PROGRESSIVE ELECTRONIC

4.5 stars. COMPUTERCHEMIST is the project of British multi-instrumentalist Dave Pearson. A man who has been part of bands since the eighties. He decided to go solo in the mid 00's and has released around 9 studio albums since then. He has had guests helping out minimally in the past but on the two "Signature" albums he released in 2013 he collaboarated with drummer Zsolt Galantai. The first "Signature" release was good, but this second edition is so much better in my opinion.

Part of the appeal on this one is the guitar. It's almost like Dave decided with Zsolt on drums he could focus more on the guitar. He plays bass and of course electronics here too. The result is amazing. I love those guitar expressions that bring to mind RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL and Manuel Gottsching. Another long one at just under 70 minutes over eight tracks. This is a uniform sounding album which I really like, very consistent. The exception to the "uniform" sound is the opener "Strangeness In 13" where I'm reminded of "Tubular Bells" with that piano sound and style. We do get drums and guitar and some melancholy here.

The next two tracks are incredible and my top two. "Goodbye, Moszkva Ter" where we get more intensity with the drums pounding away as spacey synths and guitar play over top. Really good! "Floor Zero" opens with a sample of a woman speaking over a intercom, like at an airport. Heavy beats and sound take over. I like the drumming here, but man those guitar expressions starting before 4 minutes contain a lot of "wow" moments. "Commution" opens with some experimental sounds from the guitar I believe and whistling? Drums join in and a guitar melody comes out of this. Suddenly piano only but the guitar returns to lead. Synths play the same melody the guitar did earlier as synths and guitar take turns leading.

"Forgotten Memory" opens with sequencers and spacey sounds from the guitar. Drums and bass replace the sequencers. "Smeem" opens with sequencers and more. Almost a bluesy vibe here surprisingly. This trips along with synths and drums, then the guitar starts to solo before 5 minutes. Keys and guitar will take turns leading. "The Needs Of The Many" is all about the beats and pulses with spacey synths over top. Guitar around 3 1/2 minutes to the end. "Bongo In 4" ends it, and the start is interesting with the percussion, atmosphere and more. Guitar before 2 minutes. Just a feel good sound to this one.

This will be part of my "best of" electronic list if I get to it. I'm so impressed with the guitar playing on here, in fact it takes Dave's music to another level.

"Extracts" takes us straight to the mid-70s TANGERINE DREAM vibe with its dark, binary sound, embellished with distant reverberating guitar notes. Keyboards rule, followed by deep, ethereal choruses. These excerpts are a taster of her discography. "Interlocutor" is hypnotic, reverberating, and catchy, with its bouncy bass notes. "Regulo 75" with its syncopated pad, metronomic bass-keyboard-percussion, a slow derivation of the Mandarin sound with its dark aquatic sounds; the ending erases the oppression. "Primatonal" is an ephemeral ambient intro bringing the archaic flute to the forefront of the synth. "Shift" for its abrasive crescendo between the reverberating bass and its nostalgic sounds, flirting with JARRE, SCHULZE, and TANGERINE DREAM once again; an underwater finale.

"Corollary" brings a cheerful air to the whirring synths, reminiscent of the mid-70s mandarin era and its fade-in. "Vessel Redux" makes you close your eyes and try to figure out which TANGERINE DREAM track it is. As a fervent fan, I'll let you guess, but the slammed doors are a welcome clue. The sound could last an entire side: metronomic, hypnotic, captivating, Schulz-esque. "Flame" is an addictive electronic melting pot, a synthetic wave following the thread of old sounds with this recent ultrabass chord that makes you sway before the trance.

Brendan Pollard doesn't invent anything new, but keeps the electronic movement going: hypnotic, jerky, and syncopated. A tribute album immersed in the sounds of the aforementioned bands and keeping alive the hope of a revival. An ease of listening adorned with nostalgic technicality with flute, cinematic ambiances, Mellotron and Olympian choirs of the time.

