PETE NAMLOOK

Pete Namlook's recorded output is quite diverse, partly due to his great variety of collaborators. Part of what makes Sultan stand out is the virtuosic playing of Burhan Ocal, on both stringed instruments and percussion. This really distinguishes it from other FAX releases which tend to be more atmospheric - the only similar one that comes to mind is the Dark Side of the Moog series, with the legendary Klaus Schulze sometimes soloing on synthesizer. But Sultan has a much more 'acoustic' quality when it focuses on the stringed instruments - I know nothing about Turkish instruments, but the liner notes state that he plays the tambura, oud, and baglama (also known as the divan-saz?). Sometimes these segments have ambient pads in the background, other times they focus on the instrument itself. There are definitely a variety of moods, established partly by the choice of instruments in each piece.

The first piece is called 'Yenilik' and is divided into eight parts - two are over five minutes long, one is over ten minutes long, the rest are one-two minutes. The first two tracks kind of set the pattern - Part I features one of the stringed instruments, then Part II introduces delay-laden percussion, first acoustic, then electronic beats and sounds emerge. The energy really picks up with a synth solo (played by Ocal?), and also brings to mind questions of how this was recorded - was it built bit-by-bit, in back and forth between Ocal & Namlook? Or is it mostly improvised? These are questions that I cannot answer. Part IV - the longest section of 'Yenilik' - is a percussion workout! I mention this because I saw on the progarchives forum someone say 'drum solos don't belong on studio albums' so if that's what you think, then beware! But voice comes in partway through, further establishing the mood of the piece.

The album closes with 'Gel G'r Beni Ask N'eyledi,' a long ambient piece accompanying some poetry read by Ocal. This piece is much more chill-out than the other tracks, though there are beats at various points - one even in 5/4! That alone should grant this album prog-worthy status.

Apparently this was originally planned as the first in a series of 36 releases exploring and remembering the rulers of the Ottoman Empire, but only two other titles were released that I am aware of - unfortunately Peter Namlook passed away in 2012. I think that Sultan would serve as a worthy representative of the world of Peter Namlook for someone into prog, though I would rank the Dark Side of the Moog series higher. You should also know that there are often multiple versions of these albums, often with alternate artwork. I have the 2004 re-release on Ambient World and a Turkish release on the Ada Muzik label as well. Finally, when I looked for information about Burhan Ocal, it turns out he plays with Sting! He has also played with the Kronos Quartet and harmolodic bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma. (I should also add that I tried to use the proper diacriticals but they didn't display correctly so I just took them out)

— First review of this album —

Well, this is Trance!

Long gone Pete Namlook and the ever going Bill Laswell's fifth association in 2002 under the "PSYCHONAVIGATION" name project, starts up deliberately with a top of the line electronic, 7+- minutes, shake your booty track which is just totally night club worthy, "The Catalyst".

"Cryosleep" a 4 parts, 32+- minutes, composition goes into deep bottom dream-trance like tendencies with extremely inducing underwater like environments, adorned all way through with a highly elegant catalogue of programmed sounds which are as ominous as hypnotic all counterpointed by Bill Laswell's subtle, intense, "full throttle" electronic bass, which the same as Namlooks lines, are tainted towards the darkest tones of the sonic rainbow. To be honest, I think most prog-heads will feel ashamed to get into these perimeters. I myself a self declared "I do not give f%^k", am enjoying it like electronic dance floor heaven!

"Life Eternal" the 11 minutes closing track, starts by detourig completely from the previous dance/dream/trance spirit into an eerie, slow paced, wide open and transparent ambiental composition wich eventually grows into a kind of electronic/native dance prayer.

I could hardly think that such an extremely electronic/dance/trance in style approach will appeal to proggers as such, but then again?

****4 PA stars.

Bill Laswell meets Pete Namlook again in one of the 2 ongoing projects they are involved in.

This, the 2nd in this series (1995) , belongs to the musical project which goes by the name of ¨Psychonavigations¨. The other series musical project goes by the name of "Outland". They differ accorrdingly to two simple focuses. "Psychonavigations" are founded on variety of songs not necessarily connected or conceptual, as opposed to the "Outland" series, which consist of long-timed musical structures tied usually, song-writing wise, to a musical idea or concept.

Ok! Enough class for today to where it matters! In my humble opinion, Pete Namlook is always at his best, when involved in multiple musicians albums (and he has a lot, with all kinds of prog/electronic "notables"). In collaborations he relieves himself of the "burden" of carrying single-handedly his musical ambitions and ideas, in favor of a more relaxed and unburdened performer/composer role.

