He sent us a copy of his 2008 album Electronic Secret, a 10-part suite of electronic instrumentals that he describes as “Nice chill Electronic music with a touch of Jean Michel Jarre, Kitaro, Vangelis ….”

In other words – his music is inspired by the late 70’s-early 80’s golden age of synth music.

Of the influences that Henriksen notes, the most obvious is Jarre. Henriksen’s obvious affection for Jarre’s music may excite some and turn off others, but, for fans of classic synth music, Electronic Secret deserves attention on its own merits.

The album is made up of 10 songs in a continuous mix. The songs are melodically focused, with simple themes that are repeated with various instrumental combinations. Henriksen creates interest through tasteful arrangements and his choice of sounds, rather than from fiery solos.

Here’s a video of Glenn and his daughter Iselin performing Part 10 of Electronic Secret, in concert in 2008:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Electronic Secret has limited distribution as a CD – but you can get Henriksen’s album at Amazon, via the link above, as MP3s.

Here’s how the producers describe it:

A Rave is a Rhythmic Assault mixed with Visual Ecstasy and if you haven’t experienced one, you’re about to… It’s Saturday night in Los Angeles and 6 teenagers throughout the city are in search of the hottest Rave in the city– it’s the weekend and they’re ready to PARTY.

Over the course of less than one day, we see a portrait of these kids finding their way; their paths crossing in a universal setting…a big city with all the temptations, attractions and dangers.

Unfortunately, Rave is a craptacularly bad waste of film.

The movie fails to capture the attraction of electronic dance music and it fails to tell a compelling, believable story.

Here’s my plot summary:

A bunch of kids decide on impulse to go to a rave.

They all end up either: dead, mutilated, or traumatized for life.

Rave is just spectacularly awful, a heavy-handed anti-rave morality tale, devoid of even the cheesy appeal of something like Reefer Madness.

If you see this on DVD, it would make an excellent addition to your coaster collection.

I had the chance to see Nine Inch Nails show last night in Minneapolis.

Here’s the mini-review:

• This may bring out the haters – but for most of the show, NIN had a surprisingly straight-ahead arena rock sound;
• The show had four main sections; rock, electronic rock, Ghosts instrumentals and more rock;
• The visuals were stunning, the most artistic and impressive that I’ve ever seen at a rock concert;
• The focus was almost entirely on the songs; there weren’t any traditional solos and the visuals often obscured the musicians;
• For an EM fan – it was disappointing not to see/hear more of Alessandro Cortini. 

NIN was very tight and rocked hard, but the highlight for me was the instrumental breather in the middle – the visuals made this section wonderfully psychedelic. 

In a nutshell – the concert was well worth $60 for the tickets and a 4-hour drive.

• Bekki Williams will be releasing a trilogy of instrumental music albums based on Dante’s Inferno starting in 2009. Apparently there will be three albums released over a 12 month period, so one every 4 months, starting late in 2009, which means the releases will go on into 2010. 
• Electronic music composer David Wright will be performing in the USA in 2009 with guitarist Klaus Cosmic Hoffmann. The first concert will be at the Gathering concerts on Saturday April 18th. Although no further concerts have been announced yet, it is rumoured that a Wisconsin concert is being discussed. 
• The new Robert Fox studio album Evergreen is now available. They call the album a “Majestic tour de force”. Robert Fox is one of the leading UK electronic music composers and he also is -founder of the electronic rock band Code Indigo. 

Atmosphere

Atmosphere is a concept album, based on the layers of atmosphere that surround the Earth, the various types of clouds that are encountered within each layer and the sounds of weather that might occur at each layer.

The tracks are arranged to follow the layers of the atmosphere, as if you were taking a trip from the earth into space.

The “atmosphere” concept isn’t heavy-handed, but serves as a framework for Osenbruggen’s music, which is electronic music in the synth music tradition of artists like Tangerine Dream, 80’s Jan Hammer & Jean Michel Jarre. The music has a symphonic electronica texture with an emphasis on traditional analog-style sounds.

The tracks on Atmosphere are very melodic, without being pop-ish. 

One of the highlights of the album is Stratocumulus. It features a sequenced synth bassline, a string/brass synth melody line and phased synth strings. Synth.nl builds on this with tasteful use of electronic percussion, effects and a bit of sampled ambient effects. 

Another highlight is Allocumulus, which has an almost hymnlike quality. It begins by stating the theme with muted synth strings, accompanied by subtle percussive effects. It then repeats the theme in a series of variations, repeating once in an arpeggiated version, and then building to a broader statement of the theme with electronic rhythms and new instrumentation of the melody. Osenbruggen brings back the arpeggiated variation on the theme and then builds the piece back up to another peak. 

