SYNTH MUSIC:
BINAR: Spindragons CD
This is not an album that sound like vintage Tangerine Dream or Schulze or Jarre - it's miles better than that!!
Proof positive that, in terms of original, quality, fresh sounding and 100% enjoyable synthesizer music, the UK is a thousand miles ahead of anyone else. There are times when a work of music is SO good, SO enjoyable and simply wonderful to hear but also something that you can't say "sounds like……" - and this is one of those times.
Binar are UK synth musicians Andy Pickford & Paul Nagle. This is a studio album of all new tracks. It doesn't "sound" like either musician's past works, and yet it really couldn't be anyone else. It is actually a case where the sum off the parts is greater than the individual components - and those were great enough to start with.
On this album of just under eighty minutes of music, you'll hear string synths, space synths, keyboards, loads of sequencers, electronic drums, guitar, lashings of synth backdrops, leads, melodies, layers, tunes, atmospheres and more - but at no time will you once echo the words "Berlin School". With tracks leading into one another to form this vast galaxian body of electronic bliss, you'll find two musicians creating sequencer-driven rhythms on top of which the most gorgeous array of synths are creating atmospheres and melodies that will have you in raptures. The way the melodies spin out is positively organic. Even when they introduce the guitars, it all sounds so darned "natural" as though music had always meant to sound this way. The scope of the work is vast - detailed review is out of the question, but you don't need it anyway. You have to trust your instincts and my statement that this is a synth album you simply cannot afford to live without - it's as clear cut as that. We had an album last year by Glimmer Room where I said it didn't sound like anyone else but was of such high quality, you just had to hear it - and tons of you agreed. This is the same - but better!
GANDALF: Fantasia - Special Anniversary Edition CD
There aren't that many artists around, even in the field of instrumental music, who can take selected parts of their works and reassemble it to make what amounts to a completely new album - as opposed to a "best bits" album - but this guy is one of the few. As a result, you can't help but hear this as a new body of music, even though it's composed of tracks from the early albums. The initial part of the album is extremely pastoral using guitars as the main focus of attention as the delicate rhythms and exotic instrumentation create a "relaxed symphonic" state of mind, the feel more akin to a meeting of Western and Classical than anything overtly electronic, with synths (unless the oboes and flutes are synth created) kept to a more background role. Shortly after the beginning to 'Castles of Sand', you hear the first glimpses of a more keyboard led sound as spiraling piano melodies come into play, joined later on in the track by the delicate acoustic guitars and distant synth backdrops. After that, 'Cosmic Balance' sails into a sunset of synths and keyboards-dominated melodies and backgrounds, as flowing electro-percussive rhythms take it forward and flutes plus strings provide the textural surround to give extra depth. Apart from the track 'Keeper Of The Old Forest', he has deliberately shied away from using the obvious and most memorable parts of the old albums, in order to stitch this together to create a whole "new" album, and on that level, this works a treat.
STEVE JOLLIFFE: Poland CD
Excellent sounding live concert from 2004 featuring flute, electronics, synth and piano - a sax-free zone, for those that care about such things.
The opening track "Spring '67" is a shade under twenty nine minutes long, dominated by piano melodies and atmospheres, but mostly with other components in the mix, too. Of these, the first thing you come across is a sea of dark, cosmic electronics as a sample is introduced of Jolliffe on flute and Edgar Froese on electric guitar emanating from 1967 and that takes center stage for two minutes or so before it ends and the music drifts back into piano land. Shortly after, you hear distant string-like synths roaming around the back of the piano melodies, as a phased sea of electronics tos and fros over the lilting piano notes and gradually comes to the front of the mix, as this slow moving wave of phasing spreads right across the horizon, the piano still playing out its soft warmth at the heart of the mix. This then leads into a gorgeous section featuring programmed percussion, choral synths, warm sounding electronics and piano for a few minutes as the mood changes again and its into tinkling sequencer-like rhythm set against a soaring flute melody . Around nineteen minutes, the flute disappears and boinging deep bass electronics set up a rhythm around which other synths swoop and the piano carries on its purposeful path while choral synths and effects are added to provide a huge-sounding canvas. This all changes shape as it moves and takes you right through to the end. The second track, 'Meadow Run', again opens with piano, this time adding a deep bass element down below as the synth soars in, programmed drums roar out and this oboe-like synth lead takes the reigns and provides the main melody lines in symphonic Middle Eastern fashion. Over this assorted textures from guitar and keys are added for extra effect. About half way through, the mood intensifies as flute accompanies the now dense layers of rhythm and symphonic electronic sound. Eventually the flute rings out above a backing that sounds more like something off Schulze's 'X' album as it all rides onwards and upwards to an abrupt conclusion around thirteen minutes. The final track, 'Komarno', follows a similarly busy path to what's gone before, with piano, synth, percussive effects and flute providing a solid and highly enjoyable piece of music for a shade under twenty three minutes.
