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| Updated: 3/02/12 | © 1999 - 2012 Cool Bunny Media | Da Cool Bunny sez 'Spank that Plank, Baby!' | |
Neu Harmony |
InfoPoint Contact: Tel: 01427 890758 Email: Synthmusicdirect@aol.com For those who enjoy what is now termed 'Electronica', and the rest of us call 'synth music like what Tangerine Dream used to play [and arguably still do]', then Harmonized should be sheer pleasure for your ears. The seven tracks on this CD compilation brilliantly showcase many of the artists on Dave Law's Neu Harmony label. Asana and Airsculpture each have a brace of tracks: the X-Files conspiracy homage Re-Embodiment and the more ambient sounding Gold, and the very TD-like Pogofish and Translucent Edge respectively. Then there's the rhythmic sequencer beats of Under The Dome's Launch and the slow- burning Flussiger VierTakter [translation, anyone?], finally a single track by veteran synth maestro Paul Nagle, the extremely atmospheric Lore. Harmonized is that almost impossible concept, a compilation album with 100% quality music and no filler. If you've not explored the Neu Harmony catalogue, buy this first and prepare to be very pleasantly surprised. Lyle
Newton - Light At The Edge As with many of the names on the Neu Harmony label, Lyle Newton is unknown to me, but I think that he is the sole American artist on the label. As with Mark Shreeve's Embryo album the spread of instrumental 'voices' is limited but far more interesting and pleasing to the ear. With 19 tracks spread over 76 minutes, there are few epics on this album, and some tracks tend to just fade into nothingness. Opening track Moon Over Elmora is a good introduction, a gentle, rather spacious percussion track overlaid by some meandering synth lines. One Step At A Time is better, a rather more commercial sounding track with an actual melody one can hum. The Search has a pulsing sequencer riff overlaid by what sounds like a honky tonk synth line, and sounds a little like a tv theme. Overall, Light At The Edge Of Darkness is a little overlong, with some of the tracks sounding underdeveloped, but there is a lot of very listenable music here and Lyle Newton is a musician to watch out for in the future. In many ways Trikuti reminds me of those early Vangelis albums which featured techno babble voice-overs giving the music a pseudoscientific veneer. Indeed, Trikuti is one of the most rhythmic album reviewed here, at times veering closely towards techno and drums ‘n’ bass club music. Normally I don’t like that type of music as it is usually very monotonous, but this album is anything but that - instead it is one of the most infectious ‘play again’ albums I’ve heard in a long time. Just listen to Union of Knowledge or Signals to see hear what I mean. Asana is the pseudonym for composer Dave Barker, and once again it’s a case of a single person performing/sampling everything on the album. As with the Jim Kirwood CD Trikuti has a concept, one that should appeal to X Files fans as it deals with UFOs and alien kidnapping and invasion. Airsculpture - Thunderhead (NH009) Thunderhead is one of the best synth-driven albums I’ve heard in a long time, strongly influenced by 70’s period Tangerine Dream and favouring a Dream-like trio of keyboard players. This album has it all: space-evoking sounds, cosmic riffs, rumbling bass-line that weaves in and out of the melodies. Airsculpture are Adrian Beasley, John Christian and Peter Ruczynski, and the music on the album is based on spontaneous improvisation, with a few minor overdubs to clean up the sound afterwards. Highlight of the album is the title track, a thirty-one minute masterpiece of slow burning control, restraint, and atmosphere that is probably the nearest thing most of us will get to travelling in space. The rest of the album: Dark Design, Aerostatic, Polarvoid and Pogofish are of the same equally high standard. Quite bluntly this is one of the best albums Tangerine Dream never recorded but should have!) Airsculpture - Fjord Transit (NH012) Airsculpture take as their frame of reference the music of Tangerine Dream from circa 1975-79, a time when TD were renowned for their sequencer-led improvisation. TD's music may be more structured and formal now but Airsculpture are still the leaders when it comes to improvisation, and their new album Fjord Transit is a great example of this. Recorded live at the 1999 Eurosonic festival in Sweden, the album begins with the title track a thirty minute plus stunner of slow-burning ambience that shines under the midnight sun. Traditional Folk Music, the next track, is a little more high octane, not least 'cos it has a more industrial and spacey feel to it. Gloria Mundi returns to the feel of the first track, more slow burn but with a sequencer riff growing in intensity. Compared to previous albums, the use of sequencers is muted, and the overall feel here is of the ambient sound that you find on a Brian Eno album. Considering this was recorded at an outdoor venue, the sound is crystal clear, and the improvisations are of a high quality. This is a landmark album which deserves to be widely heard.
