirling space synths to bubbling trance-like synths and so much more, the towering rhythm layers dominating. Two of the tracks have amore Moroccan or Oriental feel to the rhythms which are decelerated from what has come before, but in the context of the album as a whole, work an absolute treat. Some of the synth work is almost "Krautrock-trance", particularly evident on the seven minute 'Nachts' while the album as a whole is one of those that you play, enjoy and want to play again - loads of times. For me, one of the finest albums of his career, and so thoroughly addictive as to be almost dangerous. Stunning stuff.
PETER FROHMADER: Kanaan Live 1975 CD
For anyone that still pines for the good old Krautrock days of the seventies with long extended tracks from trios of keyboards/fender rhodes, bass and drums with plenty of solid work from the musicians and a feel you just don't get from modern musicians, then look no further than this treasure trove of delights from the Frohmader archives. Led by the immense electric bass work of the main man, this live album lasts seventy six minutes across six main long tracks and a couple of bonus short ones, with plenty of great soloing and ensemble playing.
PETER FROHMADER: Macrocosm CD
Compositions from 1988, predominantly, form the basis of this four-track, sixty-six minute studio album, with all instruments played by the musician. The twenty-two minute title track opens the album and it's a veritable "contemporary Krautrock symphony" with the accent initially of waves of synths above exotic percussion from drums to bell-like things, a deep seated electric bass density underneath and a truly expansive musical horizon. Initially symphonic, it sets up a tight drum rhythm around the eight minute point that rolls forward while all around the sparkling percussion, deep synth bass, string synths and orchestral might continue to build and gather steam, maintaining the tension rather than exploding out, preferring to remain textural and muscular within its symphonic framework. Overall, a mighty piece. The twenty-six minute 'Breath' expands this apparoach and becomes a lot busier in the percussion and drum departments while a mix of industrial depth and Exotic far-east flavours vie for attention, the piece moving between edgy and brooding, unnerving and joyous. It's a lot to take in, rarely sacrifices melody but then again rarely flies into anything remotely normal - more a sort of "other world" symphony, just immense but using dynamics and textures rather than blitzing you with power. The ten minute 'Archetype' revolves around masses of busy percussion and drums, while hissed voices, keyboards and synths trace a subtle pattern on top, again all very edgy but somehow beautiful amongst the madness.The final seven minutes of 'Ascension' is like symphonic accelerated early-seventies Kraftwerk with added drums and percussion. A remarkable work of complete originality from a remarkable musician.
PETER FROHMADER:Nekropolis Live CD
But this is the other side of the man-the side where he strips it all down to the normal rock trio format of
electric guitar, bass and drums-yet this is anything but just normal; this is special, very specuial. Coming along like a high octane cross between classic early Guru Guru and the best instrumental 'Larks' / 'Starless' era King Crimson, this is scorchingly heavy, intense yet totally accessible music that will have you leaping about the place and/or running for cover. The solo and interplay roles taken up by the bass and guitars is just awesome with Frohmader's bass work leaving you wondering what sort of nuclear explosion would have occurred if he'd ever met up and played with Christian Vander of Magma. The guitar work is red hot and on fire with the thunderous drum work somehow managing to hold it all togethrer on some tracks and being more complex and orgnic to the music elsewhere. Essential.
PETER FROHMADER:Stringed Works CD
So, it's 'Stringed Works' that is the stand-out featuring 4 tracks as 'Bass Symphony No 2' and 'Symphony For Basses And Guitars', 'Bass Symphony No 3' and 'Winter Music'. 'No 2' features some stirring drumming as the rhythm base over which multi-tracked electric bass guitars take off, power, soar and dive on waves of riffs and blasts of chords. The other track is equally powerful but more varied with more of a psychedelic feel thanks to the extra electric guitar structures and melodies that add to the bass/drums thunder. 'No3' and 'Winter' are more full sounding with, on 'Winter' the extra textures of choral voices adding to the effect and both pieces less intense and more spacious than the previous tracks. Overall, 74 mins of unrivalled instrumental excellence and easily his best ever CD.
