|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| top | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Archived music reviews,
edition 14
If you want your CD reviewed here, contact us or read about this special offer.
This was one of those that,
unfortunately, slipped past me back in the mid-80's. Shreeve's
distribution seems to have been fairly limited, so his skill
didn't come to my attention until the past couple of years via
his Redshift recordings. However, in this case it is better
late than never, because this CD is stands the test of time. At the time of this recording, Shreeve had been at EM for around a decade and was beginning to be recognized as a mover and shaker. He had performed at UK Electronica 83 which prompted the newly established synth label Jive Electro to sign him up. The CD lists the amazing array of equipment used on the recording which included a Fairlight CMI, an Oberheim OB8, and the ever present (in those days) Yamaha DX7. Part of the intensity of this music is found in tunes like Flagg and The Stand which show that Shreeve was reading horror writer Steven King which no doubt added a bit of darkness and force to the presentation. Another interesting note is that one song, Icon is co-written by Chris Franke who also plays on the song. During that time Franke was still a member of the legendary German band, Tangerine Dream. So if you missed this one and enjoy that mid-80's electronic music with muscle sound, you could do much worse than check this one out. [ Top ]
It is not often that I go out and buy the soundtrack to a film which is non-symphonic. Most electronic movie scores suck, as they are cheaply used as a way to save money. But James Newton Howard's original music to the Stephen King-based movie Dreamcatcher immediately caught my attention when I saw the movie in a theatre, as it added creepyness to an otherwise generic movie. The Dreamcatcher OST is about 50 % electronic and 50 % symphonic. As with most movie scores,
sounds and themes are repeated to build a link between events
and characters. The opening track, Main Title,
therefore sets the mood and the style, and effectively so.
Just from hearing this track, you understand that it was used
in a scary movie, that's how creepy it is, without having any
of the normal scary movie sound clichés. So it is not only a
case of "does the music only work in a movie
context", but it works as a separate listening
experience. The question is, does the other tracks work in the same way? To a certain extent, yes. Tracks like Animal Exodus, The Weasel, and Henry meets Owen are complete enough to stand alone as "songs", whereas other tracks are obviously synchronized to images, which makes you pay more attention to the music than songs that just trod along. The idea of movie music is to evoke images in your mind, and great movie music does that independantly of the movie. And that is true for Dreamcatcher. One important aspect of this soundtrack is that the electronics are integrated with symphonic (or "classical") music, or vice versa. I have heard too many cases where such a combination has failed, but with Dreamcatcher, the integration is excellent. It's not about making electronics sounding like a symphonic orchestra, but about choosing sounds that work well together. To appreciate this CD, you probably have to be a fan of movie scores, because the musical style and structure is "movie music", more so than just electronic music as such. We're not talking simple Jan Hammer-style movie music. [ Top ]
This recording turns out to be
the reissue of a classic ambient recording that has stood the
test of time. It was originally released in 1984 to some
extremely positive reviews. In fact, it has been a consistent
seller ever since and is Steve Roach's 3rd best seller of all
time. The December 2000 issue of "Yoga Journal"
voted it one of the top 10 CD of all time for yoga uses. Not
bad for being 16 years since it was originally printed! The
promo material claims that it is "one of the ultimate
soundtracks for contemplation, relaxation, and focused
creativity" and it certainly is one fine ambient
recording. When I opened the package from Projekt, I was surprised to be hit with a strong pleasant fragrance.To my surprise, inside I noticed a wrapped incense stick accompanying the CD. This baffled me at first until I read in the liner notes that the music was "originally created with the burning influence of Blue Pearl-Classic Champa incense". I then realized that the sinuous design on the cover (also designed by Roach) could be seen as smoke flowing from incense. The music for that matter drifts along in that mode as well. The recording is definitely layered. As you give it multiple listenings, new melodies and tones float out from the slowly pulsing drones and chords. There are three songs on this hour long CD, and one of them takes up about half that time. Obviously, they aren't in any hurry to resolve! Themes unobtrusively build up out of the calm and then slide away into the soothing infinite. This music is certainly a contrast to other more recent work Roach has done. For example, his The Serpent's Lair had percussionist Byron Metcalf to move the music along, and his Midnight Moon that was a guitar album of sorts. This, however, is his early work showing where he came from and something of a high water mark in the genre. [ Top ]
One of Norway's most famous and
experienced electronic composers has released a CD with tracks
that has previously been used for at least three different
projects (not albums), including TV documentaries about polar
expeditions, recorded over a period of six years. This makes
the album pointing in different directions with less coherence
that it could have had. Is it melodic? Is it trancey? Is it
ambient? While variation is a good thing, there must be
coherence. Many of the ambient exercises are very good; Polar Drone 1 & 2, Map of the Mind, Eyes on the Horizon, Farewell. They all have movement, fluctuating textures and spicy effects. But the album jumps between slow ambience and ambient techno-ish tracks, which is a bit disturbing for me. I think Polar Drones would have benefitted from leaving a couple of tracks out and changed the order of the remaining tracks. As it is now, it puts you in one mood but pulls you out with the next song. [ Top ]
From the hands of Michael
Cretu, the man who is Enigma, comes another album of
electronic pop, sung by his wife Sandra. Cretu is among the
best producers of electronic music in the world, in the sense
that he can take any song and create arrangements and sounds
that elevate the song from what it is to something much
better. It is very clear in Cretu's productions for Sandra
that if there had been a lesser good producer on the job, the