Paul Ellis - Appears To Vanish (NH016)
As well as their Neu Harmony label, SMD have also produced two compilation CDs which highlight the best in British electronic music. Some of the musicians listed above are featured, along with T-Bass, Redshift, Paul Ward, John Dyson, Andy Pickford and many more. Compilation Disc #1 and Is There Anybody Out There are available from SMD [and Music & Elsewhere], Three quid per CD should be enough to bring you some musical nirvana. SMD also publish a regular newsletter and catalogue and they operate a membership scheme offering discounts on purchases from their label and catalogue. |
Jim Kirkwood - Tower Of Darkness (NH001)
Airsculpture - Impossible Geometries (NHCD 003)
Airsculpture - Attrition System (NH004)
Under
The Dome - The Demon
Arcane - Gather Darkness (NH010)
Weird - A Different Kind Of Normal (NH011)
Kubusschnitt - The Cube (NH013)
Mark Shreeve - Embryo
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This
was Neu Harmony’s debut album, and at the time (1993) must
have been an impressive introduction to the label. The music is
a mixture of short and lengthier tracks, most based on a strong
rhythmic backing with bright, irresistible melody lines interweaving
above that. From the cover illo and the track titles there appears
to be gothic or dark fantasy theme running through the album: The
Mad God, Perilous Ground, Time stream, Requiem For An Immortal,
Legion of Dawn, Forgotten Realms, The Dreaming Lord. Thankfully
there are no sleevenotes offering up a storyline, so you can make
up your own screenplay to match the epic style of the music. Jim
Kirkwood is a very able composer and musician and this is an impressive
album mixing influences of TD, Hawkwind and Kraftwerk together
into something very new.
This
was Asana's [aka David Barker] debut album for Neu Harmony back in
1994, and it is rather different to much of the music made by many
of NH's other artists. For a start Shrine wouldn't sound out
of place in the clubs, the music has a definite dance beat, and uses
repetitive sound voice samples and chants. Ideal for raves and the
chill-out tents at Glastonbury. Unlike Asana's later album Trikuti
with its strong sci-fi alien invasion conspiracy theme, Shrine
is sci-fi lite, with track titles such as Ascent, Jupiter, Scan
F, Radiant, Dream, Saviour, Shrine and Children of the Earth.
This is a fine album if perhaps a little anonymous in character, when
compared to Trikuti, but it should please those going through
withdrawal symptoms from a lack of Kraftwerk new material, and I did
enjoy it a lot.
This
was Airsculpture's debut album and somehow I'm not surprised to hear
all the hallmarks of their later albums already in place. Airsculpture
are a trio, Adrian Beasley, John Christian and Peter Ruczynski, though
when you hear the group in action you'd be very hard pressed to know
who is playing what on each track - imagine a six-handed creature
and perhaps you're almost there. Anyway, back to Impossible Geometries,
three tracks, the first is called Floe and is a twenty-five
minute tour de force of ambience and sequencer programming. It's arctic
ice for the first ten minutes then wham! [no, not the group] a sequencer
riff opens up the soundscape and we're off. The following tracks,
Impossible Geometries and Stranger Tractors, both follow
the same formula - slow gentle beginnings and gradually kicking up
a level some way in. Airsculpture are something very special - they're
original.
