ROCK/METAL, etc:
DESECRATION: Process Of Decay CD
Death metallers fifth album that sees them let loose just under thirty minutes of skull-grinding, faster-than-the-speed-of-sound monstrous metal mayhem, with growled vocals, drums that sound like rifle fire at a busy army range, guitars that swirl, burn and drive in a blaze of riffing intensity, with punishing electric bass at the heart of the beast. Song after song unleash this inhuman sonic attack that you simply can't ignore. If you like your metal taken to extremes, then this will be the one for you.
FULC: Embrace Destroy CD
When you want to hear something that's powerful, rocks with a passion, dynamic and intricate, something to get your teeth into and something that, when it erupts, takes your whole life with it, then you play this new studio mini-album from FULC. There's a burning cauldron of guitars on fire here, a flame that has the reach of a napalm gun and the brightness of a thousand suns. Together with a positively punishing rhythm section, the songs simply leap out of the speakers with all the force of a hurricane as this driving wall of guitars, bass and drums take hold - then there's the vocal - whoaaaaahh - this guy can sing!! - he delivers the songs with steaming angst, soaring rage and yet exudes emotion by the truckload as he takes the song by the scruff of the neck and wrings every last bit of life out of the thing, leaving only the lifeless corpse to see things out. The first three tracks are every bit of this and more as you get caught up in the magical musical maelstrom. Then, on 'System' the intensity subsides a little as a slower song ensues, but even here the band sounds huge and expansive - then about a minute and a half in, they erupt - a hail of guitars, vocals, bass and drums climbs skywards like a Saturn V after take-off, before dropping back, going into orbit and then, with one final burst of rocket fuel, launches into outer space in a blaze of riffing guitars and crushing rhythms. The three minute 'Pedestal' is every bit as punishing as the earlier tracks while the final track, 'Entrapment' starts off serenely yet powerfully enough, then builds slowly to become a veritable torrent of nu-millennium rock that towers mightily over its prey before the guitar assault lays waste to everything in its path, the vocals and rhythm section finishing off any last remnants of life that may stand in their way. Quite simply, as modern rock goes, this is awesome and you have to buy this - you have to - your life won't be complete without it.
HALIFAX: A Writer's Reference CD
Ooooo - I do like it when a band waste absolutely no time and deliver the goods with you, the listener, right there in the heart of the conflagration - and this is what ensues right from the off. A steaming train of riffs, rhythms, solos and vocals comes soaring out of the speakers with passion and power, a sort of hi-octane EMO with plenty of angst-ridden and yearning vocals that are truly heartfelt as well as being superbly delivered, while the band just charge ahead with a wall-to-wall mass of guitars and rhythm section - a truly inspired opener. But it gets better, as the title track comes along - this time, more of the same only, if anything, even more anthemic, a corking slice of emo 'n' roll erupting from the speakers, glimpses of things like Sum 41, Foo Fighters & FFAF passing before your very ears, but sounding intensely original on this awesome track that twists and turns with dynamic power at the heart of things, and one sensational track that should be a staple part of any nu-millennium rock fan's diet. Then things take a notch down as the chiming guitars introduce 'I Hate Your Eyes' as you expect a ballad, but then the band explodes and their now anthemic, good-time brew of rock intensity just spreads like a tidal wave all over you as you go down under a sea of red-hot vocals, thickly riffing guitars, a seriously pounding rhythm section and lead guitar work that just shines - totally sensational, so addictive and you can't help but race around the room to this - fantastic and then some. Two equally incredible and similar sounding tracks follow before you reach 'Scarlet Letter Part II' which really is a ballad, showing that the band can slow down with conviction as the vocals soar out, right from the heart, accompanied by chiming guitars and deep bass, additional harmonies adding the icing on the cake, as a slice of lead electric guitar briefly surfaces and the song rises up in majestic, emotional fashion - and just one more stunning track. Finally the band do a reprise of the opener, 'Sydney', as an acoustic version, and it works a treat - showing that this guy's got one seriously fine voice and that the band can write a seriously good song - seven of them in fact. This is stunning but apparently there's some even newer stuff to come - I, for one, can't wait if this is anything to go by.
HIJINX: Sleeping Sin EP CDEP
A five-tracker and eighteen minutes of powerful, passionate rock that's not as anthemic as emo, not as hard-hitting as metal, more dynamic than yer average rock album and generally a more studied listen than most. The band do fly, for sure, but with the vocalist tending to be way upfront in the mix, it can sometimes detract from things, but what does initially make you take up and notice, is they way that they will so often break out only suddenly to take it all down before erupting once more - or almost, anyway. Sometimes they take their time doing it, but I guess that's what dynamics is all about. There's a definite promise to what this band is doing, and as a sort of new direction in the type of rock started by Fony/FFAF, it is good - but it's only a beginning.
KELLY KEELING: Giving Sight To The Eye CD
Despite the presence of fleeting guests such as Norum, Dokken, Livgren & Daltry, this is, apart from the rhythm section, very much Keeling's project with most of the instrumental work and vocals, plus all the song-writing and arranging, handled by the man. The result is a surprisingly varied album of Zeppelin/ Rainbow-influenced rock with some seriously solid singing, playing and arranging throughout. From all-out rock with a decided seventies-into-eighties flavour through bluesier anthems that build and spark, to almost Bad Company-meets-Jean Beauvoir style rock with a dash of funk potency, the obligatory anthemic power ballads, slices of AOR heaven and slices of rock magic with sizzling arrangements, this is a quality album from start to finish, brilliantly executed on every level, and, if anything, almost too classy for its own good. That said, it rocks, it rolls, it drives and it soars - song after song delivering the goods home.
LACK: Be There Pulse CD
New Danish quartet who inhabit a sort of melodic hardcore type of rock, and the ten tracks on this forty-plus minute debut, reveal their unique sound. Alternating between chiming and more attacking the one thing that becomes obvious very quickly is that they have mixed the lead vocalist right upfront so you can hear every word, every nuance - but also you get the feeling that, if you don't immediately take to this vocal style, that maybe it's been mixed a bit more upfront than necessary. Musically it does change way more than you'd expect with passages that range from strident indie rock to more explosive metallic tendencies that are more rock than metal, almost a heavy Americana at times. Seemingly a wealth of influences at work here, this is actually quite a challenging play and decidedly an acquired taste.
