EUROPA

In the late Seventies I used to visit my favorite record-shop almost everyday, I was hanging around there for hours in order to discover new music. One day I noticed a LP from Tangerine Dream entitled Encore with a remarkable cover: the USA banner on which a live picture was placed featuring three tiny figures playing on huge modular synthesizers and assorted vintage keyboards. Completely mesmerized I walked to that album, took it from the shelf and started reading the notes on the inner sleeve. Well, that moment turned out to be the start of my discovery of the world of electronic music: all three members were playing the Mellotron along lots of great vintage keyboards like ARP, Oberheim and Moog synthesizers, Elka string-ensemble, Steinway Grand piano, this looked looked keyboard heaven .. and it was!

I think that the members of UK electronic prog trio Airsculpture must have been even more excited than me about 74-78 Tangerine Dream because their music is one big tribute to that legendary and pivotal band. The music on Europa was recorded live during the Alpha-Centauri Festival in The Netherlands in 1997, it was Airsculpture their first Dutch concert and totally improvised. Most of the five melodic compositions (between 6 and 24 minutes) sound a bit similar: first a spacey intro featuring lots of sound effects and wonderful strings, then the exicting sound of pulsating sequencers enters, the music becomes more lush (a blend of vintage and modern synthesizers) and finally the music slowly fades away. In some tracks I hear a distorted guitar sound that sounds like Edgar Froese on Encore, I presume it is sampled because I cannot trace a guitar player on the booklet. I also hear wonderful choir-Mellotron waves on Part 3 and great fat synthesizer drops and slow synthesizer flights in Part 5.

This is a pleasant electronic prog album but I prefer other 74-78 TD inspired bands like Free System Project and Red Shift because their sound is more elaborate and dynamic.

Margarine Beam

A tale of fan-boys turning into the very image of their adoration pt. 2.

British electronic act Airsculpture play a dedicated homage to Tangerine Dream, and whether you choose to look down your nose at them for sounding so openly like their heroes circa 1974-80, or you just get into the thing with marrow and flesh - letting yourself be swept away on soaring sequencer driven rides, - that is entirely up to yourself. One thing though, if you can't get past a certain amount of influences in your music, then you wind up having very little to pop into the old stereo rack...

Another thing, that I would like to point out is the difficulty most electronic acts are facing, when venturing out in the hypnotic fields of Berlin school. The instruments they're using all seem like very eclectic tools, but when you then try to weed out the drum-kit by employing a sequencer, you suddenly get dangerously close to TD and Schulze lands. You don't get that same vibe elsewhere in the music community, and certainly not critic wise. I've never come across the same arduous parameters anywhere else in progressive music, maybe apart from bands that are centred around the twelve string guitar and mellotron. GENESIS!!!! The crowd cries!!

Consisting of Adrian Beasley, John Christian and Peter Ruczynski, Airsculpture at least know which era of TD to choose from, and when sporting an astronomical baggage of modular synthesizers and electronic equipment such as: Korg Prophecy, Casio VZ1, Moog Opus3, Kawai K1R, Yamaha TX81Z, Cheatah MD16R, EMU-ESI32, PC running Cubase, Roland JD800, JD990, MKS70/PG800, D110, Waldorf Pulse, Compaq Concerto PC & ImproVision s/w, OSCar, Waldorf Microwave and Access Programmer - can you really fault anybody for thinking these guys just are ripping off an old cherished electronic pioneer?

First of all, this is all improvised. How in the blue feck, can anything coming from freestyle playing amount to plagiarism? Secondly, I don't really give a toss, because the music featured here, on this their first Dutch appearance back in 1997 at the Alpha Centauri festival, is nothing short of sublime. Long swirling pieces that drift along on ethereal sweeps of background synths - with the add on of beautifully soaring mellotron washes and lone moog salutations. The mood here is aiming for the solar system, and these guys more than adequately succeed in transporting you out beyond the confines of our little blue spot. 3.5 stars. (For myself though this is a clear cut 4 stars in terms of just how much enjoyment I get out of it.)