INDRA: Signs CD
An album of 10 tracks over fifty four minutes from a Rumanina synthesist, on the surface doesn't sound like the most inviting thing in the world. But then you listen to it, the carefully arranged, produced, written and performed way this musician has composed the tracks, with an eye for detail when it comes to rhythm, melody and atmosphere, and you just know you're dealing with quality music - luckily, you're not let down. In many ways, what you're getting is a seriously varied album with plenty of melodies and rhythms, and yet each composition sounds so natural and strong, that you don't feel like you're in some kind of tune-laden territory from which there is no escape. The atmosphere and feel of each track is what makes it all sound so cohesive and that's the key - there's a human touch. Also, there's more variation than you'd think, a factor that makes it flow. Track-wise, you have the slow and seriously deep sounding multi-layered space music of the six minute 'Ariel', the solid bounce of the rhythmic and strident magic that is 'The Bride Is Happy' with synth surrounds flying all over the sequenced affair as beefy electronic drums and shifting synth soundscapes create another track that touches the heart. You get no prizes for guessing that 'Sheikh's Dream' has a more Middle Eastern feel to its mix of sprawling melodies and rhythms, while the eight minute 'Quick Movement' does exactly what it says on the tin, and races along on a river of swirling synth rhythms, above which equally fast melodies fly and cascade, all bit like a hyperspeed Kraftwerk or Gert Emmens on steroids. Of the rest, most revolve around vast soundscapes with a rhythmic core of varying pace, while the overhead melodies are many and equally varied. You can't really compare his style to anyone immediately obvious, for he's producing music too varied for that, but I would imagine you'd get the same enjoyment factor from this a you would from a more commercial slice of Jarre, Keller, Fanger and the like.
MARK JENKINS: Live In The USA 2005 2CDR
Just under two hours of excellent quality live synths music that is clearly meant to be enjoyed at home in exactly the same way it was enjoyed in concert - since there are no track lists for either CD and the musician obviously wants you just to put the CD's on, sit back and enjoy the full two hour experience. Recorded live at several venues across the USA, it plays practically as one concert so seamlessly flowing are the tracks. With assorted USA synth "guests" along the way - again, it doesn't say who's on what - what is left is a most excellent voyage through three decades of synth music, with a distinct leaning towards the seventies and the works of greats such as Tangerine Dream, Jarre & Schulze, to name but three. With largely lengthy track times throughout, it's very much a case of firing up the sequencers for the heart of the sun, as a vast array of solid, chunky, beefy "old skool" style sequencer rhythms, power up and drive a generally purposeful and deep sea of synth melodies, atmospherics and cosmic bliss, plus occasional forays into lead guitar territory along the way. At no point does the music stand still, and at no point does your attention wander as you remain transfixed to what is effectively a soaring set of tracks that perfectly reflect both Jenkins' playing qualities and his sheer grasp of "feel" as two hours of synth music sounds thoroughly emotive, full of atmosphere and highly engaging.
MARK JENKINS: Moog Meditations CD
Hey Mark - if you can come up with an opening track as warm, emotive, gorgeous, full-sounding and positively inspirational as the near seven minute 'Lux Aeterna' on this CD, then let's have more - much more! It's blissful, cosmic, spacey, flowing, melodic without having an actual tune, expansive, multi-layered, simple and utterly heavenly synth music. The even better part is that, without a hint of a break, it flows directly into the near seven minute 'Endless Space' which is, if anything, even better, with added space synths, choral synths, mellotron-like universes and deep bass undercurrents that lead into a sprightly, delicate electro-percussive rhythm and the first actual sprawled-out tune on the album as the melodic layers and space synth textures rise up slowly but surely in full-feeling fashion. 'Zen Garden' complete with "wind chimes" is more of what we heard on track 1, spacey and spacious, full-bodied yet cosmic and just a gorgeous web of electronic space. The rest of the album carries on in a similar vein, veering between gorgeous synthscapes, rivers of melodies and delicate rhythms, with extra, more "New Age" oriented electronic and keyboard music qualities added to complete the blissful nature of the music. OK, so it's a case of "more icing than cake" but - heck - you've got to indulge yourself at some point along the way, and this is as good as any.