L.A.GUNS: Rip The Covers Off CD
Who'd have thought all these years later I'd even be reviewing a CD by this lot, never mind urging you to go out and buy it, but that's the way it goes sometimes, I guess. So, here we are - L.A. Guns delivering a red-hot and roaring set of rock classics that work a treat - along the way you'll hear smoking renditions of Rose Tattoo's 'Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw' complete with the essential raging electric slide guitar, and delivered here with riffs and rhythms that out the original in the shade. Then it's into an equally original-beating cover of Foghat's 'I Just Want To Make Love To You' with a big, beefy sound that they never got near. To do a version of Queen's 'Tie Your Mother Down' and make it even better than the original, you'd have thought to be pretty well impossible - and this lot show that, indeed, that is the case - but as a version on an album like this, it smokes and then some - some songs just shouldn't be covered, but this is as good as you'll get with this rock classic. From there on you'll hear some corking covers of classic rock anthems from originals such as Saxon, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Donovan, Dictators and more, on one of the most good-time metal albums I've heard in ages - take it everywhere and have fun with it - for that's what this is all about - and it hits the spot every time.
LOSING SUN: Inertia CDEP
A 9 track, thirty-one minute album that opens to the sound of a wickedly sludgy electric bass as the spark of guitars ignites and the band come blazing in. Great opening, and then the vocals enter. It's at this point you become surprised, for here is the huge metallic cauldron of sound with a vocalist that is actually slightly subdued and really singing - almost down in the mix, and you sit there thinking "interesting" as you listen attentively. It's only when the group and vocalist up the anti and break out in the choruses that you realize this guy can indeed cut it on vocals and suddenly everything falls into place - so all that's left to do is go back to the beginning and play it again - ah yes, I get it now. Song-wise, this is actually the story of most of the rest of the album as the combination of fiery playing just drives the mix of alternating more subdued vocals with the soaring lead vocal that erupts when the whole thing just climbs with all guns blazing, mostly seriously heavy throughout. It's a different approach, not unfamiliar, and one that will worm its way into your life instead of erupting into it. A fine release.
MIOCENE: A Perfect Life With A View Of The Swamp CD
Now if ever there was a more bizarre album in the annals of the nu-metal/rock movement, I've yet to hear it. This is the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of the new millennium rock world. Opening with a slice of raging guitar-led rock that features a seriously deranged vocal performance from the singer, amid a hail of riffs and rhythms, the album bursts into life with a vengeance and promises a wild ride into the dark side of modern rock for just under two stunning minutes. But then ttrack two comes along and suddently it's clattering electronic drum rhythms, cyclical electronic leads, a rippling piano, deep dubby bass and a track that's more like an electronic ambient-trance music than anything, for just under four minutes. Now you're guessing - but track three emerges and rumbles along on a mighty undercurrent of wicked fuzzed electric bass, drums and lightly treated vocals. As the guitars erupt and ignite but then it suddenly switches back, then drops down to nothing before exploding in your face as a hail of riffs rhythms match the impassioned vocal that rage down below in the mix, the whole thing eventually pouring out a molten sea of guitars, lead electric bass that really delivers and crunching drums, easily one of the best tracks on the album, at just over five minutes long. The eight minute fifth track is similar in feel and sound, only here takes more time to build and smoulders a lot rather than explodes, once again that massive bass right upfront as, halfway through, the band becomes positively incendiary and the whole thing exhibits dynamics and sound that makes it so riveting to hear. Track 6 returns to the electronic side of the fence with stuttering, fast-paced electro-percussive beats, embellished with equally stuttering synths while an electric piano lead languidly flows on and off, as the piece sails into this industrial drum 'n' bass territory that's hard and heavy but nothing to do with rock, for sure. Then the pattern repeats - a clutch of stormiong rock tracks followed by a more languid, almost jazzy, instrumental with keys, drums and samples, followed by a more anthemic rock track with some truly soaring vocal work above the wickedly bass-driven undercurrents, and ending, even more bizarrely, on a one minute acoustic track. Head-bending to say the least, I have to admit that I enjoyed it immensely but it's definitely an album for the more adventurous, open-minded listener.
MY LIFE IN THE MAKING: Contemplating Concepts Of Forever CD
The title gives it away a bit - the singer and writer in this band hasn't half got a lot to say - and he certainly says it - putting his voice right up front in the mix, arguably almost to the detriment of the power base that makes music like this such a force to be reckoned with. That said, there's still a huge degree of furious guitar riffing, chord changes and tricky twists and turns along the way, and the compositions are the sort of thing that you really have to listen to more attentively than usual on first listen, if only to get inside the band's way of thinking, and get on with the singer's impassioned, if somewhat dry, delivery. The production is excellent but the combination of the fuzzed-up riffing with the clean-cut, up-front vocals, is something to get used to. Occasionally, on a track such as 'Six' it does sound more cohesive as the instruments are more upfront. It's safe to say that, while this is a band album, it's the singer's show, and if you get on with the guy and his lyrics, then it's a winner.
JON HISEMAN'S TEMPEST: Living In Fear CD
Ever liked bands such as Patto, Stray, Stray Dog, Trapeze and other such seventies rock bands? Well, if you have, and you've never heard this album, then you'd better get things put right because this is a scintillating slice of seventies rock with guitars running right through the middle. Featuring a trio line-up of ex-Patto guitarist Ollie Halsall together with the ex-Colosseum drummer Jon Hiseman and bassist Mark Clarke, the songs are sizzlers, including a storming cover of 'Paperback Writer' that's got to be the finest version of the Beatles classic as you'll hear with some steaming electric guitar soloing in among the muscle. The track 'Funeral Empire' that opens the album is a strong intro with, once again, Halsall's hoarse vocal so strong and vibrant as the guitar leads the way with some stinging soloing, while a soaring song such as 'Stargazer' features some searing slide guitar and underlying throbbing electronics among the multi-tracked vocal and solid rhythm section. Decidedly seventies - couldn't be any other era - it's actually a whole lot more enjoyable than I remembered and, at this price, more than worthwhile.
