SIMBIOSIS

Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

It is wonderful to be surprised by a man from your own country, and I say this because when I saw Azafrán Media released this album by a man called Alejandro Villalón, the first I asked to myself was "Alejandro who?" but none of it matters when I listened to the album and knew he is a Mexican man creating great music. So surprise, we have talented musicians in all the parts of the world, we just have to give them a chance so their music will rise. In this case, I am sure fans of progressive electronic music will have a ball with this album, whose name is "Simbiosis" and contains six tracks for a total time of 44 minutes.

The name of Tangerine Dream will come to your head, I believe that iconic band was an inspiration to Villalón Renaud. It starts with "Caos" which is slow in the first two minutes, but man, be careful because later it explodes and you can have a heart attack if you are not prepared for this drastic changes. Now you can feel on space, floating, flying, looking for a place to land, but at the same time you feel unsecure, with some nervous and a chaotic feeling, so the name of the song is actually reflected on the music. The track brings different passages, and the music is very visual, so you can close your eyes and put images on your mind, you just have be relaxed and open, the music will do the rest.

"Espectro" offers a bunch of textures and nuances since the very first second, the several synths' sounds create wonderful atmospheres, which are greatly complemented by a soft guitar that can be heard here and there. The track flows and progresses, different sounds can be heard even some bells after four minutes, so the inclusion of new noises is good and helps the music not to be plain, actually, it is far from being plain. "Foresta" is the longest track reaching 8:30 minutes. Though it is alike to the previous track, this one brings a salad of sounds, it takes us to another galaxies where we get on well with different species that surround us. The quantity of things I imagine is tremendous, which means the music succeeded, at least with me.

"Revelaciones" seems to be more chaotic than the first one, here I listen to a ton of sounds that in moments my senses can bear, I cruised the line and entered to another galaxy, where my eyes witnessed things they never watched before. But at minute three in my dreams I fell asleep for some seconds, when I woke up a bright light appeared, I was floating and some strange beings were surrounding me, watching me, I did not say anything, just stare at them and feel the light glowing, entering in my soul until a strange calm covered my body and felt tranquilized.

Now it is time to dream again, so "Sueños" appears with a much calmer sound, a friendlier and gentler one, here I remembered a bit to Rick Wakeman's Aspirant trilogy. This one track could actually fit in the relaxing music category, I really feel calm and easy with in spite later it brings more sounds and atmospheres, the calm remains. "Transmutaciones" is the last track, a piece that sums up what Simbiosis offers. It is a cool way to finish this spacey album made by this Mexican genius which has nothing to ask to the same Klaus Schulze. And though I do not consider it to be a true masterpiece, it is a solid album that fans of electronic prog and even from other styles of prog will enjoy, just like I did, because it is a great album without a doubt.

Enjoy it!

2013's `Simbiosis' is the exciting debut for a very promising new Mexican electronic artist, Alejandro Villalón Renaud. Despite taking the tiniest of influences from the usual suspects like Edgar Froese/Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, it's pretty clear Alejandro has his own ideas, refusing to simply remake the defining work of the past masters. With only a slight use of sequencers and light beats, the artist favours drifting, often cinematic oceans of synths, with a very abstract, freeform approach to his compositions. They're still melodic, but not initially instantly approachable or easy to digest, yet it rewards listeners for constant replaying and taking the time to learn how the music works.

The first two tracks drift the closest to the sound of Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream, but really only slightly. Rapidly rising and falling synth winds hiss with purpose in `Caos' around ticking sequencers and swirling effects. With a stark and mysterious opening, once the soft pattering beats hit, it moves up in tempo with confidence, then spirals down with gentle soothing washes for the finish. Fan-like chugging programming powers through `Espectro', the synths eventually taking on a floating elegance, suitably dramatic yet always restrained. Tolling bells offer a hint of darkness, drifting amongst slowly weaving distorted guitar strains. `Foresta' is an icy wonder, piercing glistening synths slicing through the atmosphere, often with a cold machine heaviness duelling with darting piano and drawn out sustained guitar notes.