Jarre fans may smile a bit when hearing the track Mesosphere, which echoes the sounds of Oxygene and Equinoxe with its use of heavily phased synth strings and a melodic bassline. 

Another highlight is Allostratus. It’s built around a descending bassline that repeats throughout most of the piece. Osenbruggen gives it a modern feel by using multiple layered basslines and electronic percussion, without taking it into dance music territory. Osenbruggen adds interest through effective used of synth orchestration and the use of several breaks. 

Overall, Synth.nl’s Atmosphere is a treat for synth fans. Osenbruggen’s style of symphonic electronica will appeal to fans of classic synth music & space music artists of the late 70’s and 80’s –  but it’s not too hard to imagine these tracks being remixed as dance music, too. 

You can preview Synth.nl’s Atmosphere below, and you can find out more about Osenbruggen’s music at his blog and the Synth.nl site. 

Brotherhood is an unusual release. The box set comes with two CDs. The first CD is a greatest hits collection, spanning the CB’s 13 year career. It also comes with a new track, Keep My Composure. 

It wasn’t that long ago that the Chemical Brothers put out their last greatest hits release, Singles 93-03. And there’s a lot of overlap between the two collections. 

Judged for its own merits, disc one is clearly a great collection of some of the most influential electronic dance music of the last fifteen years. What’s really interesting with this release, though, is the second disc, which contains Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10.

According to the band, “Since 1996 Electronic Battle Weapons have acted as the laboratories for The Chems devious musical experiments and laid the rhythmic and melodic foundations for numerous tracks as well as providing some of the duos most formidable mixes. Until now Electronic Battle Weapons 1-9 have only been available on various limited formats and this is the first time they have been widely available.”

To these ears, Electronic Battle Weapons is some of the most interesting work that the Chemical Brothers have done. The tracks are much longer than their singles, giving them time to stretch out, and are less tied to traditional song structure than singles. 

The tracks don’t stray far from the Chemical Brothers’ familiar style, but they seem to highlight the best facets of the group’s sound: massive beats, great synth basslines and aggressive noise effects. Highlights of the disc include Electronic Battle Weapon 4 (Freak of the Week), Electronic Battle Weapon 7 (Acid Children) and Electronic Battle Weapon 9. 

Extra discs are often throwaway remixes and second rate tracks. With Brotherhood, the Chemical Brothers give you their greatest hits on disc 1 – but the best stuff is on disc 2. 

Essential listening for Chemical Brothers fans.

TRACKLISTING:

DISC 1
01. Galvanize
02. Hey Boy Hey Girl
03. Block Rockin’ Beats
04. Do It Again
05. Believe
06.Star Guitar
07. Let Forever Be (Featuring Noel Gallagher)
08. Leave Home
09. Keep My Composure (Featuring Spank Rock)
10. Saturate
11. Out Of Control
12. The Golden Path – (Featuring The Flaming Lips)
13. Setting Sun – (Featuring Noel Gallagher)
14. Chemical Beats

DISC 2
1-10 Electronic Battle Weapons

The last Sasha album we reviewed, Airdrawndagger, was an artist album, rather than a DJ mix. It got a lukewarm reception with some, despite being an interesting artist album. Involver 2, though, is a return trip to a world of carefully blended tracks that stretch the idea of a DJ mix.

On Involver 2, Sasha thinks well beyond the idea of mixing tracks together – towards crafting a music mix with an arch. Sasha draws on the artist chops he honed with Airdrawndagger, while also skillfully blending a variety of tracks by artists ranging from Ladytron to Thom York.

Sasha kicks things off nicely, blending Badger’s environmental/ambient track Intro smoothly into Telefon Tel Aviv’s You Are The Worst Thing In The World. While You Are The Worst Thing is a vocal track, Sasha stretches out the instrumental beginning, creating an long slow build to the first peak of the mix.

Next up is a trio of trance tracks, Flesh, Eclipse and Lowlife. This section is one of the highlights of the album, combining the three tracks together in a creamy hypnotic blend. Sasha then slows things down for a breather with Charlie May’s Midnight, but cranks things right back up with Apparat’s wonderfully Arcadia. Listen to the bassline on Arcadia closely and enjoy the rhythmic weirdness.

The next section of the album focuses on vocal tracks. Sasha makes some interesting choices, throwing together the likes of M83, Ladytron and Thom Yorke. Yorke’s track is the standout of this section, with its combination of ambient vocals and driving rhythms.

