JASUN MARTZ: The Pillory/The Battle DBLCD£16.99
Over two and a half hours of music, one track lasting seventy-four minutes, over 100 musicians - this is the "Ben Hur" of music albums - and it's immense in every way. The first disc starts out with a twenty-two minute cosmic composition that features spacey soundscaping for the first eight minutes and then opens out into a gloriously cosmic sea of mellotrons and choirs for the next fourteen minutes that's absolutely heavenly. The album then moves onto the neat twenty minute second section, this time immediately different as the sound of orchestral (genuinely orchestral!!!!) music ensues from a real orchestra and this mass of seething, writhing, snaking and soaring melodies, sound patterns and rhythms, all rise up in true contemporary classical fashion, one minute your gaze focused on the winds then the strings, then the brass, then all together as the drums boom out, and the massed soundscapes provide an orchestral immensity that is quite breathtaking. This all then drops down to a hushed landscape before the whole thing rises up once more into this structured and yet at the same time, almost amorphous, mass of classical contemporary proportions, the whole orchestra providing a mesmerising set of sounds that holds your attention, and I say that as a guy who generally doesn't like orchestral or classical music, but this is altogether different and highly engaging, going from serene to scary in a heartbeat. The eleven minute third section features a rolling undercurrent of drums that spends the first three minutes in early Amon Duul territory with single woodwinds providing the melodic layer, before the rhythms roll out into a drumkit and the music takes on an almost prog-rock dimension with the sound of violins, electric bass, keys and guitars over the fantastic and insistent drum patterns, a lead violin soaring overhead as the "Kraut-prog" fusion music simply flies into life and this takes you to seven minutes before a sizzling guitar riff ensues and what sounds like a lost Frank Zappa style passage ensues with synth and guitars rising up in immense proportions accompanied by the solid drumming , pounding bass and, now, almost Prokofiev-esque choral wordless vocals, as we move into an almost prog version of Magma - impressive and then some!!! Without a break, it segues straight into the fourth part on a wave of searing guitar leads and that powerful drumming then suddenly the clattering of percussion and drums heralds the arrival of what sounds like a piano played by a team of mice as sections of the orchestra return to play free-form and provide you with just over two minutes of almost unbearably intense playing, before it all drops down to glowing woodwinds and echoed, stark, eerie prepared piano and percussion to take you to the six minute point where it abruptly stops to leave you with this undercurrent of deep bass layers courtesy of mellotrons and this rapidly develops into the sound of mellotrons that you know and love, accompanied by pipe organ to provide an almost gothic soundtrack so that all you need is Bela Lugosi to come jumping out of the speakers, to complete the picture for its near six minute running time. The disc ends with nine minutes of rhythm-free, ambient, spacey. cosmic music that drifts and drones, slowly flows and silently soars to see the whole thing out on multi-textured layers of bass depths and droning, serene electronics - a perfect end to one of the most amazing albums you've heard in years - and still the seventy four minute disc 2 still to come. Described as "industrial/noise/ambient', it is a seventy four minute single piece, but what that description doesn't say is that the whole thing is THE most incredible slice of rhythm-free cosmic music that's been done in years, going from a whisper to a scream across its many and varied heady, multi-textured soundscapes - sounding electronic, but probably the orchestra although, knowing Martz, it could be anything - but it SOUNDS electronic and that's god enough for me - as to the "noise" bit, don't be put off by that - there's a section about a third the way in that rises up to this huge blast of a soundscape where all cosmic music implodes on itself but it's perfectly natural and decidedly in keeping with the whole dark, eerie and suspenseful nature of the music as a whole. This section reappears in a varied manner around the forty minute mark for several glorious minutes, before the cosmic darkness falls once more and the track moves ever onwards to what you think is going to be a slowly faded end, but then it surprises you as, just before the seventy minute mark, the whole orchestra suddenly rises up to create this howling amorphous blast of sound for just two minutes before it drops away to leave the violins and strings, woodwinds and deep bass electronics to see the track out on a sea of cosmic bliss.
As a whole, this album is music on a decidedly grand scale, and to say it is unique would be an understatement. It's incredible, holds your attention for the full duration, is a massive exercise in composition and structure, works from start to finish, and has to be one of the most awesome albums of the last twenty years in terms of its scope and originality.
