PROGRESSIVE ELECTRONIC

4.5 stars. This is my kind of modern progressive electronic. Blake definitely celebrates his electronic mastery on this work commissioned for Caldea Thermo-Ludique Center in Andorra. Water and its healing properties in all forms is the inspiration here, and this work contains no filler. Blake and Berlin School fans will find a lot to like on the three extended pieces and new age fans will find more to like on the other shorter tracks that tie the lengthy tracks together. Tim Blake is an electronic artist that deserves more attention worldwide His later seventies albums are classics and his newer work is surprisingly easy to digest

This is the second full length album from ZOLTAN and like the first we get Matt Thompson founder of GUAPO and a fantastic bass player along with all the electronics and keyboards he adds. His brother Andy formerly of LITMUS and owner of Planet Mellotron adds a variety of anolog synths, mellotron and more while Andy Prestidge plays drums. The debut was absolutely incredible with an abundance of mellotron suiting my tastes perfectly. This was has a lot less of that ghostly instrument and for my tastes it's a full star less but still a solid 4 stars.

"Antonius Block" opens with mid paced sequencers as the mellotron rolls in. High pitched synths after a minute also join in then drums after 2 minutes. For me it sounds much better when the drums arrive. It's mostly drums and synths before 4 minutes as it settles back to the end. "Uzumaki" opens with drums but bass and synths join in quickly. The drums stop around 2 minutes as it turns somewhat haunting then the drums return. Deeper sounds join in after 3 1/2 minutes.

"Table Of Hours" features synths that slowly pulse as other synths come and go. It turns haunting 2 minutes in with sounds that could be from outer space. High pitched synths will also join in. This is melancholic and it will end with those sounds from outer space only. "The Ossuary" opens with keys before outbursts of drums and bass come and go. Soon growly synths also join in along with spacey synths over top. A steady beat 1 1/2 minutes in and I really like that prominent bass. It settles again 2 1/2 minutes in then sequencers kick in with drums and bass changing the sound. Synths are back then mellotron 3 1/2 minutes in.

"The Integral" is the side long closer at almost 21 minutes. Outer space sounds pulse before the synths join in. Deep sounds a minute in then spacey synths and keys take over. More deep sounds follow then sequencers and drums around 2 minutes. It all stops after 5 minutes as a new sound takes over of drums and bass and the bass is really upfront. Synths only before 8 1/2 minutes but the drums and bass return quickly along with mellotron. So good! Another calm after 10 minutes with growly and spacey synths.

This turns haunting then drums and sequencers take over after 13 minutes. Spacey synths too, great sound here. Love these beats then the mellotron returns after 17 minutes and this all sounds amazing with those relentless electronic and drum beats. A minute later the beats stop as it turns haunting once again with synths. The beats are back quickly though along with mellotron. Just a killer ending.

So another Electronic album I highly recommend but please check out their debut if your into mellotron.

I just discovered Cultural Noise. Well, better late than never, but then with music this obscure, I'm not one bit surprised I never knew of these guys before. Cultural Noise is the only Austrian group I know of playing Berlin School electronic music (I know Paul Haslinger was Austrian, but he was a member of Tangerine Dream in the late '80s). Like Tangerine Dream of the mid '70s, these guys used sequencers, Mellotron, and analog synths. But they don't try to copycat the TD sound, even though the influence is a bit obvious. The sequencers tend to be more ominous, and this group has habit of abruptly stopping the sequencers unexpectedly (TD had a habit of fading them out when they want to give them a rest, obvious example being near the end of Rubycon) and going into weirder territory. Somewhere the band does a quote from Bach on the synth. I really love the mood these guys create. This album appeared in 1980 on CBS but the original LP is now very hard to find and expensive. It did go through a second pressing, released by the band themselves in 1981, but can be distinguished by a more generic black and white cover. I can't believe I still keep finding obscure and amazing electronic music. Right there with the likes of Zanov or Anna Själv Tredje (although Zanov has been recently getting much more attention than ever before thanks to his back catalog being reissued and brand new recordings from him) when it comes for great obscure electronic music. This album is truly worthy of your attention and clearly my favorite from 1980.

They may have only released two albums in more than ten years of existence, but synth supergroup Node have a very strong reputation indeed, so when they decided to perform a rare concert in London in 2015 why not do it at the Royal College of Music? I'm pretty sure I've not come across another live album from those hallowed halls, and have not even seen a concert advertised, so I doubt if they have ever had so many vintage and modular synthesizers on stage before this! The four members of Node (Flood, Ed Buller, Dave Bessell and Mel Wesson) refuse to use backing tracks, and everything had to be manually tuned and set up, a task that took all those involved (including the crew) a full day to complete.