Sasha’s track 3 Little Piggies takes things back to Airdrawndagger territory. It’s a trance track that recalls the 80’s synth music of groups like Tangerine Dream – just with more driving beats.

The last track on Involver 2, Engineer’s Sometimes I Realise, is solid track – but doesn’t cap off the album as well as I would have liked. As a result, the album feels like it peaks early and has an overly extended dénouement.

On Involver 2, Sasha offers up a polished mix and takes fans back to proven territory. While I would really like to hear more of Sasha’s artist tracks, Involver 2 delivers the goods for fans of the original Involver.

Note to Sasha: Global Underground sends out their review disks with the spoken phrase “Global Underground Promotional Copy” mixed randomly and loudly over your mixes. It really detracts from the blending of tracks and the shape of the release. This may be a way of fighting piracy, but it’s like protecting a painting by rubber-stamping your name all over it.

Tracks:

• Intro Badger
• You Are The Worst Thing In The World – Telefon Tel Aviv
• Flesh Rone
• Eclipse – Sasha vs Ray LaMontagne
• Lowlife – Sasha vs Adam Parker
• Midnight – Charlie May
• Arcadia Apparat
• That You Might – Home Video
• Destroy Everything You Touch Ladytron
• Couleurs – M83
• The Eraser – Thom Yorke
• 3 Little Piggys Sasha
• Sometimes I Realise – Engineers

It’s a dual CD collection that’s made to order for fans of psychedelic trance. The first CD is Atomic Pulse’s take on tracks by Infected Mushroom, Skazi, Astrix, Protoculture, Fatali, Shanti, G.B.U and Pop Stream. Atomic Pulse’s production is first rate, and the tracks are seriously propulsive. 

The second CD features multiple remixes of Atomic Pulse’s New World Order, from Echotek, Brisker & Magitman and Protoculture. Treat this is as a bonus CD. While the remixes are fine, the “new world order” sample was new about ten years ago. It’s interesting to hear the different remixers’ takes on the track, though. 

Highlights of the CD include Drive In – which is sort of a prototypical psytrance track; and Into Orbit, which takes psytrance into world music territory. There’s lots of intersting trance synth work throughout the CD, and Atomic Pulse never stops for a breather, cranking out 10 driving beats after another. 

You can find out more about Atomic Pulse at his MySpace page.

Tracks:

CD 1 :

1. G.B.U – Pura Vida(Atomic Pulse RMX)

2. Atomic Pulse – New World Order part.2

3. Protoculture – Driven(Atomic Pulse RMX)

4. Skazi – Revolution(Atomic Pulse RMX)

5. Astrix – Solaris part.1(Atomic Pulse RMX)

6. Infected Mushroom – Cities Of The Future (Atomic Pulse RMX)

7. Shanti – Even Star (Atomic Pulse RMX)

8. Pop Stream – Into Orbit (Atomic Pulse RMX)

9. Oforia – Spiders (Atomic Pulse Rmx)

10. Fatali – Flip (Atomic Pulse Rmx)

CD 2:

1. New World Order Pt.2 – Radio Mix

2. New World Order Pt.2 – Protoculture RMX

3. New World Order Pt.2 – Echotek RMX

4. New World Order Pt.2 – Brisker & Magitman Rmx

5. New World Order Pt.2 – Video Clip 

Rifflet is a new site you can have some fun with those songs that you’ve never gotten around to finishing.

The concept involves the uploading of something called a “rifflet,” which is a piece of a song – like a bass line, a guitar riff, a drum beat, or something else altogether. Each rifflet must also be less than 60 seconds long. Members of the site can then browse through these “proto-songs,” and combine them with other rifflets they find or even just incorporate them into their own original music.

Rifflets can be played, tagged, rated, commented on, and downloaded and each rifflet’s page will show the artist, title, genre, length, description, and the format of the recording.

via RRW

There’s a 2008 Nine Inch Nails Tour coming up this fall, and it’s clear that NIN’s using the The Slip as a promo to build interest in its upcoming tour.

“Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years – this one’s on me,” says Trent Reznor, and a fine thank you it is. While Ghosts I-IV (see our review) was an interesting (and successful) experiment, The Slip is a full-bore Nine Inch Nails album.

The album is a mix of environmental/ambient tracks & rockers, with a piano ballad thrown in for good measure.

The Slip gets off to a slow start with 999,999, an ambient track that sounds a bit Eraserhead industrial noise, and wouldn’t have been out of place on the Ghosts I-IV release. It quickly morphs into 1,000,000, a straight-ahead NIN rocker. It’s as blistering as anything NIN has done.

