ETHER

4.5 stars. I've had a bit of an itch for Electronics of late, and while I have to do my "best of" Electronic list yet, it's just not happening for a while. So I thought I would sprinkle in some Electronic reviews over the coming months, hopefully taking away my itch. And REDSHIFT is a great place to start. Led by Mark Shreeve, this is a four piece band of almost all electronics plus some guitar and lots of mellotron. They are from the UK, and this is an interesting release with two songs being live, and two songs being done in studio.

The live tracks were done at the Jodrell Bank Planetarium in 1996. The crazy thing about this is that possibly my all time favourite Electronic album "Knutsford In May" by RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL was performed at the same venue, and the same year! Just earlier. The two tracks done live were the opener "A Midnight Clear" at 24 minutes, and the closer "Ether" at 27 1/2 minutes. The two studio tracks are "Bombers In The Desert" at 8 1/2 minutes and "Static" at over five minutes.

So a 65 minute album released in 1998 that recalls "Rubycon" from TANGERINE DREAM, as well as RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL, especially the guitar and mellotron. I think my favourite part of the album is early on that opener where it's dark and the mellotron rolls in. Such an incredible soundscape. When they want the music to move they bring out the sequencers, yes Berlin School all the way. So a nice mixture on the opener of soundscapes and sequencer driven music.

I am really into the two studio tracks, and really the whole album sounds the same, in that the live and studio sound no different from one another other than the applause to open and close those live tracks. Both studio numbers have some dark spacey soundscapes before the sequencers arrive. I'm a big fan of both tracks. The closer and title track is where we get some guitar late to change things up a little, but really all four of these songs are in the same style. Uniform sounding for sure.

Mark Shreeve was in a band called ARC that is well worth checking out. Also my buddy Guldbamsen recommends DIE WILDE JAGD who I'm surprised aren't on this site. Guldbamsen is one of the few listeners like myself who likes to go places when listening to music. Taking that trip. Maybe you had to have been into psychedelics at one point of your life to get this. So many dismiss psychedelic music for being too simple, with often weak vocals etc. Missing the point completely that it's about the mood and ideas. Guldbamsen will always be my favourite here, I connect to no one more than the big Dane. Read his review here of "Ether" to understand what I'm talking about.