MARK JENKINS: Synprovisation CD
A seventy minute suite in 11 parts, recorded live in the studio with no overdubs in August 1998, it is a superb example of how Jenkins can absorb so many influences from the glorious synth music past, put them all into the melting pot that is his head and come out with a huge body of music that is both original and exciting, yet remains familiar and warm. From Tangerine Dream to Vangelis, with nodes either side to ambient and space, to "Berlin" and Kraftwerk, this is an exceptionally enjoyable album, which carries you along in its wake for the full seventy minutes. That's about all that needs saying, really - just a thoroughly good, satisfying, solid, expansive, well-played and atmospheric, sequencer-driven, percussive powered, multi-layered synths music album.
MARK JENKINS: Analog Archives CD
Subtitled "unreleased recordings 1982-1985", this is an 8 track selection with compositions running from three minutes to nearly fifteen on a sixty eight minute journey that really hangs together. The album opens with a nine minute cosmic track where all manner of analog synths flow over, around, above and in between one another to create a solid but spacey synth music. Then comes the seven minute 'Ohrwurm' and the sequencers begin to fire up as the track now takes on a distinctly "Berlin School" hue surrounded by all manner of swooping space synth flutters and rolling melody lines, plus deep resonant synth bass buried deep in the mix. Between the pacey rhythms and the sparkling synths, it's a busy slice of music that races along and maintains all the elements that keep you hooked. The longest track on the album is 'Urizen' and this spends its first half using sedate lurching, electro-percussive rhythms above which more layers of synths, from melodies to swoops, emerge. While more rhythmic than the opener, it nevertheless maintains its sense of purpose and spacey nature, as you get caught up in its undoubted "other world" spell. The three and a half minute 'Sun Down' is a slower, more atmospheric piece that revolves around swirling space synths at the bottom of the mix, of which the cascade gives way to early seventies "Kraut"-styled flute work, all very sedate and atmospheric, seeming to last a lot longer than it does. The near four minute 'Heart Of Darkness' features added Froese-styled guitar to the slowly undulating bass rhythms, soaring synth backdrops and swirling synth leads. 'Electric Eden' is an eight minute track that adds drum machine to the fast-paced sequencers for added rhythmic weight, while this time, as well as all the subtleties, you get this spiralling lead synth melody line that propels the piece in typically eighties synth fashion. The nine and a half minute 'Dancing About Architecture' is very similar, sounding like they came from the same session, only this time without the lead melody. Instead, it's much more sprightly and lightly phased. The twelve minute 'Time's Winged Chariot' first saw light of day as an alternative version on the first edition of 'Inkeys' cassette-zine and this is the full-length version that has to be classed as the crowning glory on an otherwise excellent analog synth album that captures the flavour of the early eighties Euro and UK synth scene, to perfection.
SEV LEWCOWICZ: This Is Not The End £
The guy from Nostromo with a solo album of synth/keyboard-dominated, mostly instrumental music. With ten tracks, the average running time per track is approximately four minutes and the album opens with a tracks called 'Crimso' which features a solid, slowly rolling rhythm from deep bass and electronic drums as string synths create a canvas around which the synth melodies bounce and cascade, with soaring synth melody lines to give it an expansive, almost filmic appeal, a neat mix of full-sounding and commercial, fading at just over four minutes. The four and a half minute 'Arun' starts with string synths and swirling melodies above a ticking percussive undercurrent before beefy electronic drums start the beat and a tune played on piano takes on the lead role around which the strings and assorted synth layers flow majestically, again quite catchy and commercial, the sort of thing you'd hear in a documentary on camel treks across the desert or films on the Grand Canyon, tuneful and melodic but no real substance. 'Last One Out' accelerates the rhythmic pace on another slice of catchy commercial synth-dominated music that, again, sounds more like advert music than anything, and when the organ lead emerges above the fast-moving percussive rhythm and string synths, it's like being transported back to sixties adverts for Indian Curry Houses. Then a two and a half minute track that revolves around a spoken word sample as string synth and a delicate piano line provide the instrumentation on what sounds like an excerpt from a film - quite what the point of this piece is, I have absolutely no idea. 'The Dove' opens with a weird sort of male choir that sounds slightly out of key, or singing in Russian - or something like that - and below this a sort of chill-out rhythm from electronic drums and bass marches on, with surrounding synth swoops and more expansive string synths weave their spells as another piano lead takes over - then it's gone - just short of two and a half minutes. The next three tracks are four minute slices of synths/electro-percussive commercialism that bounce along merrily with soaring melodies, flowing tunes and plenty of string-like backdrops. 'Chando Moyo' is a solid slice of downtempo rhythmic muscle with a sampled African choir leading the way as the rhythms bounce along merrily and synths provide the melodies and backdrops, sounds great but you've heard it many times before. Finally, there's 'Piggy Pig Pig' which opens with lone organ as massed male vocals intone a choir-like lyric as another bouncing rhythm begins, this time more synth-based, a lead synth melody starts and then this half-sung, half spoken vocal provides the song - and it's just awful - jeezussssss - whatever possessed the guy to put this on here, the vocal hardly letting up for the full, near five minutes running time.
