PROGRESSIVE ELECTRONIC

— First review of this album —

Asmus Tietchens is one of the most underrated eletronic music pioneers in mid 60's. He starts his career making concrete music and experimenting with electronics until Peter Baumann (from Tangerine Dream) compromises with Asmus to produce an album.

Since that moment, Tietchens has released over 40 albums of irregular quality perhaps this one, "Formen Letzter Hausmusik", is a remarkable achievement into his career.

Noisy, experimental, almost avant garde. Reminds me some Peter Frohmader "Nekropolis" electronic imporvisations or an insomniac Klaus Shulze but a little less inspired perhaps there are some intentioned ambiguous and morbid atmospheres based on dark dense and minimalistic keyboards and synthesizers and fullfilled with almost annoying distorted metalic effects; in fact, more than be labeled as an "electronic" artist I dare tos ay that you'll heard on this album some of the most dark avant garde experiments of the mid 80's.

Perhaps it's a very uniform album which fluctuate between intentioned mysterious atnmospheres and very hard experimental effects there ar some highlights to mention such as "Hydrophonie 1", "Kammermusik 1" and "Studie Über B-A-C-H". Not one of the top electronic avant-garde pieces of all times but at least a very enjoyable experimental album.

— First review of this album —

By 1995 Zoviet France were past their best. Gone are the industrial loops and ritual percussion and most of the of vocals. This is due to the departure of stalwart Robin Storey (1980- 92, now of 'Rapoon').

I, like most, prefer the analogue approach they once inspiringly maintained for so many years, creating many wonderfully weird albums. Recordings that were so dark and unusual that you could imagine the band looking like they'd just escaped from a collapsed mine-shaft on it's completion.

Now things are digital. Clinically processed and if truth be told... somewhat forgettable. The opener 'Alchemagenta' is a repetitive loop that you can easily envisage being created on a Mac computer. It's too clean, too precise and ultimately sterile. You can almost see the 'iceberg' graphics floating from right to left across the computer monitor. The only saving grace on this lame 13 minute opener is an unusual horn that is played over the top of the recording.

Sadly, this is their only album that appears to have been in wide circulation.

'Haze Polder' continues in this fashion and sounds like you're hearing someone's car alarm go off 3 streets away. It's too precise and without the feel of human hands behind it.

My listening abilities become strained by the time I reach 'Soft Helion' which displays big tubular blasts of swirling air which meld into what sounds like someone crushing a broken accordion.

Things improve with the 8 minute 'Another Soft Helion' which sounds like it belongs on 'Shadow, Thief of the Sun'. Long drawn out drones have what might be extremely distorted human vocals over the top - but they're so over processed it's difficult to tell. Still, this is far better than anything that's gone before. This is the kind of creepy sound I was hoping for when I bought this upon it's release in '96. Gone is the clean surgical white sound, to be replaced by an altogether more malevolent darkness, helped enormously by unintelligible voices.

Angel's Pin Number' has a multitude of reversed sounds under swirling swathes of drones atop high pitched vocals similar again to 'Shadow Thief of the Sun'. Stamped with a trademark 'Zoviet France' seal of approval. Excellent stuff.

I'd forgotten how much better the longer this progresses. From the dreary beginning, things have improved dramatically and I'm much happier now reviewing another LP by my all time favourite band. The final track 'Init' is a 13 minute ethereal, floating oddity with vocals that sound like audio-tape cut up cats whining. There's that unmistakable background swirl that leaves you in no doubt as to who's playing.

All of a sudden I'm happy again. I thought this was heading for a miserable two stars, but there's been an upsurge in proceedings. Whilst not tuneful in the normal sense of the word, 'Digilogue' does what it says: mixes the digital with the analogue, where the analogue is the clear winner. I'd still recommend anything from '86-'87 for newcomers, but this is actually pretty good if you can get your head around the shift in sound that the band introduced at this time.

Oh, and beware the last 5 seconds... I almost jumped through the roof with fright!