Bass Communion is the ambient music solo project of Steven Wilson, an outlet for the British musician's more electronic-sided experiments and the home of his explorations of drone-heavy soundscapes and massive washes of atmospheric sound, a side venture that probably dates back to his early collaborative electronic music endeavor known as Altamont. The music of Bass Communion is much in the vein of the German experimental electronic scene of the 70s and the 80s, the kosmische movement with its Tangerine Dreams and multiple outbranches - and what happens is that Wilson combines field recordings, tape experiments and the processing of the recordings of actual instruments, sometimes played by himself, to create these big, moody, spacey pieces of music that are perfectly accommodated for what many would consider "background noise". Now, ambient music can have varying degrees of experimentation and much of the Bass Communion produce is quite avant-garde and fascinating, which is why this project matters not only for fans of Wilson, Porcupine Tree or even prog rock.

So all of this indicates what one shall expect from the 1998 self-titled debut album by Bass Communion, sometimes referred to as 'BCI' (and later reissued in 2001) - an hour-long musical exploration of drony, hypnotic, repetitive and moody compositions that combine all of the abovementioned elements. Collaborators Theo Travis and Robert Fripp add a touch of soprano sax and soundscapes respectively, on two of the four proper pieces that make up this record. The set opens with a short snippet that transitions into 'Drugged', a 13-minute-long moody movement with jazz undertones, occasional guitars and gorgeous "waves" of synthesizer sounds, a more intense and eventful ambient piece that one might expect but one that works really well on its own and within the context of the album. 'Sleep Etc.' is ostensibly darker and more abstract and sees the use of different recordings and effects that help Wilson build up an ominous atmosphere, which is not necessarily the case with 'Orphan Coal'. The tribal percussion sounds that run through this corner of the album give this composition trance-like qualities and a somewhat overwhelming and hypnotic edge, while the closing suite 'Drugged 2' is a massive, more classic-sounding ambient work that is really evocative and beautiful.

The debut album of Bass Communion is excellent and all the recordings on it are daring, experimental and ethereal, just a brilliant longing ambient project by Steven Wilson, definitely a must-have for anyone who might be interested in getting into the genre.

COMPUTERCHEMIST is the project of Dave Pearson who is from the UK. He had been in bands since the 80's before going solo in 2006. I like that he plays bass, guitar and drums and adds them to his inventive use of electronics. I reviewed his 2008 album "Icon I" where Dave does it all. So it was interesting to see he actually hired a drummer for this album. We still get bass and guitar from Pearson but he's upped the ante with this move.

"Signatures I" was released in 2013 along with "Signatures II" which I hope to review soon. This one is a long one at over 75 minutes covering eight tracks. It's just not as consistent as "Icon I" in my opinion, but there are several tracks I am really into. The first of those would be "Szoltmatic-10" with the opening thunder and melancholic synths. Tripping along here as sequencers drive this along. Guitar arrives around 5 minutes in, then it's the sequencer/drum show after 7 1/2 minutes. The drummer's last name is Szolt which is of course in this song title.

"Corporatosaur" just sounds really cool with the electronics and guitar. Drums will kick in around 5 1/2 minutes then the guitar cries out. Really good! It turns spacey late to end it. "Six Phase Mains" is another highlight with the drums and sequencers doing their thing with spacey synths providing atmosphere. Some nice synth sounds here and the guitar around 3 1/2 minutes is a bonus. The closer rounds out my top four. "Landform 2012" is the shortest one on here but it's quality. Sequencers and drums as the guitar joins in. It's a great recipe my friends.

The one track I didn't really like was "Broken Daliuette". COMPUTERCHEMIST has been a really nice discovery. I like guitar and real drums in my electronics and Dave delivers the goods. And the man can compose a song, I'll say that.

— First review of this album —

I was pleasantly surprised to find Oöphoi on progarchives. This kind of album stands a long way down the line of development from the atmospheric elements of electronic prog to the pure atmospherics and abstract tone manipulation of some more recent ambient and drone music, where rhythm and song form are left behind. The second side of Klaus Schulze's Timewind might be a more familiar reference point, except Hymns to a Silent Sky is much less busy and kinetic. If you can imagine yourself complaining about there being no melody, no vocals, no beat, and no rock, look elsewhere. If, however, you are someone for whom deep abstraction is not an impediment, patience is in good supply, and slow, evocative soundscapes fully count as music, I highly recommend this album. It has long been one of my favorites among a personal collection of 2300 albums in this sub-genre of abstract ambient sound paintings.