Then it was just the matter of getting onstage and let the music take them where they wished. The resulting album consists of four edits from the concert, plus a bonus piece from rehearsals. This is very much from the Berlin School style of synthesiser music, heavily influenced indeed by Tangerine Dream, so much so that one could easily believe that this is a recording by that band (particularly if one hasn't really studied their output, such as myself). The music is layered and condensed in such a way that it is hard to hear how many hands are generating the sounds at any particular time, or what is coming from where, it becomes an amorphous mass where the music is a living, breathing being. It is very easy to get lost inside the music, to be take on new journeys and adventures, and I would imagine that many people at the concert sat there with their eyes closed to ensure that nothing disturbed the aural majesty being played in front of their ears. The album has been released in a limited edition run of just 2000 copies, and if this is your style of music then you really do need to grab this quick.

It is hard to really comprehend just how important Schluze has been to Krautrock and electronic music in general, from his early days with Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel he then moved into solo works, and I am sure that many progheads have at least a couple of his albums in their collection. The four pieces on the album were created between summer and autumn 2017 following an extended period which was, due to health problems, very quiet and for this reason very meditative at times. Schulze: 'The result automatically was a phase of reflection, of retrospection, of pure contemplation. In the wake of your 70th birthday you naturally find yourself looking back at the past ' so the result is a reorientation, a renewed awareness of what is really important.' Schulze describes the music on 'Silhouettes' as a 'reduction to the essential things' and has consciously worked only very sparingly with solos and vocal elements. He explains: 'No great distractions, nothing to force your attention in a certain direction, no major effects or gimmicks, no frills or dominant rhythms. It was important to me to paint the pictures in the depth of the space, the sonic fields of tension and atmosphere.'

My wife found me intently listening to this album and burst out laughing, as I had my eyes closed, and she just wouldn't believe that I wasn't actually asleep. But this is an album that really does work best when all other sensory distractions are removed, and one can just fall into the soundscapes being created. In many ways this reminds me of some of his earlier work, where trance was an influence, and the music becomes layered soundscapes for the mind. It is more direct than many of Jean Michel Jarre's works, but in some ways it does have similar style, yet somehow that little bit more direct. It doesn't fall into the New Age of some of Wakeman's solo works either, but combines many elements that just work. Of all the solo albums I have heard from Schulze, I must admit that this is my favourite so far, although to be fair I have only come across such as small amount of a man with a prestigious output. Fans of both electronic music and prog will certainly enjoy this.

— First review of this album —

Alio Die is the alias Italian progressive-electronic/ambient/experimental/take-your-pick artist Steffano Musso has been utilising since the Eighties, and an evocative and varied body of work he has built up for himself (as well as numerous collaborations) over the decades. Each new release is more unpredictable than the last, some being gorgeous instrumental works, others ethereal vocal projects, but 2018's `Kalisz Concert' sees the man stripping things back to a more primal and deeply intimate level. An improvised performance recorded at the Kalisz Ambient Festival in Poland in October 2016, Alio Die and some musical guests craft a heady concoction of sedate droning synths, flute, zither and various percussive shells, rattles and bells, for a seamless fusion of immersive acoustic and electronic atmospheres.

Despite the recording being credited as seven individual tracks on the back of the CD edition cover, it's really one sole extended aural collage that weaves an uninterrupted long-form soundworld of just over an hour in length, with only the most minute of barely perceptible changes. Pensive chimes ring, the lightest of reflective patterns escape subtle looping electronic washes, and drowsy ambient caresses cast a hallucinogenic spell that lethargically wraps around the listener and stretches on for eternity. Light eastern textures permeate the background, groaning and sighing chants seductively purr at the senses and soothing acoustic strums spiral into infinity. Tranquil field recordings of nature and tendrils of running water flitter through, sighing drones gently disorientate and humming sustaining reverberations teem with life.

This performance casts such a mesmerising spell over any listener who can take the patient time to let the piece envelop them, and `Kalisz Concert' completely transcends any sense of time, space or musical fashions with its unhurried grace, sophistication and intelligence. You could spend a lifetime being taken over by this exploratory and sublime work of spontaneous and delicate sighing atmosphere, and it quickly proves to be a deeply moving and haunting hymn-like meditation, a truly beautifully spiritual musical awakening.

Five stars.