PETER FROHMADER: 3rd Millennium's Choice Vol 1 CD
Starts with the epic twenty-four minutes of 'Saturn Symphony', a track featuring synths, electric bass, drums and percussion, that begins at a fast marching pace with rampaging rhythms and all sorts of symphonic synth layers swirling around on top, this section dropping to just the rhythms before building with a new line of piano, synthesized horns and swirling space synths above the percussive clatter, drum thunder and bass rumble, all a bit like a bizarre meeting of Cluster, Keith Tippett, Santana's percussion section and the LSO, before dying away to just a river of cosmic synths and echoed piano, as the track then reshapes itself and becomes more spacious, just acres of strings, synths and rumbles, like some dark and gloomy string section, no rhythms, that takes on violin and piano leads rising above the depths and trawling a quite serene yet unnerving path through the void. With ten more minutes still to go, this is epic stuff for sure and a veritable electronic symphony as it suggests. The eight minute 'Hyperion' carries on the symphonic-classical approach, only with a greater combination of chaos, force and structure as it turns round into a galloping rhythm section over which the assembled textures, violins, piano and synths, soar and dive. 'Eisenkraut', at twelve minutes, the earliest piece on the album, from 1982, is less rhythmic, but more eerie yet still symphonic, with a searing violin line above a warm sea of synths and bass depths, adding layers and textures to its almost dissonant framework. Finally, at fourteen minutes, the co-oldest track 'Pharao', which is a nightmare in sound, as swirling, growling, circulating layers of synths and electronics weave an almost unbearably intense web of sound that rises and rises, layer upon layer before dying down to space synths and cosmic choirs, as the space synths build intensity once more, this time slowly and to great effect, almost conjuring images of '2001' style Ligeti to its emerging electronic splendours. Overall, a strong, not easy, but rewarding album of unique music.
PETER FROHMADER: 3rd Millennium's Choice Vol 2 CD
Begins with the thirty-one minute 'Alaska-Part 1', and it's a half hour of some of his most beautiful music to date, with rivers of synths, organ, harp and heavenly choral voice, all extremely cosmic and gorgeous, charting a gorgeous, ever changing path through a universe of sonic delights, as beautiful and pastoral a track as you could want and amazingly well played and arranged. The eight minutes of the two parts of this track that follow, continue in a similar theme and feel, bringing an essentially forty minute track to a louder but graceful conclusion. Superb! The eleven minute, two-part suite 'Seashore' follows, again very serene and pastoral, with rippling harp, synths and ocean sounds creating the images of the seaside in your head to perfection. Finally, eight minutes of 'Deep Space' is a more classical sounding composition, with rhythms to the fore as strings, synths, sampled drum rhythms and electric guitar produce a really excellent rock solid slice of thunderous instrumental music to see out the album in much louder and harder fashion, but after what has come before, an excellent display of compositional dynamics, and one of his finest albums around.
PETER FROHMADER: 2001 CD
Now many of you may know this guy's name if not his music, and he's had such a wealth of varied music releases out over the years that I'm not going into his musical legacy just here. Suffice to say that he's rarely produced a less than riveting album, like it or loathe it, across such a range of styles. So, to now, and we have a brand new studio album, with all instruments played by, all tracks composed by and everything produced by him and him alone. With many, a recipe for indulgence, with this guy a recipe that tastes just sumptuous. Firmly setting an electronic course for the heart of some black hole, this is a unique electronic trip that rides through so many styles particularly dark ambient, industrial, sequenced, techno, Krautrock, post-rock, synth and beyond. But unlike some of his earlier electronic excursions, this is the most cohesive such album he's ever turned out, and not only that but incredibly accessible too, often coming across with a similar feel to current Controlled Bleeding or a more electronic version of Circle. Wholly instrumental, there is so much happening on each track, through resonant deep and muscular rhythm bases climbing up through masses of layers of synths and electronics, samples and textures, via melody lines that are totally in keeping with the feel of the album, and a sea of layers that reveal new pleasures with each listen. It's strong but never difficult, melodic but always with backdrops and surrounds of an altogether darker, busier and multi-textured nature. One of those CD's that you really do have to experience and hear to realise just how much you are going to enjoy it, and even then it isn't until the second or third play that the real, lasting effect starts to sink in, as you know that here is an intricate, muscular album full of ideas and complexities, but delivered in a modern, accessible and fresh-sounding manner. Overall, a lot better than you might expect, or for existing fans, one of the finest outings to date.
