QUASAR 2C361

In the second half of the Seventies I discovered the fascinating world of Tangerine Dream (1974-1977 era) and early Klaus Schulze their electronic music and soon I started to dig for more. In those days you could buy tons of electronic music LP's in the legendary record store Boudisque in Amsterdam. I did and especially Neuronium turned out to be one of my favorites, from the first album Quasar 2C361 (1977) to Heritage (1984). This electronic music formation was founded by Marcel Huygen (born in Belgium, later he moved to Barcelona), fellow keyboardplayer Carlos Guirao and guitarist Albert Gimenez (who left the band after their to me disappointing second album Vuelo Quimico in 1978).

Michel had played in psychedelic rock bands, with Neuronium he started to play jazz oriented music during a string of concerts in their embryonal phase but on this first effort it's mainly Seventies Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze inspired electronic music: ambient electronic landscapes with lush synthesizer-strings and soaring string-ensemble, pulsating sequencers and slow, hypnotizing synthesizer flights. The guitarplayer adds a special flavor to the music with his howling runs and moving solos, especially in the final part of El Valle De Rimac we can enjoy a wonderful blend of synthesizer and electric guitar, Neuronium their trademark in the early years. In the long titletrack Neuronium delivers a first and final part with a beautiful strings sound, flute and twanging acoustic guitar in a dreamy atmosphere, very warm electronic music!

Although the climates sound a bit similar on Neuronium their first album, to me this sounds as warm and pleasant electronic music. And it was the start of an interesting carreer for Michel Huygen, later he would collaborate with Tangerine Dream, Steve Roach and Klaus Schulze and in 1994 he performed on the legendary Dutch electronic music festival KLEM also featuring Chris Franke in that year. Recently Michel Huygen has worked on a record with the London Symphonic Orchestra entitled Classical Neuronium that contains his most significant compositions played with classical instruments.

NEURONIUM is a spanish electronic band that combines 70's hypnotic electronic sequences - in the style of TANGERINE DREAM or KLAUS SCHULZE - with more accessible, melodic elements. Their debut album "Quasar 2C361" shows interesting promises.

The title track is a dreamy 26 minutes suite with a slow progression. It alternates soft and sequences passages, with apparitions of guitar and flute, and finishes with a pretty finale. Although a bit too long, the overall is enjoyable.

"Catalepsia" is pleasant atmospheric tune featuring nice spacey guitar. The short "El Valle De Rimac" introduces the melancholic ambient mood that will later become a trademark of the band. The ending track "Turo Park" theme has reminiscences of PINK FLOYD's "A saucerful of secrets" finale.

With this album, NEURONIUM is still building its personality. Sequences and melodies are still discrete, compositions are rather homogeneous. As a consequence, "Quasar 2C361" is one of their most aerial and contemplative record. Not innovative, but nice soft relaxing music.

While electronic experiments had arisen as early as the 1940s and 1950s when synthesizers and electronic instrumentation was coming of age, it wasn't until the 1970s when the floodgates opened thanks to the sophisticated developments and engineering skills of acts like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Kraftwerk amongst others. Soon the world of progressive electronic and Berlin School artists exploded in popularity however most of these acts seemed to come Germany and France with a few outliers but Spain on the other hand is not a nation one easily associates with the heady cosmic drifting sounds of electronic music, at least not in those days.

The first artist out of Spain to catch the Tangerine Dream bug was the Barcelona based NEURONIUM formed by keyboardists Michel Huygen and Carlos Guirao along with guitarist Albert Gimenez. Together this trio forged a familiar yet slightly differing stylistic approach that followed in the footsteps of the Berlin School pioneers but infused a sense of Spanish rhythmic drive as well as homegrown melodic touches. The band continues to this very day although with Huygen as the only founding member. The first release was the 1977 album titled QUASAR 2c361 which found inspiration in Tangerine Dream's 'Stratosfear' and reworked that style to suit its own take on things.

NEURONIUM actually began as a psychedelic rock band before shifting gears so a mix of the kosmische swirly effect with a few elements of rock was right up these guys' alley. This debut was very similar to the acts that preceded with all those sequencer effects, layers of trippy synthesizers and more keyboards than a modern day computer graveyard. All that good stuff but NEURONIUM also featured flute, guitar and acoustic guitar (you can't really make music in Spain without one!) Existing somewhere between the abstract nebulous cloud style of Schulze or Tangerine Dream and the more new age approach of Kitaro or Vangelis, NEURONIUM offered a more soothing style of progressive electronic than its German and French counterparts who tended to go straight into the freakiest musical nooks and crannies they could steer their sounds into.

Side A featured the 26 1/2 minute title track which provided a rather stable and melodic flow for the most parts with moments of flute, a dab of acoustic guitar threatening to break into flamenco and a keen sense of tangible warmth unlike the bitter coldness of some 70s electronic music. Some of it is even musical! While not quite as pop friendly catchy as Jean Michel Jarre or Ashra, NEURONIUM found that nice in between zone that honored the head trips of the German pioneers while engendering a more accessible inviting touch. Likewise the B side which featured three tracks balanced these two aspects but perhaps with shorter track running times offered even catchier melodies that drifted further to the new age side of the equation. This is especially true of the closing 'Turo Park' which pretty much takes on a highly emotive new age approach sounding a lot like what Kitaro has crafted over the decades.

Never the highlight of the 70s electronic music scene NEURONIUM's debut does offer some excellent moments especially the first half of the title track on the first side of the original vinyl. The rest of the tracks are pleasant enough but the trio failed to produce the richness and complex weaving of elements like the bigwigs of the era. It's a very mellow affair overall with no jarring moments of contrast and no all encompassing escapes into the world of ethereal abstractness. There's always a thread of a melodic feature lurking around the corner and a lifeline for those who can't tolerate the more freaky of the lot. While NEURONIUM would remain an underground electronic sensation for decades, the act never really reached the top tier ranks but this debut is well worth checking out especially if you love to dig deeper into the world of progressive electronic and the wealth of diversity that existed beyond the usual popular suspects.