Overrall, then, this is an advertising/film executive's dream album - as to the general public - well, I've told it as a I se it - it's your decision.
BJORN LYNNE: Beneath Another Sky CD
The latest in a long line of synth albums from this electronic musician whose work has been of a quite high consistency for a long time, but not without its lapses along the way. Which makes the fact that this is his most accomplished album for a while, to be regarded as a welcome addition to your listening pleasure.br>
Using an arsenal of synths, sequencers, electronic (or programmed) drums and guitars, this is clearly a case of a musician who has listened to and absorbed over thirty years of synth and progressive music, and has created music that is most definitely his own, while at the same time exhibiting a lot of qualities from the last three decades of synth music greats but at no time making it so obvious that you say "that bit sounds like……." As a result, you have here a twelve track, seventy nine minute album that remains consistent throughout. Most tracks revolve around an ocean of rhythms, often using beefy sequencer lines or strong-sounding electronic drums, while on top are layered string synths, lead synth melodies, flowing lead synths and extra rhythmic additions to propel the tracks to even greater heights. While full of tunes and melodies, it's also full of feeling and atmosphere, with the rhythms providing a backbone that keeps it all together while at the same time not at any point diminishing the effect of the lead work. Most of the tracks are completely addictive and yet at the same time, strong and distinctive, so that you can be into anything from Jarre and Vangelis through Tangerine Dream and Pickford, to Oldfield and Pink Floyd, and still get maximum enjoyment out of this wholly instrumental and quite epic album.
OOPHOI: Hymns To A Silent Sky CD
Sixty minutes of warm, flowing cosmic synths music that drifts, drones, floats and soars, giving you the chance to wander off into a new dimension as the sound flows all around in the best space music traditions. It's atmospheric, it's hypnotic, it sounds great, it's beautiful.
STEVE ROACH: Immersion: One CD
A single seventy three minute track that is pure cosmic space synth music at its most distilled. So textural, it makes the latest Oophoi album look positively melodic, this owes more to an album such as Tangerine Dream's 'Zeit' than anything, as the drones and drifts pass slowly by. At a subliminal level as just sonic accompaniment in an everyday environment, it works just fine, but if you turn it up and give it your maximum attention - literally, immerse yourself in its flow - you'll find the subtleties that abound to make this such an hypnotic body of music. With a feel that's more dark than light, an atmosphere that's galaxian and a soundscape that drifts endlessly all around, this is one seriously awesome example of the genre.
CONRAD SCHNITZLER: Conviction CD
For once, not an archive CD but a brand new studio album by the ex-Tangerine Dream/Kluster musician on his own. As might be expected with this guy, it's unexpected! This time around we have a staggering 18 tracks across sixty minutes of which the first - and longest - is the enar eight minute 'Stealth Passage' which, with its bouncing electronic rhythms, pulsing synths and all manner of electronic effects, has similarities to the 'Zuckerzeit' era of Cluster mixed with hints of mid-seventies Egg label Schnitzler, and is a lot more accessible and enjoyable a track than you might think. After this, the next 17 tracks range between just under two minutes and just over four, so you can imagine there's a lot here to take in. The odd part is that, for what is essentially seriously dark, almost industrial sounding solo synths music, it has a quite hypnotic quality and what will surprise you, is the way it constantly moves, changes shape and develops, the rhythms not exactly traditional rhythms in any sense of the word, but structured enough to be an undertow for whatever he decides to layer on top. Melodies are also present, but as you can imagine, nothing that resembles a tune. The deep bass electronic rivers that run under a lot of the tracks provide added strength and depth, while this is countered by a kind of cosmic intensity that keeps it unnerving and positively eerie at times. Surprisingly hypnotic,. Surprisingly accessible, it nevertheless remains a ride to be taken by the more adventurous synth music listener, only this time there's nothing harsh or abrasive that's going to drive you away.
