THERE IS AN END TO EVERYTHING

- The First Review for this Artist - Vyachelav Potapov (VP) from Kazakhstan makes his instrumental music all by himself. Guitar, bass and programming are listed on the album info, but the sound is more varied (ie. not so clearly guitar-emphasized) than what one could expect from that listing. Of course it is also more or less synthetic, artificial, as opposed to a more organic sound. [Note: All VP albums are available digitally only. They however have pretty fine cover designs too, so I decided to stretch from my principle of not making reviews based on downloads, and - with kind help from the artist - made a couple of VP discs for my use.]

This album is one of the two released in 2004 after the psychedelic debut the year before, starting a growing orientation towards progressive jazz/fusion style. But since the music really cannot be pigeonholed into one subgenre, Eclectic Prog is a valid choice. There are also flavours of Avant-Prog and electronic music. The 8-minute opening track 'The Man from Sand' is an interesting, sonically colourful prog piece. Especially I like the sharp guitar sound reminiscent of the one in 'Sleepless' by the 80's King Crimson. The second, short track is more restricted but it's followed by the largest piece 'The Observer in a Shadow' (11:22). It is pleasantly spatial, rooted on a steady bass motif. Wait a minute, no real drums used? They do sound real to me. The wide sound pallette features (digitally made) horns, reeds and a glockenspiel. The composition has an intense climax of 2-3 minutes which I personally don't enjoy, it sounds a bit noisy and embarrassing.

The briefest one, 'The Fiery Butterfly', feels more like a little sonic excercise than a finished piece, and the 7-minute 'Difficultly Plaited' is where I begin to lose my interest quite badly. Complex, haphazard melodies for the sake of complexity, to me void of emotional meaning. The title track in the end is another highlight in its moody sensitivity. It is calm, electronic music that reminds me of e.g. NIK TYNDALL, or SOFTWARE, ASHRA and other numerous, usually German artists that have been released in the -IC- (Innovative Communication) label.

A bravely eclectic album, to say the least. One may miss the lack of the more organic overall sound (that especially all the jazzy nuances remind one of), and here and there the introvert music may not make much (emotional) sense to the listener. 2½ stars rounded up for beautiful cover art.

After getting his feet wet on his debut "Sound Dependence," the one man show from Kazakhstan VYACHESLAV POTAPOV or simply VP spent another year learning how to play more instruments and record music and created his second homemade album THERE IS AN END TO EVERYTHING which is yet another instrumental album of strange eclectic arrangements that were primarily recorded with the program Cakewalk and a whole lot of pent up musical creativity just oozing out into the world. This was the first of two albums in 2004. This one was released on May 25 while the following "At Sunset Of Day's" came out on July 22. There is something about this part of the planet where these creative musicians create some of the most ethereal and epic sounding music even if it sounds like it was produced on a small budget. Such is the case with VP where one guy creates some larger than life compositions that sound like they were recorded on the most rudimentary equipment that could be found.

THERE IS AN END TO EVERYTHING is somewhat of a concept album albeit loosely based on the title's universal principle. Basically the role of each instrument is to express the different moods of life. The flute expresses lament for life on the Earth dying while the guitar converses with the flute to remind it that life is fleeting and not lived in vain. The theme is impermanence through the sonic fusion of all kinds of different musical genres. While the opening track "The Man From The San" is more of an ambient and ethereal electronic piece, the second track "Pictures In Rock" picks up the pace with a percussive drive and almost tribal type sound with guitar, bass and electronic embellishments. It's rather free form without any sort of traditional song structure. "The Observer In The Shadow" is the progressive behemoth on the album lasting over 11 minutes and begins with an avant-prog sort of chamber rock type of sound with instruments leapfrogging over each other before totally changing into more of an exotica type of chill out track with vibraphone simulations and a steady bass line playing over a lugubrious synth creeping in and out of the soundtrack of life. This one reminds me a lot of early Roz Vitalis with its avant-garde classical music approach with a steady rock drive to it as well as being sophisticated compositionally yet sounding under baked in the production department. The composition itself is quite brilliant.

"The Fiery Butterfly" is the shortest track and a strange little guitar oriented number that has a piano living in its own world. It's almost as if it's two separate songs going on and then it becomes like three! Very complex musical interactions on this one and sort of sounds like something that should be on a soundtrack. "Difficulty Plaited" is the most easily digested track on the album. It is very jazz-rock fusion oriented with some sort of programmed bass clarinet but becomes more frenetic and erratic as it proceeds. Probably my favorite track actually. And to end the album is the title track which much like the introductory track expresses a VP's Weltschmerz and where he was at the period he wrote the music to this album. VP also created the artwork for the album cover which expresses the mood for the album. Very well done album actually although this is definitely a homed affair that was just a rough draft for future perfection. Not essential but really good compositions. Unfortunately the amateur production detracts from the enjoyment.