SYNTH MUSIC:
ARC: Arcturus CD
Mark Shreeve & Ian Boddy's performance as Arc at 2004's "Hampshire Jam" festival has already been acknowledged by most of the audience who were there, as being one of the finest live concerts of "Berlin School" style music ever played, and now the rest of us can hear this on the brand new CD available shortly. Full of solid, booming sequencers and acres of swirling synth leads and backdrops, this is sure to be greeted as one of the best CD's that seventies-era Tangerine Dream never made - the countdown begins now - place your order here to ensure that when the clock strikes zero, you're wallowing in the heady delights of this eagerly awaited CD. I have to say that, bearing in mind it was about twenty years ago when I last listened to 'Rubycon' or 'Ricochet', if someone had put this on and had told me that it was either of those two albums, I don't think, for one second, that I'd have argued the toss. The opening track alone - at twenty-one minutes, features probably THE best sequencer work you will ever hear outside of classic Tangs - it's just spot on - and the touches of those familiar mellotron undercurrents, the all-important phased piano phrasings (or whatever they are) and the most important of all - music that is constantly changing shape at any one second on its full-sounding journey, all combine to make this track the best thing you'll hear in retro heaven. The twenty-four minute second piece starts off in space-mode, sounding more like some lost Kraut synth/organ/choir composition from the very early seventies as five minutes of building carries on, before the sequencers come to life, the synths effects and whispers swirl all around, a rising mellotron-like chord slowly builds as the whole vision of classic Tangs comes back to life - it's uncanny how they've managed, not only to get the whole Tangs thing SO absolutely spot on, but have also injected a new melodic portion that actually enhances the mood and feel of the piece, which was already jaw-droppingly good to start with, Boddy's electric piano-like melodies occupying a space with the flowing synth melodies over the immense sounding sequencer rhythms, to breathe a whole new life into a style that you'd have thought had been done to death and then some - and at this point we're less than half way into the track - amazing!! However, the track does not do the obvious - if you wanted it to stay like this, then prepare for a surprise, as the two musicians take the sequencers, add more electro-percussive rhythms, the sound of synth wind blowing through eerie, dark space and it all goes quite deep - but just as you're wondering where it's all going to lead - they explode back into life with renewed energy and take their own brand of "Berlin School" to quite dizzy heights. The final track does not sound like Tangs at all - this is the sound of Arc! Taking their cues from "Berlin", they spend the first half of the lengthy track in spacey mode with all sorts of synths, mellotron-like sounds and swirling , rumbling, deep and dense layers of electronics, all flowing along in brooding yet commanding fashion, while still sounding very richly textured and decidedly "seventies". After four minutes or so,. Of this, they start a rhythm going that is more staccato sequenced than anything, as sytnh comets swoop and soar all around, deep bass resonates and an organ-sounding layer comes from below, the introduction of string synths and classic sequencer lines then launching the piece as it begins to take off on its journey to the far reaches of your mind, the addition of further electro-percussive rhythms outing the icing on the cake as the whole composition booms out, becomes ever more layered as it changes shape, eventually fading on a sea of mellow rhythms and space synths, just over fifteen minutes in length. Overall, quite magnificent and can't be faulted.
ARCANUM & FRIENDS: Klang-Raum-Wort X DBLCD
Sometimes I just don't get it - when the people putting together a CD like this don't give you enough sleevenotes to tell you the origins of what's on CD2, you're left guessing - the fact that the sleeve text is in German only doesn't help. So, I have absolutely no idea whether or not the tracks on CD 2 are live, studio, pre-released, exclusive or what. But we'll come onto that in a second. For now, let's review CD1 - CD 1 is Arcanum, the only time you hear them on this project as they're not on CD 2 at all. Sixty three minutes of the first CD are a live concert from 2003. Initially I found that it was very atmospheric, really lush with light but solid rhythms, floating strings and flowing melodies, all quite cosmic and spacey, the sort of synth music that washes over you to quite gorgeous effect. This mood and flavour continues to half way through the album, when you briefly entertain the fact that you're beginning to get bored with it all, whereupon a sequencer rhythm begins, yet, despite that, the mood of the lead layers, if anything, becomes even more lush, romantic and veritably "new age", meaning that my feelings of boredom were beginning to turn into feelings of tedium, as these twee piano melodies sailed into view. By now I'm over half way and atmospheric is turning to bland - if I'd been in that audience I'd have left the hall - as the band just keep it all going, nothing really doing or saying anything, strings lightening up your life one end, this lone cyclical sea of sequencers the other, while in between that awfully clichéd piano melody and the occasional drum roll, carry it all forward. From thereon, very little of any musical significance takes place and the atmospheres remain as they were. The CD ends with a ten minute live excerpt from 2002 - and guess what! - yep, sounds identical to 2003 only more substantial - this band are not good at "change".
Over to CD2 and this is a collection of 8 tracks by members of Arcanum and others such as Broekhuis, Keller & Schonwalder. Over sixty-three minutes they nearly all manage to turn in tracks that are in keeping with the contents of CD 1 in terms of feel and atmosphere - sadly, not a good thing, as even more dreary and dull slow-moving music comes limping out of the speakers, the only man to save things being Detlef Keller with a strong, powerful slice of beefy "berlin", although even he does not escape altogether. Not my sort of thing at all.