— First review of this album —

Founded by Jack Hertz in 2012 to support music that defies category, Aural Films is an internet net-label that publishes `soundtrack albums for movies that do not exist', releasing all kinds of engrossing music and sound works ranging from ambient to experimental. Most distinctive of all is a series entitled `Fog Music', a 35 volume (to date) collection by alternating artists that seek to interpret the weather condition known as fog. Light and dark, wet and dry, it's a great source of inspiration for sound artists from around the world, and Hertz aims to publish 24 complete hours of these recordings. If you enjoy ambient music, this is a series well worth investigating, each volume offering something completely different to the last.

It was a huge thrill to learn recently that German electronic artist Michael Brückner would be contributing to a future volume of the `Fog Music' series, and the talented composer has released a varied, intelligent and frequently challenging contribution. An artist of immense variety over a wide range of electronic/ambient styles both modern and vintage, Brückner here offers three long-form twenty-plus minute pieces, all full of haunting atmospheres while daring to take some darker and more experimental risks.

Opener `Vagueness - part 1' is a constantly evolving electronic sound-scape that balances moments of darkness, hope and mystery throughout. Completely devoid of any percussive elements, endless slow-moving washes of synths lap around the listener, some sounding like a groaning chasm of isolation, others taking on a spectral organ-like quality or vacuum-like intensity. It's gloomy without ever being pitch-black, and eventually more hopeful uplifting strains start to break through as if sunlight, but the piece always maintains a mystifying and ethereal quality. There are many moments scattered throughout that will instantly remind of Tangerine Dream's dark ambient masterpiece `Zeit', and if you're a listener who responded well to that divisive work, you should connect with much of this one as well.

The most challenging part comes with the second track `Memory'. A very minimal avant-garde experimental work, careful and subtle electronic drones rise and fall around adult and children's voices drifting in and out, sometimes cut up, other times played backwards and highly distorted. It creates a very disorientating and overwhelming sensation, and it's one of the most eerie, unsettling sound-collages Bruckner has released to date.

Thankfully, the first few minutes of `Vagueness - part 2' bring back a little hope and warmth, full of more soothing and gently enveloping lulling ambient washes. In many ways comparable to the modern music of ambient musician Steve Roach, those who like expansive and slowly revealing and unfolding atmospheric landscapes will enjoy this. But then completely out of the blue (or should that be out of the fog?!), chilly piano creeps in sounding like an outtake from one of the darker chamber prog bands like Univers Zero and Present, instantly bringing great unease and panic. From this point, the two moods fight back and forth against each-other, and Michael seems to be taking a kind of manic glee in the contrasting comforting/terrifying duel!

Although available to listen to free of charge via the Aural Films Bandcamp page, listeners who prefer to own a physical copy of their music can purchase two DVD volumes covering the first 26 volumes for a very affordable price, and ambient/electronic/drone listeners will find hours of endless fascinating material contained on those two discs. You probably won't love every single release, but all are inspired, unique and challenging electronic works that deserve to be heard.

As for Michael Brückner's personal volume here, it's further evidence of his musical creativity, taste and skill, but it's also quite difficult and confronting in parts. It's certainly not the place to start if you're just beginning to want to look into his work - newcomers should investigate his colourful "R is for Rocket, "S" is for Space' or his immersive double album `In Letzer Konsequenz' first. But those already convinced by his talent and with great patience to listen carefully will be rewarded the most here, and those who appreciate darker ambient and drone music will find this a hugely fascinating and rewarding title to explore.

Four stars.

Defining ambient artist Steve Roach has a long history of tribal-infused atmospheric music throughout his thirty-plus year career, and one of his latest releases is another subdued and hypnotic mix of ancient and future sounds weaving together. The basic elements of this work were recorded back in 2000, with Roach unearthing the original tapes again in 2013. `The Ancestor Circle' is another joint effort with fellow ambient artist, the late Jorge Reyes, the pair having collaborated numerous times since the early Nineties right up until his passing in 2009. Tribal elements seamlessly blend with modern electronics here, sounding like a mix of both future and past. Don't expect much in the way of melodies or anything resembling obvious tunes - `The Ancestor Circle' presents a slowly unfolding selection of hypnotic instrumental soundscapes and immersive tribal drones, deeply atmospheric and meditative, with little welcome traces of darkness and edge emerging in a few moments as well.

