FREE SYSTEM PROJEKT

If someone asks me which is the best Dutch band, I usually come up with Kayak or Earth And Fire. However, sometimes I remember one very extraordinary track, which is on this CD/DVD, and that is Gent 4. "Gent 4" lasts over one half hour and it is one of the best Electronic tracks I know. If you want to compare it with something, it's very much like 'Sense' by Klaus Schulze (which is my favorite live track from anyone, ever!). Yes it is that good! Normally FSP is compared to Tangerine Dream, but this track is different. We have a slow building up where all members fiddle on their Modular Knobs to create a nice atmosphere, ranging from 'Sense' to 'Mirage'. Then Marcel Engels starts with a heavenly string theme on his Solina String Ensemble and the sequencers get going. A soft sequence with a low pace. The three musicians feel they are doing something special and are very inspired. Fantastic, but the highlight has yet to come... With a lot of Electronic bands you get some noodling on a C chord, but boy, what happens here! Frank Van der Wel plays a very intense keyboard solo improvisation lasting more than 10 minutes and the chords played by the others are heavenly floating around. If this is not enough, Ruud Heij starts playing on his Farfisa Synthorchestra, brrr. This is completely comparable to the quality of 'Sense' . So yes this is something you definitely should hear!

The rest of the CD/DVD is more the traditional FSP stuff: TD inspired, Rubycon like sequencing. Nice, but not as sensational or essential as Gent 4. The DVD is fun to watch, just three regular guys playing their wall of Modular with some pictures in the background. Also, there's a 'bonus' where you see them building up there Modulars - fun. But just seeing these guys perform my almost-best-ever track is a treat which I visit from time to time. 5 Stars evidently!

"Good news for the fans of Berlin School electronic music"

While writing this review I commited a Freudian slip, I didn't mention Free System Project as the band but Tangerine Dream, perhaps a result of the words on the back cover of the small booklet: "the first Okefenokee gathering of Tangerine Dream fans to spawn the celebration of Electronic Swamp Music".

As a huge fan of 1975-1980 Tangerine Dream I am always scrutinizing my usual sources to discover bands that make music in the vein of that unsurpassed electronic music sound. Thanks to my good friend Paul E-Maniac I got in touch with the Free System Project, and I am very, very grateful to Paul, what a mindblowing tribute to the Phaedra and Ricochet era! I can understand that people will nail it for too derivative, but I have no problems with FSP doing that, not at all!

This CD is recorded live in the USA between April 9th and 13th in 2000 and performed by Dutchman Marcel Engels and USA citizen Dave Brewer, both synthesizers, keyboards and sequencers. The music on the four compositions (between 11 and 32 minutes) ranges from soaring strings and soft pulsating sequencers to electric piano and spectacular synthesizer sounds, even electric guitar (like Edgar Froese, adding an extra dimension to EM). To me it sounds as top notch electronic music, very melodic and harmonic, Marcel and Dave are pushing the right buttons on their awesome vintage gear. If you like Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze (Moondawn and Timewind) in their second half of the Seventies, this music of the Free System Project is a delight!

"And then there were three .... "

On this album the Free System Project duo Marcel Engels and Ruud Heij has expanded to a trio, featuring Norwegian guest musician Terje Winther. To me delight because I consider his contribution to the Edition samplers (former Dutch EM magazine) as one of the highlights. The recordings are from 2012 and recently (2018) put on CD as an own production.

The three compositions feature a similar intro (with spacey atmospheres and the usual beeps and bleeps) and outro (fading strings and Trons, blended with sound effects) and in between wonderful layers of synthesizer strings, Mellotrons, hypnotizing sequencers and several vintage synthesizers, this is the realm of 74-77 Tangerine Dream, top notch electronic music!

Despite the similarities in the three compositions the trio has succeeded to add a special flavor to each compositon:

subtle Rhodes electric piano runs and finally majestic Mellotron choirs in Winterflow,

delicate interplay between Rhodes electric piano, Mellotron choirs and a pulsating sequencer in Spoon Forest

and a sumptuous climate with dreamy synthesizer flights on the mighty Moog Voyager, again majestic Mellotron choirs and pulsating sequencing, goose bumps, this is what exciting electronic music is about!

Every track delivers one member who does the sequencing, on the first Ruud Heij, the second Terje Winther and the third Marcel Engels, the prime mover of Free System Project.

If you like the unsurpassed electronic music by Seventies Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, this is an album to discover!

In 2005 this Dutch EM project was added to Prog Archives, the following years reviewers wrote very positive words about Free System Project. But after 2008 the additions of new albums stopped on Prog Archives so I would like to introduce their latest album Procyon, from 2018. Because I consider FSP as one of the best EM projects since the Eighties, as a huge Seventies Tangerine Dream fan.

