SYNTH MUSIC:
BIOSPHERE: Dropsonde CD
Easily the best Biosphere album for ages, this has a consistency that few of his albums have had in recent years. The sixty nine minutes of music occupies a space between gorgeous amorphous floating, drifting and multi-layered cosmic synth music, and busier, still cosmic, synth tracks that are accompanied by tasty, slowly jazzy, drumming and deep rumbling bass. Throughout the album, exists a gorgeous textural quality to the electronics, giving the myriad synthscapes a range of dynamics and sheer feel that is strong, solid and yet exceedingly heavenly at the same time. It's also quite dark in many ways, but not in an overpowering or gloomy sense. It's the perfect soundtrack to your more intense moods, when you want something that really exudes atmosphere from every pore, all so laid-back and yet always something happening, nothing ever standing still. In many ways, it's so much more than space music, more a sort of ambient brew of cosmic synth that can be enjoyed by both sets of audiences without any problem whatsoever.
THOM BRENNAN: Silver CD
Well, it may be called 'Silver' but he's certainly struck gold with this one (groannnnnnnn!!!!!!). Seriously, though, for what is an essentially space synths album, there's one heck of a lot of movement within its seventy minutes, sounding fresh, alive and full of the energy of the universe. The title track is a six-part, unbroken suite lasting around fifty three minutes and right from the start, it's a world of sweeping string synths, slowly flowing electronic rivers of richly textured cosmic soundscapes, deep bass synths that resonate and rumble, while, over the top of the core of the track, flickering , twinkling synths make their presence felt across the sonic spectrum. The main body of the eight and a half minute track flows effortlessly forward and if ever you could describe a space synths track as "busy", then this is it, but in a good way, providing so much more than just drifts and drones, and extremely uplifting. The eight and a half minute second part is, if anything, even stronger sounding with a sense of power to its massive sounding space synth spectra, as the river flows and synth layers flow over, above and around one another, the sea of synths providing a hint of rhythm whilst not actually being rhythmic, in other words there's a drive to the music that really makes you feel like you're traveling with it, albeit in the heavens a opposed to earthbound. The sounds are rich but deep, vibrant and yet dreamy, and the sheer construction of it all, a wonder to behold. The seven minute third part still provides a full, expansive and seemingly infinite musical landscape, but here we return to the sound of space music purity as gorgeous layers of richly textured string and space synths all flow slowly across the horizon with grace and passion. The thirteen minute fourth part features more eerie, altogether darker, space synths, complete with extra textures from other-worldly cosmic drifts and soundscapes that really add a new dimension to the soundscapes that are unfolding, at times tranquil, at others, a more organic and huge-sounding ocean of building, developing synth horizons that flow and drift with a strength that I rarely heard in such music. The eleven minute fifth part actually does feature a light, slowly chugging background rhythm around the five minute point, having opened with a myriad space synth layers, as an almost sequencer-like rhythm slowly evolves amid bell-knells, teeth-rattling, rumbling bass synths, gorgeous synth clouds that drift in a blue sky as twinkling and choral synths sparkle all around, the whole combination providing a huge-sounding synthscapes that fills every bit of your space to glorious effect. The suite closes with a four minutes of cosmic sculpting and space drifts that see the thing out in as strong a manner as the track has proved to be, with some beautiful space synths weaving some truly magical patterns. The fourteen minute 'Time' is a wondrous slice of pure space synths magic with deep bass, multi-textured drifts and all sorts of subtle layers and sparkling synths around and inside the heart of the track. Finally, the glorious textures of the space synths track that is the electronic cloud-formation of 'Afterglow', bring the album to the most beautiful of tranquil, strong and languid finales, an album of cosmic music that has been strong, substantial, immaculately arranged and produced, full of ideas, where nothing stands still but everything has a flow to it, and an album of complete consistency from start to finish.
ETHERFYSH: Stasis CD
I know it's only February, but the rest of the synth music fraternity is going to have their work cut out to produce a better, more consistent, more original and more enjoyable album than this one, in 2006. A seventy minute work of class, quality and sheer brilliance.
Forget the first album - good though it remains, comparing this to that is like comparing Tangerine Dream to Bananarama. This is way above that album. The best bit is that it's totally accessible yet doesn't take its cues from any one band or style, yet covers a wide range of thirty years of synth music without ever sacrificing its consistency.