NIN keeps things moving with Letting You, and the more dance oriented Discipline. Discipline has sort of a post-disco feel, and ends with the sort of combined verse + chorus that Paul McCartney honed to a science with his 70’s Wings releases. Except this one is about needing Discipline.

Echoplex didn’t do much for me – we’ve heard all the sounds and themes before from NIN. Maybe a remix could help this one.

Head Down moves things back into hardcore NIN territory. It sounds like Reznor is running the drums through one of Metasonix’ bizarro tube distortion units. Wailing guitars, shouted choruses and alternating loud/soft sections turn this into a likely concert anthem.

Lights in the Sky is the piano ballad I mentioned earlier. It’s an attractive track, despite the crappy out of tune piano and despite the fact that Reznor has a relatively weak voice. The track works because it’s intimate and raw – you feel like you’re sitting next to Reznor as he sings it.

Lights in the Sky blends into Corona Radiata – which is one of the highlights of the album. It’s a simple ambient drone piece, but it’s really gorgeous. The first half of it wouldn’t have been out of place on Brian Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land. The second half gets a slow, distorted beat that feels like an irresistible force.

The Four of Us are Dying is another gorgeous track – but this time it’s gorgeous industrial noise. The track has a drum machine line that kicks it off and that runs through it, over which mellow, but powerful guitar and synth lines are woven.

The album finishes off with Demon Seed, a tight, clean rocker. It builds to a massive climax, dies away to almost nothing, and then comes back for another minute of rocking out. It’s a satisfying end to the album.

Overall, NIN’s new release The Slip is an excellent release. It delivers all the things you expect from NIN, it builds on their last release, Ghosts I-IV, and it even has some a couple of tracks that are likely to burn up some air time.

In addition to being a great free release, The Slip is released with a Creative Commons license – which means you can share the album with your friends, put it in your podcast or remix it. And, since you’re my friend, I’ve got one of the highlights of release, 1,000,000, available for you to download below.

You can download The Slip via the NIN site. Email registration is required. The album is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. All downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.

We’ve reviewed a couple of other albums by Padilla, The Light In The Shadow & Genesis. While his last two releases had more of an ambient or space music feel, Below The Mountain shows Padilla’s classic synth music side.

Fans of the Berlin School electronic music of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream and of the classic seventies synth music of Michael Stearns and Steve Roach will find plenty to enjoy here.

The tracks on Below the Mountain explore various combinations of drones and modular-style sequences. Some, like Current and Wandering Though, have more of a West coast space music feel. Other tracks, like Woven Planet and Endless Road, have a more Berlin School feel.

Woven Planet is one of the highlights of the album. It starts with a sequenced bass that’s treated with a analog tape-style sync’d echo. Over this, Padilla layers muted synth string melodies that float across the stereo soundstage. The track builds as Padilla evolves the bass sequence and modulates the bass synth filter, bringing focus on the bassline and then fading it back down. A second sequence joins the first, and they interlock and dance with their echoed reflections. The track brought Michael Hoenig’s Departure from the Northern Wasteland to mind.

Another highlight is Endless Road, which is reminiscent of Thief-era Tangerine Dream. A simple bass sequence carries the track along, while other synth and percussive sequences fade in and out. The result is an entrancing, constantly shifting collage of sound.

Craig Padilla’s Below The Mountain is a welcome journey through classic synth music styles that proves that they still offer a lot of room for exploration and creativity.

Tracks:

• Currents (10:01)
• Woven Planet (4:51)
• Wandering Thought (5:42)
• Endless Road (4:43)
• Windspell (18:37)
• First Light (7:30)
• Alturas (22:37)

The release is a double-CD set of remixes of iiO’s 2002 club hit Rapture. Does anybody really need 18 remixes of any track?

After giving the release a few listens, though, I’ve changed my attitude.

Rapture Reconstructed brings together some of the strongest talent in the world of club remixes and showcases what a great remixer can do with a strong track. There are versions by Armin Van Buuren, Starkillers, Paul Van Dyk and Deep Dish – and that’s just getting started. Hardware & Orue take the track into electro land, and the Lametta Made2Chill Remix turns Rapture into a chillout slow dance.

If you’re interested in remixing, iiO’s Rapture Reconstructed is a case study in how it’s done.

Van Buuren’s remix shows how he can take a song that’s already a strong club track and make it even harder and tighter. It also shows how you can stretch an intro to three minutes – as long as the typical pop song – and still keep things moving.

