AMBIENT/TRANCE/TECHNO, etc:
HONEYROOT: Sound Echo Location CD
From the guiding hand of ex-Heaven 17'er Glen Gregory, & Keith Lowndes, complete with assorted guest female vocalists and the odd musician, comes this seventy minute ambient collection of songs and instrumentals. All originals, apart from a rather fine rendition of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' right at the end of the CD. put this band, music and vocally, out on somewhat of a limb - it's almost too classy as regards an album of ambient electronic music. More warm sounding than most song-based albums in this vein, more overtly ambient with languid chunky rhythms, and the most magical melodies, a world where electronics, synths, electric piano and more keyboards, all come to life as the guitar is silenced for the night. The songs, for most are songs, are performed as solid but spacious compositions giving the melodies and atmospheres a chance to shine out over and around the vocals and into the ether. It's languid, it's substantial, it's unmistakably English and it's way cool lounge-styled ambience for the heart and head.
MIRROR SYSTEM: Mirror System CD
Oh lord - you can hear as many ambient and electronic music CD's as you like, but when something of this masterful quality comes along, you can but sit and bow, in reverence, to the masters of the genre - for Steve Hillage & Miquette Giraudy (System 7) whose project this is, prove themselves to be exactly that on this debut album. Across seventy five minutes of music they perform and compose with a shine that makes most of the rest look like also-rans. Everything about the album is nigh on perfect - the production, the arrangements, the subtleties, the sounds, the rhythms, the melodies - and on it goes. In many ways evoking the same feelings you had when you first encountered the mighty Banco De Gaia and The Orb, this album both takes you back and moves you forward at the same time, as beds of rhythmic eloquence and ambient muscle occupy territories that range from Middle Eastern through to ambient dub and "classic" ambient that spans nearly 15 years. The melodies and layers created by the musicians on synths and guitars and solid electronic/programmed percussive rhythms, is nothing short of awe-inspiring - with every part exuding atmosphere and exoticism. With collaborations including a track with the Orb's Alex Paterson, a corking cover of Jam & Spoon's classic 'Stella', this is an album to treasure, as classic a "real" ambient music album that will ultimately prove so addictive, it will be a CD table favourite for ages to come, but, most importantly, an album of music that has heart and soul poured into it, music that is positively timeless, and music of such quality that you wonder why it can't always be this good!!
CANTERBURY/FUSION:
SOFT MACHINE: British Tour '75 CD
In my illustrious reviewing career to date (!!!!) I think I once referred to a later incarnation of this band as "the UK answer to the Mahavishnu Orchestra" - and on the evidence of this CD, you can see why. Right from the start, the solo space is dominated by guitarist John Etheridge's lightning fast runs, as he displays a dazzling array of fretwork that would make most guitarists gasp in amazement, only then to go from burn to simmer and back again, in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile the rhythm section - bass solidly upfront in the mix thanks to a fantastic recording and production - propels the music while the keyboards take very much a vital but background role. OK, so it's not the Soft Machine you knew and loved only three years before, but it's hot stuff, for sure. Gradually, as the concert goes, the keyboards take up more of a co-lead role, but it's the guitar that steals the show. As with a lot of the recent archive recordings from this band, this CD also boasts a unique line-up with only surviving, nearly original, member Mike Ratledge, still present, alongside the line-up of Etheridge, drummer John Marshall, bassist Roy Babbington and keyboardist/sax player (although there's not exactly much sax work going on here) Karl Jenkins. Divided into two medleys of over thirty minutes a-piece, separated by a drum solo, from calm to searing fusion heat, this is a steaming performance all round, primarily focusing on material from the recently released 'Bundles' album, but also some previously unreleased tracks as well as the odd nod to the past. Two highlights include the tranquil dynamics of 'Out Of Season' with some beautiful piano and guitar work that segues into the chugging heat of 'The Man Who Waved At Trains' where the ghost of Soft Machine past is finally resurrected thanks to a sterling solo from Ratledge's trademark Lowery organ, alongside the chiming rhythm guitar, thundering rhythm section and electric piano work that fills the gaps, and a scorching rendition of 'Bundles' epic track, 'Hazard Profile', here letting Jenkins play some sax at last, as the guitar spills out the cyclical riff and the band then join in the spedy riffing and rhythm work before the guitar sails out above the pounding bass, crunching drums and dual piano backdrops, another moment when the image of the Mahavishnu crew is firmly and solidly put in your brain.