BINAR: Project Poltergeist CD£13.99
Part two of the concert from Leicester of which part one was 'The Truth Sets Us Free" album. Musically it's a fair old combination of electronic rhythms and melodies, but, and this is the crucial factor, while you'll hear sequencer rhythms, electronic drums (or drum programs - whatever!!) overlaid with tunes and strings, you'll also be hearing music that does NOT make you think of anything particularly "Berlin" school. Yes, folks, the spirit of the "UK Synth Music" movement is alive, well and STILL leading the way when it comes to musical invention and innovation. Like recent releases from Pete Tedstone, Carl Matthews, Ian Boddy and Glimmer Room, this is the sound of two musicians making quality electronic music that isn't designed to ride on the tail of the past but is there to sail into the future. While you could never find yourself working up to a frenzy on all of this - it's mostly incredibly mellow - as a cohesive set of linked tracks it forms one vast organic whole that crosses the atmospheres of synth and ambient music with relative ease, producing a solid rhythmic foundation overlaid with a sea of strings and plenty of flowing melody lines. There's a mesmerizing quality to the music that carries you along in its wake while at the same time that spacey, hallucinatory quality that sets it apart from the mundane and the mainland. You have to take albums by this duo as whole entities - no point singling out that bit or this bit - for this is the sound of the electronic future - albeit the more commercial end of things - in safe hands.
CONTINUUM: Vol 1 CD
The latest collaboration between Porcupine Tree/Bass Communion/IEM musician Steve Wilson and electronic space music pioneer Vidna Obmana provides an album of three lengthy tracks where soundscaping, texture and layers are the key musical features, where the sound of the cosmos is a deep, bleak and uncharted place, as droning, flowing, dark, unnerving and almost black layers of electronics and treatments are revealed, a space trip of the most uninviting order but one from which there is no turning back once you begin the journey.
ALISA CORAL'S NEUTRON STAR: S/T CD
Formerly a CDR by Mirrors called "Neutron Star", this is now completely remastered and remixed to vastly superior quality, on every level, as well as having a near ten minute bonus track, taking its running time to over seventy five minutes.
From Russia, a simply fabulous CD of 'real' space synths music, featuring two lengthy tracks (nineteen and twenty-eight minuets respectively), four shorter tracks, the extra nine minute tarck, and all of it absolutely superb. Played and produced in a top quality manner, the album sets the scene before moving onto the two epic tracks, of which Neutron Star' at twenty-eight minutes, starts with a very full-sounding slice of lead synth flow below which assorted synth layers drone and glide, while on top the tones change from high register to more bottom-end as all the various layers intertwine, the composition constantly moving, with the subtlest of bass sequence style lines running underneath, as the lead synth line flies and soars in cosmic splendour. Throughout the rest of the track, the main, lone synth lead lines are kept simple and uncluttered with a sparse soundscape that conveys the feel of vast, deep space, but more the unknown rather than the familiar, after the half-way point becoming quite eerie and continuing the ever-darkening mood, as more sounds gather to convey the feel of the stark and the surreal. The other long track, 'Black Hole', at 19 minutes, follows and is another fantastic journey into the realms of the celestial and space synth music, with a variety of cascading and tinkling synth rhythms underneath as the main body of the piece slowly flies, drifts and glides, seemingly hanging motionless in the gloom at several points, but a classic slice of, again, more stripped-down sounding cosmic music, but, in this particular case, a track that will have you absolutely wrapt up in it for the duration of the piece, as before, the mood being one of combining dark with ethereal, the human touch always present. After this, the shorter tracks appear, 'Dying Star' having a stuttering sequencer line underpinning a most gorgeous and, again, simple, lead synth melody line, a neat idea that works a treat, while 'White/Black Quark' is a three minute track that starts with waves of full-sounding, dark synth soundscapes, beginning a travelogue that sees a variety of electronic sounds coming out over a deep bass synth undercurrent. 'Over Jupiter To Eos' is a 'more full-sounding space synths track that emulates the third epic track in many ways, with four minutes of shimmering stark synth space. The bonus track, 'PSR 0220+02' starts with warm flowing synth clouds that well up from below as bass rumbles sound along the bottom of the mix, the whole thing having very much a tranquil feel, and parts of it almost reminiscent of a track whose title escapes me from the album 'Zero Time' by Tonto, only here given a much superior space music makeover, the sonic delights slowly unfolding as the warmth allies with the cosmic to provide a richly textured, evolving, end track that rounds off a simply brilliant new take on cosmic synth music. In all, a fine debut album.
CONSTANCE DEMBY: Live In Tokyo CD
First thing to say right from the start is that the sound here is so good, you'd never know it was a live album - and that's the truth.
There is a unique quality that pervades the best of Demby's music, and that is a spirituality, which is always there - experienced and felt rather than heard - and it is this that makes the music such an emotive and emotional journey. Here, across forty-nine minutes of gorgeously expansive synths-based music, you'll hear the whole world of Constance Demby open up before you like no other recording before it. Dating from 1992, it starts with a distinctly Kitaro-ish feel as synths, flute-synth and strings conjure visions of the Far East set on a heavenly synthesized plateau, as the soundscapes rise up and fill the sir with thoroughly exquisite textures and melodies, slow sounds of deep space rumbling as a distant undercurrent, but all absolutely spellbinding for its six minutes running time. Straight into 'Sky Blossoms' in a heartbeat and here the sound of strings, lilting keyboards and added synth layers all rise in slowly symphonic fashion, creating this warm, building web of synths/keys-dominated beauty for another six minutes, melodies cascading slowly down as the main body of the track fills and drifts in fine melodic, cosmic fashion. The six minutes of 'Deeper Than' is absolutely gorgeous, dominated by warm analogue layers of string synth, deep resonating synth bass and layers of melodies that float and flow, the whole thing almost uplifting and yet calming at the same time, as you just sit transfixed and riveted to the soundscapes that are all around you, with hardly a dry eye in the house. 'The Winding Path' features piano prominently among the strings and space synths, the addition proving be to an almost natural extension of the whole feel of the music as notes and chords ripple and soar, again all incredibly uplifting and quite magical, the melodies touching every part of your soul for its five minute duration. After this it's directly into the four minute 'Mother Of The World' as the slow piano melodies ring out, the strings drift all around and Demby's sublime heavenly voice chants out, as a welcome tonal coloration to the music that spreads out all around, totally spiritual and absolutely wonderful. With its sinuous melodies and deep space bass electronic undercurrents, the near ten minute 'Tree Of Life' starts quite richly textured but with a cosmic quality and great depth, before a zither-like string instrument ripples into action, Demby's soaring, wordless chant briefly appears above deep bass rivers and the whole thing flows majestically towards its finale. The near four minute 'Dragon's Eye' returns to the huge-sounding, uplifting might of synths and strings to create a vast symphony of sound with space synths twittering all around and a feel that is incredibly refreshing. Finally the album ends on just under seven minutes of electronic heaven with synth strings, space synths, bass rumbles and that sort of vast, expansive choral quality that you hear in cathedrals as the music fills the air creating the magical spells that can only be found in such places, as you finally and slowly ascend to the final resting place of what has been a truly spellbinding musical journey.