It's a concept album - the concept being the conveyance of the thoughts and emotions of a man in space who takes off, orbits, walks in space, becomes separated from his craft and eventually drifts through space on his "last flight". Sounds strange? Well, trust me, it works - and works so well, you'll see exactly where the musician is coming from. That the subject is emotions, means that the musician, Chris Christou, has poured his emotions into the making of this album - and it shows, for a more "feeling" synth music album, you'd be hard pressed to find.
There are 7 tracks between four and twenty minutes long and nearly all of them lead unbroken into the next forming this gigantic seventy minute body of glorious synth music.. A fair portion of the album is space music - but space music that is better than anything you'll have ever heard before.
The album opens with the near nine minute 'Orbit', beginning with NASA samples before the craft lifts off and enters space - the sound of the gorgeous synth textures convey the silence that is the entry into orbit, to perfection as deep bass, flutey synth overlays and rich synth textures combine with rippling synth underneath as a gigantic, beefy, solid sequencer rhythm begins and the whole musical panorama just billows out like an expanding cloud on a gloriously sunny day. It doesn't sound like Schulze or T Dream - but it is "familiar", original and totally wonderful. String synths, lead melodies, sequencer rhythms and assorted layers all drive forward on a quite incredible opening track that has power, atmosphere and feeling by the shovel load. From here it's an unbroken segue into the seven minutes of 'Stasis', a space synths track that is so much fuller-sounding, so much more emotional and just utterly spine-tingling and heart-warming than any other slice of cosmic music around right now. The sound of the synth layers go the full range from deep bass undercurrents to high-flying flowing synth lead layers, at all times conveying a movement that is not rhythmic but feels like it is traveling. With plenty of layers, at no point does anything stay the same, while the fascination becomes addictive as you enter further into the concept and the conception. After this comes 'Separation' and, bearing in mind the subject matter, gets it spot on as this dark, eerie, almost frightening sea of scary synth layers, textures, echoes, and effects conveys to a tee, the sheer terror at an emotional level, of its subject.
As scary but engrossing and, it has to be said, enjoyable, a slice of dark synth music, as you'll hear. The four minutes of 'Refraction' is a sombre yet symphonic slice of huge-sounding, flowing, mighty cosmic music with, once again, plenty of soaring, drifting, full-sounding, strong and purposeful synth layers and textures that move across your mental horizon and take you on the journey with every second that unfolds, in a wondrous cloud of electronic gorgeousness, with a dark surround. From here you are taken to the thirteen minute 'Gan Eden' as percussive synth rhythms are heard under flowing string synths, before a sea of assorted bass synth and sequencer rhythms begins as the track builds its layers and heads out into deep space, the presence of rhythms for the whole length of the track, at this point in the album, just perfect. The music now tightens its hold on your attention even further and takes you forward into the thoughts of a traveler watching worlds pass by as he heads for seeming oblivion, yet fascinated at what is being seen. Mighty and then some. The track sails uninterrupted into the near ten minute 'Seraphim', Spacey and gloriously cosmic synths take you to the six minute point, then it explodes into life amid a sea of string synths, deep rivers of resonant bass synths and solid, rolling electronic drum rhythms that dive forward to the end of the huge-sounding track. However, this is but a mere precursor to the near twenty one minutes of 'Last Flight' that follows, as fantastic an epic of deep feeling, multi-layered, multi-textured, flowing, full-sounding, always traveling, solid cosmic space synths music as there can surely be. It's one monumental slice of music that is just inspirational and totally absorbing listening every time you hear it, full of emotion and even deep feeling spirituality, a glorious cosmos of synth music splendours that is simply immense as it drifts, soars, flows and flies towards a heaven that it has created by is very existence and a heaven that is the unknown point to which the whole journey is leading.
As a synth album goes, this is superb and then some - not a second wasted, not a second out of place - immaculately played, written, produced and arranged. It's not like anyone else and it stands rightfully proud as an epic work of electronic music that shall remain totally timeless for years to come.