The prime mover and musical brainchild of Free System Project is Dutchman Marcel Engels, on his website we can find a mini biography. 'It was around 1980 (at the age of 7) when I heard records from Jean-Michel Jarre and Tomita. I really liked and still like those records, although I didn't had a clue who they were or how they made such music. Later I knew. When I was 14 years I bought my first keyboard. It was a small Yamaha keyboard and I was very happy with it. Later came a new keyboard and soon after that the first synthesizers appeared. I now have a nice studio at my home where I can experiment with sounds and record the things I like. As Mike Oldfield once stated in an interview: "It's a room with possibilities".' Marcel his musical partner on his Free System Project albums is Ruud Heij who plays synthesizers and sequencers.

On this Free System Project album (originally released as a download album in 2009 but now re-released as a CD by Dutch EM label Groove Unlimited) Marcel plays an Access Virus A (synthesizer module) and a Yamaha A3000 (hardware sampler) with Mellotron and Stringensemble sets, Ruud the Alesis Fusion HD (a 88-key synthesizer workstation) with Mellotron and Stringensemble sets, wow, 'a vintage keyboard maniac's wet dream', perfect gear to produce the unsurpassed 74-77 Tangerine Dream sound that the duo embraces. As we can hear on their many previous efforts, my favourite one is Okefenokee Dreams, recorded live at a Tangerine Dream fans meeting in the USA, in 2001.

1. Procyon (27.55) : After a spacey intro with SF sounds and the usual beep and bleeps a dreamy Mellotron flute and soaring synthesizer strings join. Then majestic low sounding Mellotron violins, gradually the music turns into more dynamic. In a wonderful way the Mellotrons and synthesizers of the two musicians blend, culminating in a very lush and exciting electronic music atmosphere. Suddenly it's sequencer time, around 15 minutes long, accompanied by first a high pitched Mellotron flute and flashy synthesizer flights, and then sumptuous Mellotron choirs, this is top notch electronic music, obviously inspired by 74-77 Tangerine Dream but with an own touch. The final part delivers fading sequencers and mellow Mellotron flutes and synthesizer strings.

2. Procyon (14.20) : First scary sound effects, then pulsating sequencers and the focus on synthesizer flights. Halfway deep sounding sequencing and lush Mellotron choirs that colour the music in compelling way, goose bumps! After an interlude with high a pitched Mellotron flute this composition ends with strings and a fading Mellotron violin sound.

3. And Then There Were Two (20.15) : After the usual spacey sounds and beep and bleeps the music delivers soaring Mellotron flutes and strings with a phaser sound, a wonderful dreamy climate. Then a deep synthesizer sound and majestic Mellotron choirs, now the sequencing joins, the combination with the Mellotron choirs turns into a very spectacular sound, this is Electronic Music heaven! After a mellow interlude with soaring Mellotron flutes the atmosphere changes into bombastic with synthesizers flights, the use of the pitchbend button is sensational! The dreamy outro delivers tender Mellotron flute runs. Simply beautiful (and it tastes way more better than And Then There Were Three!).

If you are into the unsurpassed electronic music of 74-77 Tangerine Dream don't miss this warm tribute from one of the best Dutch EM projects!

Track 1 and 2 recorded live at Hampshire Jam 7, Liphook, UK, on November 15th, 2008 and track 3 recorded live at The 3 In 1 Theatre, Huizen, The Netherlands, on October 30rd, 1999.

Other recomended EM bands/projects: Red Shift, Air Sculpture, Rudy Adrian, Pollard/Daniel/Booth, Gert Emmens and Terje Winther.

This Dutch electronic group is simply one of my great new discoveries, yet they've been around seemingly forever (since the 1990s, but it's now 2013). I know Holland has never had a big electronic scene, I am aware of Peru, that's about it. Narrow Lane is yet another live offering, the first part recorded the National Space Centre in Leicester, and the second part at Hampshire Jam 6, in Liphook. This Dutch group seems to hang around the same UK venues that Radio Massacre International does. In fact I like to think of FSP as the Dutch equivalent of RMI, only I think FSP's music often rivals that of RMI. FSP often uses modular equipment, like the Arrick modular synth, which is a modular synth based off the Moog. Arrick is based out of Texas, so the synth is American made. They also use vintage gear like the EMS Synthi A, Elka Rhapsody, and Solina String Ensemble, but the Mellotron is sampled, using the Yamaha A3000. FSP is always the vehicle for Marcel Engels, but he gets help here from Ruud Heij, and for the first part (recorded in 2006), Frank van der Wel. Unfortunately v.d. Wel had left shortly after that performance, so the second part, recorded late in 2007, was without his presence. Regardless, this stuff is right up your alley if you enjoy Rubycon/Ricochet-era Tangerine Dream, even these guys use many of the same synth timbres. It can be said that this might not bring nothing new to the table, but I don't care because this stuff really blew me away! If they done something very much like what a certain well-known electronic group had done some thirty or so years earlier, and do it well and do it convincingly, I have nothing to complain about. It's strange how many other countries are taking up to the Berlin School of electronic music. In the '70s you had Anna Sjalv Tredje in Sweden and even Zanov in France (Jean Michel Jarre might have been influenced by it, but of course, his style isn't Berlin School), and now you have Radio Massacre International, Airsculpture, and Red Shift in the UK, as well as FSP in Holland. This comes highly recommended to fans of this style of electronic music!