HEADSHOCK; Music From Peak Experience CD
The new project of a certain Paul Nagle together with fellow synthesist Tim Rafferty, and another new musical territory for Nagle. With fourteen tracks across fifty-three minutes, it's nearly all about atmosphere and sound explorations, but before you start thinking that it's going to be anything avant-garde or heavy going, let me put your mind at rest and say that the whole thing is inventive, addictive, hypnotic, varied, consistent and highly entertaining listening, for, across a myriad soundscapes, the duo have practically invented a completely new form of cosmic music. With influences from ambient, seventies space synths, electronic pioneers such as Reich & Glass, the "Berlin School" movement and a whole lot more, they've assembled a set of class tracks which, from start to finish, hold your attention completely. Whether on voyages of discovery through a world of echoes, on beyond that stars to deep space or driving through the galaxies on seductive sequenced rhythms and ever-changing musical worlds, the compositions on this CD are nothing short of exquisite and absolutely riveting, nothing to tax your musical attention but plenty to transfix you as the journey progresses. There's no way you can really liken it to anyone else - the odd nod from "Berlin" aside - and for that reason alone, while it may inhabit a variety of worlds along the way, it has to be applauded for its cohesion and flow, music that is truly timeless and evokes the senses and emotions every time you hear it.
HEMISPHERE: Rambling Voyage CD
Tracks recorded between 200 and 2004 but I've no idea if this is a "best of" or a new album, so we'll assume it's new and carry on - although I do notice a fourteen minute track that was recorded in 1994, so your guess is as good as mine.
Either way, it starts nicely enough with some warmly flowing synth soundscapes, rippling piano lines that come and go, distant electric guitar tones and strings set against a chunky little electro-percussive rhythm accompanied by tabla percussion and hushed, sultry female voice, all very atmospheric and chilled out, and a great way to start the album. The twelve minute Night Of The Living Machine' that follows spends the first half creating billowing clouds of cosmic synths before a beefy sequencer rhythm begins and a really superb slice of atmospheric, mid-'70's era Tangerine Dream style music ensues. All been done before, but this lot do it so well, capturing perfectly the essence of the band with mellotrons, synths, sequencers, choirs and a flowing mass of instrumentation that never stands still, the undercurrents showing that here are two people who really UNDERSTAND the nature of "Berlin School" music, and quite simply, a classic track. The near seven minute 'Oscillation' returns to the ambient side of things as the chunky rhythms return, this time with soaring, restrained electric guitar and echoed female vocals, almost like the Cosmic Jokers given an ambient dub makeover - excellent. Three short, full-sounding and quite gorgeous cosmic synth tracks follow before the eight minutes of 'Crash' provides the album's first low point thanks to the use of a rather primitive sounding electro-percussive rhythm that sounds like a lo-budget drum machine bought from some backwater music shop - such a shame, too, as the melodies and synth layers that flow on top are so warm and heady, all very analogue sounding and seriously cosmic - but that rhythm, while addictive, just sounds plain bad. Another five minutes of deep and rich cosmic synths follows as the album proceeds to the nine minute title track, starting with huge layers of space synths building and developing as a lead guitar appears and takes the solo limelight, almost a bit Wavestar in places only slightly more raw. Eventually the guitar drops away and the synth layers, space passages and choirs continue to build and swoosh, accompanied by subtle electronic effects and distant rumbling rhythms, here almost Eastern flavoured and sounding just great. The fourteen minute 'Liquid Mirror Part 5' (the 1994 track) is a classic slice of richly textured, symphonic, flowing, multi-layered space music with strings synths and warm, flowing analogue heaven creating the most gorgeous atmospheres as the piece sails along in full-sounding splendour. The album ends on a two minute slice of wide-eyed melodic magic thanks to resonant piano, space synths and a backdrop of string synth, with added guitar to create this slow-moving, full-sounding track that makes time stand still and feels like it lasts longer than two minutes - excellent. Overall, bar one track, a gem.
KAGERMAN/KELLER/SCHONWALDER & FRIENDS: The Liquid Session CD
Three tracks between sixteen and twenty-one minutes long. Taking the opening track first, ti starts out with seven minutes of cosmic synths that gradually paint a picture in sound, adding more layers, textures and colours to the canvas before a cyclical, sequencer-sounding electronic rhythm is introduced to give the piece some added empetus as gentle drum rhythms enter, used sparingly for extra effect, then a sinuous violin lead emerges above the rhythms and surrounding the synth backdrops, as the whole thing begins to fall back, more string synths taking the place of the dying sequencer-style rhythms, as lush melodies and almost mallet-percussion sounding leads take over as the violin returns, and the whole thing has very much the mood of modern Kitaro, full of rich textures, subtle rhythmic undercurrents and slowly moving layers, and it's this scenario that carries on to the end of the track, that leads directly into the sixteen minute 'Schwerelos' on a wave of weaving violin, rumbling synth undercurrents, the new sound of angelic female vocal and the tinkling of the percussive-like synths, all very atmospheric and full of strings and cyclical deep-down lite percussive-sounding rhythms. Apart from a new synth lead melody line and the addition of synth choirs, not a lot changes from here on in, or rather the changes are slow and subtle, the whole thing relying more on atmosphere than anything - it flows along neatly enough with all its evocative facets well in place, and again, this time without sounding quite so "Asian" has that Kitaro-meets-Schulze feel and sound to much of its running time. Again, unbroken, the track sails into the final eighteen minute 'Ein Jegliches Hat Seine Zeit', another piece that starts out slow and subtle but gradually bulds layer upon layer upon layer to create an eventually huge-sounding slice of cosmic melodic music that is full of resonant strings, interweaving synth melodies and expansive synth backdrops, this time the feel and to a degree, sound, firmly that of the eighties Klaus Schulze way of doing things, as the layers and textures build and intensify, the track finally ending on a wave of violin, female vocal, strings and horizon-stretching synth backgrounds.