FRANK KLARE: Moods CD
The album opens with a thirty two minute track called 'Alpha Moods' that is supposed to "induce a state of relaxation". Well, it failed miserably on me because it was beginning to drive me insane by the six minute point, sounding more like a busier version of parts of Klaus Schulze's 'Cyborg' with a loud organ chording running through the heart of the track while all around synths swoop and dive, deep bass undercurrents adding to the soundscape, but all of it sounding way too intense to make me feel anything like relaxed. If anything, it drones away, appearing to relax a bit itself around the ten minute point as the organ work fades into the background, only to be replaced by this bell-like synth tone, more eerie electronic darkness while the sea of what was there before still flows away merrily underneath, all still very intense. Under various degrees of textural layering and volume control, so this soundscape continues for most of the rest of the track, the construction quite dense and never really standing still, but then it doesn't induce anything in the listener either. The next track is the thirty two minute 'Beta Moods' designed to "induce a state of stimulation and animation". It opens sounding more like 'Picture Music/ Moondawn'-era Schulze, quiet synthscapes, distant organ-like chords, synth swoops all around and - bizarrely - a generally more relaxed feel than on the previous track (you don't suppose he's got them the wrong way round, do you!!). With the arrival of a drum rhythm that propels the expanse of space synths, plus wordless choral synth and brief chiming guitar-shimmers before an echoed piano-like synth and more space swoops carve a strong but atmospheric path through your heart. In many ways it really does have similarities with the 'Floating' track on the 'Moondawn' album combined with elements of 'Mental Door' off 'Picture Music', and over its huge running time, not only works a treat but is a track that you'll want to play and play - early seventies Schulze fans would love this! The album ends with the ten minute 'Theta Moods' designed for "deep meditation" and I can see what he means as this vast sounding, rumbling, drifting, soaring slice of busy sounding space synths music slowly unfolds, again the sound of early Schulze, never far away. Overall? Well, as a forty two minute album, I'd buy it for tracks 2 and 3 alone, but you'll have to make your own mind up about the first one.
JIM OTTAWAY: Aurora CD
A sixty-eight minute space synth album, with tracks from just under three to over fourteen minutes long.It starts in cosmic bliss territory, with the nine and a half minute 'Fortune', as classic a slice of sweetly flowing space synths as you'll find, the combination of strings at one end, bass at the other and the expansive synth flow in between, adding up to a beautiful example of floating, drifting space music. The near thirteen minute 'Aurora Borealis' is still space music, with plenty of layers of synth textures, flowing and floating, but here there is an underlying pulsing to the deeper soundscapes that run underneath the main body of the music, while on top there is more melodic variation as the richly textured synth flow, cascades and soars, slowly but surely, as a world of electronic soundscapes unfolds, in this case, altogether darker in mood and more varied in approach. The five minute 'Light of Day' is a slowly symphonic example of cosmic bliss with strings, delicate tinkling synth ripples and a core of deeply flowing space synths that drift in layers, taking you off to another plane. 'Desert Shadows' is a nine minute composition that could quite easily have fitted in with anything on the legendary 'Western Spaces' album that Steve Roach and friends recorded way back, with its deep cosmic undercurrents, and, again, slowly melodic soundscapes that drift and flow but never stay in one place, always changing shape as the consistency of the deeper flow is maintained. Three further tracks, two of them quite lengthy, continue the cosmic/space music approach to the same success level as before, serving to make this a 100% cosmic synths music album into which you can travel and become completely caught up in its spell and charm, and as albums in this territory go, it's extremely gorgeous stuff.
PATCHWORK: Patchwork CD
For those among you of a more easy-going disposition who want you music to relax and lull you into a neat state of euphoric bliss, while at the same time having a fair share of sequencers occupying the rhythmic foreground, then this one's got your name written all over it. The opening eight minutes that is 'Synthetic Nature' does just that, with the help of a somewhat sedate drum machine and miles of rich sounding space synths, while the near sixteen minute 'In Memory Of Humanity' does it the other way round, goes all spacey and cosmic for the first half of the track then sets up the languid sounding sequencers and almost horizontal drum machine, as synth melodies weave their slowly winding way on top, suitably symphonic sounding as the synth music of the early nineties is reproduced about five years too late, this album emanating from 1998. Throughout the rest of the album, from the six minute tracks to the sixteen minute track, it's a case of space synths, unwinding melodies, slowly flowing sequencers and a generally relaxed "Berlin"-y atmosphere - what you'd describe as "terribly pleasant" (or what I'd describe as "pleasantly terrible"!!!)