On the other hand Bill Laswell is a fu...ng musical genius! ...Wherever you find him, he never loses the chance to prove his best. I have not yet encountered a bad or mediocre Bill Laswell record, and he has many. (His solo works or HE, in fact, are missing here in PA! )

Now imagine this low-keyed and bombastic collaboration of music/noise/sounds, going through a metamorphical and electronic-psychedelic trip, through different environments, atmospheres and musical languages in each one of these 5 "songs".

And to set the ship on course, the addition of 3 more electronic musicians. Pure electronic music bliss!

****4 PA stars. (easy!)

— First review of this album —

A very complicated ground, "electronic-prog" , is.

Too many monuments casting their shadows over the whole terrain. Synth's "sounds" on the long run are replicable, no matter your programming and modulation of waves skills, they all have a "universal tone". That is why they are known as "instruments".

So...to stand outside those impossing "shadows" you got to have your way with musical composition and creativity. Pete Namlook does it in this work, but in a "sly" way. He adopts this "shadows" to his own purpose and plays on top of them, with lets say, more contemporary electronic touches. (I will call them Dancefloor/Tactics).

Being that almost all Electronic/Prog gods are so entangled with these contemporary electrionic dancefloor tactics, he outstands because he has a better understanding of these electronic directions and their respective gadgets. He is by far better related to this stylings, so he in return shows these "gods" some new tricks.

On "Subconscious Worlds" he does not remain or gets caught by an specific direction or styling. He stays there long enough to make it rich and creative and then moves on to a different electronic idiom.

So, this turns out to be the precious value of this project. Also it lasts long-enough, "time-wise", and still retains, although its variety, the whole work as a single concept. Adding to that the PERFECTLY composed riffs, that grab you, to its "Subconscious Worlds' " world are a delight.

****4 "Highly recommendable work, in a very tough terrain" PA stars.

If you are familiar with previous collaborations between Tetsu Inoue and the late Pete Namlook, this is more of the same, perhaps even a bit better. Pete may be gone, but his music lives on for us to enjoy. While previous albums in the series included extremely long- form minimal ambient works, often taking up a full disc or even two, this 4th and final addition to the 2350 Broadway canon is much more concise, delivering its musical goods in 6 bite- sized chunks ranging from 7-12 minutes in length. While I sometimes enjoy chilling for an hour-plus ambient journey from Namlook and Inoue, this fills the bill perfectly for those with shorter attention spans, or for times when you need a quick fix of subtle ambience imbued with the touches these two are known for. Highly recommended and a fitting finish to yet another excellent series from the FAX label.

'Shades of Orion II' - Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue (6/10)

Pete Namlook is an influential figure in electronica, although taking into consideration that its a style of music I have not yet dove into, it's understandable why I may not have heard his work before this. In collaboration with Japanese ambient composer Tetsu Inoue, he created the 'Shades of Orion' series, a trilogy that would see his music retreat from its house- oriented leanings into the depths of cosmic space. 'Shades of Orion II' is not so much a development from the first in the series as it is a continuation of it; pursuing the same avenue of total ambiance. Granted, at over an hour, Namlook and Inoue's space collaboration overstays its welcome, but there is a subtle sense of composition to this work that sets it aside from being merely quiet noise.

'Shades of Orion II' is a continuous, 71 minute exploration of sound which seeks to mimic what it must be like being alone in space, light years away from sunlight or the latest Top 40 pop single. As one might expect from the 'space music' label, 'Shades of Orion' is an incredibly sparse sounding recording, void of melody and hooks of any kind. Even structure feels alien to this music; when subtle changes occur once every few minutes, it's difficult to discern some sense of composition or writing in what this duo have done. There are recurring ideas in the textures, but the way this music is meant to be appreciated is by laying down and simply letting yourself drift off into it. A listening experience on autopilot, if you will.

The sounds here revolve around spacey 'beeps' and the sort of chatter that cosmic entities might have with one another. Although the sounds may be completely benign, they lend a vast atmosphere that makes it an easy album to get lost in. Although very little may be said about composition on 'Shades of Orion II', it makes for a subdued thrill when a new sound actually does show up in the mix, although these changes are painfully few and far between. At seventy one minutes long, this is not an album to sit down and focus in on without pause. Under best conditions, it's an album best listened to someplace dark, with a comfortable bed, and impending sleep preferable. For its style and what it aims to accomplish, 'Shades of Orion II' is an incredibly atmospheric chill-out, although anyone looking for an even slightly eventful musical experience might find themselves bored to death.

Limelight is one of Namlook's early albums, a collaboration with a DJ and that clearly shows in the upfront techno/club beats on most of the material. So this music will annoy the hell out of most prog electronic fans, but if you'd agree with me that 'dance' was one of the most creative and thriving scenes of the 90s then this album might attract you.

