sequences

Tangerine Dream is a seven-time Grammy nominated German electronic music group band, and a phenonemon of synth music.

The group, founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese, right, has gone through multiple changes over the years, but has managed to stay active and relevent in the world of synth music, releasing 100+ CDs, including studio, live and soundtrack recordings.

During that time, a variety of influential synth artists have been members of Tangerine Dream, including Klause Schulze, Christopher Franke, Peter Baumann and Johannes Schmoelling.

The early line up of Froese, Franke and Baumann is considered by many to be the group’s most exciting period. The group pioneered the Berlin School style of synth music – music built using modular synthesizers and other early electronic music gear that uses driving sequences to create a propulsive rhythmic drive.

While this period in the band’s history is probably their most influential, Tangerine Dream is best known to a general audience from the group’s many soundtracks, which include Risky Business, Firestarter and Legend.

Tangerine Dream has a major web presence. Their official site is very deep and features their music, a discography and information about the groups history.

Tangerine Dream is celebrating their 40th Anniversary in 2007 with the release of their latest album, Madcap’s Flaming Duty. Read more…

Mota Atma is a 2003 soundtrack by Tangerine Dream to a very obscure movie. While the movie may have disappeared into oblivion, though, the soundtrack is classic Tangerine Dream.

On first listen, Mota Atma seems like it could be a long-lost recording from TD’s glory days. The tracks strongly recall TD’s classic soundtracks from 20-25 years ago, especially Thief. If you’re a fan of early TD, this could easily be the groups most rewarding listen in years.

The CD features the father-son makeup of TD, Edgar and Jerome Froese. The music is built up of layers of sequences and drones over which the Froeses have added textural synth melodies. The synth timbres echo early 80’s TD – largely analog-sounding, but also with some vintage digital TD sounds. TD lalso adds sampled choral voices and other effects, so that their sound palette does not seem either vintage or trendy, but timeless. Read more…

Beyond Silence is the latest CD from electronic/ambient artist Alpha Wave Movement. The album is a set of modern electronica instrumentals, infused with the sounds and forms of classic synth music.

Alpha Wave Movement is one of the recording names of Gregory Kyryluk, who also records as part of Thought Guild. As Alpha Wave Movement, Kyryluk explores a range of classic synth music styles, including Berlin-school and West-coast ambient.

Read more…

The Tenth Planet is the latest CD from synth artist David Wright, and captures the music from two live planetarium performances that he did earlier this year.

Wright is a UK keyboardist, synthesist and composer, and his style grows out of the classic tradition of Berlin-school synth artists like Tangerine Dream and the more melodic approach of synth artists like Vangelis. He’s also the founder of the AD Music label, which specializes in synth music, and part of the ambient/electronic rock band Code Indigo and the synth duo Callisto.

Synthtopia has reviewed several of Wright’s earlier CDs, including his solo CDs Deeper and Continuum, and Code Indigo releases Timecode and Chill.

Read more…

Spheric Music, Das Label für Elektronische Musik, recently sent us a “best of” CD by Lambert Ringlage, Essential.

Lambert (Ringlage performs under his first name) has been creating and publishing music since the late 1980’s. He published several solo cassette tapes independently early on, and since the early 90’s he has published multiple CDs. Lambert’s not well-known in the US, but his music is available from Amazon and other Internet music stores.

Essential is a collection of tracks, released in 2000, of solo synth music. Most of the tracks are taken from earlier albums, but there are also two previously unreleased tracks, Floating In Magic and Glider.

The tracks on Essential are in the classic synth-music style; while they are full of synths and drum machines, they bear little influence of more recent electronica. Throughout the CD, Lambert uses layers of bright interlocking synth sequences, blending analog and digital synths and spicing them here and there with samples.

Highlights of the CD include SUN, a hypnotic, sequence-driven track; Two Worlds, which offers a break from the sequences and explores a more ambient, reflective mood, before building into a more driving second half; and White Light, which recalls the Hyperborea days of TD.

Fans of Elektronische Musik, especially the early digital sound of Berlin-school artists like Tangerine Dream, will want to check out Lambert. There are sample tracks of his music at the Spheric Music site.

Tracks:

• Light Sky
• Sun
• Successive Pictures
• Energetic
• Two Worlds
• Return
• Voyage To Nowhere
• Open Sky
• White Light
• Floating In Magic
• Glider