Rapturous synths rise straight into the air and shoot for the heavens in `Revelaciones', before being brought crashing down with reverberating machine-like industrial unease. The first half of `Sueños' is more hopeful and reassuring, the synths taking on an ethereal, wistful prettiness. It's as close as the album comes to a more romantic piece, before trickling pulses, stinging electronic veils and delicate piano footsteps take it in a more mysterious direction. A droning insect-like electronic swarm buzzes through `Transmutaciones' before being overwhelmed by a sweeping classical grandiosity full of ebbing symphonic majesty. This hugely dramatic finale calls to mind the vast enveloping landscapes of Klaus Schulze.

It's greatly admirable that Alejandro offers original electronic music that doesn't resort to the clichés of so many other artists in the genre both new and old. His work here isn't full of lazy beats and obvious melodies, instead it favours collages of shifting moods and emotive textures. `Simbiosis' will very much appeal to listeners who prefer exploratory electronic works that mixes both vintage and modern styles, but there's probably too much movement to appeal to the more sedate New Age followers.

Alejandro Villalón Renaud is an electronic artist still finding his sound, yet his music here is full of vision and potential, and I have a feeling his next work will be even more satisfying. `Simbiosis' earns three and a half stars, rounded up to four as a sign of encouragement for a very promising modern electronic composer!

Mexican composer and musician Alejandro Villalon RENAUD is, from how I read his sparse biographical information, a guy who stumbled into the field of music more by accident, due to a need to create music for photo and video installations that weren't given restrictions in use due to copyright issue. "Simbiosis" is his debut album, and was released through Azafran Media and Musea Records in 2013.

Electronic progressive music with a distinct cosmic vibe is the type of music Mexican composer and musician Alejandro Villalon Renaud has assembled on his debut album "Simbiosis". References to Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and to some extent Kitaro can be made, and while this isn't a production that comes within the confines of Berlin school, this isn't a soft new age affair either. Edgier and harder sounds are liberally used, giving these compositions a firmer and more vibrant tinge than your typical new age artists, and I'd describe those who are equally fond of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis as a presumed core audience for this disc.

From Berlin to Mexico in 2013.

Something was keeping me away from this Alejandro Villalon Renaud´s SIMBIOSIS (2013), album, it was there but I kind of thought it could wait until I had no expectations whatsoever, because there were some factors involved as Alejandro Villalon Renaud nationality and mainly the year it came upon. I mean for a first release of a Berlin School electronic music oriented album, well time has certainly passed by, in an ever changing electronic music world where d there are those who want to be part of its evolution and those who unbury the skeletons of past legends and sell them as new to unsuspecting victims.

Well, Alejandro Villalon Renaud is one of the two Mexican P.E. musicians included in this site and he is no grave robber. the same as Mr. Beltran which of course is good news, so let me count the ways:

Although inclined to sound like the before mentioned electronic music school ( i.e. Tangerine Dream´s & Klaus Schulze´s respective classrrooms) his melodic structures, even when dream/cosmic like, are held back of sounding like those founders´ music by his personal and detached approach, which honestly is not because he does not try, it is really his quiet naive but focused execution and his frugal sound gear which keeps him off those foreign musical idioms and ironically this works in his benefit as he also shows no emotional connection or intention to recreate the super cliched overly sweet passages or cinematic sections which so many PE musicians (including its founders later works) are/were inclined to play with. His compositions (which by the way are 6 adding up for a 44 minute ride) are full of very good ideas which overcome, most of the times, their own sound engineering and sound gear limitations and even display brushes of geniality along the way.

The "not all that glitters..." news.

A musician which in his promising, but still on the making, musical language delivers a very decent first release, which if taken two steps up (composition, sound engineering and sound gear wise) could have brought the house down but there are still too many stones left unturned in favor of more common grounds and a repetitive high pitch synth sound, building interesting (but eventually annoying by its pitch) melodic lines which appears here and there and almost all through the album and ends up being predictable and obtrusive of better sonic solutions and disgraces otherwise good sections and even a whole composition.

I could bet that if Mr. Villalon actually dedicated himself making a living in the battered third world P.E. musician ´s life his future works could be measured alongside those ProgressIve Electronic legends, but for now a good 3 stars rating for this album because when he lets his own light shine you know it is his own.

To wrap it up, there is a flawless track (Espectro), a couple of very good tracks but also a couple which deserved a better treatment and a quiet forgettable one.