Starkillers turn in four remixes – all of them different, but also all with a Starkillers twist.

The highlight of the disk is Deep Dish’s Space Remix. Deep Dish take Rapture and slap it up, flip it and rub it down, dropping the vocals and stretching the track into a 10:57 techno house opus.

18 versions of one song isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea. If you’re interested in remixing, though iiO’s Rapture Reconstructed isn’t just a fantastic collection of remixes of a classic house track, it’s like going to remix school.

The second CD is also an enhanced CD that contains two versions of the Blade Runner-esque Rapture video. Unfortunately, the video is presented in a fairly low resolution – not much better than what you’d get from YouTube.

Tracks:

Disc: 1
1. Reconstruction [Starkillers Dirt Girl Made Single Edit]
2. Reconstruction [Starkillers Dirty Girl Remix]
3. Reconstruction [Starkillers Undone Made Single Edit]
4. Reconstruction [Starkillers Undone Remix]
5. Reconstruction [Hardware & Orue Electro Remix]
6. Reconstruction [Hardware & Orue Electro Dub]
7. Reconstruction [Friscia & Lamboy Remix]
8. Reconstruction [Friscia & Lamboy Dub]
9. Reconstruction [Lametta Harmony Remix]
10. Reconstruction [Lametta MADE2CHILL Remix]

Disc: 2
1. Reconstruction [Armin Van Buuren Remix]
2. Reconstruction [Paul Van Dyk Remix]
3. Reconstruction [Deep Dish Space Remix]
4. Reconstruction [Riva Remix]
5. Reconstruction [Creamer & K Remix]
6. Reconstruction [Aloud Remix]
7. Reconstruction [Soulside Remix]
8. Reconstruction [Original Extended Mix]
9. Rapture [Limited Edit][*][Multimedia Track]

Ojos De Brujo (Eyes of the Wizard) is a Barcelona-based world fusion group, with eight members that play everything from flamenco guitar to tablas to turntables. Guest on the release include Faada Freddy from the Senegalese hip-hop collective Daara J, Indian fusioneers Prithpal Rajput and Nitin Sawhney, Cuban pianist Roberto Carcàsses, flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela and Spanish vocalist Martirio.

My Spanish isn’t good enough to follow along with the lyrics, but Marina Abad’s vocals are striking and powerful. She’s equally at home singing melodically, with punk intensity or rhythmically chanting. The instrumentalists are equally amazing – tight and unpredictable.

Best of all, you never know where the songs are going. Ojos De Brujo stop on a dime, shift gears and get their freak on without getting self-indulgent with their fusion. No matter what they do, it keeps your attention.

Ojos De Brujo’s Techarí is world fusion at its best – adventurous and vibrant and without any cheesy samples.

The release comes with a second CD that includes a gorgeous PDF booklet of the song lyrics and an interactive Flash animation with trippy videos for four of the tracks. The fantastic packaging and nice extras push Techarí over the top, making it a great release.

Tracks:
1. Color
2. Sultanas De Merkaillo
3. Todo Tiende
4. Runalf
5. l Comfort No Reconforta
6. Tanguillos Marineros
7. Silencio
8. No Somos Maquinas
9. Bailaores
10. Corre Lola Corre
11. Feedback
12. Piedras Vs. Tanques
13. Respira
14. Nina

While it’s great to see techno getting bent and adapted, not all off Juno Reactor’s attempts to push its range are successful.

The first track on Gods & Monsters, Inca Steppa, starts out promising, with a driving synth bassline. It quickly turns into a vocal number, though, marred by weak lyrics. The music is all over the place, too, with spy/surf guitar, theremin-style synth warbles and a bit of a reggae feel. I don’t know where this track was going, but it doesn’t seem to have arrived in one piece.

The second track, Tokyo Dub, is a slow number that sounds less dub than soul. Despite great sounds and production and a fantastic singer, the track feels too long after 30 seconds, with lame lyrics again the culprit. The track might have been interesting if Reactor had actually done some bizarro dub tricks and effects, but instead the track just goes on and on.

While the first two tracks aren’t particularly promising, somewhere in the third track, Las Vegas Future Past, Reactor seems to find their groove.

The track starts out quietly, with a sort of jazzy techno feel. A horn section plays a swinging melody before the track transitions into some more respectable techno territory. Finally, the track crescendos to a sort of bebop trumpet jam at the end.

Mind of the Free continues the jazz-influenced excursion. The awesome pianist Mike Garson improvises over a backgroup of muted synth pads and percussion. The second half of the track features female modern jazz vocals & male spoken word. The result is more a jazz improv feel than techno.