With a huge inhaling gasp of air, `The Circle Opens' takes in all manner of heady potions and natural hallucinogens, a concoction of mellow synth washes weaving around deep-throated groans. A trickling loop peppers the background, sighing synths float like a gentle stream and spectral voices spiral into infinity. Darker elements try to take control throughout `Espacio Escultorico', a constantly building tribal drum-beat pounding behind quivering wordless vocal cries, abstract sheets of electric guitar feedback and forceful electronic walls of synths trying to consume and dominate. There's a breathless, almost maddening and intimidating quality here, as if you're hearing bad spirits barely being kept at bay by positive forces. Low-key electronics slink alongside reflective flute throughout `Spirit, Stone and Bone', ancient past and promising future collide with subtle hypnotic grooves and gentle psychedelic strangeness on `Procession of Ancestors', and the electronic strums filled with purpose on closer `Temple of Dust' effortlessly turn reassuring and freed, like a lost spirit joyous in finally earning peace.

But it's the ambitious `Memories Unsuspended' that leaves the biggest impression. A twenty-four minute extended composition, it's a hugely confronting and emotionally exhausting mix of unceasing heartbeat-like cold machine robotic loops duelling with fragmented vocal reverberations. It's as if the cold, busy, hedonistic and Godless modern world is trying to dominate and violently attack the spiritual ways of old. Bombarded with temptation and selfishness, those machine hisses move up and down in tempo to raise the pulse, sometimes transforming into slinking grooves around restrained cinematic-like swells and ethereal wisps of guitar strains. It's a haunting, deeply moving piece, and the brief darker strains of the final few minutes remind that those temptations and negative elements are always there, but you have the ability and self-belief to defeat them on every occasion.

Only time will tell if further unfinished or unreleased collaborations between Roach and Reyes will emerge, but if this turns out to be the last of their work together, then the late artist would be very proud of the finished results. There are occasional accusations that some of Roach's albums show repetition or have a similar sound, but it's best to simply approach each individual release and view it on its own merits. Each album released by the artist has its own unique identity, and it's up to fans and listeners to discover which ones mean the most to them. But in this case, `The Ancestor Circle' achieves a frequently perfect unity of tribal elements and subtle electronics, and for his final release of 2014, Mr Roach still maintains his incredible and consistent recent streak of superb ambient releases, so once again just let his music wash over and completely envelop you.

Four stars.

— First review of this album —

I don't know why they bothered dropping the 'Coil' moniker for this album. It sounds just like...Coil. And looking at the sleeve notes reveals that it is the full Coil lineup.

Amusingly this was recorded at 'Slut's hole' in London. Where in the name of God do they get these names? The cool sleeve was created by Mr 'Nurse With Wound' Steve Stapleton - a long term collaborator of these recidivists.

This kicks off with some discordant stabs of piano reminiscent of John Cage - tuneless - but nice enough. There's plenty of mutated electronic deviousness going on from beginning to end, but on the whole it seems a bit disjointed and patchy. 'Red Skeletons' is chock full of digital bleeps and chopped up tapped telephone recordings. 'A Thousand Lights...' is a bit minimal for a Coil release. It's very experimental but not all that engaging if truth be told.

'Die Wölfe Kommen Zurück' is a slowly evolving, vocal free and somewhat dreary dronefest with repetitive but unusual percussion. I just don't get this album - it doesn't sit right at all in their discography, which is probably why it's categorised under the name 'Black Light District'.

You'd really have to be in a particular frame of mind to listen to this from beginning to end. I'm finding it really irritating at the moment. It's all so staccato. 'Green Water' has wobbly twangy bass with bird song and undulating sequencers at the fore. This is far better than what's gone before but is all over too soon. A multitude of reversed electronic sounds make up the 9 min 'Cold Dream Of An Earth Star'. It's icy cold and emotionless and quite frankly instantly forgettable.