NEUMEIER-GENRICH-SCHMIDT: Psychedelic Monster Jam CD
Guru Guru by any other name………and definitely Guru Guru in sound, feel and spirit - and we're talking THE vintage, first three albums-era Guru Guru too. So, we have drummer Mani Neumeier and electric guitarist Ax Genrich from the original line-up, plus bassist and Sula Bassana main man Dave Schmidt. Musically, it's just MAGNIFICENT!!!! Incendiary doesn't even come close as the album presents just under EIGHTY minutes of some of the finest electric guitar-dominated psychedlic-Krautrock styled structured guitar jamming on the planet. From start to finish, it's a guitar-lover's dream album. The band open in furious style with sky-high electric guitar leads, before they move through a more cosmic intro to 'Boogie In Bombay' that picks up and Asian-flavoured drum rhythm, and slowly builds on a languid, scything guitar lead, driving forward slowly and purposefully. Then it's a case of - BLATTT!!!!! - and in we go to the first of several Guru Guru tracks, this time 'Stone Inn' as Genrich's guitar just takes off amid a searing sea of riffs and solos, worthy of anything put out by the likes of Frank Marino, Pink Fairies, early Ash Ra Tempel and just about every guitar-jamming band you can think of - it's scorching stuff for over six minutes as it then leads directly into the heady psychedelia of the six minute 'Stone Out' that drives forward on some incredible Can-like rhythms and Karoli-esque guitar work, possible the best track that early instrumental Can never recorded.The near twelve minute 'Moonlight Flight' starts slowly but then builds into this massive cauldron of trio-played improvisation, as heady and searing a sea of guitar work as you'll encounter as the jamming just intensifies and you sit there jaw-dropped at the results - the sound of the best ever seventies guitar bands ringing in your ears as you let the scorching instrumental work into every fibre of your body. The near twelve minute Guru Guru cover, 'Next Time See You At The Dalai Lhama', just explodes into life with some of the most wicked guitar leads and driving rhythm section that you'll hear, thundering along like there's no tomorrow. The four minute 'Rising Sun' gives us a brief respite from the intensity with another Asian flavoured delight, before the album's "magnum opus" is launced upon you like a missile, this being a mighty eighteen minute version of Guru Guru's 'Electric Junk', starting with red-hot electric guitar before the driving main body of the track takes off and the band go full flight into this maelstrom of guitar, bass and drums, taking it all up to a peak then dropping it down a bit before taking it on to even higher planes as the track goes nuclear then finally erupts taking the world with it in a blaze of guitars and rhythm section - just awesome!!! The album ends on a sensibly sedate level with the percussive and bass featured six minutes of 'Mushroom Moon', the guitar used purely as a textural backdrop, but a great way to end the album. Overall, this can't be faulted - as psych guitar albums go, it's in a field of its own and not a less than riveting second on the entire thing - essential!!!
NOVATRON: New Rising Sun CD
One of the finest, most challenging, uncompromising, adventurous and yet absolutely awesome electronic music CD's I've heard in years. At its heart is industrial strength space music, but before you think "oh yeh - heard it all before", let me assure you that, in this case, you most definitely have not. Using a line-up of korg, roland and moog synths, electric bass, electronics, sampler and effects from one guy plus electronics, sampler and programming from the other guy, the result is more like being in the heart of a blazing sun as this incredible sound that I can only describe as the most immense, searing, multi-layered, multi-textured drone, rises up and takes you over. I sat there just completely awestruck by what was unfolding, so much so that, on the odd occasion I had to take the headphones off, I actually felt empty when the soundscapes disappeared. It's all very drug-like - hear some, want more. Those huge sounding drones and deep rivers of electronics and what sound like a million angry guitars set on sustain all combine to create a set of soundscapes, on a couple of tracks with added booming beats for even more jaw-dropping effect, that you simply won't have heard before - because it's not unlistenable, it's not unmusical and it's not sound for sound's sake - this is meant to be heard and enjoyed, and on the level at which it exists, that is most definitely the case - but it should still carry a government health warning for all that - addiction may lead to hallucination and sleepless nights. Turn it up loud and let it carry you off - it might be the last ride you ever have.
SUBARACHNOID SPACE: The Red Veil CD
For those that don't know, this band is an instrumental quartet featuring two electric guitarists, drummer and bassist . They've released a number of red hot albums of which this is one of the hottest and it's the latest, proving undoubtedly that this band can do no wrong. All the tracks are in a style which can only be described as the missing link between early Ash Ra Tempel, slower Hawkwind, the intensity of Marble Sheep and just THE finest jamming-spacerock-Krautrock band on the planet right now. From slower more atmospheric passages through full-on sonic attack, the guitars provide a million landscapes ranging from spaced-out to storm-force, but all the instrumentals are arranged to the nth detail, so that at no time does your attention wander as you are encapsulated in this musical universe, totally wrapped up with the solid rhythms that roll ever onwards courtesy of some wickedly drivinf bass and drum work, while all around the guitars drive, explode, drift and dive, all creating the most heady and heavy set of tracks that are a positive delight from start to finish - unmissable and yet another stunning album.