JOHN LAKVEET: The Force Of Reason CD
New studio album with 8 tracks in sixty-nine minutes. The near eight minute Leibniz and Contingency' (awful title) that opens the album, revolves around a mass of cyclical sequencers and electronic rhythms, but it's not "Berlin School" - instead it's more akin to a cross between Jarre & Tim Blake - only it tries so hard to sail through so many ideas, the flow of the piece going astray in the middle as it moves from rhythmic to drifting and ends up a million miles away from where it started - seen as a track in two parts (which it isn't) makes more sense. The near seven minute Copleston Aperture' is a cosmic synths track while the near five minute 'Checkmate to B. Russell' is, I would say, "influenced by" Tangerine Dream's 'Choronzon' in hefty doses. The eight minute 'Descartes" starts with thudding percussive beats above which, initially, space synths, and then sequencers, appear as the track slowly builds on sparse layers of electronics and factory-sounding resonances, the high-register, sparkling sequencers and some deep-sounding bass sequencers having an almost percussive sounding quality to them, a lot like the live opening to King Crimson's 'Waiting Man' in many ways. The near ten minute 'Nihil-ibuster' starts with more sequencer rhythms and you think it might go into a more Tangs-styled territory as the rhythms build and the eerie sounding effects kick in, slowly moving synth flows emerging as the sequencers become altogether beefier and more solid, mutating and changing shape as the track moves from stark to full-sounding and back again. The twenty-four minute epic track that is 'Platon In The Cave Of Mirrors' spends the first eight minutes in cosmic synth mode as the feel and flow of the track sound irresistible. Then the rhythms start to roll, but only for a couple of minutes, and sparse at that, before a wonderful mellotron melody emerges and out of this comes space synths and sparkling cosmic layers that spread out as far as the ear can hear, eventually changing into a wholly more symphonic brew of space proportions as the cosmic epic evolves, eventually ending in quiet drifting mode and a truly excellent space synths track. After this, the near six minute 'In-Kant-able' is a sequencer fest with swooping space synths that veers from space to full-sounding in equal measures as the track develops. Finally, the album ends with one and a half minutes of wheezing melodies and lightly rhythmic grooves, bizarre, but that's musicians for you.
KEN MARTIN: Transparent Shadows CD
Brand new studio album and a single thirty-eight minute track of which the first half is scene-setting, atmospheric, multi-layered deep, spacey, full-sounding synth music and after that you'll hear the sound of an equally deep, resonant, bass-heavy, slow moving sequencer rhythm, but that only lasts about five minutes before the atmospheric cosmic synth landscape returns, this time on a bed of rumbling cosmic foundations, as a new lead synth emerges and the track begins to change shape, this time rising up to reveal a new and absolutely massive sounding, classic "Berlin" style sequencer rhythm, to which occasional synth backdrops and surrounding sounds are added, eventually a whole sea of the things washing on its shores. It's solid and spacey at the same time, the whole soundpool of synths and sequencers rolling onwards to thirty-five minutes whereupon it all starts to wind down and fade on a whispering bed of space synths.
NEMESIS: Xtempora DBLCD
Now this is just superb - no word of a lie, it's two CD's of top quality, attention-riveting, gorgeous sounding multi-synths music. What makes it so good? Well, let's take CD 2 first - apart from the very last part of the album's thirty-seven minute epic track 'Behemoth', the whole seventy minute CD is the sound of cosmic synth music from the seventies. Many bands have come and gone producing "berlin School" music with sequencers blazing, trying to recapture the glory days of the seventies, but noone's really captured the feel of the times by producing purely rhythm-less (or as good as) synth music. What makes it work even better is that, at no time, do you feel that these guys have gone out and created soundscapes like this deliberately - it all sounds so natural, as though this is simply what they do and how they do it. I listened to the whole CD in one sitting, absolutely hooked and transfixed by what I was hearing - and as I said, only on the last passage does a guitar and a sequencer rhythm come in to join the shifting, swirling drifting, soaring sounds of mellotrons and synths that pervade the rest of the CD.
By contrast, CD 1 is all rhythmic and you know - it's not what you might think - it's better!! With hardly a nod towards T Dream, the whole FEEL of the thing is heavily seventies influenced in terms of its soundscapes and layers, but in terms of its rhythmic constructions and use of tonal colorations, we're talking classic Orb territories only without the dub factors and with much more analogue warmth to the compositions, all of which seemingly flow as one vast seventy-two minute organic unit. So, if you imagine a much more "synth" oriented Orb or a less "Berlin School" more mellow Namlook/Schulze, then you're about two thirds of the way there. Note that nearly all the main foundations of the rhythms are what you might call "electro-percussively based", but throughout, it's solid yet languid, and absolutely spot on in keeping with the whole feel of the CD. The soundscapes are always changing shape, always something going on and always full-sounding, a spellbinding set of synth-ambient crossover tracks that, once again, you just have to hear from start to finish, once you put it on the player - it really is that good. Overall, then, one of the most ENJOYABLE synth music albums I've come across in ages - highly recommended.
