VISIONS OF DUNE

ZED is, first of all, a particular project by Bernard Szajner that started, went on and ended exactly with one major work and with a great collaboration between different artists and stylists shining behind the achievement. Szajner has a rich career of playing music, producing, collaborating and guest appearing; many of the important works make him an 80s and 90s artist, with the proper music and instrumentation of those decades, still with the artistic sensibility of the golden 70s - almost nothing, however, seems more viable, shining and characteristic than his ZED project, trailed precisely around 1979, defined by one musical accomplished, but by more essences than beat the eye. It's quite Szajner's moment of pioneering some things, adapting and engineering other things, plus flaring artistically the whole and the rest of what electronic music means for him, in his (own) limits, despite that ZED's moment is precisely young during his career, plus has some details that can't highlight the best of (and the model in) Szajner, right from the spot.

As interesting as the music goes, similarly interesting are the facts about the band - and about Szajner in particular. Credited more than half of times as a sound and instruments engineer, he does however manage to create a variety of electronic games, effects and mixes into a genuinely musical work. Pioneer of the Laser Harp, he seems to use them in ZED as well. Szajner, in short, plays the electronic music he personally programs and fine-tunes as to be recorded, something that can be felt in ZED's big tactic: the music is alive, but the technique sounds just as sharp, just as material. Personally linked with Pinhas, Heldon or Magma, ZED is musically part of the first two's family, while the reason why Magma would be tangent with ZED is a really strange one. Suer, Blasquiz vocalizes in the album (but the vocals themselves aren't anything to be remembered for), while ZED gathers a group that is similarly linked with Heldon or Magma, as Szajner is. Musically, however, the Zeuhl nuance in this variation of electronic music can only be found in some upbeats and, perhaps, in the shady air of French rock art. Szajner is equally the legend, the natural musician, the person who slips the ropes of his work the most (and too much, at some point), the engineer, the steamroller in ZED. And ZED is his precious and original-coming project, though I'd say it places him nowhere near the giants of the genre (just like further links with Tangerine Dream, Schulze or Eno are more for the sake of promoting a familiar sound in Visions Of Dune's movements).

Leaving the rest of the review purely for the album, it itself flows in both a nice and a touchy direction, being (up a logical consensus) worth collecting and listening, but nowhere near extraordinary (and there's even a regret in that). Technically, the level of electronic work has been already mentioned, but its taste, turning on pop-electro, digital or sequence-mania stripes and creating a visible edge between the classic style (that's colored bit agitatedly) and the new influences (which are various in sound), its taste can mean accessible, dynamic music for some and an alarmingly shredded mixture of tones, beats and atmosphere for critic fans. I myself find some entire moments valorous and great, but can't stop feeling uncalmed by some chaos, synthesism and blunts in other fully-expressed passages.

Stylistically, digital & analogue electronic are the only definitions that can be used for the vast fragments of light, plastic or melodious electronic music, to avoid tags like new-age (which is too rough for the concept Szajner builds on) and pop-electro (which is realistic, especially in the rhythmic and expressive section, but tad bruising, again, for what the album tries to cover, qualitatively). ZED's album does create a small portrait of Dune, with, at most, its tough climat, alien atmosphere and dry-haunting environments being reflected (or deflected) in the music's tone. All the pieces are named after characters and symbols from the novel, in no particular order, Szajner succeeding maybe a collage of distinct motives for each track individually, but nothing more. The accompaniment of drums, guitars and orderly rock samples free the electronic style from heaviness - and sometimes beat the pace in an original, switching way.

Finally, the pleasure in Visions Of Dune is of the same ambivalence. Interesting in some moments, and with some electronic spices, it can grow tiresome when everything crashes on simple, but over-voiced effects, melodies or abrasive techniques. That being said, Szajner is guilty for not finding perfection and even bit more emotion (even if a sterile one) in his visions. Instead, disregarding ZED's album as anything else than a study of electronic textures and complex conceptual ideas can be very affecting for the mind, the mood and the impression.

ZED's music is electronic and progressive, abstract and digital-sounding, unfortunately not spicy and fantastic, and not without moments of stress, sorrow or bad music. Maybe notable for collections, and maybe the stronger (strongest) of Szajner's works, it's not good enough for the essential heights.

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