WOLFGANG DÜREN

"Waving Berlin School's cold style" is very well said in the artist info. Yes, I sense a certain coldness in this synthesizer music. And yet it's not downright uncomfortable or hostile -- with some exceptions increasing the dynamics. The album consists of five tracks between 5 and 10 minutes length. 'Eyeless Dream I' has a powerful beginning with hypnotically swirling synths, and at 2:14 starts a more rhythmic section, reminiscent of what the artists in the Innovative Communication label would release sometime later. If I was told this piece to be from 1990 instead of 1980 I'd most likely believe it. There's certainly also a strong influence of TANGERINE DREAM of the time, albums such as Tangram (1980) in which Düren probably was involved as a programmer. 'Phila' (9:53) is more experimental at first, in the similar hollow way as Vangelis' Beaubourgh (yaaawn), but rewardingly it gets air beneath its wings in a Tangerine Dream like manner. One reference could be 'Madrigal Meridian' on Cyclone (1978), minus its greater progression due to its greater length.

All of '904' hasn't aged very well. Some sounds on it make me think of film music by GIORGIO MORODER, and one of the synths playing the main melody is a bit too sharp to my ears, but another -- Micromoog? -- sounds nicer and gives me a Rick Wakeman association. 'Proton' is cold indeed, like you were lost in a vast ice cave. Oh, and a sudden sonic burst suggests there's an unknown enemy you need to escape from. A threatening, otherworldly SciFi atmosphere.

The final track 'Eyeless Dream II' starts with a German-language narration by Bettina Weber which doesn't last very long, leaving the cold synth music to wander around hesitatively and introspectively, as if begging for the return of Bettina's voice, which does come back briefly. Too bad I don't understand German, would have been interesting to know what are the lyrics about.

Whilst I'm not exactly warming to everything heard on this cold and dark album, it surely deserves a good rating. A mint copy of this LP would cost about 100 euros.