PROGRESSIVE ELECTRONIC

Fourteen years before Enigma, ever curious musician/composer Eberhard Schoener was exploring the possibilities of melding electronic beats with liturgically (and ethnically) derived vocal themes. But Schoener, never willing to sit with one idea when he can throw in a handful, also covers ambient electronica and analogue space drift in this cohesive 1977 album. The composer plays moog, organ, piano and mellotron while the tasty guitar cutting through the keys is courtesy of Andy Summers (Police). It may seem an unlikely collaboration, but Summers is a skilled and versatile guitarist whose presence here adds much to the music. A transporting and satisfying album.

Although there are but four side-long tracks, each comprises several discrete parts. Live, the classic Froese/Franke/Baumann line-up of Tangerine Dream passed the initiative deftly between their multitude of keyboards as they spontaneously created unfolding musical landscapes and then explored them. Having said that, there are some sections referencing album pieces while others joyously bring together their combined creativity into a shifting, swirling whole. Some piano softens 'Monolight' while Froese's psychedelic guitar provides adds a welcome charge to 'Coldwater canyon'. Perhaps falling slightly short of greatness, this excellent recording?made during the US tour of 1977?nevertheless offers a fine introduction to the Virgin era of a seminal electronic outfit.

Whenever I see this first Ashra album (or final Ash Ra Temple album, if you prefer) listed in New Age discographies, I get a bit irritated. Perhaps because I've been following Manual Göttsching's musical career since the mid-70s, I saw him as progressive/electronic or even Krautrock psychedelia. The New Age label?so eighties, I sniffed?seemed somehow demeaning in its implication of featureless massage muzak. Then, years later, I realised there was a defensible reason for this appropriation of Ashra's delicate electronica: the title of the record. And also, the music. It's drifty and more gently rhythmic than most of Göttsching's work; kind of new age-ey in fact. Ah well.

The first post-Gong solo album from keyboard player Tim Blake, this is a fascinating--if uneven--LP. From spacey electronic music ('Midnight') via keyboard-driven grooves ('Metro logic') to the spare jauntiness of 'Last ride of the boogie child' (complete with unconvincing vocals), this combination of studio and live recordings has a charm that will beguile fans of analogue synth music but might be an acquired taste for newcomers. Perhaps if one experienced the psychedelic light shows Blake was noted for, the music might sound even better! Meanwhile, centrepiece 'Synthese intemporel' is pure Klaus Schulze (in a very good way). Soon after this release, Blake joined Hawkwind, with whom he played on and off for years. Vinyl Connection - www.vinylconnection.com.au

— First review of this album —

Alpha Wave Movement is the project alias for American artist Gregory Kyryluk, and the composer has been offering a wide range of discs in Progressive-Electronic and related styles for over two decades now, some of which can even be regarded as classics of the modern era. The deeply atmospheric and highly immersive `Cerulean Skies' from earlier this year could also be included in the list, and now Gregory takes a different approach for `Echoes in the Vacuum', a fully instrumental vibrant and eclectic collection of mostly shorter and somewhat lighter pieces, that still show great colour and variety, with a balance of anchored rhythmic and pure-ambient drifts, whilst also achieving a near-perfect unison of melodic approachability and entrancing atmospheres.

Opener ` Herzchlag des Universums' could very well be an outtake from Alpha Wave Movement's 2016 album `Kinetic' with its upbeat mood, infectious repeating themes and slinking dance beats. `Other Worlds' is a mysterious and gurgling deep- space ambient rumination, and then, quite unexpectedly, `Luna Lamentabilis' takes on a loved-up whimsy much closer to the swooning romance of something like Vangelis' `Ballad' off his much-loved 1977 LP `Spiral', or even the kitsch playfulness of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and the piece frequently radiates sweet love and embracing positivity.