As the evocative album title might suggest, the general ambience here is austere, sparse, spacious. The music evokes a cold expanse using synths and samples. In Beyond These Skies, astringent synth tones swell and fade like passing clouds. Fragile Beauty is at first more gaseous, a susurration of insects on a misty evening, then moves into echoing drips punctuating a dark, cavernous space in which slow synth moans swell and decay at intervals. (The sky conceit seems a little weaker here, but I suppose one can contemplate the sky from within a dripping canyon, and the earthbound water sounds act as a nice foil to the silent skies.) Ominous tones swirl around more ethereal shafts of light. The insects return, more foregrounded. There is a sense of calm mystery. The tracks continue to increase in length with the 21-minute centerpiece, The Unbearable Sadness of Memories. Here an obscure descending tone is half-submerged in a pulsing hum, with a sharp, echoing, percussive sound at intervals of several seconds creating a sense of 3D depth, the whole again encased in a suggestion of space. After 5 minutes or so, a simple, slow melody is suggested and long, high tones come plaintively to the fore. Elusive, distant sounds (voices? birds?) visit briefly. The percussive sound returns, until there is a shift in the last few minutes to what I can only describe as a growing tremor framed by a wind. The elements are simple but the result is hypnotic, evocative. Night Psalm relieves the intensity - it's less than 12 minutes long and brighter in tone, with synth voices faintly suggestive of the choral and arranged in something almost approaching a melody, albeit a slow, shifting, drifting, overlapping melody. Finally, Let the Night Sky Envelop Us closes on a reflective note, still in drift mode; soft-focus tones are accompanied by a rustle of subtle percussive sounds.

As some of the song titles suggest, the album is held together by a broad concept. In the CD liner notes, Gasparetti dedicates the album "to all the people who feel attracted by the beauty and the mysteries of the sky." The tracks evoke an austere space unmarked by human presence and possessing a harsh beauty, with sparse earthly sounds as context. After 20 or so listens the album still holds my attention and refreshes my ear.

If I consult only my own tastes, it's a 5-star album, a masterful expression of its specific genre, close to perfect in the precision and restraint of its execution. Is it essential progressive rock? That's harder to claim. Sounds like this seem inherently niche and likely very subjective even when masterful. I'll settle for a 4 here in the name of caution, but please add a mental star if you enjoy the more abstract, beatless, atmospheric end of things.

Happy Canada day everyone! Dave Pearson is the COMPUTERCHEMIST in question here. He is from England and has been in the music business since the early eighties. He was very much inspired by TANGERINE DREAM's "Cloudburst Flight' from their "Force Majeure" album back in the day. And while he is a drummer, bassist and guitar player, this man has quite the arsenal when it comes to electronic and analog equipment. He would go solo under the COMPUTERCHEMIST name in 2006, creating his own record label in the process.

In 2013 Pearson became part of a band called AUDIO COLOGNE PROJECT, but he continues to release solo albums in the process. "Icon One" is from 2008 and is his sophomore release. He has a long list of stuff he plays here including yamaha bass, fender stratocaster guitar and yamaha drum pads. When it comes to the electronic equipment it's impressive to say the least. All of this wouldn't amount to a hill of beans if he wasn't such a gifted composer. And that's the key in my opinion, and what makes COMPUTERCHEMIST a must for electronic fans out there.

This was love at first listen and I must admit I was very surprised in the process, not knowing this musician or project prior. Thankfully I did pick this record up along with two of his 2013 releases about a dozen years ago. We get five songs worth under 59 minutes. And I looked forward to spinning this each time. It's surprisingly catchy and melodic, with that 18 minute, self titled opener leading the way in those departments. The sequencers are certainly helping with that. But this guy has a brilliant way of combining different electronic sounds to great affect. A composer indeed. Some of this stuff is otherworldly and so majestic. Lots of piano too and that is where I hear that classical sound at times.