The unforgettable follows with the fantastic 'Blue Rats' - a throbbing electronic sleaze bag of sound with John Balance sounding like a demon rodent from hell, amongst, for once, a tune you can hold on to.

It's back to the forgettable with the finale 'Chalice'. Here samples of religious Christian music is interspersed with odd chugging and slashing electronic beats, but it's of no real interest to any other than Coil die hards.

A strangely disappointing album that promises so much when listened to randomly one track at a time. It suffers from a stilted one dimensional approach that wears off after 15 minutes. Only the superb but simplistic creepiness of 'Blue Rats' saves this mediocre album

This highly original album begins off sounding like 'Lustmord' with large swathes of sweeping drones. However, unlike most "Drone' bands Voice of Eye are tuneful... in my mind anyway. The excellent opener 'Waking' reminds me a lot of that very creepy point in the film 'Kill List' where there's a 'Wicker Man' ritual being performed that ends in human sacrifice.

Voice of Eye have an instantly recognisable sound - which is some feat considering the wealth of similarly classed bands who more often than not sound non-descript.

''Breathing' continues the vibe nicely with very bizarre instrumentation that reminds me of 'The Empirical Sleeping Consort'. What resembles wailing cats and dogs are compressed through various filters creating an alien and unworldly atmosphere.

'Blooming' delves into ritual percussion 'Steve Roach' style, only this sounds more intense and less laid back mainly due to what might be horns being blown.

Like all of these tunes they meld into one another creating what could really be just one very long track. 'Waning' delivers that classic Voice of Eye sound with its ominous dread, where strangely stretched out horns and strings create a really dark atmosphere, but is enlivened by hand held percussion instruments.

'Melting' displays some seriously weird distorted percussion and drones, the origins of which I'm at a loss to even guess. There's some elongated human vocals in there somewhere, but this sounds like it was recorded on a planet that orbits Sirius.

'Drifting' utilises extreme phasing on female vocals which pitter-patter amongst droning elecronics and acoustic perky percussion.

The best is left for last - the whopping 19 minute 'Dreaming'. There's so much space between each sound on this recording. Voice of Eye hold the tools and know not to overload every instance with unnecessary intrusions. This is a cold, shivering, floating piece of music which flutters about like ghosts in a Victorian mansion. It' s got that odd 30 second dropout of sound that 90's bands seemed to favour when you think it's finished, only for multiple looped female vocals re-appear in a 'Rapoon' manner which brings this excellent album to a close.

With 'Vespers' you get the usual superb production values you'd expect from this band. Next to 'Transmigration' it's probably their best album. They were at their creative peak around this time (1994-96), recording albums that sound timeless 21 years later.

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.

In a perfect world, Tangerine Dream would have ended sounding this good!

Robert Rich-Filaments, 2015, is Progressive Electronic to the core, Berlin School in its bones, Contemporary Classic in its heart and environmental or Cosmic more than the usually misunderstood Ambient tagging, in its soul.

Perfection coming from a quiet unknown musician, even among the PE crowd. (Business as usual). Although it is quiet understandable, considering the inherent thinness and transparency of his musical structures from album to album, which will never outcome the disadvantage of a world of fast-noise.

Filaments consists of nine THICK individual musical structures. Each one travels its own route and direction. Each song is unique in its language and Robert Rich's personal style evolves between poles of electronic or contemporary music influences (TD & Steve Reich´s ones are quiet notable) , BUT transmuting them to his own self constructed musical idiom. The results are overwhelming opposite to my expectations. Speechless!

I have to confess, I was just expecting another Robert Rich's environmental album, to play along while I painted. I was completely wrong, this work deserves full attention to understand why it rates for me *****5 Masterwork PA stars.

— First review of this album —

An original blend between "New Age" , "Cosmic ", and "Ambient" music.

ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT, was recently inducted in PA's highly loved Progressive Electronic sub-genre. So, in order for this privilege to be noted, before it falls into oblivion in most prog-head's forgetful minds, I aquired his 2014 "Eolian Reflections", knowing absolutely nothing beforehand about this artist, so here it goes!

SLOW PACED, so almost all prog-heads will skip into the next review. Steve Roach's influence could turn out to be the best example of the tenor of this work. Therefore the other half of the average prog-heads, can do as above.

Now that we are alone, let me kind of explain, why this work deserves 4 PA stars.

It has a very personal feeling, all way through. Its electronics are highly refined yet true to "Cosmic" or Berlin's school canons and all of these electronics are part of a bigger picture like the before-mentioned S. Roach's environmental works. Its New Age "sacredness" does reach high altitudes the same as the very "earthly" (again a la Roach) firm and refined "primitiveness", combined with simplicity and with hypnotic-attractive songwriting, but never ceasing to turn to different musical ideas and directions, which actually sets it apart of Steve Roach's compositional style and offers in return a new focus or picture of its own "New Age" , "Cosmic ", and "Ambient" music roots.

No dark or eerie places found here, so to whoever ends up reading this review, I can bet you would not be disappointed to add this work to your "friendly" PE music collection.

****4 PA stars.

— First review of this album —

For over twenty years now, Gregory T. Kyryluk's Alpha Wave Movement has been offering a variety of sublime progressive-electronic music that can incorporate everything from New Age delicateness, gentle psychedelic touches, restrained world elements and Berlin School expanse. Through over twenty albums to date, the Alpha Wave Movement always delivers albums that are beautiful, reflective and deeply emotional, the very opposite of the cold and clinical sound that consumes many lesser electronic works. No more is this evident than on the 2013 album, `Architexture of Silence', comprised of five distinctive `Movements', each offering ambient inner and outer space atmospheres and constantly evolving lengthy instrumental soundscapes.

The opening section introduces blissful serene synth washes that lap at your feet and retreat back to the cosmic ocean over and over. Wavering vibrations envelop, levitating spheres of bliss spin, aquatic loops bubble with purpose and exploding aural arcs stretch their tendrils across infinite space. Electronic strums chime over and over in the second passage, placid hypnotic waves dancing joyfully and playfully as little traces of darkness try to creep in only to be consumed by reborn light. Metallic whipping percussion and The Orb-like pulsing patterns then briefly try to take hold over emerging celestial choirs. Delicate and prettily sombre, electric raindrops softly patter a cooling ambient pool through the third movement, a precious little looped beat trickling along the backdrop like clockwork, quickening in pace behind slinking dark bass murmurs, dazzling crystalline chimes and restrained reaching Mellotron groans.

`Movement IV' is one of the more reassuring and almost even carefully romantic pieces on the album. Crying electronic drones swirl alongside shimmering electric piano tip-toes and soothing lulling washes of ambient synths like a running stream offering renewed life and love. The closing section is a cosmic garden of angelic Mellotron choirs, translucent chimes, soothing ambient New Age washes and dazzling precious spiralling aural flowers unfolding and bursting to life. It's deeply meditative, with almost the tiniest of oriental themes emerging as well, before robotic looped patterns of sequencer-like beats and pulsing phasing strains aim straight for deepest space.

`Architexture of Silence' is respectful in acknowledging the vintage masters of electronic and ambient music like Tangerine Dream and Steve Roach, but not for a second does it ever come across as an uninspired or lazy imitation. Gregory mixes the old and modern styles in a way here that sounds like the future and past colliding together to form something vital and new. Newcomers would find an ideal introduction to this project by starting with this one, then explore the numerous other worthwhile Alpha Wave Movement discs, as well as Kyryluk's other projects such as Thought Guild, Within Reason and Open Canvas. Personally speaking, I cannot explain how much this album has meant to me, a constant source of solace and peace in my life, and I cannot recommend it enough to ambient/electronic listeners.

Five stars.