N-TRIBE: Tower Of Power CD
Reissue of a CD from 1998 by half of Ash Ra, notably Harald Grobkopf and Steve Baltes. Just four tracks that range from seven to nineteen minutes long, the album opens with the near fifteen minute 'Space' and it's a pretty weird place to be, where nothing stays "normal" for too long, which means that across its seas and undercurrents of space synths, drum rhythms and electronic beats, you're ending up in a world that is more like an electronic version of seventies Can than anything traditionally electronic. The rhythms are highly addictive, the soundscapes almost taking on an industrial flavour, creating soundworlds that are edgy and atmospheric, the whole track taking on a life of its own as those addictive rhythms carry you through - highly inventive and original sounding, even now. The twelve minute 'Speech' is another strange piece, using speech as samples over twisted rhythms, siren-like cosmic synths, echoed, repeated synth patterns, a huge sounding synth backdrop and more twisted beats and melodies, the prevailing rhythm sounding every bit as addictive as before, only here submerged below the cacophony of voices and twittering synth rhythms, scything industrial electronics and driving layers of sound. The nineteen minute 'Speed' starts off very slow, in fact, with unnerving, industrial sounding space synths that rumble and drone, drift and resonate to the eight minute point when, from below, a fantastic, chunky drum rhythm emerges and starts to power the track in superb fashion from deep in the mix. Just over twelve minutes the drums die away and the track takes on a new, more eerie dimension before the sounds start to build and hammer, like some giant other-world factory in action, and taking you in sparse and bleak, although full-sounding fashion, to the end of the track. Finally, the seven minute 'Questions' totally revolves around its rhythmic content with some fantastic beats from the drums and synths, as all manner of weird and wonderful drifts, melodies and more beats are wrapped around the core of the track, a particular refrain whirling round on top that will either hook you or annoy the heck out of you before it soon stops to give way to even more clattering drum rhythms, deep bass and thudding electronic drums, all taking the track to a fiery conclusion.
OTAKU: Timeless Arrival CD
Now I warn you - this could well be the LOUDEST synth music CD you've ever heard!
So loud it takes on an almost industrial dimension - but listen to this - what happens when you have a synth musician who loves the classic early works of Mark Shreeve such as 'Crashead' and 'Legion' but feels they aren't anything like powerful enough, and decides to produce his own original music that is also designed to correct that "imbalance"? Well, the answer is - this album. The opening sea odf sound is almost sonic overload incarnate, but without rhythms, so that when you hit the immense blast that is all six minutes of the title track, your ears are practically falling off, as this juggernaut of wall-to-wall synth sound comes charging at you like a rabid rhino, the whole thing so explosive in an intensity that's more like a bomb going off in your head, where the musician decides to sacrifice clarity for sheer effect, the end result being this seismic wall of sound from which the melodies and solos don't so much rise as struggle to break free from the immense sonic soup in which they are nearly drowning. This is synth music so heavy that even Shreeve could not have dared to go this over the top, for over the top it most definitely is - and I have to say that I love every gloriously dirty minute of it. But that's not the whole story - take the eleven minutes of 'Sick City' - a perfect example of the musician toning the whole thing down and still managing to sound intensively loud - even a somewhat more mid-paced, melodic piece as this sounding like he's thrown in the whole kitchen never mind just the sink. The three minutes of 'Curious' is symphonic synth heaven that is just sublime and gorgeous - loud, but sublime and gorgeous, while the near six minutes of 'Burning Bridges' returns to the unbridled intensity of the title track as your ears are assaulted to wondrous effect, one more time. This range then sums up the rest of the album - one almighty explosion of synth music immensity and intensity with solid core of melody and a human being set on stun, right at the heart of the machines. It's explosive, passionate, huge-sounding and the best electronic sonic soup of an album that I think I've heard in years - prepare your ears - Otaku is here!!
RAINBOW SERPENT: The 8th Nerve CD
Melody!!! There's nothing to say that a synth music CD can't be cosmic, rhythmic and tuneful and for all areas of this music to have a melodic quality to them at the same time. So often, people will confuse a melodic content with something that is a twee tune on top of an insipid rhythm set to an uninspiring backdrop.
THIS superb CD is just the opposite!!
With twelve tracks over more than seventy-eight minutes of music, you will indeed find acres of space synths, loads of driving rhythms - electro-percussive and sequencers - and lashings of melodies allied to occasional NASA-like samples and oceans of stirring string synths. But what makes it work way better than any other CD of its kind that I know - and I've never been one for the more overtly melodic end of the synth music spectrum - is its sheer breadth of arrangement, depth of sound, brilliance of composition, attention to detail and, above all, a warmth that comes from musicians who absolutely adore what they're playing. There's no reason why any synth fan, from those of Jarre & Kraftwerk to Schulze & T Dream, should not find this album anything but absolutely riveting and simply a joy to hear. The rhythms are beefy and solid, decidedly synth but with a nod towards chill-out, while the string and textural synth backdrops are pure cosmic bliss, and over all of this flowing, driving, drifting and multi-layered rivers of melodic delight constantly move and rise up, the whole being way greater than the sum of the parts. In essence, it's a class act - I defy anyone with a love for good solid chunky and easily accessible synth music not to get a real kick out of this - it's got that certain something - something you can't readily define - that makes it so much more than your average synth music CD - of its kind, I don't think I've heard better.
RAS AL ASAD: Lahva CDEP
A single twenty minute track that is THE most incredible example of dark, deep, dense and yet wholly digestible electronic cosmic music, this side of 'Zeit'. It rumbles - boy, does it rumble - it resonates, drifts, flows - in fact the title could not be more appropriate as you can imagine the lava pouring out of the volcano in slow motion set to this electronic darkening that blackens the sky and destroys everything in its path. As a slice of dark cosmic electronic music, it takes no prisoners and yet has a beauty to it, a warmth (wholly appropriate under the circumstances) that makes it such enthralling and enjoyable listening, the sort of track that you could simply never tire of hearing - timeless, filling the room with sound and just immaculately done - stunning and then some.