The opening moments of `Akasha' hint at one of those grooving pop-rockers that the Alan Parsons Project used to deliver, but instead it quickly turns into a sitar-laced groaning drift backed by a relentless lurching percussive beat, managing to nail that grounded earthiness and those floating cosmic reaches that often twist together on Alpha Wave Movement discs. `Solina Spaceways', sometimes reminding of French band Air in little moments, is mellow and laid-back without lacking momentum, softly jazzy electric piano soloing weaving in and out of confident lead synth themes, and comforting lovely closer `Safe Journey' brings restrained organ and approaching/retreating whirring washes teeming with the most precious of life lapping at spacey shivers and weeping electronic tendrils.

But especially memorable is the fifth track `Garden of Memories', where the most subtle of low-key reprising themes are repeated on fragile piano and shimmering harp (or a best synth impression of one!) piercing through lightly cinematic washing caresses of synths, slithering background bass and the gentlest of chill-out beats flitting in and out. It shows impeccable subtlety and restraint, is achingly beautiful and full of dreamy mystery and deep serenity.

`Echoes...' is melodic and accessible without lacking intelligence, offers countless cleverly memorable themes that inch their way into your brain after several spins, and can be enjoyed as a background listen without the deeper immersion required to appreciate the more complex and subtle AWM discs. It holds a strong crossover quality of related electronic styles that showcases Gregory's distinctive musical personality, one that's a world away from the endless Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre and Klaus Schulze clones, and it would make for a perfect introduction to the music of Alpha Wave Movement for newcomers. You know you have a special artist when even the (so-called) `less essential' releases are of such a high standard, and it means that `Echoes in the Vacuum' comes highly recommended.

Four stars.

Another French electronika I've stumbled upon a while before is one of excellent gems created by our electronic heroes - two Herdoners (Richard PINHAS and François AUGER) and Hervé PICART. The three talented electro-vanguards would have tried to represent another spacey world through the one-off project named OSE and a musical phenotype titled "Adonia". What a quiet, sedative, and addictive resonance the first long trip "Approche Sur A" is, melodically leaning towards "Crazy Diamonds" or "Echoes" by Pink Floyd, and seasoned with spacey, dreamy, but dry-fruity electronic spice. And repetitive, convoluted sound development should be in the similar vein of Heldon, Patrick Vian, Tangerine Dream (not in the debut days) or Yellow Magic Orchestra. Anyway they cannot exert weirdness upon their sound identity ... also as for the second shot "Orgasmachine", sounds like they would have pursued sorta musical narcissism in a good sense. Surrealistic and comfortable, immersive, impressive. Dedicated to spacey Pink Floyd, gorgeous gracious surrealism should have been their goal. We must be immersed in such a fantastic adonic dream. Recommended for every Space Rock / Electronic fan.

— First review of this album —

An emerging young artist from Portugal, Samuel Cadima has immersed himself in an enviably wide and varied collection of psychedelic, Krautrock, progressive-electronic/Berlin School, ambient and experimental music over the years, and his own work on his 2017 debut `Cascada' reflects a devouring of all those sounds and styles! Sam offers lengthy instrumental compositions frequently in the manner of Manuel Göttsching/Ashra, Agitation Free and the Berlin School vintage masters, all peppered with unpredictable direction changes and an eclectic diversity, as well as an emerging voice all his own.

The near-twenty three minute multi-sectioned title-track suite `Cascata' is a confident way to start the set, but Samuel already displays great understanding and appreciation of many of the above mentioned styles that weave in and out of this lengthy piece. It opens with hypnotic Berlin School spacey sounds of bubbling ambience, panning drones, gurgling electronics, intangible effects and cavernous voices that suggest the man has been soaking up the recent Cosmic Ground works and Klaus Schulze's `Blackdance', before continuing into darker mystery with spectral Mellotron choirs that turn oddly uplifting and comforting. Breathless machine clanging and bouncing sequencer pattering hold the whipping snap of classic period Tangerine Dream, crystalline guitar trills weep and siren-like wails cry from the dark, and ultimately deep-drone chasms of stark Steve Roach-like ambient serenity and gentle placid acoustic meanderings close this journey.