KLAUS SCHULZE: Irrlicht CD
The first album I ever bought from this guy back in '72, so it holds a lot of nostalgia for me, which is probably why I can still listen to it and enjoy it. It was always the first part of the first track, where the orchestra and this buzzing sea of electronics set the scene for ten gloriously seventies cosmic minutes, that held you spellbound to music, the likes of which you'd never before heard, and which still sounds so otherworldly spacey to this day. From ten minutes on, the organ work takes over, with this massive sounding, almost church-like, swell of chords soaring onwards, accompanied by distant electronic backdrops to provide more depth and contrast with this unending sea of organ chords that travels ever on. While there's not been any remastering, you can distinctly hear the backdrops a lot clearer than on any previous recording of the piece. Around the eighteen minute point, the unending organ chords start to pulsate as what is almost a rhythm starts to mutate from the depths and the huge-sounding cathedral-like soundscape continues to the twenty three minute point only to stop abruptly and give way to five and a half minutes of electronic sculpting that truly began the "cosmic" music movement The twenty one minute third track is much more focused as a complete piece, one I originally liked less than the previous piece, but one which now I actually prefer, starting with the orchestra in spacey mode before they fade and the track gives way to a universe of cosmic soundscapes, drones, swooshes and atmospheres, sounding now quite timeless that, while it's firmly seventies, it sounds remarkably organic and contemporary at the same time, a true example of how such music was streets ahead of its time. The bonus track here is a twenty four minute, previously unreleased track, called 'Dungeon' that is a studio track hailing from a time later than 1972, but probably not by much, and is totally in keeping with the album's spirit. A slice of vintage electronic cosmic music from the early seventies, it is one of the darkest such examples of deep space drones and endless soundscapes that you'll hear from this time, as it slowly changes shape and takes on whole new textural realms as it travels, sounding one heck of a lot more "synthesized" than its musically produced origins would imply, and a massive sounding slice of always changing, intense but absolutely spellbinding early seventies "Kosmische Musik" at its absolute drone-like, vari-textured best.
KLAUS SCHULZE: The Crime Of Suspense CD£14.99
Three long tracks that actually sound a whole lot better now than they did when they first came out as part of the 'Contemporary Works 1' box set. The twenty four minute 'Good Old 4 On The Floor' features some wonderful Schulze playing led by an array of sequencers and electronic drums, on top of which vocalist Julia Mesenger weaves in and out with a soaring array of predominantly wordless vocals that provide the most heavenly quality to the music, but not overly used, so that you get a lot of solo Schulze but the vocal is well and truly the most fantastic icing on the cake. A stunning track by any standard, let alone Schulze's. The seventeen minute 'J.E.M.' is altogether different with Schulze accompanied by musician Thomas Kagermann on flute, violin and vocals, the combination giving the track a whole new makeover the likes of which you've never before heard on a Schulze composition. With more sequencers and shuffling, fast-paced electronic drums driving the rhythmic foundations onwards, the flute weaves on top of the bouncing melody lines. The violin is much more "textural" while the vocals take up all of about 15 seconds at the end of the track, and you can hardly hear them in the mix, anyway. Another great track. The thirty minute 'Overchill' sees the return of Julia Messenger as the still rhythmic but slightly slower, more chilled-out Schulze music unfolds - still sounding like classic Schulze - with Messenger sounding more like the female vocalist off Voices Of Kwahn CD's whose name escapes me completely, but this time the vocal is more upfront and with words as well as wordless, sounding more like something off vintage Orbital or the legendary Voices Of Kwahn 'Ye Ye Ya Ya" track, on what is a rather superb twenty nine minute track. The new reissue is completed with 2 four minute tracks taken from the same recording sessions and are solid pieces of prime Schulze and a more reflective slice of spacier music, respectively. Overall, a stunning album from one of the greats of synth music.