GANDALF: Barakaya CD
12 tracks and seventy two minutes of music on one of his decidedly more solid sounding nods to the worlds of Deep Forest, Enigma, Mike Oldfield and beyond, with a huge range of music to satisfy even the most demanding on Gandalf fans, the ones with a more blissful, romantic bent, that is. Opening with part one of the title track, it's evident that the Oldfield-esque meetings of Western electric, ethnic African and Moroccan choral have left their mark as the track swings along neatly before blossoming out into the six minute 'Cosmic Traveller' with heavy rhythms from the drums and sequencer as a mix of string synth backdrops, yearning, guitar-synth like textures and flutes/wordless choruses all combine with the warm flowing electronic undercurrents to provide a vast sounding slice of driving, multi-layered symphonic splendour. The near eight minute 'Earth Dance' is a mix of classic seventies Oldfield and equally classic Gandalf, the mix of electric guitar, synths, wordless choral vocals, clattering African drums and deep rivers of synths and bass, all arranged to produce a track that is strong, flowing and remarkably uplifting and atmospheric. Throughout the rest of the album you'll find exotic, tightly knit, flowing, atmospheric, warm and expansive tracks that inhabit pastoral, symphonic, rock, choral and progressive avenues, but what links it all together is a quality of composition and arrangement to which even the likes of Oldfield would doff his cap in due recognition of a work well done.
JADE WARRIOR: At Peace CD
The last album that the duo of Tony Duhig and Jon Field recorded before the former's sad demise, this remains one of THE supreme works of non-rhythmic, full-sounding, electronic space/cosmic music. It has that timeless quality that simply SOUNDS brilliant - the sort of album you could put on repeat, play for about 6 hours solid and have it both as music into which your mind can wander, and music that remains as the most stunning background to whatever else you are doing. You simply get immersed in the textures and layers, to such a degree that it forms part of the environment in which you exist, on such a natural level, that you actually feel something's missing for the first few minutes after it's gone. This is richly textured, almost symphonic, space music, but with a human heart right at the center of its creation, as glorious sonic spectra drift, soar, fly and float, always full of warmth and radiating atmosphere to such a degree that you're caught in its spell from start to finish. Duhig clearly has the lion's share of the soundscaping, while Field's flute work just comes and goes at the back of the mix, so much so that you've not heard flute as an instrument work so well in electronic space music since the heady days of early T Dream. More akin to something like 'Zeit' only not as intense, not as stark, richer and more "string" sounding, but nothing remotely approaching classical or that sort of thing, this is cosmic electronic music at its absolute finest. With three tracks from over eight to over twenty minutes long, this is a forty three minute journey which you will never tire of taking.
TED JOHNSON: Ambient Realms CD
Over 48 minutes, you'll hear four similar length instrumental tracks of largely deep, multi-layered, multi-textured, dark, slowly flowing and drifting electronic space music. The twelve minute 'Ambient Realms' gets things off to a mesmerizing start with all manner of cosmic soundscapes that are really deep and exude just the right atmospheres. From there, the twelve minute 'Spatial Awareness' starts with a four minute slice of rhythmic cosmic electronic rock before the rhythms drop abruptly and the track heads out into the cosmos with acres of interweaving space music landscapes stretching out before you. This leads directly into the twelve minutes (almost) of 'Coded Transmissions' where more wondrous soundscapes open the proceedings before a tinkling electro-percussive rhythm starts to twinkle in almost sequencer-like fashion, joined by a sampled tabla-like beat for just a few seconds, as the rhythm, that has lasted less than a minute, dies away and the musician heads out once more on an uncharted voyage into the realms of deep, dark space that combines huge sounding electronic drifts with soaring sonic sculpting, deep rivers of bass undercurrents, NASA samples and more, to create this superb sounding epic slice of amazing space music. Finally, the twelve minute 'Surface Tension' where mostly languid, drifting soundscapes combine with the briefest of rhythms to close the album on as epic a slice of cosmic, atmospheric space music as it began. As space music albums go, this is the real deal, performed entirely on samplers and sound manipulation, it's one of the finest, most cohesive, warm feeling and richly textured but also dark, deep and solid examples of the style that you'll find.
LIQUID BRIDGE: Cornucopia CD
The centrepiece of this album is the title track which lasts a shade under fifty minutes - yes, fifty minutes!!