Overall, though, it's seventy-eight minutes of fusion fun, and a fitting testament to a unique line-up, one with total dexterity of playing allied to compositional emotion that makes it all so enjoyable.
SOFT MACHINE LEGACY: Live In Zaandam CD
Excellent quality recording of the newly reformed band live in May 2005 - the band consisting of Hopper, Dean, Marshall & Etheridge. The 6 tracks include one old classic - Hopper's 'Kings & Queens' - and across over fifty minute of music, you hear the sound of classic fusion Softs - as much thanks to Elton Dean as anything, who is essentially the lead voice here with trademark sax and saxello providing the nod to the past on contemporary original compositions. While there's no real sense of musical daring here or anything overly powerful, the fact that the set sounds so fresh that the transition from original into 'Kings & Queens' and out, sounds so natural, is indicative of the quality, mood and feel of the album as a whole, in many ways taking you back more to '5'-era Softs rather than, as you might possibly have expected in the absence of organ and the presence of guitar, the later and largely less highly regarded line-up. At no point does this sound like anything but genuine Soft Machine, the band playing as an ensemble and Dean playing a blinder throughout, so much so that this truly surprised me as to how good it came across. Definitely one to be recommended and a reunion that works a treat.
EURO-ROCK/CONTEMPORARY:
ASH RA TEMPEL: Join Inn (Ltd Card Cover) CD
Third album and for me one of the finest, representing both sides of the band as they were at the time. The result is the single long track that is the instrumental cosmic guitar-rock of 'Freak 'n' Roll', with Manuel Gottsching's fluid electric guitar soaring and soloing effortlessly above the rhythm section of Klaus Schulze on drums and Hartmut Enke on bass. By contrast, the other long track on the album is firmly Klaus Schulze's tour-de-force that is 'Jenseits', a long, flowing cosmic track full of organ and synths and cosmic guitar, that had more to do with the Cosmic Jokers style of things while being a glimpse from the Ash Ra future.
EPHEMERAL ARKESTRA: Whole World CD
New project and it's riveting. 9 tracks over one hour that take on board some of the most adventurous and innovative new music around today. The opener is 'Peruvian Marching Power', a title that truly depicts the track as initially acoustic guitars are heard for the first 23 seconds, then suddenly in come what sounds like an Arabic wind instrument calling the faithful to prayer over a deep rumbling bass drone - then ethnic percussion spirals in, the sound is overlaid with more layers of wind instrument-sounding drones, the intensity of the bass increases, and the whole thing rises up and marches forward, the effect spellbinding. Suddenly you are left with just the percussion and guitars and bass rumble as electronics enter and perform rapid-fire bursts, the guitar-percussion heart of the track marching on. More layers of what sound like mellotron samples appear and the whole pattern opens up into one vast sounding soundscape of massive proportions, rumbling, droning, and crunching ahead in amazing fashion, totally unique but so accessible, and a stunning six minute opener. 'African Head Space' is up next and this starts with squidgy electronics before this stunning percussive rumbling rhythm appears and then, over that, an awesome rhythm appears from what sounds like a processed bass guitar set on stun, but more electronic - lord knows what this guy's using to create these sounds but they're incredible. Above this an almost horn-like melody weaves a spell in the distance while the rhythmic mass swirls and drives, punctuated by all sorts of layers, melodies, textures and it'll take you at least five listens just to spot it all - an example of multi-layered contemporary electro-acoustic music at its finest, the pioneering spirit and sound of the seventies brought kicking and screaming smack up to date - innovation in music never sounded so good - in fact the nearest comparison would be Faust - yes, Faust - and anyone into the more experimental side of that band and most things off the first two albums, would do well to score a copy of this CD. Then comes 'Icelandic Dub' opening on THE most fantastic rapid-fire electronic rhythm, full of bass splendour, as piano appears and then suddenly a whole mass of melodic guitars, deep rumbling drums, crunching rhythms and deep raga-like drone at the base of the mix all combine to create a truly head-bending sea of rhythmic intensity that is absolutely magical - just magical - and SO powerful too. It's music like you've never heard before but so addictive and so immediate, yet incredibly complex and original - four and a half minutes of this just isn't enough. 'Sammi Ghost Dance' starts with resonant drums, ethnic percussion and deep throbbing bass, before a bell-like tone chimes out, the bass rumbles away immaculately and suddenly a bleeping, echoing line of electronic sounds, sweep across the mix, as the rhythms rumble and crunch, the whole thing now beginning to take off as the assorted parts combine to create an incredibly hypnotic whole, the top layers changing slowly and subtly as this complex rhythmic foundation, marches onwards. But then the rhythms cease and a whole new soundscape of repeating electronics, throbbing electronic rhythms and buzz-saw electronic backdrops take us firmly and squarely back into Faust territory to end the composition on a jaw-dropping soundscape. Simply amazing and nearly nine minute s long. 