Jonathan is a new discovery for me. German duo consisting of drummer Peter Garattoni (of Eulenspygel) and keyboardist Helmut Grab along with guests as needed. This was their only album, first released on the very obscure AAR label, then on Bellaphon. It strangely received a Greek release as well. Wonderful cover, totally '70s sci-fi, although if you look carefully, that's no sun, it's an apple. The Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock were rather dismissive of it, like it's not worth your time. Not in the least for me. It has that rather spacy feel, with Mini Moog, Solina String Ensemble, Fender Rhodes Electric Piano and Roland Synth, but I swear up and down I hear an ARP Pro-Soloist (he isn't credited to one, though). Unless the Roland (which they didn't specify which model) was capable of similar sounds. It's a rather underrated album actually worth getting. To my ears these guys seemed to have fun doing it, and it's true there isn't any huge ambition, it's all very enjoyable and that's what matters to me. "Li Song" has a rather Asian-influenced sound, kinda like Kitro but with more guts. "Raising Winds" starts off slow with spacy sound effects and then the drums kick in and they get down to business. "Funky's Visit" has a rather funky feel, with guest Emil Wirth providing funky slap bass. You can't imagine the traditional Berlin School electronic guys doing that! "Moved Earth" is a pretty typical sound for these guys. I don't find a single bad song on this album, although one wishes maybe a little more variety in synth timbre. Not exactly innovative or groundbreaking, but an enjoyable piece of late '70s electronic music and prog.

— First review of this album —

This EP is the 3rd in a series of 3 EPs in the series "Neither Speak nor Remain Silent" by Fovea Hex, who by this time was all centered around the artist Clodaugh Simonds, who was the lead singer for a progressive folk band in the 70s called "Mellow Candle". They only released one album in the 70s, and then another one in the 90s. They were obviously not a very well known band, and I can't speak of their music since I haven't heard it. The reason why this was brought to my attention is because both Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp are involved in this EP.

The band records on Wilson's record label. Both Wilson and Fripp contribute guitars on this EP, which is very atmospheric and beautiful. Wilson also contributed treated bass. Their influences and styles are very much apparent on here too as the sound approaches the feel of Bass Communion and also some of Fripp's later music. Fovea Hex has also worked with Brian Eno in past projects. The band is listed under Progressive Electronic. The credit listing only shows traditional and contemporary instruments however, no synths, and the sound is very earthy, folkish and even ambient in some sections.

This is a very beautiful and low-key EP all the way through. Clodaugh's vocals are lovely and fit the music perfectly. It has a slightly Celtic vibe to it, but much more experimental and ambient than what you would expect from Celtic music. There are definitely a lot of treated or slightly processed sounds here, but they work to bring about the overall atmosphere of the music. It is somewhat minimalistic, but not boring in the least. Although it has that celtic vibe to it, it follows no traditional song pattern, and at times is free meter. So it is definitely progressive.

It's too bad it's so short, and it definitely does not wear out it's welcome with only 3 songs spanning about 25 minutes. This is a case where a person would want to get all 3 of the EPs to experience more of this music. The music line up changes and adapts to the feeling of each EP. Even as short of a statement as it is, it is still an excellent addition to any collection.

There's a story by Steve Hillage where he states before one of his concerts in a club setting in '77 there was a disco party for young people, and the DJ had an advance copy of Man-Machine. Hillage watched the young people dance to Spacelab and We are the Robots played by the DJ over and over again. He said to Miquette "If young people are dancing to Kraftwerk, electronic dance music must be the music of the future".

How true. It took me a long time to appreciate this record, and finally it was pow! I can hear Man Machine in pop music from all over the world, especially Europe and even USA acts like Madonna and Prince. These guys were really onto something and knew it. Even their enigmatic appearance and interviews and image were highly influential. I think Kraftwerk can stake a claim as the second most important post Elvis Presley act in popular music behind the Beatles.

Diatribe over, this is an electropop album of the highest order and Kraftwerk at their peak. It's a pop masterpiece, not a prog one. In fact, because of the spin off genres that came from Kraftwerk like New Wave and Synthpop this may be the record that stuck a knife into the golden age of prog.

I discovered this album about ten years ago while sifting through the rubbish music that became available to me when my wife ordered an Amazon Prime subscription. I had heard of Klaus Schulze through this site, but never heard his music. Mike Shrieve was in Santana and another favorite Automatic Man but that's all I knew. I had no idea the sounds contained within.

This is the album that persuaded me to explore progressive electronic. The sequencers on the first track blend with the percussion to mesmerize the listener in a haze of clarity. The second tracks adds mightily to the atmosphere, the third track is a tour de force of electro and modern rock, and the last lovely track tidies it all up. I'm no expert but to me this is an excellent electro album that showcases the strengths of each artist. 4.5 stars

I haven't found much else that comes for "free" with the Prime membership, but Peter Bardens later solo albums are on there and another called "Water Music" by former Mott the Hoople member Morgan Fisher