Europa
is another live recording, but this time one performed in front of
an audience in Holland. There are five tracks [though six show up
on the CD screen], all titleless, varying in length from six minutes
to twenty-four minutes, so a variety of soundscapes to immerse yourself
into. Part One starts with some swirling ambience that swishes
between the speakers for several minutes as various synths and sequencers
start to mould the sounds into something cohesive. It's all very dreamlike,
and it isn't until seven minutes in that a rhythmic sequencer riff
appears lifting the momentum of the music - from then it is freefall
ride as the three banks of synths interact lifting the music higher
and higher. Part Two again starts slow but a mid tempo sequencer
riff quickly comes in to push things along until the music is rocking.
Part Three again starts slow, building up atmosphere with a
variety of ambient sounds, allowing the melody lines to morph in slowly
for the climax. Part Four begins with a quasi-classical orchestral
sound mixed with ambient swirls, slowly resolving into an uptempo
riffathon with sequencers rocking away, only to die away again into
what can only be described as the ambience of an electronic jungle.
Part Five begins with an eerie almost choral intro that quickly
evolves into a raging sequencer riff which grows wilder by the second.
The final part is, I think, the encore, and pretty much summarises
all the musical moods and soundscapes visited throughout this outstanding
album. This is live music warts and all [though very few of them to
my ears!] and is an excellent example of all that is good about Airsculpture.
Under
The Dome consist of the duo Grant Middleton and Colin Anderson playing
an assortment of synths and guitars. The Demon Haunted World contains
four tracks, the opener Flüssiger Vier-Takter being most obviously
a homage to Tangerine Dream, with its beautifully layered cosmic 70's
sound - though I'm sure I heard a little tribute to Gary Numan's gothic
synth sounds as well. The Aeon's Day opens with some sumptuously
spacious [and swirling] ambient sounds, bringing to mind sounds rattling
around the cosmos. This continues for over four minutes until the
sequencers kick in with a pulsing cyclical rhythm and a crystal sounding
lead line begins a melody that takes over twenty minutes to complete.
The Bridge is another lengthy trip into spacious ambience,
before diving into cosmic winds and kicking into some rocking sequencer
riffing. The final track Hell opens with a touch of Hammer
Horror gothic: choral synths laying down huge slabs of Dantesque wailing
sounds from which short melody and rhythmic sequences start to appear,
lifting the music back up into space again. Overall, this is a very
fine album which conjures a lot of mind images and is getting played
quite often.
The
opening minutes of Paul Nagle's Lore album reminded me [a little]
of the sort of ambient backdrops that Brian Eno created on those groundbreaking
EG albums back in the 1979's. But then Chill Factor broadens
out with washes of Spanish guitar, violin and synth loops, along with
assorted percussion and beeps and boops until it takes on the air
of some Latin electronica. Anachronist starts very cosmic,
with a spaciousness that is impressive, this morphs into a gentle
sequencer loop fleshed out with choral synths and some Floydian guitars,
all rolling towards a grand climax before gently slowing down again
with some oriental sounding synths. Title track Lore continues
the oriental feel by opening with the sounds of a gong and chimes,
and then some four minutes in a lovely theme on synths appears taking
the listener on a flight of fancy. Final track Cascade mixes
the cosmic and oriental together into a section that is both tender
and reflective, then it kicks into a rocky pulsing sequence before
ending with some gentle cosmic vibes. This is certainly a very distinctive
and original album with much to recommend it, not least the sympathetic
accompaniment by fellow collaborators Tony Bateman, Andy Boland, Rick
Curran and Matthew Shepherd.
According
to the sleevenotes Arcane go back all the way to 1972 and hail from
one of electronic music's birthplaces, Dusseldorf, in Germany. Contemporaries
of Kraftwerk, Arcane struggled for success for five years, only to
fold when one of its three members died in 1977. The two survivors,
Gerhard Schreck and Hans-Ulrich Buchloh, reformed the band last year
and Gather Darkness is the result of their new collaboration.
Opening track Dystopian Fictions is a very melancholic slab
of sequencer rhythms, and the title track is even slower, harbouring
a very gothic feel. Indeed the whole album exudes an unyielding gothic
atmosphere, with sections of the music being eminently suitable for
a modern day 'Hammer Horror' - this is especially so on Requiem.