NEKROPOLIS: Anubis Dance CD
Brand new, largely self-played, totally self-composed, studio album of material recorded in 1997, and it's just incredible. Starts with a near eight minute track, 'Entrance', that features a vast array of sonic delights from electronics, samples and flute-like textures, but this vast assortment of textural and layered sounds on top of the most addictive, muscular set of electric bass, drums and tabla-like rhythms that you'll have the good fortune to hear, the effect a mix of almost Can-like intensity mixed with middle-eastern exoticism and much much more - a superb opener. The seven minute 'Anubis Rising' starts out with a seriously heavy flying rhythm from electric bass and drums as a river of electronic choirs, deep bass synths, more bass choirs, and electronics carve a path over the crunching rhythm section and the whole effect is simply amazing as the track catches fire and becomes a shining supernova of immense sound, depth, texture, layer and rhythm, this time a distinct African feel at the heart of the mighty machine - one scorching track and one you'll want to play over and over again. The near ten minute 'Initiation' sets up an equally flying rhythm from its array of drums and percussion, this time back by an almost sequencer-like deep electronic bass, while over he top you hear string synths, edgy percussion, vibes, dark electronic textures and a searing mix of violin-like sounds and tablas to give it a suitably exotic middle-eastern flavour as the rhythms ignite and the whole piece becomes a journey, a travelogue, of wide-eyed proportions, more swirling sounds than you can take in on first hearing and a joy to witness, climaxing in a hail of rhythms, throbbing synth bass, string synths and piano lines. Unbelievable!!! 'Ganesh' follows a similar course only here the rhythms are just to die for as the pace varies throughout, the feel dives from busy to African to languid ethereal and more as samples, voices, synths, deep bass synth textures and more soar over the mighty, mid-paced, solid rhythmic drums-driven bass, at six minutes an array of flying synths swooping overhead to put the icing on an already amazing cake, again so much happening it's hard to take in but the whole being greater than the sum of the parts as the piece just glides to its conclusion to immaculate extent. Another eight minute track, 'Visitation' starts a good deal more edgy as the mood seems to wande all over the place and even here the rhythms seem to be wanting to go in any one of several different directions, and the composition changes shape in chameleon-like fashion as it goes its merry way, the juxtaposition of drums, bass synths, sparkling lead synths, almost fusion-esque guitar chords that leads into an unexpectedly dark sea of space synths, is all just amazing to behold, the piece continuing to change shape before your very eyes, almost by the second. Totally original, definitely a success. The eighteen minute monster that is 'No Panic' covers all of the territories that I've mentioned and, without going into vast detail, commands your attention throughout to become another incredibly good track, this time more atmospheric a much as rhythmic, adding a new dimension to the proceedings. The final track - almost - revolves much more around the synths, the piece losing none of the magic from before and bringing the main album to a gorgeous and intense close. But we're done yet, as two extra bonus tracks - remixes of two earlier tracks with added drums - convert two already explosive tracks into two electro-industrial style pieces that are a whole new outlook on the compositions as you've just heard, and bringing the final proceedings to an intensive, foot-tapping close amid a sea of electronic, textural density. The production is first rate throughout, and it will take many plays to reveal all the aural splendours this album has to offer. Easily one of the finest of his long and rewarding musical career to date.