Even by the ten minute mark, you've moved through space music, "Berlin School" sequencers and more before it then evolves to provide an electro-percussive rhythm around the thirteen minute mark that is totally Moroccan, as synths fly all around the full-sounding, resonant rhythmic foundations. Around seventeen minutes, you're back in blissful space music territories before a choppy organ sequence comes along - then disappears as a languid, undulating synth rhythm begins, strings start to soar and an atmospheric slice of cosmic music begins only to have it taken over by another upfront, strong-sounding rhythm, this time a sort of mix of treated sequences or varying degrees and deep sounding cyclical synth rhythms, in many ways a bit like a stronger, more purposeful Lakveet/Scab style. Then, just after the twenty four minute point, it all mutates back into more traditional sounding "Berlin School" synth music with sequencers, space synth swoops, undulating rhythms and a sea of layered synth surrounds. This leads to twenty eight minutes, a brief burst of string synths to expand your horizons before a choppy electro-percussive rhythm takes hold to propel the track on a soaring journey as string synths and spiraling melodies are added to the fray. From there, as you can see, this twists and turns through musical scenarios similar to but different sounding from what has already passed. In its own way, it works superbly, full of ideas, played almost organically but never overplaying or underplaying any one section, so that you end up listening to and enjoying a near fifty minute slice of synth music without feeling that you've listened to it for that long - a sure sign that you've enjoyed it from start to finish. Starting with a four minute track and ending with a nine minute track, the latter full of dark undulating, revolving, shuddering synth rhythms and quite strange sounding melodies, this is an album that, curiously, sounds like no-one else in particular and comes across as a seriously enjoyable trip, compared to most on the European mainland synth fraternity.
NATIONAL HOLOGRAPHIC: Star Sailor CD
Featuring the duo of Ted Johnson on synths and Jason King on samplers, this album consists of 12 tracks over a sixty plus minute running time, with track lengths from one and a half minutes to over ten. The whole album was spontaneously recorded and played with no overdubs. Most of the tracks are the sort of multi-textured, layered, rich sounding, excellently produced space/cosmic music tracks, with hardly a rhythm in sight, and plenty of flowing synths and electronic soundscapes to keep your attention throughout its hypnotic and ever changing journey. The only slight cause for frustration is that many of the tracks must clearly have been longer pieces, since they fade out rather than end, some quite frustratingly so. But, overall, it's a brilliant sounding work of space synths music that is definitely repeat playable.
NATIONAL HOLOGRAPHIC: Enigma CD
For this album, a year later on, the duo of Jason King on samplers and sound manipulation plus Ted Johnson on synthesizers are not only joined by guest musicians Joe Hendrix on synths and Marc Medwin on vocal effects, vocoder and synth, but this time their free-form improvisations are here presented in full with four tracks ranging from six to over fifteen minutes long. As a result, you'll hear loads more epic space music tracks but with a much "busier" sound courtesy of the extra instrumentation and a much more solid sound, too, with more of a rhythmic presence. For those who might be put off by the idea, the vocoder bit is used in the near thirteen minute Midnight Rain' more as another electronic-sounding layer and that for just a brief moment before the Blake-Rykiel-esque space synths and keys music breaks out into a Namlook-oriented train-like percussive rhythm and some gloriously solid space synths that bubble up, swoop and dive all around the central framework, the combination of rhythms, distant electric piano, deep organ drifts, huge swathes of gorgeous space synths and more, all combining to create a truly spectacular track. The huge-sounding twelve minute space synth epic that is the title track is just simply so atmospheric and wondrous that you can't fail to be hooked into its ever changing synthscapes. The six minute 'Confabulation' revolves around sequenced synths running alongside a slowly moving but booming drum rhythm, distant tabla-like beats, as, slowly but surely, synth layers and melodies are added to create a strong, but atmospheric, rhythm-dominated cosmic gem. The album ends with fifteen and a half minutes of 'Transatlantic Cable' that oozes, drifts, drones, drives, soars and bubbles away in solid fashion, the initial sound of percussive rhythms and spiralling space synths with a cosmic synth heart, slowly but surely building and strengthening its rhythmic bases to become a decidedly vintage slice of Namlook- esque synth-ambience that would be proud to have graced the legendary Fax label itself. Overall, a simply faultless, timeless and quite brilliant album of partially rhythmic space-synths music.
NIK TYNDALL/BERND SCHOLL: Dreamspheres CD
Imagine Kitaro recording for the Innovative Communications label back in the nineties and you're a long way towards getting an idea of the flavour of this CD, for it is a mix of unashamed melodic bliss combined with richly atmospheric soundscapes, many with a slight touch of the Far East to them, others with a more authentic Euro-mainland flavour. The rhythms tend to conform more to slowly flowing electronic drums, while the melodies tend to veer from bouncy to quite warm and flowing, all the while extra touches coming from assorted layers of guitar-like synths and cosmic sounding backdrops. It's all quite easy on the ear without conforming to pure syrup, although you could hardly call any of it particularly "substantial" in the forceful sense, but the idea is more to soothe than surprise, and on that level, it does work.