The track Immaculate Conception is where the CD first really takes off. The track combines a live band feel with strings and sequenced techno synths. The result is not to far off from the sound of some of Juno
Reactor’s Matrix work. The track builds nicely to a climax, filled with crashing percussion and distorted guitars.

Another track that should jump out for Juno Reactor fans is Tanta Pena. It again combines sequenced synths with strings, vocals and live band elements to create a massive sound.

The final two tracks feature Ben Watkins’ vocals, and stray pretty afar from what you might expect. The Perfect Crime has an almost Dead Can Dance vibe to it, while Pretty Girl has an country hymn feel. Watkins’ vocals are great, and lyrically, these two tracks are as good as anything on the album.

However, both tracks, especially Pretty Girl, don’t sound like Juno Reactor tracks. If you like to hear artists do something different, you’ll probably like these two tracks. If you’d rather just hear Juno Reactor plays some friggin techno, you’ll probably be skipping these tracks.

Overall, Gods & Monsters continues the progressive world techno sound Juno Reaktor helped create, while also stretching into some new territory. Juno Reaktor won’t please everybody with this release, but it’s great to hear artists reach for something new.

Credits:

• Artwork Design – Squalis
• Artwork Illustration – Koji Morimoto
• Bass – Dr. Das
• Drum Programming – Ramjac
• Drum Programming, Guitar, Keyboards, Engineer – Ben Watkins
• Additional Drums – Django
• Drums, Percussion – Greg Ellis , Mabi Thobejane
• Engineer – Adz, Chris Lewis
• Guitar – Sugizo
• Keyboards – Scarlet
• Sonar – Rudy Koppl
• Sound Forager – Xavier Morel
• Piano – Mike Garson
• Trumpet in Las Vegas Future Past – Byron Wallen
• Guitar in City Of The Sinful – Steve Stevens
• Darduk Flute, ney and zorn in Tanta Pena – Tigran Aleksanyan
• Acoustic guitar in Perfect Crime – Eduardo Niebla
• Vocals in Perfect Crime and Pretty Girl – Ben Watkins
• Vocals in Inca Steppa, Tokyo Dub, Mind Of The Free and City Of The Sinful – Ghetto Priest
• Female vocals in Inca Steppa, Perfect Crime and Pretty Girl – Taz
• Alexander
• Vocals in City Of The Sinful – Angelica
• Vocals in Tanta Pena – Yasmin Levy
• Written-By, Producer – Juno Reactor

Tracks:

• Inca Steppa (7:45)
• Tokyo Dub (7:08)
• Las Vegas Future Past (5:59)
• Mind Of The Free (6:13)
• Immaculate Cruxifiction (7:38)
• City Of The Sinful (4:43)
• Tanta Pena (5:51)
• Perfect Crime (6:24)
• Pretty Girl (5:28)

Apparently it uses RFID embedded in the pieces that act as triggers.

Here’s the official description:

Zoundz creates a fusion of self- composed music with an accompanying light show. With it, users can create musical light shows never seen before. They can create their own riffs by placing one of Zoundz TM’ pawns on an interactive “hot spot” on the sound board. Each pawn associates with the sound it makes and by placing them on different locations and in different combinations, users can compose music all their own.

The music portion can be fine tuned with the mode switch which enables users to adjust the tempo of the music, raise and lower the volume, increase or decrease an echo, or sustain and draw out specific sounds. Each interactive “hot spot” lights up when a pawn is placed on it and will groove to the tempo of your music.

The color of the light also reflects what type of music the pawn produces with red indicating a sharper tone while blue reflects softer more soothing sounds.

Here are a couple of videos that show the Zoundz in action.

This looks like it could have great circuit-bending potential. Reminds me a lot of the AudioCubes, too!

van der Wouden credits a variety of synths for his sound – including CRUMAR Bit 99, AKAI AX73, Roland JX3p, YAMAHA SY77, Roland AJ2, KURZWEIL K2500r, EMU E5000ultra, KORG Trinity and KORG T3. However, he gravitates towards classic synth sounds, featuring classic Moog-style sequences and Mellotron-style vocal samples.

In addition to building on Schulze’s vintage sound, van der Wouden uses similar forms for his tracks. Shulze’s music is very meditative and often follows a form typical in Indian classical music: a slow meditative introduction (alap), which introduces the mode, followed by a rhythmic section (jor).