KLAUS SCHULZE: Are You Sequenced? DBLCD
The original single CD recorded live at musician David Wright's own "EMMA"-styled event in Derby in April 1996, along with a previously unreleased seventy seven minute, single track, bonus CD featuring a studio track from 1993. Please note that the second CD in this reissued album is NOT the remix CD that was the second CD in the original issue, which makes that somewhat of a rarity now, I guess.
Now, taking the bonus disc first, Schulze fans everywhere - heck, "Berlin School" fans everywhere!! - will be jaw-dropped in delight when they hear this, for we are talking prime, grade-A quality, sequencer-driven, classic Klaus Schulze - a single, nearly eighty minute track, that does what this musician I most famous for and does so well. The music couldn't be any other musician - there is a lead that sounds somewhere between a synth and a wordless operatic voice, while the piece drives inexorably forward on solid waves of sequencers and crisp, solid electronic drums, and at various points along the way, all sorts of classic Schulze trademarks rear their remarkable heads. By twenty minutes in, it's already one of THE best Schulze tracks you've heard in the last fifteen years - and that's saying something! I mean, there's even orchestral bits that nod back to the likes of 'X' while elsewhere there are space synth swoops all around the mix, samples, then, around twenty one minutes in, the whole framework changes as the melodies become the rhythms and carry on at the same pace for just a couple of remarkable minutes before the track reverts to sequencer heaven and progresses onwards. As the track moves forward and you marvel at some of THE finest sequencer rhythms on a Schulze album in ages, you're aware that this is like the best bits of every seriously brilliant composition since, and including, 'X', all wrapped up in one amazing track to sum up what makes the musician the legend he is in today's synth music scene.
The main disc is the just under eighty minute concert recorded in Derby in '96, and is a fantastic mix of high energy synth, classic Schulze and a more contemporary feel to things that would predate his best work with ambient electronic music pioneer Pete Namlook. With rhythms driven by sequencers and electronic percussion, here the pace is slightly accelerated to provide a much more ambient-trance feel, although not overly so, as it remains firmly and squarely "synth" music. The atmosphere here is warm and gorgeous, while the music has a freshness and vitalit that only comes through the energy of it being performed live, and it's always been concert recordings such as 'Poland' and 'Dresden' albums that have shown this more energetic and intense side of the vintage Klaus Schulze way of playing it. Despite having 11 sections, the track plays continuously and the result is one of THE finest Schulze "pieces" in his career. Both CD's on this album still sound totally timeless - you'd never guess they were ten years old or more - you might think they were twenty five years old - you might think they were done last year - a sign of what excellent music you have before you on this album, perhaps one of THE finest of his recorded output to date.
KLAUS SCHULZE/RAINER BLOSS: Dziekuje Poland DBLCD
The original three twenty+ minute, fifteen minute and five minute tracks recorded live on the Polish tour of '83, complete with a previously unreleased live, thirty five minute track from the same tour, along with a different and extended version of a studio track from the 'Jubilee Edition' box set, now running to twenty five minutes and recorded around the same time as the live album, so that it sounds totally in keeping with the flavour of the main album. With keyboardist Bloss alongside, the music takes on an altogether much more layered quality, so that while you still get the trademark lengthy tracks of sequencers, soaring leads and electronic drums/programmed rhythms, there is a much greater sense of melody and overall warmth that pervades the music on this legendary album, as evidenced by the way the lead track, the twenty six minute 'Katowice', unfolds as you feel like a passenger on a river boat journey that's moving swiftly past the most remarkable scenery, and a seriously solid slice of synths-dominated music underpinned by some fantastic sequencer rhythms throughout. The twenty four minute 'Warsaw' is a lot faster paced and features tons of solos and leads from the two musicians, while the first CD ends with the studio track, a twenty five minute piece that starts with pulsating, echoed drums and heartbeat rhythms that turn out to be the foundations on which the track is built as a massed array of soundscapes, samples and bizarre electronics are amassed on top, all quite unnerving in many ways and a bit like a massive extended, more electronic version of Pink Floyd's 'Heart Beat Pig Meat'. Onto disc 2 and we open with the liver version of 'Ludwig II', here a twenty minute track called 'Lodz' and a supreme example of the more "orchestral" sounding or "symphonic" approach that the two musicians could take on, as the wondrously flowing track from the 'X' album receives a whole new makeover with some fine and strong piano work from Bloss as the piece stretches out. The near sixteen minute 'Gdansk' is more of an exercise in soundscaping for the first four minutes before it takes off in a roar of rhythms and high-flying melodies. The bonus track is a thirty six minute track called 'Dzien Dobry' taken from the Gdansk concert and turns out to be a live version of the track 'Speilglocken' from (I think) the 'Audentity' album and is just magnificent full of everything that the two musicians coukld throw in the melting pot - symphonic, classical, sequencers, melodies, electronic drum rhythms, flowing sequences, soaring strings - the works! Originally a classic live album, it's now and even more classic live and studio album.
