ELOY FRITSCH

From MUZAK to New Age to Heavy Progressive

Throw in Some Jazz

Mr. Fritsch, Brazilian keyboardist, is a fine composer and musician. In "Moment in Paradise" he navigates through a wide range of musical styles, which makes for an interesting listen.

On One Hand

We get some sophisticated jazz with acoustic piano, bass guitar-like bottom end, and programmed drums. The opening suite, especially parts one, three, and four show off his jazz chops. There are some pretty sweet electric piano passages showing his nimble fingers, and some cool synth lead lines.

Then Some Schmaltz

The title track veers into New Age cheesiness, with some orchestration and string sounds, choral sounds now and then, and some grand, flowing passages.

Always the compositions are thoughtful and purposeful, and if you resonate with this kind of music, it's done well.

Another example is "Blue Eyes Reflected Over the Ocean", with creamy piano/violin sounds, and wistful, dreamy melodies.

"Funny Moments"

This one is aptly named, reminding me of jitter-bugging, or ragtime; maybe a cartoon soundtrack or two. It's more light-hearted than some of the others.

HOWEVER

Fritsch blows his New Age and Muzak cred by giving us a barnstormer "tribute to Keith Emerson" track- "Silver Dream".

This extended, rocking, rip-roaring extravaganza makes me wistful for what else he might have up his sleeve. It shows progressive rock skills and chops that never quit, with varying tempos, passages, and sounds from that cool organ, hard-charging synthesizer, and busy rhythm section.

I really do think it's a first class Emerson workout, and I wanted more like it.

In Conclusion

Lots of musicality, a wide- sometime disparate- range of music presented. And one ripping track that really shines, from this talented keyboard maestro.

Second half of the 90's was pretty busy for Fritsch, as he became a teacher of Electronic Music at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, while starting his Ph.D in Computer Music.Three among his compositions were included in a compilation that sold thousands of copies over Brazil, while in 1999 he found the Eletroacoustic Music Lab, a laboratory for searchers of Electronic Music, filled with music software, electronic devices and computers.He traveled to the USA to perform with Apocalypse at ProgDay 99', Rock Symphony released this performance on CD in 2000.Fritsch'es releases appear to go parallel ways with his regular band, his next work ''Cybespace'' was also released in 2000 on Rock Symphony.

This one maybe opens with a very JEAN-MICHEL JARRE-like piece of quirky Electronic Music, the title track of the album, but the following majority enters the realms of VANGELIS, albeit in a less professional production, meeting the standards of Symphonic Electronic Music, based on grandiose orchestrations, spacey layers, some choirs and a very pompous atmosphere.As already proposed in his previous albums, a couple of tracks are flirting with New Age, definitely the cheapest productions of the album and the ones hurting its consistency, suffering from minimalistic keyboard soundscapes and unbearable flute samplers.I think Eloy's highest points come on the symphonic moments of the album, like ''Symphony of peace'', beautiful work on ethereal synthesizers and pretty natural-sounding harps, exploring different moods and starting from a romantic delivery to end up in a serious bombastic profile.There are still some references to Apocalypse' music, for example ''Beyond The ocean waves'' features some programmed drums and electric guitars in a very Neo Prog-like approach meeting the spacey keyboards of Fritsch.The 11-min. ''Lake Of peace'' is propably the highlight in here, full of multi-layered synthesizers, cinematic territories, Classical variations and New Age lifts.

A serious and talented composer of the recent era.Maybe his works lack the ultimate budget and thus the benefits of a better production, but the music is always inspired and highly atmospheric, you'll love this one if you're deep into Electronic, trippy listenings.Recommended.

Being a very prolific musician, 1997 sees not only the release of Fritsch'es second album but also the publishment of ''Lendas encantadas'', the third effort of his band Apocalypse.As Apocalypse was in constant support by Musea Records, it was only a matter of time before Fritsch would sign with the French label.So it happeans in 1998 with the Brazilian keyboardist being a member of the Musea' Electronic-drenched sublabel Dreaming, on which he released his third solo album ''Space music'', recorded at his home studio and composed on keyboards, computers and electronic drums.

Much of the fading New Age character of ''Behind the walls of imagination'' is now completely gone and replaced by a far more energetic sound by Fritsch.Unlike its title, the album has little to do with Space Music, the only links with the spacey atmospheres being the more sharp Electronic pieces of this work, fronted by some twisting loops.Fritsch, who always had a great sense of symphonic mood in his works, presents another fine effort, which can be described as Orchestral Electronic Music with JEAN MICHEL JARRE being again a strong influence.His music has a beautiful tendency towards melodic keyboard lines and atmospheric textures, being far from the minimalistic works of the genre.Moreover the addition of drums and even some sampled guitars in a few tracks along with his passion for rhythmic lines eventually offer music closer to Neo/Symphonic Prog, although the absence of natural instruments mark them not as totally convinving.The compositions are often performed on dual keyboards for a richer and more emphatic sound and the result is pretty nice, even if some flat passages are present as well.

Instrumental, orchestral Electronic Music with glimpses on Fritsch'es work with Apocalypse.Considering this is a one-man effort, the final taste is more than satisfying.Recommended.

