MOODS

The pioneer of Russian Electronic Music and a composer of various soundtracks,Edward Artemiev was born in Novosibirsk in 1937 and studied at the Moscow Conservatory.Already from the 60's he show his interest on the new-born synth sound and wrote his first composition in 1967.During the 70's Artemiev collaborated with director Andrei Tarkovsky and wrote film scores for three of his movies: Solaris, Zerkalo and Stalker.His album ''Moods'' (the Russian translation of the cover is actually Mood-Pictures) from 1983, released on Melodyia, is a good example of his style,containing pieces from various cinema and theater movies.

His music has straight links with German Electronic legends TANGERINE DREAM.Floating analog synthesizers creating superb spacious and cosmic soundscapes with a trippy attitude.Actually the first side is very close to the style with some nervous synths alternating with great calm spacey electronics and only helped by the use of drums,while one track includes an acoustic guitar part.The second side is more grandiose and bombastic at moments with often a symphonic nature (VANGELIS comes to mind),while the drums have a more powerful sound and there is even some organ,flutes and, yes, some electric guitar minutes thrown in.Both styles though are quite fascinating and hide some inner dynamics you won't find in some other highly-praised but definitely more boring electronic albums.

The collection of instrumentals in ''Moods'' are an excellent start to explore this artist's discography.Nice Progressive Electronic Music with a good dose of changing themes and far from being hypnotic.Recommended.