In the track Pin Drop, for example, van der Wouden begins the track with drones and a variety of spacey synth effects. About a third of the way into the track, an old-school constantly changing bass sequence kicks in. Over this, van der Wouden layers a solo using a percussive synth sound, along with washes of synth strings and Melletron vocal washes.

From the title of the album, Universal Quiet, and the titles of several of the tracks, Go Quiet and Get Quieter, you might expect the music to be minimal ambient. In fact, it’s frequently very propulsive, with driving synth basses. van der Wouden effectively balances reflective sections with more aggressive sections.

The synth music style that René van der Wouden explores on Universal Quiet isn’t as cutting edge as it once was, but it’s one that justifiably loved by many electronic music fans. If you like classic seventies synth music, Universal Quiet is an album you don’t want to miss.

You can preview a track from Universal Quiet below. More samples are available at the René van der Wouden site.

Tracks:

• In Silence [11:04]
• Pin Drop [17:44]
• Be Quiet [10:42]
• Go Quiet [9:46]
• Get Quieter [9:41]

It’s another great release on the AD Label, which is home to Robert Fox, Code Indigo, Ashok Prema, Richard Bone and many others.

Momentum is a studio reworking of music Wright performed at a recent Gatherings concert in the US. Here’s how Wright explains the genesis of the album:

“The music on Momentum came out of a 2007 concert in Philadelphia, USA, where I intended to premier music from a new studio album Dreams and Distant Moonlight.

But things didn’t go according to plan and the day before the concert I changed the set in favour of a mainly improvised one. The decision was an instinctive artistic reaction to the wonderful surroundings, people and venue that prompted a desire to experiment and do something completely different for the occasion.

It was also helped somewhat by having access to a powerful Alesis Andromeda A6 synth, (courtesy of Radio host and concert organizer Chuck van Zyl) which helped take my rehearsals into new musical territory.

And so, quite unintentionally, Momentum was conceived and presented in my first Stateside appearance”

Wright packs about 70 minutes of music, made up 13 tracks, into the album. The tracks flow into each other, forming two larger sections. The music ranges from ambient music and environmental sound to percolating downtempo electronica.

Throughout the album, Wright explores beautiful, complex electronic sounds. But, while much of the music is mellow and relaxing, Wright avoids the trap of getting overly sweet.

Two tracks on the first half of the album, Desire – Parts I & II, are so gently and lushly orchestrated that you just want to wallow in the sound of it. But Wright also skillfully weaves in sections like Panic Attack that are edgier and darker.

While the first half of the album leans more towards symphonic electronica, the second half contrasts ambient pieces like Secrets In The Mist with the more driving, modern synth music sound of Momentum.

While I hear shades of Blade Runner era Vangelis on this album, especially on tracks like Panic Attack and Momentum 3, Wright’s own distinct voice shapes the entire release.

Momentum builds on what Wright’s done previously, but it also moves his music forward, with some of his most sensual music ever. The music has beautiful melodies and lush sounds, but they are balanced with surprises in his arrangements and sounds that border on noise.

I really like David Wright’s Momentum – to my ears, it’s his best release yet.

You can preview Momentum at the AD site, and other work at his page on MySpace.

The group is offering the release in a variety of versions, and is giving away a selection of free tracks, Ghosts I, as a teaser. You can also download the collection officially via BitTorrent.

The download includes:

• DRM-free MP3s, encoded with LAME at 320kbps
• A 40-page pdf book about the release
• A digital extras pack with wallpapers, icons, etc

The entire collection can be downloaded for $5, or you can order a $10 2 CD set and other deluxe and limited edition versions.

While the release is definitely an interesting experiment in distribution, it’s less interesting as a musical experiment.Ghosts is basically an informal collection of improvised instrumentals that lean towards that dark ambient and industrial sound. Some tracks echo Eno’s Ambient 2 & Ambient 4, others Angelo Badalamenti’s soundtrack for Twin Peaks, and others have more of a NIN-lite feel.

Here’s what NIN’s Trent Reznor has to say about the music:

This music arrived unexpectedly as the result of an experiment. The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as… something.

The end result is a wildly varied body of music that we’re able to present to the world in ways the confines of a major record label would never have allowed .

This may bring out the haters – but there’s nothing on Ghosts I-IV that’s as challenging or original as the dark ambient work of Eno, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Steve Roach or many others.

That’s OK, though. From Reznor’s comments, Ghosts is stuff that probably wouldn’t have been released as a traditional album. It’s just Nine Inch Nails trying out something different and seeing where it goes.

The release is already a success for NIN – they’ve sold out of their $300 deluxe edition. If Ghosts I-IV gets people to open their ears to dark instrumental and ambient artists, it’s a success in my book, too.