'Baltic Tabla Factory' starts as you might expect - with tables - but not for long as this clattering array of drums and percussion and electronics appears above it then suddenly this swirling, circling electronic lead drone begins but then is overlaid by the most awesome electronic drone, then that changes to staccato electronics as the whole thing starts to build more layers than a royal wedding cake and the effect is stunning as this mass of layers and rhythms just drives forward like nothing you've ever really heard before outside the Krautrock innovators of the seventies - almost impossible to describe, utterly addictive and just amazing, this is yet more music that you just have to hear to get the full explosive effect for its entire eight minute running time. The wonderfully named 'Outback Industrial Townplanners' starts with swampy beats, crashing cymbals and bursts of electronics before the hissing electronic layer takes over and then disappears as another echoing lead layer appears, with what sounds like a didge backdrop throbbing away but then that disappears and…..well, you get the picture - over the solid rhythmic foundations, more sounds, melodies, layers and drones than you could hope to hear are swiftly introduced then taken away to reveal a whole new landscape as the relatively subdued but oh-so dynamic track wends its way to a five and half minute conclusion. The seven minute 'Noh not now, that', is an exercise in mesmerising drums and electronics, the former opening things up with a crunch as the latter gather round like angry wasps, and the two combining to form this swirling, driving, hypnotic sea of drums and drones, layers and rumbles, all of which might sound unlistenable but which is in actual fact, highly enjoyable and totally digestible - like the rest of the album, something else that will amaze and delight. Another incredible powerful rhythmic-led setting of drums, pounding bass, throbbing electronics and electronic drums provides the backbone for the incendiary marching mass that is 'Mining In The Caucassus' a seven minute piece that is just awesome in its arrangement and execution, again back to hints of classic Faust but going beyond this as the patterns change, the soundscapes twist and turn, the rhythms change shape and the whole thing becomes this driving, powerful, intense array of drumming, rhythmic electronics, dense drones, swirling melodies and huge-sounding layers that defy dissection as you enjoy this monumental soundscape that's striding out in solid and emotive fashion - another stunning track. Finally there's six minutes of 'Electron Wandering Through Asia' which I can only like to a melting pot of Can with Czukay on horn, and Faust, with added electronics - splendid stuff.
Overall, a truly awesome album and for those who want musical innovation that's accessible, rhythmic and enjoyable from start to finish, something new in the world of electronics and drums, this is the business!!
FAR CORNER: Far Corner CD
Something new under heaven and earth arrives in the form of this album that masquerades as "contemporary", tries hard to be fusion, but ends up as prog-rock - and all points in between. A rather unique line-up sees the drums and bass joined by piano/Hammond Organ (yes, Hammond!) and synths on the one hand, and acoustic& electric cellos (yes, cellos!) on the other. The result is, as I say a mix of the three styles, a sort of "prog-rock RIO" style of things, mixing Univers Zero & ELP in equal measures, as bizarre a combination a it sounds, so that you get the adventurous spirit and twisting, turning rhythms of the former combined with the classical melodic safety of the latter. With compositions ranging from five to 2 epics at sixteen and seventeen minutes respectively, there's a lot going on to keep you hooked. Definitely not too extreme a proposition for either musical side, this is a unique hybrid that actually works.
PRESENT: A Great Inhumane Adventure CD
Superbly recorded album capturing the band live in Orion Studios in the USA in 1998 and it's evident fright from the start that the Magma influences are omnipresent, with a near fifteen minute version of 'Delusions' that sounds quite a bit like the old Magma offshoot band, Weidorje, with similar sounding vocals that leads into a soaring section of piano, upfront electric bass, and the twin lead guitars channelling the overall soloing into a cauldron of musical alleyways, the overall effect being quite amazing. The thirteen minute 'Laundry Blues' is mostly instrumental and, for this band, quite subdued, a neat contrast from the frantic nature of the two preceding pieces, again with the guitars taking up the prime lead role. The twenty three minute 'Promenade Au Fond D'un Canal' embodies all the aforementioned elements and comes up with a slowly building track that sees the whole band taking it all forward thanks to punishing electric bass, solid drums and the chiming, intertwining, duelling and electrifying guitars of the Trigaux Brothers. Overall, a mighty being of great organic flow and complexity, melodic but adventurous.
