THE FOREVER TAPES

Progressive Electronic music in 2019.

The Forever Tapes (2019) exploits all of Aidan Baker´s music composition resources and taming their possible natural chaotic direction by enhancing the results of experimentation rather than experimentation itself, thus all 10 tracks are given a unique and focused identity which touches on the vast universe Aidan Baker has crafted stone by stone.

An extremely ambitious effort and by ambitious I mean the kind of work which can withstand, both, the weight of the non - mainstream & mainstream Electronic Music markets without compromising neither his well owned music language nor musician's integrity.

To cut it short.. Bold & controlled mayhem paying close attention to its myriad of sharpened melody lines in able to deconstruct the known structures, reshape them and ,very important, simplify them without sucking off the vital energy of the newborns by a perfectly threaded parade of different electronic music moods and ideas tied together by their common artistic goal.

Fresh air blowing through this P.E. vampiristic & graverobbers catacombs & one of the real highlights in PA´s Progressive Electronic music category this year.

Full 5 star album!

PS. Don't even expect Mr. Baker to rehash somebody else's music language, if so please move on.

A Canadian ex-pat living in Berlin, Germany, Aidan has obviously soaked up some of the rhythmic history flowing in his new homeland's Kosmische Wasser cuz he does some pretty good CAN channelling here.

1. "Night Drive" (5:09) part CAN, part LANDBERK, part early SIMPLE MINDS, part LOBOTOMY BROTHERS, this one has some real familiarity to it--though I know it is original. Not great musicianship on display. I like the whispered "ghost vocals" that enter in the fourth minute. (8/10)

2. "Fragmentary Beings" (4:05) interesting four-instrument weave on which several of the tracks have trouble staying synched up with the others. I wonder if Aidan has ever heard any West Indian Girl or PerPLeXa music. (8.66667/10)

3. "In the Meadow" (4:52) sounds so much like something by Robert Schurgin/Jonathan Wald's PeRPLeXa, though there are also definite elements of BARK PSYCHOSIS, STEVE JANSEN, and even his brother, DAVID SYLVIAN. Cool psychedelic groove. (9/10)

4. "Becoming Impulse" (4:03) more CAN-like foundational stuff with interesting ancillary percussives and synth pulsing like something from a 1980s TALKING HEADS album. Aidan's soft singing enters in the third minute. The words can be made out: they're almost like the incantation for a spell. (8.75/10)

5. "Climbing into Light" (5:02) angelic synth sounds and synth washes and indecipherable whisper samples all woven together with a deep bass line and distant snare drumming open this one before Aidan's distant echo-"ghost vocals" enter to sing a children's self-medicating bedtime nursery rhyme. Very cool soundscape which all, sadly, starts to fade out at the end of the fourth minute(!). (8.875/10)

6. "In & Out of Darkness" (6:38) like a variation of the previous song's theme, opens with expanding and contracting Farfisa organ chords while more distant "ghost vocal" whispers provide a constant river in the middle/background. Electric piano enters to give the song some more structure while the voices rise and fall, move forward and backward in the mix, giving the feeling that they are moving around, even threatening to "break the fourth wall": come out of the sound box. The long organ outro is rather Eno-esque. (8.75/10)

7. "Anglev" (4:39) Sounds A LOT like the music from NEON HEART's debut album--especially "Dagar försvinner" and "Till dig ännu en gång"--both of which I LOVE. Unfortunately, there is very little variation or development once the full palette of instruments is gathered. (8.875/10)

8. "Synaptic Firing" (4:30) and Jaki and Holger firing, too! Nice CAN-like groove. (9/10)

9. "Lurking in Some Corner" (6:15) here channelling a little MARK HOLLIS via computer, sampler, and a Massive Attack/Bark Psychosis filter. (8.875/10)

10. "Lost Keys" (5:42) nice groove over which Aidan lays down some nice space-guitar and ghost vocals.Something goes horribly wrong (intentionally) with the timing of the multi-tracks third minute and never really gets rectified. I like the ALIO DIE finish. (8.75/10)

Total Time 50:55

I sense some of the genius of ROBERT JAMES (West Indian Girl), GRAHAM SUTTON (Bark Psychosis), KEVIN SHIELDS (My Bloody Valentine), DAVID SYLVIAN, HOLGER CZUKAY, REINE FISKE, in the music on this album. Some of the songs are quite simple or flawed in one aspect of musicianship or another, giving the impression that Aidan was rushing-- trying to finish or get on to the next idea or track--as if they didn't/don't matter!?!?!???

B/four stars; an excellent contribution of experimental/modern electronic Krautrock. I just wish Aidan had spent a little more time with these pieces to either develop them further or at least to polish them.