One of my favourite sounds is the melancholic synths, and we get plenty of those on this record beginning mostly on track two called "Timethorns". This gets majestic as well after 4 minutes with those sweeping sounds. But before that it's mid-paced sequencers and melancholy. The melancholy returns later. "Chaos Theory" is good with that guitar standing out along with synths that pulse and plenty of piano. "Icon Zero" at 17 minutes opens in a very dreamy and spacey manner. A bass line and beats join in around 5 minutes. Back to spacey then sequencers at 7 minutes. Melancholic synths around 10 minutes. Lots of space and piano later.

Finally, we get the closer "The Message" the shortest piece by far at under 5 minutes. And there's a video for this one. I'm really looking forward to those two 2013 releases after spending time with this one. Pearson recently released an album that sort of follows in Manual Gottsching's footsteps of a guitar only release playing spacey kosmisch music. A talented man, no doubt that.

EARTHSTAR's debut is one of those albums that has never been re-issued and therefore fetches some crazy prices from collectors. It was originally released on Moontower Records in 1978, a Country music label based in Nashville. EARTSTAR was led by Craig Wuest, and the band was based in New York. He had been corresponding with Klause Schulze prior to the release of their debut. Klause suggested that the band would do well to move to Germany where he could help out, and where this type of music was more accepted.

So this six piece band released "Salterbarty Tales" before moving to Europe, and by all accounts this one is very different from the three studio albums that would follow. And it's so rare that it gets dismissed or overlooked. It's dominated by synths and piano with some flute, violin, bass and percussion sprinkled throughout. There is no mellotron or the rare birotron on this one. And I find it to be very inconsistent. No sequencers or the variety of keyboards that would follow.

The band moved first to France where they would start to record the next album "French Skyline" and that title is based on their brief stint in France. Moving then to Germany, Klause Shulze would get heavily involved, co-producing that record and playing keyboards on it. So basically half of it was recorded in France, and half in Germany. A much more intense album by all accounts where mellotron, birotron, sequencers dominate, yet these sounds were completely absent on the debut.

The opener "Splendored Skies And Angels" is a nice start where synths dominate throughout. The next track "Serindego" is over 9 minutes of nothing but grand piano throughout. Maybe 2 minutes would have worked. The next two short tracks are similar sounding with "Salterbarty Overture" having an orchestral vibe and the latter "Wee Voices Touch" featuring some flute. "Broken Chain Of Euphoria" ends side one, and it's my favourite. I like how experimental it is early on, almost like free jazz in the sense that each musician seems to be doing their own thing. Percussion on this one too, then it turns spacey with different flavours.

"Canyon Nebula" is the 22 minute plus epic on here. A lot of ebb and flow when it comes to the synths. The one synth sound I like here sounds like a distant helicopter, and it will come and go throughout. I will say that the next tune "Night Tones" is quite interesting with those jagged-like synths that pierce the spacey atmosphere. Piano before 2 minutes and this isn't nearly as good. More piano, sounding classical on the short "Sunsets" that I'm not a fan of before the one minute closer that is much better.

I clearly got the wrong album as "French Skylines" sounds so much more like what I am into when it comes to electronics. Obviously the participation of the master Klause Schulze helps with that as well.

Life Bubbles Up in Faraway Lands

Maina is another of those many artists on ProgArchives where landing on their artist page can send the most grizzled veterans of rock reviewing into an instant panic attack. He is prolific to a point that is almost eye-popping. When discovering artists like this for the first time, sometimes I will just grab the most recent title to remove my penchant for indecisiveness. No deciding which looks the coolest---just take the newest one and start where the musician currently resides artistically. And so here we are immersing in Echoes from a Distant Land, and what a life-affirming sonic journey it is.

Maina was born in Milan (there's Milan again, I swear there's something in the water), and he is a completely self-taught multi-instrumentalist and composer. He is probably most well known in RPI circles for his 1977 debut, Il Canto Dell'Arpa E Del Flauto, but he has released over 30 albums since. He plays most everything with exception of the occasional guest musician. Someone commented that he has mostly successfully stayed in an authentic, truly progressive and searching instrumental electronic music lane as opposed to falling into the crowded abyss of mind-numbing New Age/World scene product that got very popular years ago. He has maintained his own vision and not worried so much about commercial concerns. I've not talked to him, but that assessment would seem accurate on surface.