GENERAL:
DAVE DILL: See You In The Sunshine CD
It took me until track 6 to get it, but then it hit me - Crosby, Stills & Nash!! Yep, it's the whole essence of that legendary trio distilled into one guy and he happens to be English so the accent's a little closer to home, even though the harmonies are in the land of the free. Oddly enough, although I don't know that much, from what I've heard, I'd guess that many of the songs aren't a million miles away from that, either. Whether acoustic, electro-acoustic, electric, driving, slow or mid-paced, it's an intelligent collection of good-time songs delivered with good lead vocals and excellent harmonies, and played superbly with a sensitive and driving set of guitars, bass and drums. Most of the compositions are both enjoyable and thoughtful, with the sound of California in general and the C, S & N guys in particular, never far away, sometimes so close as to be almost scary, and, overall, a fine album.
TEN YEARS AFTER: Roadworks DBLCD
Excellently priced, excellently recorded and played debut live album from the reformed band with new guitarist/vocalist Joe Gooch. On offer is a selection of new and classic tracks, all of which simmer and smoulder on disc one, then erupt and burn on disc two, the latter of which starts with a seminal seven minutes of 'Love Like A Man' before cruising through a couple of songs to the incendiary twenty-five minutes of 'Can't Keep from Crying Sometimes' followed by a blistering 'I'm Coming Home', the whole thing ending with a couple more five minute tracks including a rousing 'Choo Choo Mama'.
GUITAR MUSIC/GREAT GUITARISTS:
SIMONE FIORLETTA: Parallel Worlds CD
Been a while since we had a seriously sizzling instrumental rock guitar CD, but this one, in the hands of what to me, is a complete unknown, is really rather brilliant. He opens with a no-holds-barred smoking brew of muscular intensity, the guitar on rifle-fire attack but infused with stacks of melody lines shooting out at all angles and then this massive riff comes surging along as the rhythm section catches fire and this searing sea of soloing erupts, the track changing shape and pace as it goes, dropping back to a stride before stepping up to a race, as gloriously steaming an electric guitar ride as they go. 'For You' starts with chiming guitars before this sizzling electric lead enters, then the rhythm section, then a different lead as the layers mount up, the solo flies higher and the tunes ring out. 'The 1st Day Of Life' starts out slow then builds up a head of steam to become another metal anthem of instrumental rock proportions with guitar work that really hits the spot. From there on it's a mix of tracks that drive and attack to tracks that build and flow, all the time featuring exquisite electric guitar leads,. Red hot solos and a solid dependable rhythm section, with compositions that never lose sight of the theme and never become overbearing or overwhelming.
POCKET GODS: Pondfield Solstice CD
They don't hang around- within thirty seconds of this album, the guitar work's on fire - forget slow build-ups, no sireee. This band sets up a solid, chugging rhythm with echoey drums, pounding electric bass right upfront and electric guitars that burn, the sound of searing licks, feedback and scorching leads having you unutterably hooked. It's Krautrock - it's psychedelic - it's instrumental (as is the album, bar a couple of minutes of the last track) - and it's fantastic. That rhythm is sooooo addictive for a start, never mind the guitar work, and if high-flying, lengthy electric guitars-led jamming rock is your bag, then this track, Pondfield Solstice', will have you in raptures - going to nuclear intensity on its awesome molten guitars-driven finale - over seventeen minutes of pure joy. At twelve minutes, 'The Golden Bough' revolves around acoustic guitar chords and washes, distant piano chords, echoey almost ethnic sounding drums, cymbal splashes and humming bass as the slowly flowing melodic river wends its merry way through a heartfelt sea of tuneful layers and the result is absolutely gorgeous while at the same time being decidedly solidly produced, excellently arranged and just superb sounding music, again very psychedelic and Krautrock-esque - in fact not a million miles away from classic seventies Popol Vuh with whose sound it shares more than a hint. The fourteen minute 'John Barleycorn Blues' is electric as the first track but possessing the solid, slow moving flow of the second, as the chugging rhythm section is initially overlaid with guitar and organ rivers going on behind, before a searing electric guitar lead takes over and solos superbly over the massive flowing layers going on behind. The rhythms occasionally take a detour but get back on track, while the huge sounding layers of organ backdrops, chiming guitars and smoking slow lead guitar provide a track that has muscle and movement, but sizzling slow-motion jamming that's every bit as red hot as anything that's gone before, the intensity glowing through and through The final track, at nineteen minutes, is 'The Ninth Configuration' and comes across as a mix of the previous two electric tracks, with some incendiary playing from the guitars, bass and drums as the song winds its way through vari-paced settings, some slowly intense, others more open and chiming. Around eleven minutes, the guitar and rhythm section give way to leave just a swirling organ lead over which eventually, acoustic guitars strum as the whispy vocal intones, as perfect a setting as it come, , but then the vocal takes over as a narrated end section set to accordion and distant bass, finishes things off in a quite bizarre and totally unexpected way. Overall, apart from the end section of the last track, a stunning and storming album. Get rid of that last narrated section on track four, and it'd be nigh on perfect.
