F.G EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY

This is the one-man electronic show of Swiss born Frédy Guye who released two underground albums in the early days of 70s progressive electronic experiments. Guye released two albums under the moniker F.G. EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY starting with this 1975 debut JOURNEY INTO A DREAM and followed five years later by the 1980 release "Hope." One of those rare collectibles that fetches hefty prices in some circles, the original vinyl only saw a pressing of 100 copies and was available exclusively at live performances however with the renewed interest in the 21st century of all those crazy psychedelic tripper albums of the era, a CD reissue has seen the light of day on the Thor's Hammer label in 2006 and hosts two bonus tracks that were released as the 7" single "Happiness / Church" which followed in 1976.

JOURNEY INTO A DREAM truly lives up to its title with two sprawling cuts both extending past the 20-minute mark that replicate some sort of soundtrack to an astral traveling extravaganza across the cosmos. A veritable mix of Klaus Schulze inspirations into extensive sound collage journeys along with the detached minimalism of electronic pioneers such as Terry Riley, the F.G. EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY offered a much stranger and melancholic voyage into a cold and dark bleakness eschewed by the more popular acts of Tangerine Dream and Ashra. If those acts were embarking on the soundtrack to orbiting the moon and planets of the solar system, then JOURNEY INTO A DREAM sounded more like the musical equivalent of trekking into the mystifying remoteness of the Oort Cloud and beyond.

The opening title track and its 20 1/2 minute surrealistic drift into the stars opens with references to more tangible Baroque classical musical hooks that clearly indicate a J.S. Bach appreciation however after the initial rocket blast into the heavens, the familiarity slowly dissipates into a never-ending stream of abstract synthesized beauty that implements minimalistic synthesizer loops with eerie ambient effects. Adding to the haunting beauty are wordless vocals insinuating the awe of witness through the human spirit. Through the tracks slow and brooding procession, the track maintains a basic keyboard repetitive groove almost sounding like the opening notes of a wedding march but ends up evoking the very image of what the album cover art insinuates. All in all a unique and idiosyncratic take on the world of progressive electronic adding that frosty Swiss spin on the style as if composed on the top of the Matterhorn.

The second track "2335" which refers to the running time of 23 minutes and 35 seconds seamlessly blends with the title cut essentially making this an album's excursion into the farthest recesses of the electronic space realms with the same synthesizer groove slowly oozing on with its subtle reverb, pitch bends and occasional note changes. An ethereal female wordless vocal cameo haunts the soundscape as it slowly transverses the outer limits of consciousness and physical space. Around the 29-minute mark of the album the music drops altogether and the album is dominated by the sound of wind that offers a transition into a yet even spacier mix of oscillating synth sounds in the higher register with random sounds punctuating the bottom layers. You have truly passed any traces of celestial bodies at this point and are in the farthest and remotest recesses of space. The is is perhaps the bleakest and most effective exhibition of creepy electronica ever recorded. As the final track enters its last legs it delivers a series of bloops and bleeps and simulations of space whales.

This is an amazingly brilliant album delivered by this unknown Swiss master of electronica. While totally on par with the greatness of other artists of the era, this lone spacer seemed to drop in and out of the music world for a mere two albums before taking that permanent journey into the vastness of space never to be heard from again and that's a shame because this is one of those masterful representations of progressive electronic that delivers a larger than life experience and actually takes you on a journey beyond the random sounds of electronic swirlies and as the space tripper's blog Mutant Sounds describes it, this kosmische journey features an acid warped cathedral of organs, echoed glissando guitar, wordless vocal wash and atonal electronic surges all conspiring to coat your brain with psychotropic ectoplasm. Well now, i couldn't describe it better than that!

I bought this LP at a record fair and told only 300 copies made. Not sure about that but it is rare. I was recommended this album because he knew I liked this brand of electronic music.

Five years since Journey into a Dream and it's surprising how little has changed from that album. Anyways it's obvious that Schulze is a big idol for Frédy Guye, a Swiss musician from the French speaking area. He's the guy behind this one-man project who felt it was better to release this stuff as F.G. Experimental Laboratory rather than his real name although the "F.G." part are his initials. Now I'll have to say I wasn't blown away by this because it was inconsistent and the homemade production didn't help matters any. In fact all the same problems that plague Journey into a Dream. Because of no year printed anywhere on the album I was guessing it was 1977 as it felt like it was from that year, not to mention the nice '70s looking cover, only to discover the album was recorded late in 1979 and released in 1980. Don't make this high priority. Had its moments but a good example of listen before you buy.