While some reviews mention Mike Oldfield when describing Maina, I don't feel this album is that close to the most well-known Mike material, which is more rocking with guitar taking lead and with more structured rhythm sections. What came to mind listening to Echoes from a Distant Land was Merl Saunders's "Blues from the Rainforest" from the album of the same name. I would almost describe it as psychedelic-electronic mood music. Over a base palette of lush keyboards and acoustic stringed instruments (guitar, others, maybe some harp?) and ever-shifting, free range hand drumming, you often will hear flute and cool electronic samples as the featured instrument. Other times there will be some tasteful but restrained electric lead guitar, again, reminiscent of what Jerry Garcia provided as a guest on "Blues from the Rainforest." Quite in the background and supportive. Amidst all of this loveliness are occasional ambient environmental sounds, birds, rain, et cetera.

The mood or feel of some tracks carry an Eastern vibe perhaps, an exotic feel, while other tracks are more in that general relaxing realm of the listener's imagination. There is a sense of travel, that you are listening to the representation of a living world somewhere, more prominent than catering to traditional melodic rock song intent. One must also comment on the jaw-dropping fantastic cover art for this album. The wide-load, bubbly bass present on "Otto Goes to None" seems to magically make the cover art come to life and dance. I wasn't even baked, but this would be a fun album to pursue in that frame of mind. Maina strikes me as someone with a passion and commitment to create a lifelong body of work that will inspire adventurous listeners long after he is gone. I really enjoyed hearing some music that drops below the sphere and expectations of rock music yet still retains an engaging personality rather than going somewhere sonically off-putting or abrasive. Even the production is well above average for what I assume is a self-produced, self-everything affair.

After short stints in Psychic TV and the lesser known Zos Kia, Coil co-founder John Balance absconded off with lover Peter Christopherson to focus on Coil. This early release is a jumble of rage and ideas musically and lyrically. Weird, squelchy ambient and twisted, thumping Industrial, musically; and rage at the aids epidemic, Christianity and some plain old perversity for good measure, lyrically.

Ubu Noir is a short opening to the album, a handful of samples toyed around with, some woodwinds cut and mixed amongst some voices and what sounds like paper being ripped. After this little warm up, Panic starts as stuttering and stumbling quasi danceable (if you were having a seizure) industrial track, anchored by electronic drums and bass, allowing all manner of samples, guitar feedback, and Balance's shouted vocals to wreak havoc, it puts me in mind of a handful of Current 93's attempts at more 'commercial' oriented Industrial. Balances' notes on the song go on about psychic surgery and reverse death and the beginning of the world, but the lyrics can also be seen as allusions to how gay culture was and still can be perceived, 'Anything will be alright, If you come out in the night'. At The Heart Of It All is a much more somber, apocalyptic affair, synth lines slowly twinkle in the background, accompanied with mournful, plodding piano and soon to be full time member Stephen Thrower's howling grief stricken Clarinet playing. Tenderness Of Wolves starts with dark, clanging synth lines, coalescing more odd features; what sounds like a distorted, sampled sound of a baby crying, acoustic guitar and pan pipes. Gavin Friday provides some demented, crooning guest vocals here. Hard to tell if the lyrics are about lovers or vampires, or both. Spoiler returns to somewhat similar industrial stomping grounds of Panic; a dash of tribal, staccato drums and samples of horns form backbone for flauting pan pipes, snatches of guitar noise, and almost comical carnivalesque keyboard intrusions. Vocals are a mixture of sung and croaked, mostly being the word 'Spoiler'. Clap is a short uncomfortable Industrial intrusion, a squeal of guitar and glass shattering leads into a panicked and nervous synth line, swelling synths culminate in a burn out, before reforming shortly and burning out again. Liner notes contain treatment methods for the clap (slang for gonorrhea). An appropriately agitated song for a pertinent and sad time for many people involved with this group, and the anger and agitation only increases during side B.