The package captures a 30th-anniversary live multimedia performance of Oxygene, and features a 5.1 DVD of the performance, a 3D video version of the performance, the new version of Oxygene on CD, 3D glasses and lots of extras. It’s nicely produced and packaged and a great deal for what it costs.

The video is fairly straightforward. Jarre and several other electronic musicians play a massive collection of classic synths, set up in a bare warehouse-like room. The focus is on the gear and the performers, not on fancy lighting or visuals.

Behind the performers, there’s a screen that displays old-school computer graphics. The graphics are far from cutting edge – but they work well with the music, which is classic 70’s synth spaciness. It’s not obvious from the standard version of the video, but the graphics are 3D.

They graphics themselves are available on a second version of the performance on the DVD. This features the 3D graphics presented full-screen with the live version of Oxygene. You have to wear a pair of cardboard 3D glasses to watch it. It’s a cheesy gimmick, but it’s still fun.

Finally, the DVD also offers a 3D version version of the live performance. I found this to be the least interesting version of the performance – but some may like the full-immersion effect.

The inclusion of three different versions of the video is great, because it significantly expands the potential for repeat viewing.

The performance itself is fascinating. There are no pyrotechnic performances, because the music isn’t virtuosic in any traditional sense. But the video is filled with long, intimate shots of the performers playing an amazing variety of synths. This reveals a variety of ways that Jarre manipulates the controls of the synthesizers to add expressiveness to his performances.

The performance is also interesting from a gear perspective; it features dozens of classic modular Moog and Arp synthesizers, theremin, Doepfer ribbon control, EMS synths, Mellotron, early sequencers, string synths and even a few current Moogs.

Musically, the performance stays very close to the original. At times, it’s indistinguishable from the original, while other times it sounds like a very faithful version.

One difference is that Jarre expands the work with some introductions and variations. None of the additions are jarring, though. They expand the piece to flesh out the DVD nicely.

Jarre makes good use of 5.1 space, with some interesting spatial effects that are completely in keeping with the spirit of the original.

In addition to the various versions of the performances, there are some fun extras on the DVD, including gear shots, a making of video and a tour of the gear, with Jarre as your guide.

The only disappointment for me was that the CD of the performance disposes with the 30th anniversary additions, instead matching the original performance. I would have preferred a version that included the full performance, instead of one that matches the original CD so closely.

All in all, it’s a 70’s synth music geekfest. I thought that the video might be cheesy – but it actually ended up giving me a greater appreciation for Jarre’s style of music and what he achieved with the gear of the day.

Tracks:

Disc: 1

1. Prelude [Dolby Digital 5.1]

2. Oxygene, Pt. 1 [Dolby Digital 5.1]

3. Oxygene, Pt. 2 [Dolby Digital 5.1]

4. Oxygene, Pt. 3 [Dolby Digital 5.1]

5. Variation I [Dolby Digital 5.1]

6. Oxygene, Pt. 4 [Dolby Digital 5.1]

7. Variation II [Dolby Digital 5.1]

8. Oxygene, Pt. 5 [Dolby Digital 5.1]

9. Variation III [Dolby Digital 5.1]

10. Oxygene, Pt. 6 [Dolby Digital 5.1]

Disc: 2

1. [CD-Rom Track]

1 Real combines traditional Brazilian pop arrangements with DJ-style mixing. The tracks are full of afro-Brazilian percussion, brass and chants.

More Sergio than Suba.

While Dolores’ sound is fairly traditional, it’s clear from the start of the CD that Dolores will deliver an up-to-date vibe. The first track, Deixa Falar, kicks off with what sounds like a dog barking in the street – except that it’s barking in rhythm.

Throughout the CD, infections rhythms, carnival-style brass and syncopated melodies conspire to get you dancing, or at least smiling. If you’re into world dance music or Brazilian electronica, DJ Dolores’ 1 Real should be right up your alley.

If you’re not familiar with DJ Dolores, you can preview his sound with the free track,  Oslodum, below, which was released a couple of years ago with a Creative Commons license.

Tracks:

• Deixa Falar
• Tocando o Terror.
• Cala Cala
• Proletariado
• Wakaru
• Shakespeare
• J P S
• Flying Horse
• Numeros
• Mutant Child – Run Run Run
• Saudade. The Mind Inspector

Bonus track: Danger Global Warming by The Blacksmoke Organisation – DJ Dolores remix. Bonus video: DJ Dolores presents 1 Real and Recife.