QUASAR 2C361

In the second half of the Seventies I discovered the fascinating world of Tangerine Dream (1974-1977 era) and early Klaus Schulze their electronic music and soon I started to dig for more. In those days you could buy tons of electronic music LP's in the legendary record store Boudisque in Amsterdam. I did and especially Neuronium turned out to be one of my favorites, from the first album Quasar 2C361 (1977) to Heritage (1984). This electronic music formation was founded by Marcel Huygen (born in Belgium, later he moved to Barcelona), fellow keyboardplayer Carlos Guirao and guitarist Albert Gimenez (who left the band after their to me disappointing second album Vuelo Quimico in 1978).

Michel had played in psychedelic rock bands, with Neuronium he started to play jazz oriented music during a string of concerts in their embryonal phase but on this first effort it's mainly Seventies Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze inspired electronic music: ambient electronic landscapes with lush synthesizer-strings and soaring string-ensemble, pulsating sequencers and slow, hypnotizing synthesizer flights. The guitarplayer adds a special flavor to the music with his howling runs and moving solos, especially in the final part of El Valle De Rimac we can enjoy a wonderful blend of synthesizer and electric guitar, Neuronium their trademark in the early years. In the long titletrack Neuronium delivers a first and final part with a beautiful strings sound, flute and twanging acoustic guitar in a dreamy atmosphere, very warm electronic music!

Although the climates sound a bit similar on Neuronium their first album, to me this sounds as warm and pleasant electronic music. And it was the start of an interesting carreer for Michel Huygen, later he would collaborate with Tangerine Dream, Steve Roach and Klaus Schulze and in 1994 he performed on the legendary Dutch electronic music festival KLEM also featuring Chris Franke in that year. Recently Michel Huygen has worked on a record with the London Symphonic Orchestra entitled Classical Neuronium that contains his most significant compositions played with classical instruments.

NEURONIUM is a spanish electronic band that combines 70's hypnotic electronic sequences - in the style of TANGERINE DREAM or KLAUS SCHULZE - with more accessible, melodic elements. Their debut album "Quasar 2C361" shows interesting promises.

The title track is a dreamy 26 minutes suite with a slow progression. It alternates soft and sequences passages, with apparitions of guitar and flute, and finishes with a pretty finale. Although a bit too long, the overall is enjoyable.

"Catalepsia" is pleasant atmospheric tune featuring nice spacey guitar. The short "El Valle De Rimac" introduces the melancholic ambient mood that will later become a trademark of the band. The ending track "Turo Park" theme has reminiscences of PINK FLOYD's "A saucerful of secrets" finale.

With this album, NEURONIUM is still building its personality. Sequences and melodies are still discrete, compositions are rather homogeneous. As a consequence, "Quasar 2C361" is one of their most aerial and contemplative record. Not innovative, but nice soft relaxing music.