The CD reissues of Scatology feature some extra songs stuffed after the original A side ending, Restless Day and Aqua Regis as well as Tainted Love, tacked on the end. Restless Day has a strong and driving rhythmic structure of drums, bass, and synth; quaint almost naïve vocals sing song about what I interpret as depression, while various multi-tracked guitar noises slowly crumble in. There's a percussive sound effect throughout the whole song sounding like a ticking clock, maybe hand in hand with lyrics seemingly about the drudgery of everyday life. Aqua Regis starts with some creepy toy piano, before switching gears into a soundscape of a darkened, hellish factory. Far away rumblings and thumpings, clanging and reverberating. Saws and gears grinding and whirring.

This song works very well at leading us back into the original track listing with Solar Lodge. Industrial rhythms and hopeless, wailing clarinet compete for dominance with near unhinged vocals from John Balance. Underneath all this is floating, droning, and warbled bass guitar, much like the subterranean river mentioned in the liner notes, from a quote attributed to Charles Manson about finding a bottomless hole out in the Californian desert, leading to an underground, North flowing river. Bottomless because "where could a river be going North underground?", conjecturing "How many people could you hide down this hole?". The title Solar Lodge is a reference to the Californian based, mid 60s cult/magical order of same name, perhaps most infamous for the case of child abuse stemming from a raid of their ranch, finding a six-year-old boy chained inside a box left in out in the desert. Black sun rising indeed as we spiral further down this path of daylight nightmare into The Sewage Worker's Birthday Party, the liner notes referencing a story in a Swedish S&M magazine and also fulfilling the title of this album. The song itself is one of the more minimal, bass guitar woozily droning and scratching along, uncomfortable rhythmic background squelching, and a singular, persistent, unerring machine thumping loathsomely in the depths of this awful place. It also contains snatches of private and intimate recordings made by Peter Christopherson for added unsavoriness.

Godhead≈Deathead opens with unidentified sounds, but plasticky and latex-y and icky. Quickly we move into a martial industrial beat, various refreshingly whimsical percussive accoutrements accompany militaristic yelled vocals, a mid-song pace change for a slower gothic feel, proto Dungeon Synth. It's cheesy sounding, but I kinda love it. Lyrically we have not moved into the whimsical, here being a takedown of Christianity, liner notes referencing St. Anthony's Fire or Ergot, a fungus that grows on grain and causes convulsions, hallucinations, and rot; being responsible for multiple epidemics during the middle ages. I take the title of the song, Godhead≈Deathead, as dig at the act of communion, bread being a symbol for Jesus' body, yet causing mass poisoning if infected bread is consumed. The next song Cathedral In Flames continues the Christianity battering; the Marquis De Sade, the York Minster fire of July 9, 1984, and the Hadith being lyrically mixed into a seeming ritual induction. It's also the weakest of the album, very similar to the previous song, and far cheesier. Off putting sampled trumpets, stumbling drums, odd cohesion and lots space between sounds, and Balance's nasally vocals don't work for me. Ending the CD rerelease on a better note is a cover of Soft Cell's Tainted Love, Coil opting for much slower, minimal, and somber approach. Balance delivers some beautiful, wistful half sung vocals; synths ringing and floating along, pealing like electronic church bells, echoing Coil's unhappiness of then and still current affairs.

This Live At Coventry Cathedral performance features the cover of Ricochet, a unique rise, a crescendo symbolizing the march of a caravan through the desert, the heat, the sand; the rest of the album performed live for nearly 30 minutes.

However, there is the real version of the cathedral recording, with its 90 minutes of pure improvisation, electronic tinkering ranging from dark to spatial, sounds ejected from analog synthesizers and sequencers from a bygone era. A unique track that ebbs and flows like a singular experiment, flirting with the work of VANGELIS and the early Tangerine Dream, a unique, austere, and intimate sound that goes beyond electronic music by striking head-on with progressive rock at its peak. A beautiful tribute to a time when people took their time. Look for and listen to this real live performance while taking the blue pill.