Despite the low key style of the music here, I rather like Gather
Darkness, it should suit those who like their music to brood a
bit.
Weird
are listed as Baron De Weird and Count De Weird on various keyboards
and guitars - so I think it's safe to assume we've got a right pair
of jokers here. Opening track Klaus To The Edge is a bubbling
sequencer riffer [with a good pun in the title], quite poppy in a
Magic Fly sort of way. Schaltzeit Nachtweit is a guitar-led
bit of ambience, 9VFE10M carries on in the same vein, though
with a much sparser feel to it. Tiefenfluss is another upbeat
sequencer rifferolla with some nice electric guitar soloing on top.
The title track slows things down to a simple echo-laden guitar led
slice of prime electronica. A Different Kind Of Normal is a
surprisingly jaunty sort of album, very uptempo but without the bass
heavy beats. Weird but wonderful.
It's
encouraging to see musicians still using the synthesiser to explore
sound and space, and not relegating it to the creation of moronic
dance beats. Hey, Rave On!?! No, Kubusschnitt are true sonic explorers
- The Cube should definitely please those who've not had enough
Tangerine Dream, as the Kubusschnitt sound closely follows the original
TD template: synths, synths and more synths - no guitars, saxes, etc.
The album's title track starts with some fine sequencer riffing that
slowly dies away into quiet spacey passages. Wormhole begins
with Ronnie 'Raygun' Reagan spouting forth about alien invasions and
Star Wars [his version], easing into some gentle melody lines and
beats. Ra is more spatial meanderings, very slow, very relaxing.
Track 4 is the magnum opus, a 27 minute intergalactic trip to Alpha
Three - a bit like travelling on that Pan Am space liner in 2001:
A Space Odyssey. Finally, Hypercube is a return/remix of track
one, but more rocky. Kubusschnitt are Andy Bloyce, Tom Coppens, Ruud
Heij and Jens Peschke, and long may they explore space. By the way,
Star Trek fans will love the album sleeve with its space art, and
the Borg-like cube...
Arcane
hail from Germany, which in 'electronica' terms is the motherland
for sequencer-led electronic music. Future Wreck is one of
those brooding, almost gothic monster albums that creep up on you
over the span of several listens to proclaim its greatness. Arcane
date back to the early 70's but this new album by surviving members
Gerhard Schreck and Hans-Ulrich Buchloh and an unidentified new member
is bang up to date with four lengthy tracks of sequencer riffing and
cosmic exploration. The title track opens with some gentle choral
flute lines that shift after a few minutes into the first sequencer
riff which then continually shift and mutate over the next twenty
minutes. The Plastic Eaters starts with pulsating electronic
heartbeat underlined by some eary bell sounds, this slowly increases
tempo, with new melody lines slowly adding to the mix, until a fast
sequencer riff and percussion kick in and take the track into flight.
Classic slow burn tactics that work beautifully. The final tracks,
The Visible Empty Man and Planet of the Blind, using
a mixture of the previous formulas are equally good. Future Wreck
is Arcane's most accessible album to date and I enjoyed it immensely.
This is the CD reissue of Mark Shreeve's
first album, dating back to 1980, and one has to admit that it shows.
The sound and music is very minimalist, the four tracks employ only
a few sonic voices to carry Shreeve's ideas, and one of these is a
rather irritating buzz-saw sound that takes a while to get used to.
Opening track The Keeper is a near thirty minute exploration
of this soundscape, rather chameleon-like, forever changing moods
and sounds. Impressive if you enjoy minimalism. Alive lives
up to its name and is certainly more lively, a simple sequencer piece
that goes around in circles for a couple of minutes. Embryo,
another lengthy track, starts with some very brooding synths, pulsing
under a cyclical slow lead line that eventually fades into something
much more upbeat twelve minutes or so in. Final track Iceflakes
is another slow, almost ambient piece, very reflective. Embryo
is a very impressive album, though extremely stark and not easily
approachable for the occasional EM listener.