The raga-rock eastern acoustic guitar flavours and sitar-like groans of `Caiado' call to mind everything from Magic Carpet, Italian collective Aktuala and even modern groups like Saddar Bazaar once it diverts into dusty bluesy bursts. It heads into Agitation Free territory as it starts introducing whirring electronics, and some deep space vacuum-like ripples wouldn't sound out of place on an Øresund Space Collective LP. Manuel Göttsching-like guitar chimes loop, echo and ring into infinity around Jean-Michel Jarre-esque soothing prog-electronic drifts in `Voo Noturno', but the piece quickly lunges into hallucinogenic distortion collages and dirtier psychedelic guitar soloing before culminating in a eerily reflective and softly melancholic piano solo. The album then wraps on `Meia-Luz's crudely pulsing electronics over faraway shimmering electric guitar wisps and Ashra-like mellow soloing that even brings the most fleeting reminders of Pink Floyd.

Despite a few little expected rough edges here and there, `Cascada' holds a good balance of influences and emerging personal artistic flair, and Samuel's pieces show an understanding of unhurried space, supreme atmosphere and colourful variety well beyond his young years. This is a superb vinyl length debut that Samuel should be immensely proud of, and it will be exciting to discover what (multiple!) directions he moves in from here.

Four stars - and bonus points for David Guldbrandsen's vivid cover art.

— First review of this album —

Fresh off his eclectic multi-collaborative work `All the Pieces Fit Forever' and his dark Berlin School stunner `The Dark Path' with Syn-Gate label-mate Wolfgang Barkowski (aka Alien Nature), the final quarter of 2017 sees German prog-electronic/ambient composer Michael Brückner return with another superior effort all his own, `Trees of Olivandá', and darned if it isn't his best one yet for the year. With its suitably fantastical cover art from exceptional modern artist Andreas Schwietzke and hosting seven pieces with similarly surreal titles, `Trees...' is meant to resemble a concept album, but ISN'T a concept album, which is kind of a crafty concept in its own way anyway! What it is, however, is a seventy-six minute mostly continuous selection of deeply immersive Berlin School space music, that achieves a perfect unison of respect for the vintage prog-electronic masters and cool contemporary sound of modern influences, formless ambience and rhythmic-driven momentum, and there's not a poor moment to be found in its entirety.

Fans of the classic defining Berlin School/prog-electronic acts will instantly love the way the disc starts - the near-ten minute `Queen of the Southern Cross' opens with a Vangelis-like synth fanfare, the effervescent soloing is pure early Seventies Klaus Schulze, and the unceasing repeating loops call to mind Tangerine Dream of the same era, and together they're all coated in soothing electronic pools of bliss. The shuffling and gurgling electronic bleeds of `Into the Birdlands' are gently disorientating yet enveloping, but `The Fountain, the Child and the Sun' proves to be quite schizophrenic, darting through everything from circling synth chimes, thick ruminative bass notes and gentle beats slinking in and out of a range of tempos. `Outcast' holds clanging alien sequencer beats, meditative chimes, the eeriest of ringing crystalline slivers hovering in their ear and Michael's contemplative electric piano touches meandering around the atmosphere.

The mellow twenty-one minute `Under the Trees of Olivandá' is mostly a collection of relaxed deep spacey themes and chilled programmed beats, where monolithic synth passages rise in grandeur around unceasing sequencer ripples that spiral into infinity, and the loveliest of electronic caresses weave around the listener, but the final minutes of zippy soloing are urgent and vibrant. `Sunflower Girl' is warm and shimmering pure ambience that slowly comes to life with quickening sequencer patterns and rapidly skittering dance beats, and the disc wraps on another nineteen-minute behemoth, `Escape to the Outer Moons, where moments of reflection and contemplative themes weave seamlessly together with endless serene oceans of sparkling electronics, strident sequencer patterns and constant colourful soloing.

Brückner releases a steady stream of worthwhile albums, so what makes `Trees of Olivandá' so distinctive? Despite much of it being based around lengthy deep-space exploratory soundtracks, it remains particularly accessible by offering plenty of colourful movement and constantly melodic qualities without ever being too lightweight or insubstantial, nor sacrificing atmosphere and intelligence. It's respectful of its influences but approached in fresh and interesting ways that don't merely suggest lazy idol-worship, and the frequent beats and rhythmic additions reign in even the most aimless diversions (we're not talking the vague panoramas of many modern Steve Roach discs here!). Followers of this underrated modern prog-electronic composer will likely return to this one constantly, and it even makes for a perfect introduction for newcomers to the superb space music of Michael Brückner.