INDUSTRIAL:
KMFDM: Hau Ruck CD
I dunno - here I am, a fan of industrial dancefloor, industrial metal and EBM, yet I've never really got into this band as much as I thought I should - and never been quite sure why. But this - THIS - is the one - the one to take you there. Right from the start, the opening track, 'Free Your Hate' is THE consummate mix of the aforementioned styles in one thunderous song - rampaging electronics, metallic riffing, soaring electric guitar, thunderous electronic drums, treated vocals, classic voice samples, an ocean of electronics all over the mix and bass that explodes - all combining to provide one of the most explosive openers on any EBM album around. Then the title track -starts sedately before finding a heavy duty rhythmic groove and then a juggernaut of EBM assaults your senses, then it all drops away before storming ahead once more, marching to infinity and beyond - Rammstein eat your heart out!! 'You're No Good' exemplifies what makes this band on this album, stand out from the rest - it begins with throbbing sequencers and phased electronic drums as synth and bass swirls around the bottom of the mix - then all o a sudden it launches into a female vocal-led slice of heavy duty industrial ambient dub that's just stunning. Then it fires up and explodes in a blitz of industrial metal riffing and EBM attack - before dropping back to the dub part and the effect is awesome - so inventive, so enjoyable, so instant and yet something you're going to be playing for ages to come. 'New American Century' is industrial metallic EBM at its best - thunderous beats, evil vocals, synths swooping all over the mix, huge bass and solid rhythmic flow as a mix of female vocals also soars over the top, the whole thing building and intensifying to mind-bending proportions as you are caught up in its heavy duty spell. Still only four tracks in and already, this is a classic - the rest does not disappoint - a further 7 tracks of equally mighty proportions that assail the senses and delight every fibre of your being, adrenaline-rising, head-bending and all-feeling - this is as perfect as EBM gets!!
V/A: Storsequenz CD
A crushingly heavy EBM album from the more solid side of the electronic industrial rock stable. With 13 tracks from bands you've never heard of - unless you're an industrial music junkie, of course - nearly every one is propelled by acres of surging rhythms and blasting beats from an arsenal of electronic and sampled drums and percussive devices not to mention sequencers and crunching bass. Above all this, string synths, space synths, electronics, treated vocals, shredding electronics and vocals that range from Rammstein proportions, in the main, to more distant, submerged -in-the-mix singing. But as a whole album of things you don't know - especially as they're all rare tracks or exclusive mixes - there's not a less than riveting second and nearly all of it is positively explosive, resulting in one of the finest hard-electronic dance music albums around. Stunning!!
V/A: Funk Welten CD
Odd one this because it's a label sampler, it features thirteen tracks over seventy eight amazing minutes, it's all instrumental and , in terms of its overall sound, it's practically all electronic, yet it's structured, with a huge sound and production, rhythms to die for that are seriously addictive and mostly quite hard-hitting, and an album overall, that occupies a dimension somewhere between industrial electronic and ambient techno-drum 'n' bass. Even better is the fact that there's not a bad track on the album - nothing but quality from start to finish. Some will inspire, others will take the roof off, some will have you in awe, others will have you leaping around the place - but all of it will be pure listening pleasure. From big and beefy polyrhythmic powerhouse to string-synth laden anthemic ambient crunch, this is one quite stunning and utterly timeless album in its own right. Worth every penny and then some.