TANGERINE DREAM: Blue Dawn 1988 CD
Even though listed as a Tangerine Dream album, the whole thing consists of previously unreleased studio recordings from 1988 that musicians Edgar Froese & Ralf Wadephul composed and played surrounding a Tangerine Dream tour. All the 10 tracks bar one, revolve around a steady diet of melodies and rhythms, the rhythms provided by a solid undercurrent of sequencers and electronic drums, or just sequencers, while the melodies come courtesy of a complement of string synths, synths and guitars. Wherever you look, the album is choc full of solid tunes, the sort of thing that, for most of the album, wouldn't have sounded at all out of place on the "Miami Vice" TV series - in fact, it makes you wonder that if this had come first, our friend Jan Hammer night never have had a career! The majority of the compositions weigh in around the six minute mark on average, while the actual pace of the tracks ranges from languid to quite dynamic. The album opens with ''Where Dreams Are Large And Airy', with a river of distant sequencers over a typically rising T Dream melody line (remember, this is 1988 we're talking!!) and a backdrop of almost choral sounding synths and expansive melodic fills, all very anthem-like and quite a symphonic start to the album. Then it's right into 'Riding The Wind' starting with electronic thunder-style synths before a distant melody rises from the deep, a solid sequencer rhythm begins, rattling electronic drums start to boom and the track flows forward amid a series of brief strings as the rhythms solidify and take hold. Then, just short of three minutes in, out bursts this electric guitar lead, high above the rest, as Froese unleashes a multi-tracked solo that finishes the job off just nicely to the track's end point around the four and a half minute mark. 'Thunderheads' wastes no time in setting up beefy sequencer and electronic drum rhythms which remain the core of the piece as slowly flowing synths glide on top, almost subtly so, only for a lead melody line to emerge and give the track an altogether slightly darker feel than when it began, as choral synths enter the picture to provide an uplifting contrast. 'Eagle's Crest' starts more sedately with an almost latin-esque percussion rhythm as languid strings, amid brief rumbling electronic drums, provide a heart-warming sea of melody and magic with further strings added before the main lead melody takes hold, on a track that mixes both strength and delicacy within its structure, as the lead guitar enters and this flowing solo rings out. The near nine minute 'Food For The Gods' is probably the spaciest track on the album with a much more cosmic feel overall, complete with acoustic guitar and a plethora of string synths, the main and quite understated rhythm, only emerging half way through. Taking you on a string-laden trip to the stars, this is a much more romantic piece by virtue of the almost "New Age" style arrangement. 'Without A Bad Conscience" revolves around the strongest rhythm sequence to date as the deep bass booms out and electronic drums take over, with synth melodies soaring along on top as the most powerful, and six minute, track on the album takes hold and carries you along in its wake. Three further tracks mix all this wealth of synth melodies, varied rhythms, dynamics, beauty and strength, with most of the elements that have so far been exhibited.
TANGERINE DREAM: Nebulous Dawn 3CD Set
Not just any normal "best of" - ohhhhhhhhh nooooooo………this one is SPECIAL!!!
