FREE SYSTEM PROJEKT & DWELLER AT THE THRESHOLD: PASSENGER 4

This site frequently features praise for the "Phaedra"-era music from the pivotal electronic music from Tangerine Dream. Here in Europe, especially in The Netherlands and the UK is a blossoming electronic music scene delivering bands like Redshift, Radio Massacre International and Airsculpture. A very appreciated EM band is the Dutch Free System Projekt from Marcel Engels. This album is a collaboration of the Free System Projekt (Marcel Engels with Ruud Heij and Frank van der Wel) and Dweller At The Threshold (Dave Fulton and John DuVal) from the USA, a kind of 'Transatlantic electronic super ensemble'. The equipment they used on this album is a mindblowing range of keyboards: ARP Odyssey, EMS Synthi A, Nord Modular, EMU Vintage Keys, Oberheim OBMx, Mini - and Polymoog, ARP Pro Solist, Elka Rhapsody, Clavia Nordrack and Roland JP8080, welcome to the machine! A very long and impressive list, about the music I can be much shorter: it sounds like the Tangerine Dream from the 1977-era, including lots of bleeps, sounds from the sea and wind, floods of Mellotron (especially the flute-Mellotron is very similar to TD), pulsating sequencers and layers of floating synthesizers. Very beautiful and tasteful like the long fourth track "Passage" featuring majestic Mellotron sounds. I often had the idea that I was listening to 'the lost "Encore" tapes' from Tangerine Dream. So I presume this music is meant as a tribute. Anyway, for me it was a splendid session. Highly recommended to the fans of early Tangerine Dream (74-77).