Born in 1968 in Caxias do Sul, this talented Brazilian keyboardist first met with Electronic Music at the age of 13 through spending time with his father, who was an electronic engineer, at the local radio.A couple of years later he found Apocalypse and simultaneously he developed his knowledge in Computer Science and keyboards.During the mid-90's he started releasing albums with Apocalypse and by 1995 he already had launched his first very rare album ''Dreams''.Two years later Apocalypse would take a break on releasing studio efforts, while Fritsch prepared and released his second personal album ''Behind the Walls of Imagination'', offered through the Brazilian label Gravadora Atracao Fonografica.

Armed with various keyboards, such as his beloved Korg synth, and his knowledge on computers, Fritsch delivers fascinating, cinematic Electronic Music along the lines of VANGELIS and JEAN MICHELLE JARRE, which however has a strong Prog background.Half about of the album is dedicated to cosmic, electronic sequences, supported by soaring synthesizers and pounding drums, that eventually create a pompous, grandiose atmosphere with strong symphonic and Classical vibes.Melodies are hard to come, but on the other hand Fritsch'es ability to produce dreamy and imaginery soundscapes is monumental.The rest of the album is somewhat divided in New Age soundfields and more symphonic-oriented, proggy textures.The New Age compositions of Fritsch are decent with a warm and impressive atmosphere, although very relaxed, while the sampled instruments sound quite childish at moments.The rest of the tracks are surprisingly very close to his work with APOCALYPSE, keyboard-based Neo/Symphonic Rock with fancy, sharp synthesizers and good drum parts, finally some nice, emotional, melodic passages do appear among the material in these both excellent and grandiose arrangements.

I am aware of very few composers, who have the ability to travel through such kind of different styles, supported only by their keyboards.Eloy Fritsch is definitely one of them and this album is a pure delight for all fans of keyboard-driven Progressive/Electronic Music.Warmly recommended.

A few days ago ELOY FRITSCH (Former leader of the excellent Brazilian band Apocalypse) was suggested to Symphonic, immediately heard the samples provided and was obvious for the team and myself that this music had no connection with Symphonic but has an evident influence from Electronic Prog, so sponsored his addition to Prog Related and after a couple days was admitted by the Administrator's Team.

Still with curiosity, went to a virtual store and bought Exogenesis a decent album that didn't completely disappointed me (I didn't expected too much to be honest), absolutely different to what the Brazilian musician made with the Symphonic band Apocalypse but consistent with my first impression of his solo work. The music is some sort of New Age, Space Rock and Electronic Prog influenced combo, with more than evident VANGELIS influence. It's also evident that ELOY has an excellent technique and pristine style, but has a weakness in the originality department.

The album can't be reviewed in song-by-song bases, because the tracks are there almost exclusively for order purpose, because it's a 60 minutes complete musical piece that has to be listened as an integral work rather than divided in a way that would never make sense.

Anyway, I will mention the four parts Exogenesis four parts suite, a work that reminds me of Albedo 0.39 with all those space and electronic sounds, but Part IV seems like an unknown fragment taken from the Oxygène sessions.

Let's be honest, the music is good and played with dexterity by an educated and talented keyboardist, but very unimaginative, sounding like a collage of music from other New Age/Electronic/Space authors all pieced together to create a new concept. Interesting, but not my cup of tea, being that he offers nothing new, except maybe for the pompous and brilliant Mayan Temple that rises the level of the album despite the New "Agey" concept.

Until this track I was tempted to go with 2 stars, but being that Exogenesis has some excellent passages that save the abundant weak ones, will go with 3 stars...For followers of the genre or nostalgic JARRE and VANGELIS fans.

Eloy Fritsch is one of the most important names in contemporary Progressive Rock in Brazil. He's the leader and keyboard player of Apocalypse (progarchives.com/artist.asp? id=23) that has been active for more than 25 years. He's also a music professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and has a book about Electronic music. His solo career is steeped in New Age, instrumental and electronic music, influenced by artists such as Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Isao Tomita and Rick Wakeman.

Exogenesis (2012) is his tenth studio album, produced, composed, performed and recorded by the musician in his own home studio and released by Dreaming Records, a division of Musea Records.

After listening to Exogenesis (2012) I can clearly say two things: first, the album goes on the Progressive Electronic path with a touch of New Age. Second: it is not really possible to listen to the album in a 'track-by-track' style. The songs are all linked together as a one piece of 60 minutes long. The album has several small climax that need lots of careful listening. A small trip I can say.

Eloy Fritsch is an experienced musician and his experiments with instrumental music, electronics and environment always bring interesting ideas like in this CD. With this album he puts into practice the proposal to make a journey through the history of the universe, from its genesis to a time much later than ours. The unknown and 'dangerous' future.

Now one thing has to be said, the artwork of Exogenesis (2012) perfectly matches the concept. The space image created by the Polish artist Maciej Rebisz is simply beautiful. Very original in the front cover and booklet. And following the footsteps of Roger Dean in the back cover designed by Mirek Drozd.

Using layers and layers of keyboards, synthesizers, samples and computer effects, the songs vary according to the main theme. Like in the special 'Neutron Star', through the tribal rhythms of 'Mayan Temple', the ethereal and atmospheric moments in 'Far Above The Clouds' and 'The Sea Of Ice Enceladus' until the end of the journey with 'The Immensity Of The Cosmic Ocean'.

An album well made. If you're a Progressive Electronic fan you can just focus all your attention and let yourself travel in Eloy's atmospheric trips because the music itself allows you to create a whole movie in your own head.