STEVE ROACH: Places Beyond - The Lost Pieces 4 CD
I have to say that if you're one of those people whose purchases of Steve Roach music may have
decreased a tad by the sheer outpouring of releases, then you seriously need to rethink where this
album's concerned, because the whole feel of the thing is absolutely magnificent. Consisting of
previously unreleased tracks from album sessions with Vir Unis and Vidna Obmana, plus tracks only
previously available on out-of-print compilation albums, the music on this 8-track, seventy-two
minute album is absolutely riveting from start to finish. It opens with a classic slice of solo space
synth music with the full version of a track that got truncated by the editing process when it first
appeared on a Groove label compilation, a track full of warmth and texture, then moves on to a
thirteen minute 'Trancefusion', originally from the 'Blood Machine' sessions with Vir Unis and it's
a decidedly rhythmic piece using addictive electro-percussive beats that gradually decelerate
towards the end of the track. After this a near eight minute track, 'Serpent's Birth', continues the
rhythmic presence, only this time a lot more eerie and darker both in the rhythmic and the
soundsculpting departments, as the track evolves into its own dark space. Next up is the twelve
minute 'Resolution Point', this time with distant but solid percussive rhythmic undercurrents
courtesy of drummer Byron Metcalf, while the whole structure of the track and atmosphere of the
slowly moving synth drifts, not to mention what sounds like an almost Fripp-esque guitar chording,
is so much less intense than before but not lighter either, the slightly dark and slowly moving
layers proving to be absolutely spellbinding, on a track originally taken from the, now deleted,
'Convergent Evolution' CD. The ten minute 'Calm Before The Storm' with Vidna Obmana, is a
an exercise in gorgeous, full-sounding, space synths with that warm, heady atmosphere that so befits the
finest of drifting space music tracks. This mood continues with the slightly darker space synth splendors of
'Slow Rapture', a space synth solo track that was originally featured on the, now out-of-print 'Ambient
Eclipse' album. Things become even spacier on the five minute 'Contained-Sustained' where warm
Elements of cosmic bliss just drift and flow with a fuller sound than before and as atmospheric as they
come. Finally, the near ten minute 'Light Of Day' that's a huge-sounding, multi-layered slice of cosmic
heaven with all manner of synth layers, synth bass and electronic textures swirling, soaring and drifting to
provide a wondrous finish to a truly superb album.
SPYRA: Meditationen CD
The opening two tracks on this CD last twenty-eight minutes each and are simply fantastic. It's seventies-styled cosmic music in the vein of a cross between Klaus Schulze & Tangerine Dream - huge-sounding, constantly moving soundscapes of synths, mellotrons, choirs, the occasional lightest touches of synth rhythms and as magnificent a sounding set of space music that not only takes you right back, but sounds so fresh and contemporary at the same time - just divine. As they say , "like Schulze only better".
The third track is fourteen minutes long and this one is a sequencer drive slice of "Berlin" style synth with lost of swooshing synths, soaring backdrops and a decidedly early seventies sound and feel to the thing, the sequencers initially being solid and percussive without being overly beefy, all adding to the whole galactic atmosphere of the track, but around seven minutes in, the really classic sounding, solid sequencer rhythms emerge and you're in Tangerine Dream heaven, thirty years rolling back before your very ears. All of this builds only to fade slowly but never lose the rhythm as the soundscapes gradually become more sparse, only for it all then to increase in intensity and drive, seeing the track out on an unexpected and most welcome solid driving force of sequencers, drums and acres of soaring and lead synths, a stunning way to end a stunning album. Easily the best thing he's done since 'Phonehead' and possibly his best to date.
TANGERINE DREAM: Vault 4 4CD SET
TANGERINE DREAM: Brighton '86 DBLCD CLEVELAND '86 DBLCD
Winter in Brighton or Summer in Cleveland, Ohio? Which would you prefer? Well, if you're talking about anything remotely inspiring, it's have to be the latter - and so it is with this set of two concerts from the same year. The arguments of releasing two double CD's of archive music from concerts within three months of each other are for elsewhere, but when you listen to them, even though musically exceedingly similar, in sheer performance terms, you have to give the nod to the Cleveland gig. The band sounds altogether "happier", the versions have a "zing" to them and the playing sounds altogether more vibrant and energetic, with some cracking train-like rhythms in amongst the swirling melodies, atmospheric backdrops and crisp, sharper structures, whereas the Brighton gig, sounds altogether more leaden - as thought he band had been forced to trudge up that hill to the train station and back before doing the concert. That said, the Brighton concert does have a certain mesmerizing quality to it as the altogether more exploratory and repeated phrases come into play. But the bottom (or should that be bootmoon) line is that the quality of both concerts is absolutely mixing desk, and the trio were on top form in this year, presenting us with uninterrupted synth flows that ranged from fragile atmospheres to driving rhythmic attack mixed with all the exoticism of the trio's telepathic interaction. As with all the ebst performances from the band, the music never stands still, particularly so on the Cleveland concert where nothing is repeated and the thematic rivers of sonic delight that flow through the heavens of this supremely heartwarming concert, are nothing short of an absolute delight. If you can't gte enough of as good thing, get both - or the 4CD set - if you only get one - AND YOU SHOULD as a synth music fan worth your weight in sequencers - then the Cleveland one gets the nod.
V/A: Symptom Of Thispdsp CD
A Portugese project under the name of Bio, and Italian project under the name of Crid Cuervos and another Portugese project under the name of The Beautiful Schizophonic - what have they all got in common, apart from being on this CD? Well, the answer lies in the music on this CD - they all play electronic cosmic music - the first two are featured on track of nineteen and seventeen minutes respectively, while the last guy offers three tracks from five to nine minutes long. But it's not just any old space music - no siree - this is space music that takes you right into the heart of the universe - where blazing suns and black holes roam, where darkness surrounds and only the stars provide the hints of light that you know exists but you can't seem to find. Talk about transfixed, I was just glued to the sounds and explorations that emanated from the trio - a whole new dark universe of electronic dimensions opens up before you and sucks you right in. This is seriously riveting cosmic/space music - call it what you will - but it SOUNDS just fantastic and if you want your electronic music on the dark side but want something into which you can seriously dive, then they don't come much finer than this.