FRANK VAN BOGAERT: Colours CD
The rampaging opening track is nearly six minutes of "synth-trance" as symphonic Froese-like synth melodies try to get themselves heard above the storming pace from the sequencers and electronic drums, with a wordless female vocal in there to give that extra Deep Forest feel. Things slow down for 'Green' as we move into a synth-bass-electronic drums track that would sound more at home on Mike Oldfield's 'QE2' album only with synths instead of guitars, plus those soaring wordless female choruses and a distinct African flavour to the proceedings. The four and a half minute 'Blue' is just plain boring - melodies and rhythms that go slowly round and round without getting anywhere, so much so that you're only a couple of minutes in when you remember you should actually be listening to the thing. For the four minute 'Indigo' it's time to be plunged into the heart of Deep Forest territory with sampled African voices and a synth lead that sounds like a treated Oldfield guitar solo, all above expansive synth backings and chunky electro-percussive rhythms. Four minutes of 'Red' carry this idea on into a more urgently rhythmic territory but still solidly African. The near six minute 'Grey' bounces along on a sea of bobbing synths, sequencers and electronic drums, again rhythms flying and clattering all over the place as doppler effect synth leads move across the horizon of string synths and chunky beats with further melodic content now appearing on top, all very train-like in its make-up. The near three minutes of 'White' is piano-led pastoral symphonic relaxation while the five minute 'Orange' rocks and clatters its strongly resonant percussive way along a a hail of drums drives the synths backdrops, piano melodies and soaring leads forward, all very tight and strong, but also exceedingly melodic and twee at the same time. Three further tracks tend to go for a more symphonic synths-laden approach in the main, still quite chunkily rhythmic, but much more expansive, while the five minute 'Black' sees the album out in a similar manner to which it came in.
V/A: Tangerine Ambience - A Tribute To Tangerine Dream CD
Had to re-review this as I lost the first one I'd done back in '96. Nearly ten years and a ton of Tangerine Dream sound-alike bands later, how does this stand up in today's synth world? Amazingly well, actually. The version of 'Phaedra' on here, courtesy of Surface 10, still sounds fantastic and is probably even better than the recent "tangentised" version that Froese put out as 'Phaedra '05'. The way it just surges ahead in a hail of sequencers, throbbing bass synths and with a web of lead synths weaving about all over the place, is quite breathtaking to this day. Elsewhere, Inter-Mase open the show slowly and effectively with a languid cover of 'Invisible Lights' while, following the remarkable nine minute 'Phaedra', Rey Project open up 'Force Majeure' with a sea of swirling synths and mellotron sounds as four minutes of wondrous cosmic soundscaping ensues before it drops back to bass synth undercurrents and samples before the string synths enter majestically and the track just soars to grand symphonic heights, eventually breaking out into a choppy rhythm from drum programs and beefy synths as the track fairly bounds ahead with more lead synths and a guitar-like lead swirling around the mix, on a ten minute track which is simply superb. Someone called Supersonic Project take on 'Mojave Plan' and turn it into something altogether beefier, with thudding electronic drum rhythms setting up an almost native American trail as the synths spark into life, a magnificently echoed sequencer line comes into play and the whole track lifts off, sounding so fresh and alive, it's almost hard to believe that this was ten years ago, and a makeover that really takes the track to a whole new level at just short of an amazing eleven minutes. Dean De Benedictis decelerates 'Exit' to make it more of a nine minute mood piece, despite it still having a solid rhythmic base and expansive soundscapes from synth choirs and more. Rey continue this idea on 'Dolphin Dance' and produce a similar sounding piece. Giez turn 'Bent Cold Sidewalk' absolutely on its head and come up with a track that sounds more like "Tangerine Dream meets the Scissor Sisters" for the first couple of minutes before setting the controls for the heart of the cosmos for the jaunty second half of the six minute track. A couple of bonus tracks see three minutes of ex-T Dream member Steve Schroyder's Augenstern and ex-T Dream member Conrad Schnitzler playing a couple of original tracks as a homage to the Tangs, with the Schnitzler track not as strange and a darned sight more "Berlin" than you'd have ever thought, although still weird by most synth standards. Overall, though, an impeccable artifact, and well worth your attention if you've never picked it up (for which now's your last chance as it's deleted and we've got the last few).