Clandestine Seam

A tale of fan-boys turning into the very image of their adoration pt. 3.

Now we come to an act I personally find inspiring, haunting, mysteriously gripping and everything Tangerine Dream were back in 1975.... and then some. Moyland is a combination of modular synth soundscapes and breezy mellotron washes. Then for my favourite part of the ride, the one that pops a cherry on top of your already delicious ice cream, - you get served with some aggressive sequencers that throb and heave like small electronic tap dancing mice on cough medicine. I personally think these rhythm segments are damn near perfect, and strangely enough those exact same snarling sequencer attacks were usually kept outside the studio, back in the heyday of TD. You'd have to buy a live album or attend one of their live shows to get these stuttering robotic blitzes. What they do, and what sets them apart from most rhythm devices, is adding to the music a somewhat fluent surface of sound that repeats itself in insanely fast paced patterns, bobbing and weaving ever so slightly according to the pitch and feel of the given musical surroundings. This is where you are able to spot the real and prodigal electronic artists, because what may seem like a walk in the park to the casual bystander, is indeed very difficult to attain. To get it right, and to be able to attack with the sequencers, can actually accomplish the same sort of vibe and motion as a lead guitar, a moog - a bleeping saxophone, - mind you we're talking when the instruments are used to express a certain sustained sound - a feel that when used in the right manner, absolutely sends shivers down my spine.

The first long track here sounds like a freeform composition that turned out brilliantly. It was recorded at Hampshire Jam 111, Liphook in 2004. I suppose the guys here, consisting of Marcel Engels, Frank van der Wel and analogue synthesizer maestro Ruud Heij, not really sure what they had achieved, listened to this recording after getting back to Amsterdam, and then over a cup of tea and a big grandpa doobie one of them went:

"Wuuuooooiiiiiiiiii!!!! Damn what a killer jam you guys!!! What the hell!!!?! Allright, if we take this down to the studio and maybe tweek a bit here and there, and wow man, I almost forgot - I've been thinking about doing this sort of WOW, I don't even.... but hey it's going to be great and y'know - just build upon what this vibe is giving off and make it into a floating continuous piece....What d'you say guys?"

And so they did, and what a piece... Divided into 5 parts, the big Moyland track here starts out very floating and airy without a trace of rhythm - just hovering in these slicing synth manoeuvres. When you finally start thinking you've bought an ambient record, that's when the bobbing bom-bom-bom-bom sequencer starts relegating its menacing bass foundation, and you know you're in for a magnificent ride. Yes, it reminds me of Tangerine Dream live anno 1975, but then again what's not to like about that? - Furthermore, you'll find far more hiding underneath all of these layers - ambient flickering sections of glacial synthesisers - the sudden altering of the sequencers midway that transforms into something infinitely more metallic sounding, yet at the same time infusing an unlikely humane touch to the proceedings, even if that sounds terribly contradictory in itself.

This is a fine place to start your journey in the prog electronic genre. Moyland mixes a brew of tumultuous electronic segments washing in over you like a polyphonic serenade of sound patterns. It's overwhelming at times, but never out of touch with that eternally soothing and esoteric image of the Berlin school of electronics. Entrancing stuff to say the least, and highly recommended to newcomers to the genre.

This is a CD that has lain dormant in my collection for many years. Probably due to the awful band name and the equally forgettable cover. The track titles don't do much to inspire me with hope either.

However, during the past week this is all I've played, discovering finally, that it's actually an excellent modern day 'Berlin Electronics' album by one of many bands who have been out in the search of the Holy Grail - the followup to 'Rubycon' by Tangerine Dream...

So many of these shameless copycat bands set out with the same goal... to find that missing link between the perfect 'Rubycon' and the lightweight 'Stratosfear' through bands such as Redshift, Arc, Radio Massacre International and even Ian Boddy. 'Free System Projekt' are the most authentic of the bunch, creating sounds that border on the beautiful, but just don't sound as threatening or weird as their luminaries.