V/A: Hall Of Mirrors DBLCD
With virtually all tracks exclusive to this CD, it GENUINELY fulfils both functions of being a CD that you will play and play and play as well as being an introduction to the TYPICAL music of no less than 22 bands. Virtually all instrumental, it will appeal to a wide range of fans as far apart as instrumental indie rock, space- and psychedelic rock and Krautrock. Nearly every track is dominated by flying, searing, storming and blazing electric guitars - just look at some of the names - Circle., Kinski, ST 37, Vocokesh, farflung, Speaker/Cranker, Subarachnoid Space, Escapade, Bardo Pond, Yeti and many more in a similar vein. From mighty roars to multi-layered space-rock through incendiary jamming style tracks, this is a psych/Krautrock fan's electric guitar dream album and it is true to say that there isn't a single track on the album that is less than utterly riveting, always melodic even in the musical maelstroms that are sometimes created, and in the traditions of the best music of this kind, with a decided seventies influence running through the hearts of many of the bands on here. This is one fantastic album that cannot be faulted, and at this price, you simply can't go wrong - superb and then some!
STOMU YAMASHTA: The Complete "Go" Sessions DBLCD
Nearly two and a half hours of music that is a voyage of discovery in itself. What you get is the first studio album, the expanded and expansive live album and the second studio album, all three built around a core band of Yamashta on keyboards and percussion, Santana's Mike Shrieve on drums, Shrieve collaborator and synth-maestro Klaus Schulze on synths, Return To Forever's guitarist Al Dimeola on lead guitar and, in the case of the first studio and live albums only, Steve Winwood on keyboards and vocals. Stylistically, the first studio album crossed space synths, heartfelt ballads, orchestral backdrops, sumptuous arrangements, funky tracks, fusion-y soloing and more. Without the orchrstal arrangements, the live album - a good twenty minutes longer - allowed much more room for instrumental work, as a result of which there are some cracking passages from the synths, electric guitar and keys along the way, the whole thing substituting the sheen of the studio for the sheer energy of the concert hall, and the two going together to perfection. The second studio album, les orchestral, less electronic and more down-to-earth, became more of a classic sounding seventies mix of rock, soul, funk and fusion, but actually hangs together now a lot better than I remembered. In many ways it's a sort of less indulgent 'War Of The Worlds" style concept album in another time and space only with more punch and less syrup.
AMBIENT/TRANCE/TECHNO,etc:
GHOAK: Some Are Weird CD
It's a sort of ambient techno - some quite meaty electro-percussive beats but over that a lot of chilled-out electronic layers that provide a sprawling and expansive feel to the compositions, as electronic leads and textures soar and drift to perfection. The pace and strength of the electronic drums varies, ranging from down-tempo almost dubby bliss to almost drum'n'bass strength beats. Sometimes it gets seriously strange as industrial sounding synths groan and moan over the chunky beats and soaring leads, resulting in something that becomes seriously weird and then completely addictive as the soundscape changes and the drive continues ever upward. On some, the rhythms positively take over, from solid drumming to wheezing synths, providing once again, something quite unique and substantial. In many ways, it's range is its strength, a world where originality and musical defiance run hand in hand.
JUNO REACTOR: Labyrinth CD
The opening couple of tracks, 'Conquistador Pts 1+ 2', could not be more of a surprise if you tried. The first part is a gorgeous slice of female vocals, acoustic guitars and general non-electronic Ibizan ambience, then, just as you're thinking "this is actually all rather fine", this immense sea of electronics rises from below, is accompanied by monstrous electro-percussive and electronic beats and rhythms, and the whole thing suddenly mutates into this gigantic, rampaging slice of industrial techno-trance-meets-EBM, the whole thing going completely into burn-out mode and taking your head with it - unreal but superb. After that, 'Giant' carries on the pace and intensity with a sea of industrial electronic beats and electronic surrounds that make the likes of Chemical Brothers & Prodigy sound lame in comparison, on a track that is so solid, so full, so heavy, so layered and with a soaring female vocal deep in the heart of the mix, so much happening, you can't believe it's only four minutes long. Apart from a touch of breathing space on the more stretched-out and languid, if still sizeably immense, seven minutes that is the full-sounding 'Angels And Men', that's the story of the rest of the album - rampaging beats, roaring electronics, an intensity that stuns and more happening than a Royal Rumble. Overall, it's huge-sounding, powerful and blazing density but it's amazing and addictive too - don that crash helmet and prepare for the ride.