NEKROPOLIS: Live '79 CD
One of Peter Frohmader's live bands, this time a quintet featuring himself on electric basses, plus electric guitarist, drummer, trombonist and bass clarinet/flute player. Across eight tracks and seventy-five minutes, the band let loose a remarkably tight and swinging set of compositions, starting quite slow, dark and powerful, dynamics building, almost allowing the musicians to feel their way into the journey that is to come, each one contributing, but none dominating. The effect is very much like a Krautrock version of 'De Futura' style Magma or a much darker, intense Weidorje, the immense electric bass work of Frohmader scything through while the drums propel the mighty monster as the guitar and bass clarinet take the leads, the trombone used as much in a textural role as anything, in fact you'd be hard-pressed to make out that there's one there at all most of the time. The production is gorgeously fuzzy, adding to the whole seventies feel of the music, almost taking you right back to the event itself, with all the feel and atmosphere it conveys. Remarkably accessible, with one composition after another blossoming out, the accent on melody much more prevalent than you might have imagined as the paces are kept largely languid, building to climaxes to great effect. A couple of tracks feature just the guitar, bass and drums, and it has to be said that it is these three musicians that dominate most of the album. Mighty stuff and a classic live album of its genre.
RICHARD PINHAS/PETER FROHMADER: Fossil Culture CD
Ladeez and gentlemen - in the blue corner, on synths, samplers and 5-string electric bass guitar, the thunderous, the awesome power of....Peter Frohmader. In the red corner, on Roland electric guitars, burning a napalm-infused path to infinity, legendary Heldon guitarist Richard Pinhas.
Round one - Pinhas opens with a smouldering guitar texture/riff. Frohmader counters with a gigantic, stumbling electro-percussive rhythm which forces Pinhas to turn up the heat and deliver a molten slice of red hot guitar soloing. Frohmader is forced to gather up his arsenal and throw the works at Pinhas and, amid a hail of deep, pounding electric bass and a wall of synth/organ layers, Frohmader aims an almighty blow. The two fighters lock horns and go all-out in an inferno of sonic splendour, blow after percussive blow met with storming, steaming electric guitar leads; even the monumental bass attack can't stop the guitarist. After nearly 10 minutes, Pinhas gives ground as Frohmader reveals an entire synth choir behind him. One last time, Pinhas seizes the guitar and hurls an entire army of spiralling riffs and leads at Frohmader, who has no counter for this and falls away, defeated, leaving the tired but still smouldering strains of Pinhas' guitar wailing into the night sky.
That, my friends, is but the first near 12 minute track on a 7-part, 71+ minute suite that takes up this entire album. The rest of the tracks follow an equally mighty musical path and are everything you would expect (and more) from a two year instrumental collaboration between one of the world's leading electric guitarists and one of the world's finest electric bassists/rhythm programmers. The best Pinhas release since the glory days of Heldon's "Standby". Incendiary, musically consistent, cohesive with seven tracks from 6 to 16 minutes in length and one of the most powerful, dynamic and totally mind-blowing releases you'll hear in 1999.
SCHEDEL/MERZ/FROHMADER: S/T CD
Shared twenty or so minutes for each musician and Frohmader weighs in with eight short tracks titled collectively 'Eight Works For Cinema And TV', and that's what they are, essentially, vignettes of melody and rhythm, depth and structure, but always with the ever-present selection of unorthodox time signiatures and scary lead work, ranging from peace to cataclysmic. Schedel also plays eight shorter tracks, oddly enough not a million miles away from Frohmader's in terms of feel, instruments used and overall sound, although here things are jazzier as opposed to symnphonic. The Merz track is a tenty minute piece called 'Ballet Music For Mechanical Dancers In Twelve Acts' which gives you some idea of the sort of mix of melodic, rhythmic, layered, textured and abstract, predominantly electronic, music you can expect as this piece covers so many twists and turns in its travels, it'll make your head swim.
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