Four and a half stars, and one of the best prog-electronic releases of 2017.

There are three versions of this album, the Brain version, the Virgin version, and the Eastgate version. The latter is an abomination, Edgar Froese should never have partially rerecorded that adding on digital synths and drum machines. What was he on? This stuff is bound to haunt him beyond the grave. We can be thankful he didn't try and butcher the 1970s Tangerine Dream catalog the same way.

Aqua is his first solo album, but it certainly didn't harm Tangerine Dream in the least, as their best stuff was just around the corner. This one actually sounds more like a transition between the early "Pink Years" (Ohr label) Tangerine Dream and the Virgin Years. Many of the sounds effects are familiar as they were used on Phaedra, basically on the title track and "Upland", meaning you know it was Froese himself responsible for those sound effects. On this album he uses mainly VCS-3 and organ, but strangely he uses the Mellotron on only one cut. On "NGC 891" he gets his TD bandmate Christophe Franke on Moog to provided the sequencer. The title track features strange water sounds and very eerie droning organ, before ending like it came off Alpha Centauri or Zeit with those same eerie wind sounds. "Panorphelia" features pulsing VCS-3 synth sounds and Mellotron, but the Brain version starts off with strange whooshing sound effects not found on the Virgin version. "NGC 891" features an experiment using Günther Brunschen's artificial head system, basically microphones stuck in each ear of a dummy head (or mannequin head) to create this surround sound effect, as heard on the sounds of jets heard on this cut. The effect is best heard using headphones hearing them come from the left to right, although I can feel that effect on my regular stereo system without the headphones. You just have to sit between the speakers. "Upland" also starts off with strange sound effects on the Brain version that's different from the Virgin, before it goes on the more familiar bubbling VCS-3 synths sound effect. That strange reversed tinkling piano that ends the Virgin version is absent on the Brain version. It's only "Upland" and "Panorphelia" that differ from the Brain and Virgin versions as the title track and "NGC 891" are the same on both versions. I own both the Virgin and Brain versions so I can attest to this, and it's nice to own both versions because of that. I just acquired the Brain version after years of hearing how two of its cuts were of different mix. The other minor different was side one and two were switched. Regardless, this is a great and important album in Edgar Froese's career. Not only did it launch his solo career, but is a nice bridge between the old and new Tangerine Dream sound of that time, even though Aqua did come about four months after Phaedra. Very much an essential album.

— First review of this album —

It was only since September 2017 that I discovered Jordsjø, which is perhaps the finest prog act I have ever heard in a long time. As a bonus, I found out about Breidablik exactly the same time as Jordsjø released a split cassette with Breidablik called Songs from the Northern Wasteland. It shouldn't take much to figure out where they got that title from. In case you didn't, it's Michael Hoenig's Departure from the Northern Wasteland. That cassette even used the same Tangerine Dream typefont used on some of their album like Atem and Rubycon. Anyways Breidablik is quite different from Jordsjø, instead of '70s style symphonic prog, you get full-on Berlin School-influenced electronic music. Admittedly that Breidablik influence occasionally has itself felt on Jordsjø, like "Under Aurora B", "Fugløkallen" and "Postludium", but generally the music sticks with symphonic prog. Breidblik is a one-man project lead by Morten Birkeland Nielsen. He uses different types of analog and analog modelling synths. Vinter is the first release that's entirely by Breidablik, released on limited edition cassette and download. While the influence of Tangerine Dream and Schulze are felt, it has a sound all its own. Sequencers tend to be more midpaced, they don't go into Ricochet-style overdrive. There are plenty of more ambient moments that get me thinking of the vast rocky terrain of northern Norway. Morten certainly done it right the first time, and I can see him/Birkeland to be a force to be reckoned with in the electronic music world. This is a great cassette really worth your time!