Namlook has a tendency to loose himself in hour-long ambient minimalism, but not here. DJ Brainwave's beats and bass lines demand a more focused approach and it pays off. It's great to hear Namlook spinning his lush and dreamy ambient textures on top of Brainwave's techno. The effect is very trancey, varying between chill-out and more energizing house. It somehow resembles Underworld, but this is still a pure underground dance record, without the vocals and songwriting approach that allowed Underworld to cross over to the mainstream.

Probably not a groundbreaking album in its scene but sure one that show a successful interaction between two disciplines in electronic music, those of the house-beat mixing DJ and the improvising kosmonaut. Great album. If you dig the house-thing of course.

Namlook's discography is huge and intimidating, and because it covers a lot of different styles, your discovery of this artist might be a bit of a bumpy ride. Luckily it comes with a key to crack the code! Many of the releases on Namlook's Fax label come with album art consisting of 2 spheres, each with its own color. The biggest sphere indicates the main style, the smaller sphere the secondary style. Unfortunately, the meaning of each color can differ depending on the specific project/series.

So, before I get entirely tangled up in this maze I'll just let my ears do the talking, and what I hear on this album is a mix of trance, ambient and house. There are a couple of tracks without beats, and those betray Namlook's fascination for Tangerine Dream's 70s work. For example '70's Beauty' and 'Sensuality' are short moody pieces that would fit seamlessly on TD's 'Force Majeure'.

But 70's fans will be in for a shock with the second track, its 'numbing' 4/4 house beat will provoke immediate revulsion. And it will only get worse once the simple minimalistic melody joins after one minute. You got it, this is the kind of stuff you could hear in clubs in the 90's.

The cause of the dual nature of this album is of course that this is one of the cooperations that Namlook did with DJs in 1993. Frankly, I find it hard to spot Namlook's contribution in the techno material, which is my major gripe with this release. The quality of the techno tracks is also very uneven. 'Drawn to The Thrill' and 'Supervision' stand out but the remainder is fairly unremarkable.

Prog fans and lovers of Prog Electronic are well-advised to stat miles away from this album. It's a trance/techno/house album, that should be warning enough. It isn't a bad release though, just a bit average generally. Namlook has better techno projects.

Shades of Orion 3 is, of course, the third installment of the Shades of Orion collection, which is a collaboration between Pete Namlook and Tetsu Inoue, and like the last two installments this is an ambient album. Fortunately, the ambience on this album is far better than on the last two. Shades of Orion 3 progresses more thoroughly and has more interesting elements thrown on top of the ambience to make paying attention to the soundscape much easier and exciting, whereas the previous two just droned until it ended.

"Betelgeuzian Ritual" is the oddball track on this album, and sounds like a more straight forward version of anything by Autechre. Spacey, but with a fast and near-abstract beat. It's a good track, but I personally don't feel it is a good introductory track to an album that is so calm. It's deceptive, but luckily, it's short.

"Stranded On Rigel 3" is almost 40 minutes long, and is one long airy drone. To keep this track of interest to the listener, though, there is another Autechre type beat section that fills the second/fourth of the track at about 9 minutes in to 17 minutes. It's directed more towards the background, as the airy textures and spacey sound elements take the front, making it sound less like dance music and more like speedy space travel. The rest of this track is the steady, loud, and airy cosmic drone that the last album in this series consisted of entirely, of course accentuated by the intergalactic sounds of stars and life-forms communicating, with the occasional buzzscape appearing.

"Inouecent And Sirius" is a track of resonances coupled with disembodied and echoed voiced. Again, very airy and is mostly a constant drone, but there is more empty space left for the imagination to fill. The buzz of a black hole's gravitational pull appears frequently, and helps to pull the listener into this dark spot before sending them adrift randomly into a spacey void, ending the album on a note of mystery.

Shades of Orion 3 isn't as good as the first installment, but is much better than the second. Though the largely-ambient soundscapes on this album do happen to be more captivating than those on the previous installments, they still tend to drift a bit into pointlessness. The second track on this album, most of all, is too long for its own good. If you've listened to the previous installments and want more of what is basically the same, then this is the next logical step.

Shades of Orion 2 is the second installment of the collaboration between Pete Namlook and Tetsu Inoue under the project name Shades of Orion. Like the previous album in this series with Tetsu Inoue, this album is also ambient at large. Actually, Shades of Orion 2 is just one constant drone that goes on for over 70 minutes, packed full of resonances, spacey atmospheric sounds, cosmic waves sounds, sounds of communicating satellites, and the occasional bass-like boom of a distant star imploding in on itself to create a black hole.

Unlike the last installment, this album has no elements of trance, which I was actually hoping for this time 'round - being quite long and purely ambient, this album overstayed its welcome. Shades of Orion 2 is definitely a pleasant album to enhance anyone's cosmic dreamscape, but is uneventful and not progressive enough to be replayed more than only on occasion. Beautiful, deep, airy, only slightly boring.