Why? Well, apart from featuring the whole of each of the first four albums from the pioneering "pre-Virgin" years, it features a treat on the third disc in the form of not one, but three amazing rarities, gathered together on once CD for the first time. It starts with 'Oscillator Planet Concert", a track from a various artists album that came out in the early seventies and featured mostly jazz-rock bands, plus this exclusive cosmic music track from Tangerine Dream that lasted somewhere around the ten minute mark if my memory serves me right. After this, you get both parts of the legendary 'Ultima Thule' single, including part two where the influences from Pink Floyd's 'A Saucerful Of Secrets' track, are clearly in evidence. Then, as if it couldn't get any better, you get both sides of the pre-Tangerine Dream group The Ones, single, 'Lady Greengrass', here on official CD for the first time. That's it - now go order this album (from CD Services, of course!) - you know it makes sense!
PHIL THORNTON: Alien Encounter CD
At first sight, the signs are not hopeful - it's on a "New Age" label, the musician himself has a somewhat more "New Age" tag and the concept of the album revolves around the "are they out there?" thing about little green men from outer space.
The reality is very different - an electronic music album that actually is way more satisfying, enjoyable and cohesive a listening experience than you'd have credited. It endears itself to you from the start with a gorgeous, multi-layered cosmic synths introduction that gradually builds and develops until it leads into the start of a chunky and quite insistent electronic and electro-percussive rhythm around and above which space synths swoop and soar, as a deep bass undercurrent provides the cosmic glue that holds it all together. String synths give a spacious feel while the rhythms are structured to be almost melodic as well, the icing on the cake provided by the fact that the layers and textures are constantly on the move and nothing stands still or wanders off, and as track 3, 'Another Blue Light' draws near the end, the rhythms fade and a final minute and a half of atmospheric space synths, see the track to its conclusion. The four minute 'Traveling Without Moving' is a four minute slice of multi-textured cosmic bliss with flowing synths soaring inrto space with a wide-eyed quality that recalls classic "Hearts Of Space" label synth albums. The five minute 'Receiving The Message' continues this feel and intensifies it, with added bass synths, a huge sea of soaring cosmic music rising up from the depths, before taking off into outer space as the space synths take on a magical role. The album ends with an epic - nearly twenty five minutes of 'Visions From The Homeworld' where cosmic synths and deep bass open the proceedings as a soaring electric guitar soars in gently on top, more textural than traditional lead, and an almost Klaus Schulze-styled electro-percussive rhythm begins, with added bass as the combination of soaring strings, textural guitra, deep bass and chunky electro-percussive beats, all weave the most magical spell to take the track forward. The themes, layers, rhythms, melodies and textures, all countercross and build, adding and subtracting, as the track changes shape and evolves to perfection, keeping you hooked throughout. Around sixteen minutes it drops down briefly to a more spacey atmopshere before starting the rhythm layers once more, slowly strong, and adding different elements, this time deep throbbing bass, more strings, sustained guitar chords and a general air of gently high-flying cosmic expanse, solid and yet atmospheric at the same time, fading to a slow conclusion just shortb of twenty four minutes.
Overall, if you're into the likes of classic Braheny, Serrie, Stearns and similar multi-layered synth music expanses, this is a gloriously sounding mix of cosmic synth music and inistent rhythms that exude feeling, all of which should sit alongside what you already have, as something that you will play and treasure.
TERJE WINTHER: Trespasser CD
Everything about this is gloriously over-the-top. For a start, it's excatly eighty minutes long - no room for even another note! Then there are only 6 tracks, from nearly seven to nearly twenty four minutes long. Then there are the sequencers - tons and tons of sequencers - everywhere you look, there are sequencers - this is sequencer heaven for those that can't get enough of the things. All bar the last six minute track are built on the things as solid, beefy sequencer rhythms dominate the proceedings. On top of this you'll find all manner of things from an arsenal of space synths and cosmic synth swoops to mellotrons (particularly the eight minute 'Essinc'), occasional electronic drums (towards the end of the twnenty three minute 'Running Through The Edge' and synth melody lines which appear and disappear as the tracks change shape, as vari-paced sequencer rhythms are unleashed, and all the way along, the hat is tipped to the ghosts of the classic seventies "Berlin" synth pioneers, not to mention touches of '80's "UK Synth" in there too. But, overall, you buy this to satiate your love of sequencers, your love of the seventies and your love of "Berlin School" synth on an epic scale.