PROJECT ANDREW ROTTEN: En Passant
The brainchild of a German musician and it's clear that he's been heavily influenced by late seventies/early eighties Tangerine Dream, the latter clearly in evidence on the wonderfully rolling 'Pulse' with its solid, fast-paced sequencers, driving drumming and acres of soaring melody lines, all joining forces to create a truly breathtaking slice of Tangs-inspired strength at a shade under thirteen minutes in length. The ten minute 'Breath' starts in slowly unfolding, early seventies inspired space music vein with electronic layers gliding slowly over, in and around one another, as an almost Schulze-esque lead weaves in and out the mix, only then for it all to die away and in rolls this wonderful cascading, rolling sequencer rhythm, only then to be joined by another bass-heavy sequencer rhythm and drums, as phased synth swoop around and the whole track takes off in classic late seventies Tangerine Dream style with the sequencer work leading the way and sounding just sensational. A melody line begins, string synths are overlaid, bursts of phased synths reappear and the whole thing then takes on a distinct Wavestar styled hue as it continues ever onwards, another truly excellent piece of music. The near eleven minute 'Again And Again' is similarly styled and structured, with more heavy sequencers and solid drums, but here there are more melodic layers interweaving slowly through the rhythmic heart of the track, and in essence, this is a more dynamic track as it moves through passages of light and dark, with the rhythmic content ever changing and developing, as the sequencers roll forth and the patterns unfold to quite superb effect. The eight minute 'Depression' spends its first half being a slow builder that gradually rises up and opens out into the sea of synth melodies and cyclical synthersizers, sounding as much like classic Wavestar as anything else since that band split. Thn it subsides for a minute of cosmic early Schulze-styled space, before picking it all up again and taking off for the cosmos, this time with added drums for extra punch. Four further tracks, all with sequencers leading the way, and showing a wide, varied and consistent degree of melodic construction, solid and expansive, add up to this being one of the most satisfying debut albums for a while, one that wears its influence on its sleeve, but then creates something wholly fresh and original out of it.
RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL: Septentrional CD
When Uncle Edgar got his grubby paws on Tangerine Dream's works and played around with them, some bright spark coined the phrase "tangentized".
Well, RMI's brand new work, courtesy of the mighty Ian Boddy, has now been well and truly "Dinned".
The difference here, being that Boddy has actually managed, not only to come up with something that is positively spectacular in everyday RMI terms, but has managed to take the RMI sound into a wholly more up to date dimension while losing none of the musical magic that appeals to long-time fans of the band.
Anyone who wanted the band to do "something different" while not roaming outside of their overtly "Berlin School" sound, will be absolutely thrilled with this album. Although Boddy hasn't actually played on this album, you take a track like the mesmerizing cyclical nine minutes of track 4, and it's difficult to know where RMI end and Boddy begins. In this case, he's pieced together the component elements to produce a track where the sequencers and choral synths, boinging synth bass and space synths are joined by electronic drums as the whole thing starts in pure "Berlin School" territory, but then instead of wandering off into the usual improvised plains, the thing starts going round and round and round, with all manner of synth effects, space synths and electronic additions to keep it all engaging, changing shape as it goes, still "Berlin" but really crunchy, solid, purposeful, contemporary and expansive. But then you take a piece such as the eleven minute track 2 - starts with other-worldly space synths as this vast expanse of electronics soars into the cosmos, deep and dark, the sound of the universe unfolding, as the synths rise up slowly and suddenly transmute via bell-like tones, into this gorgeous infinity of mellotrons. It's like the '74-era T Dream spacey bits, stripped right down to leave the core mellotron heart intact and assorted synth blood flow in and out, as the darkness returns, solid electronics boom and resonate, space synths soar and cascade, as the whole thing turns into this most amazing example of dark space music before the mellotrons return to provide calm and charm. The eleven minute track three starts off with a couple of minutes of phased space synths as sequencers are added and the whole thing starts to take off into pure "Berlin School" territory - but then the unthinkable happens - a massive sounding, urgent electronic drum rhythm enters the fray as the whole piece is transformed from '76 to 2006 and the barrage of synths, drums, mellotrons and multi-layered rhythms and melodies, all combine to make this simply spectacular, as two decades clash head on to stunning effect. As the track continues, the drums fade then reappear, as space and string synths, choral synths and mellotron magic, all travel storm force all around the mix. The final twelve minute track starts with three minutes of THE hugest sounding slice of multi-layered deep, dark and loud space synths music on the planet, positively engulfing the listener in its textures, as this is slowly transformed to a more cosmic slice of mellotron-dominated bliss, the whole thing taking becoming absolutely spellbinding. Then a delicate electric guitar lead is added as extra textural effect, the mellotrons give way to space synths as it all suddenly fades to its end point, leaving you wanting nothing more than to hear the whole album all over again. So, you go back to the eleven minute track 1 and discover its solid delights of deep space synths, dramatic electronic drums, textural space drones, magical synth melodies, ocean of mellotron splendour and a track that has the strength and grace of RMI allied to the pioneering electronic spirit of adventure from the hands of Dr Boddy. Overall, for all those who wanted something new and refreshing from RMI without losing any sight of the seventies-derived sonic delights that has taken them successfully through the years, this is the one for you.
RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL: Knutsford In May CD
Their first strictly live album and generally taken at a slower pace than you'd expect, with synths and choral layers and mellotron all over the show providing a heady mix of deep, dark, drifting, textural, layered and consistent synthscapes plus soaring slow electric guitar leads for the first twenty five minutes recreating to a tee, the between-tracks cosmic soundscapes of mid seventies Tangerine Dream. On the near twenty four minute 'Skeletope' the sequencers are fired up right from the start as the giant cogs that constitute the "retro" style of things, begin to turn and are overlaid with mellotron magic and flowing analogue synth melodies and backdrops. Again, quite dark, deep and relatively slow paced, it nevertheless is also highly engaging as the sonic patterns unfold. About half way through, restrained guitar and NASA samples come into play to add even more of a galaxian atmosphere to the proceedings. Then, around seventeen minutes in, the night sky glows by virtue of a burning electric guitar lead that squalls across the cyclical sea of sequencers as the power button is pressed and the giant craft shoots off to parts unknown in a hail of synths-fuelled smoking magic. The final fourteen minute track, 'Action Painitng', reprises a lot of what has gone before in a different disguise and order, with added mellotron textures and stronger sequencers, the whole album adding up to an enthralling and immensely pleasurable slice of "Berlin School" bliss.
STEVE ROACH: Possible Planet CD
It will come as no surprise to many of you to find out that this is a seventy three minute, three-track album of space synth music. What might surprise you is that he's found yet another new way of playing and arranging it, so that, no matter how much of his music you've heard in the past, you're hooked to this from the moment it starts. The opening sixteen minute 'First Murmur' is slowly swirling, unfolding cosmic music in slow motion, accompanied by a backdrop that sounds like synthesized cicadas as the twittering sounds echo and rotate out the back of the foreground electronic drifts, all created on purely analogue synths. This track segues directly into the thirty one minute might that is 'Gestation', here, carrying on the feel and sonic palette of before only becoming ever darker, as, slowly, more textures are added to the ensuing cosmic drift. This huge, shifting mass of immense deep, dark space synth music drifts and drones to mesmerizing effect for the duration of the track and is one of the best darkwave cosmic music tracks he's produced to date. Without a break, it's into the twenty-five minute 'Cell Memory' and here the darkness lifts as brighter synth textures and layers swirl all around the mix, backed by more of the backdrop twitterings, but a whole lot lighter than before as the synths slide and glide in slowly cosmic fashion. Around the six minute mark, the track opens up into this pulsing mass of gloriously analogue synth heaven that then spreads out all over the expanse to fantastic effect as this swirling mass of cosmic bliss unfolds then takes you on a journey to the twenty second minute whereupon the swirl fades, the analogue heaven remains and things slowly fade to a cosmic conclusion. All in all, yet another new and refreshing take on synthesizer space music from, arguably, the supreme master of the genre.
FRANK VAN BOGAERT: One Out Of Five CD
14 tracks between three and eight minutes long go to make up an album of tracks, all of which have been taken from his five albums released to date. Even though the source of each track is stated, it's all been assembled out of chronological order, with a view to keeping up the flow and dynamics of the music as a whole. What really makes this an album to treasure, though, is that the musician has put his heart and soul into this and come out with an album that not only works a treat as a listening experience in its own right, but has also somehow managed to avoid many of the comparisons that you'd have used when reviewing the individual albums. As a result, this album does not sound like Vangelis - as a lot of his work can be said to be - but it's altogether more varied than that, even though it will undoubtedly have an appeal to that sort of audience. But there are so many other influences at work here, not all of them obvious, although the 'Ommadawn'- era Oldfield style that is the amazing, drums-driven seven and a half minute of 'Desert', with its wordless female vocals, soaring synth lines and delicate guitar, is but one of many highlights on a packed seventy seven minute album. Much of the musician's music conforms to a more "symphonic" sounding state of play, but there's a whole lot more going on than that term implies. Most of the tracks are quite powerful affairs, many featuring drums and percussion of various sources, to give the whole thing an impetus that adds to the core melodies going on at the heart of things. As I've said many times before about projects like this that do work, it's a great introduction to his music - almost a complete collection on its own - while at the same time being an album that you'll play and play without ever once feeling that you're listening to a "compilation" album.
