ZERO TIME

One of the must innovative electronic music of its time ! Among the first bands to possess a Moog synthetizer, Tonto's Expanding Head Band offers with Zero Time smooth and relaxing experimental songs, surprisingly melodic by moments. The album alternates very good and weaker passages and venture into a variety of sounscapes.

The record opens with the little cosmic epic Cybernaut. Its efficient slow pulsing rythm and powerful keyboards solos announce future works by Synergy. A mindblowing overture ! In opposite, Jetsex is the most experimental track of the disc, containing mostly strange effects without a true melody. There comes the highlight, Timewhys, displaying a grooving and enchanting space ambiance, very in the vein of Gong's You and Tim Blake's albums, a couple of years before ! The next song, Aurora, is the most peaceful of the album, as if you were in a spaceship drifting slowly into a lost galaxy... to then arrive a myserious place put in music with the improbable and ethereal Riversong, which sounds very mystical and oriental. The disc ends with Tama, a small melancholic but nonetheless enjoyable song.

With their first album, Tonto's Expanding Head Band proves that they are one of the most inventive band ahead of their time. The record predates many electronic gimmicks that will be employed later in the 70s'. Experimentaly composed but quite accessible, Zero Time will make the happiness of ambient and electronic music explorers ! 3,5 stars !