The truth of the matter is that what they seek will remain forever hidden and unatainable. 'Pointless Reminder' (Yeuch!) is a solid electronic album using modern technology in an effort to sound 1975. The arpeggiating sequencers are fantastic. Crystal clear and bouncy, they skip back and forth like a tennis ball from one ear to the other, leaving you believing that you're actually listening to a long lost mid 70's Tangerine Dream treasure.

Many may say I'm viewing this from the wrong perspective, but when you hear the plagiarism involved, then I'm sure you'll agree.

'Pointless Reminder', despite it's lousy title is a good, purely electronic album with touches of Jean Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene' thrown in for good measure.

I knew when I started collecting Radio Massacre International CDs that there were other groups operating in a similar manner. Like this Dutch act Free System Projekt, lead by Marcel Engels, with some help from Frank van der Wel and Ruud Heij. They might as well be the Dutch Tangerine Dream, and in fact, like RMI, you can't avoid the comparison. Lots of sequencers, analog synths, Mellotron. Unfortunately FSP CDs seem to be hard to find (I've had little luck finding online dealers stocking them). It's one of those if you didn't buy them at the time, you're out of luck. It seems these guys seem to perform at many of the same electronic music shows that RMI go to, so it's a safe bet if you like RMI, you'll like FSP, plain and simple.

If this 2004 release Protoavis is anything to go by, I'll be looking forward to many more releases. This CD consists of three extended pieces. I like the sinister mood these guys come up with, before the sequencer kick in, then you start thinking of Rubycon. Oh yeah, they actually use a Moog IIIc, as well as an EMS Synthi A, Solina String Ensemble, Elka Rhapsody, other synths, and most of all, the Mellotron put to great use. I really dig the title track. I was expecting it to be this dark ambient piece throughout, and out of nowhere the sequencers start kicking in. RMI tends to avoid big, bulky gear and I love the way they come up with similar results to these guys. I really don't know what else say, but I'll say this right off, if you ran out Radio Massacre International CDs to buy, you can't go wrong here, and Protoavis is a great place to start if you don't know Free System Projekt.

This is a Dutch three piece formation that plays electronic music with obvious hints from Tangerine Dream (74-78 era). In my opinion FSP their music deserves more attention from the electronic music aficionados, what an outstanding trio from my home country The Netherlands, I am really proud on these guys!

This CD features the titletrack in five parts, ranging from 7 to almost 20 minutes. Part 1 starts with a spacey atmosphere featuring soaring violin - and flute Mellotron waves and soft synthesizer flights. Halfway pulsating sequencers enter and gradually the music swells to exciting electronic music with great synthesizers sounds. Part 2 delivers floods of compelling violin - and mighty choir-Mellotron along deep bass sounds. Part 3 has a percussive oriented climate with many pleasant synthesizer sounds. Part 4 is the highlight on this CD, it contains the strongest hints to the 74-78 Tangerine Dream era: very exciting featuring propulsive sequencing, awesome choir-Mellotron eruptions and synthesizer runs that are very similar to distorted guitar as on the live 2-LP Encore from TD. Part 5 starts spacey with soaring violin-Mellotron and soft, slow bass sounds. Then the music swells delivering great interplay between the three keyboard players with lots of fine synthesizer runs, Mellotron waves and 'rolling' sequencers, another strong track! The final composition is entitled Transition, first it has a spacey climate with soaring strings and pulsating sequencers, then a catchy rhythm with beautiful syntheiszer sounds. The interplay is very tasteful and carries you away to an 'electronic music heaven'.

THIS IS WONDERFUL MUSIC FOR THE ELECTRONIC AFICIONADOS!!

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On the back cover of the small booklet is written: "the first Okefenokee gathering of Tangerine Dream fans to spawn the celebration of Electronic Swamp Music". Well, say no more, it's an obvious tribute to the pivotal electronic music that Tangerine Dream made in the "Phaedra"-"Encore" era. This CD (my favorite one from FSP) is recorded live in the USA between April 9th and 13th in 2000 and performed by Dutchman Marcel Engels and USA citizen Dave Brewer, both keyboards. The music on the four compositions (between 11 and 32 minutes) ranges from soaring strings and soft pulsating sequencers to electric piano and spectacular synthesizer sounds, even electric guitar. It sounds very pleasant and melodic, if you like TD 1974-1977 (and early Klaus Schulze like on "Moondawn" and "Timewind"), you will be carried away by this wonderful electronic music!

www.progwalhalla.com