songs would not sound as good as they do. In other words, this means that songs that in themselves are not necessarily awesome, sound great anyway. In the case of The wheel of time, this is more true than for many other Sandra albums, as I think the songs themselves are not as strong as I have heard before. The one exception is Silent Running, an 80s Talk Talk classic which has been given the Cretu treatment. A great melody with a great arrangement. Sandra's young girl voice has always appealed to me and I think she does a splendid job again, if you like her, that is. She does not have a typical "power voice" of most eurodance babes; her voice is soft, feminine and is being expressed through a sense for melody and texture. Her vocal range is limited, but given the right songs, that is not noticeable. In a couple of places her voice is also electronically treated, although not too much. The album survives much on the excellent production, and could have reached a higher score if the melodies were better. It shows that the songs is more a collaborative effort than usual, as they are less coherent and focused. [ Top ]
The first thing that strikes me
with this album is not the songs or the general concept; but
how thin and crispy some sounds are - almost like coming from
cheap or poorly programmed instruments. Remember those Amiga
tracker songs that sometimes had hiss on the sounds and
sounded like breaking glass? That is the first impression I am
getting from The nature of the universe by former
Double Fantasy member Charly McLion. Anyway, further listening makes me look for highlights, either of a musical, aural or conceptual nature. I don't find it. The album is all right, but no tracks excel in greatness, which makes me think the composer and/or producer were not as inspired during the creation as I'd whish. Boring is not the correct word, however. This album is not really boring. It's more.... average. On the bright side: Among the better tracks are Dream Catcher, which serves its relaxing purpose without creating attention for itself as a relaxing piece as such. The art of creating humble music is not always enforced on this record, but this track is modestly reaching it's goal of creating a calm atmosphere. It does not sound relaxed and easy going by intention, if you know what I mean. I have listened to this album at least a dozen times over many months before writing this opinion, but yet it failes to bring me a wonderful music listening experience. It's not an album that catches on instantly (it lacks outstanding tracks and production) and it is not an album that grows on you (it lacks originality and sincerity). It's possible you might find this album useful as muzak if you indeed are having a picnic or drinks on the beach. But I don't think that only those who are having beach picnics are the target audience for the album, so as a listening experience or musical adventure in cute electronic easy-listening, it's not my top recommendation. [ Top ]
Cyrille Verdeaux's long time interest and investigation of yoga has led him to create his Kundalini Opera series that combines existing recordings (culled from the past 20 years) with works still in progress. The study of kundalini relates to the seven psychic centers or chakras, and this recording is attributed to the second of these, Svadhisthana (the first chakra having been his 1998 Tribal Hybrid Concept). Originally recorded in 1983, a
very prolific period for Cyrille Verdeaux, this recording has
been reissued in 2001. The first surprise for some will be the
lack of piano, a mainstay of much of this musicians work.
Instead, he concentrates on synthesized sonic textures (with a
guest musician adding a bit of the organic sound with bamboo
flute). This is the most ambient of Cyrille
Verdeaux's work that I have heard to date. Often, amidst the
ambient drones, you will hear melodies with an Eastern lilt.
Apparently, the second chakra is pretty cosmic. One of the
uses that the cover lists for this music is message therapy
and I'm certain that it would work well there. The cover of this package is a shot of the atypical megalithic monument Men-an-tol at Cornwall, England. This yonic and phallic stone combination is of unknown original purpose, and speculations run from an astronomical observatory to a site of earth healings. Regardless, Cyrille Verdeaux considers it a sacred site, and the sexual connection makes it the perfect choice for this chakra. The cover does lack reference to when it was originally recorded which would give the casual listener a distorted opinion of the music. My lack of knowledge about yoga
makes me unfit to judge whether this recording accurately
portrays the second chakra, but I can say that there is some
interesting ambient music contained in it, as well as some
insights into Verdeaux's musical universe. [
Top ]
This trio from Denmark and Germany provides a solid and enjoyable album of Berlin School sequences and other classic space electronica with a touch of prog-rock. An album dominated by rolling analogue sequencer patterns, Mellotrons and improvised-ish electric guitar. With tracks like Blizz,
Loenstrup, Biodiver, and Mist of Ganymede Navigator
shows that they are among the best around in keeping the 70s
Berlin School style alive. Sharp and crisp sequencers support
semi-melodic themes and ambient soundscapes. A couple of
tracks, Airwaves and In the desert, are shorter
and more Two tracks are less in the strict Berlin School category; The blue café and Ronnenberg Dive. Here Navigator shows their true talent with music I have never heard from anyone else. Sequencers, melody hooks and sweeping pads are perfectly integrated and forms a symbiosis of form and content. Navigator here manages to built exceptional atmosphere and listener anticipation without resorting to cheap sequencer masturbation, which seems to satisfy many Tangerine Dream copycat listeners. The biggest fault in this album is the lack of great melodic themes that you will remember when the CD finishes. Leads and solos are nice and sweet when you hear them, but the tunes aren't the kind that etches into your mind and leaves a lasting impression. You could argue that that is not the point with this CD, but great melodies have been attempted here, and they are an essential ingredient in the genre this album belongs to. This proves that making catchy sequencer patterns alone is not enough to make great electronic albums. In terms of sound, Airwaves is completely retro and state-of-the-art; very clean and fresh sounding, with mostly an analogue sound palette being used, in line with the traditional Berlin School rules. Airwaves is quite possibly the best sounding retro album of 2003. Pablo Magne's glossy computer artwork is a bit out of place, since it breaks with the retro feel of the album, but the purple colours are nice. All in all an essential CD for fans of heavily sequenced 70s space electronica. Personally I think two tracks could have been left out which would allow more time for other tracks to space out, and then spent time finding some great themes, at least one. [ Top ] |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
pop-ish, and sound a bit undeveloped and are
frantically running fast to reach the end before the track
finishes. They have the right ingredients, but not the right
structure for this kind of broadly designed music. The best tracks are the longer ones, which are
allowed enough space and time to mutate organically in both structure
and pace.