ORB vs MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO: Battersea Shield CD
One almighty collaboration between two giant of ambient and industrial music, the results of which are presented here in this amazingly packaged (round embossed metal tin for starters) album. Of the three tracks concerned the highlight is the near nineteen minute '1855 BC' which is as classic a slice of Orb-esque ambient dub as you'll have heard on any of the first three Orb albums, only here with even more effects and electronic additions that turn what would have previously been a slice of atmospheric but full - sounding ambient dub into this maelstrom of ambient dub that takes the whole thing into a completely new dimension that classic early Orb could never have dreamt of doing. It's 90% Orb and 10% MBF but the latter makes a significant difference to the whole structure and feel of the music, giving it a far busier sound and so much happening you'll need several plays just to take it all in, while at the heart of things, all the time you have the most fantastic Orb track since the heady days of 'Ultraworld'. Before that, you have 'Matron', a track that is also ambient dub but wholly different with almost sequencer-like rhythms, among the electro-percussive beats, the deep, throbbing dubby bass lines, while all around a mass of synths, electronics, samples and effects provides this seemingly endless spectrum of sound, melodic one moment, swirling the next, but always absolutely addictive as the mighty track rolls forward.The final track is 'Insane', an altogether faster, more powerful slice of ambient dub heaven, with this immense rolling percussive rhythm that booms out as electronic rhythms are added to jaw-dropping effect while a pool of sampled vocal, searing electronics, swirling space synths, more electronic effects than you can poke a pig with and THE most amazing electro-percussive rhythm, all come in to create a track that will have you leaping around the room in sheer unbridled ecstasy. All in all, the best Orb album since 'Ultraworld' and one surefire, red-hot sizzling barnstormer of an album.
V/A: Café Ibiza Collectors Box Set No 2 4CD
Fantastic value-for-money collection subtitled "the best of Balearic ambient and chill out music" and they've got it spot on. Over five hours of music, you'll hear some wickedly blissful and ambient electronic tracks from a host of names that includes Chicane, A Man Called Adam,. Nightmares On Wax, BT, Morcheeba, William Orbit, Space Brothers, Lustral, Beanfield and many more. It's chilled out from start to finish but assembled to be varied, bot musically and texturally, so that in no way is it all one-dimensional or "samey". Whether ethereal, chilled beats and ambient grooves, or a combination of the two, all the tracks have multitudinous layers and depths, with plenty of atmospheric and downtempo tracks - all in al, a summer winner from start to finish..
V/A: Thisco: Thiscology CD
If you just want to hear what the excellent and innovative Portugese Thisco label has to offer without diving into a full group album first, then this compilation not only serves that purpose, but is so good that you'll be playing this for a long time to come. It opens with a track from shhh called 'Mathematics' that is just one of the strongest and most incendiary electronic openers I've heard in ages with initial boinging electronics moving on top of some slow but seriously thundery electronic drum beats as the voice sample intones, squalling synth layers are added slowly and the beefy rhythms rise up to become positively nuclear, the whole soundscape having you absolutely riveted. Stunning! The following track from Oxygen is no less addictive, another completely original piece this time with soaring synth leads but cyclical backdrops, thudding electronic and electro-percussive rhythms, all manner of synthscapes swirling around in the mix as the piece drives on with a menacing vocal that conjures visions of The The gone completely electronic - and simply awesome a track it is too for nearly eight minutes. Flat Opak give us a thunderous slice of similar sounding proportions only this time with a distinctly Benny Benassi quality to the beefy beats and expansive layers. The track from Headshot is altogether lighter and more melodic, still in keeping with the album as a whole, and still as full-sounding while no less inventive and addictive, as all sorts of layers and textures, rhythms and melodies pour themselves into this track that builds and builds. Rasal Asad's track is just breathtakingly beautiful, the title track from the 'Asuna' album with soaring cosmic synths, slowly undulating melodies, gorgeous electronic backdrops and surrounds, all occasionally interspersed with a wondrously vintage male voice sample, as the whole thing stands before you in all its glory and if you like this, you have to get the album. 5 other tracks that follow are all of a similarly satisfying nature, making this one of the finest and best listening and most original sounding electronic music samplers for ages.
