synth music

Jean Michel Jarre has personally authorized the publication of fair-use fan videos from his current Oxygene concert tour:

I, Jean Michel Jarre, hereby authorise anyone to broadcast on Youtube any videos filmed during my concerts on ” Oxygene in concert” tour, as long as it is a fair excerpt with the right credits which has been the case so far.

I certify that the only person able to allow or forbid these videos on Youtube is myself, being the composer of all the music, being the sole producer of the live audio and visual version, the performer and the co-publisher. I think these videos are a fair tribute to my work and contribute in a positive way to the exposure of my music.

Yours truly,

Jean Michel Jarre

It’s great to see musicians actively encouraging things like this.

Image: Little02

René van der Wouden’s Universal Quiet is a collection of retro synth music that is a treat for fans of 70’s Berlin School music.van der Wouden is a Dutch composer and synthesist who describes his style as retro, Berliner Schule and progressive. van der Wouden builds on Klaus Schulze’s pioneering mid-seventies sound, modernizing it and taking it into new directions.

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). Read more…

 

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Momentum, the latest release from UK artist David Wright, is a generous helping of lush symphonic electronica.

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. Read more…

UK’s The Mail on Sunday is giving away Oxygène, Jean Michel Jarre’s seventies synth music classic, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the work.

To celebrate, Jarre revealed some of the history of Oxygène:

Oxygène was turned down by all the record companies. It was like a UFO – it was made in the middle of the disco and punk eras and the record companies said, “What is it? No singer, no proper song titles? And, on top of that, it’s French!” Even my mum asked, “Why are you giving your music the name of a gas?” Yet people talk of Oxygène now as my “masterpiece”. When it became such a success, it was strange – a very exciting period and kind of innocent. You find you have a lot of new friends around you and it’s almost as if they want the success to continue more than you do. Read more…

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…