ALEJANDRO VILLALÓN RENAUD

This is the second album by electronic artist Alejandro Villalón Renaud, a Mexican talent whose debut offered a truly interesting mixture of prog electronic and ambient music, creating an exquisite album for those who like this kind of music. Now after several years, he has just released his second record entitled 'Tiempos de cuarentena' which translates as "Quarantine Times", so by the title we are receiving a message, and can figure out a little bit of what's this record about.

It kicks off with 'Nuevo Amanecer' (New Dawn), and since the very first seconds we can notice the kind of futuristic sound like a sci-fi movie, we know Villalón is a master of electronics, he is aware of the existence of big names such as Klaus Schulze so it is normal if the sounds here reminds us of him or other artists. Everything here is made by electronic devices, and it is nice to see how the music changes a little bit while the minutes pass, it develops into a kind of chaotic scene, not repetitive, but hypnotic. The song is very visual, like being in a film.

The second track is 'Último día normal' (The Last Normal Day), so yeah, when was it? Was it before the lockdown, was it after the lockdown? The new normal had already finished? Well, throughout this album the quarantine comes to our minds, and how everything drastically changed in our lives, for good and for bad, but it is a kind of landmark or milestone in our history. We can notice in this track which is one of the longest of the album, several changes in time, tempo, mood, Villalón is also an audiophile so he knows how to move things and create atmospheres and different layers and make the music rich and full of images and sounds. Earlier I mentioned Schulze, but in this track you might also remember Vangelis or even Tangerine Dream. It is an introspective track, we can be in a ride of calm and tranquility and then have uncertainty and doubt, it is like real life, like a reflection of our emotions when pandemics started. All of a sudden we didn't know what would come next.

'Sombras' (Shadows) is the third track here. Important to say that in the CD booklet we can see some pictures of those pandemic moments, since Villalón also loves photography he wanted to share with us a slice of his eyes, of his perception when the lockdown appeared, and how we as humankind were reduced to shadows in this enormous land. This is a somber track, it also works like a soundtrack for a desolated film. I like when the synth appears and creates an hypnotic passage where the tension and uncertainty are always present. I would recommend listening to this album with good headphones so you can better appreciate the different layers.

What I love is that music becomes memory, I mean, it is impossible not to bring back those 2020-2021 moments where we were locked, and the infinite emotions and mental and physical changes we had. The music always shares a message, its up to anyone of us to give it a meaning.

Spacey and atmospheric tunes are present here almost all the time, and we can notice it again in 'Monstruo invisible' (Invisible Monster) which happens to be the longest composition of the album. This is quite interesting, the first two minutes are truly quiet, just soft spacey calm, you can close you eyes and take a deep breath. Then after the fourth minute it comes a major change, the peace disappears and a kind of scary and somber atmosphere appears, not far from drone music, and the uncertainty that one feels while listen to it, is the same uncertainty we all had in those pandemic times. Maybe uncertainty is one of those "invisible monsters", and I can say some of them are still present in our actual life, they have become part of us.

'Flores en el pavimento' (Flovers in the pavement) is very much a keyboard-driven track, synths with several layers that keep the same mood than the previous tracks, maybe the one track I least connect with, however it is a very nice one, though.

'Ecos' (Echoes) begins with some church bells and then the synthesizers enters, this is kind of new, it creates a spiritual atmosphere and once again I picture us on those pandemic moments, because no matter our different beliefs, we shared echoes of hope, also of despair, but we all wanted the lockdown to end and re-do our lives, and recreate ourselves. I'm not sure what happened through Villalón's mind while creating this track and this album, but it is powerful to see how music reflects our days. We all have our personal interpretation, but I embrace the idea of representing here those endless feelings and emotions we had: afraid of dying, of losing someone, of losing jobs, of being unable to travel, go out and enjoy life, etc.

Well, now imagine you wake up, open your eyes and know you have to face (A New Day) 'Un nuevo día', this is what is this track about. I picture myself at bed, then opening my eyes, the window and see the sun and just smile and ask to myself: what's next? I don't know, it's a new day and we have to face it and make decisions all the time and also give some hope. I perceive this track is about hope, about being alive, about thanking life for a new opportunity. Routines changed, and now we must figure out how to go on.

Last but not least comes 'Contacto' (Contact), and it is like a closure of the record. I like this because it introduces new elements such as guitar and also I remember those famous Frippertronics, so yeah the spacey and ambient atmosphere is here always, but now the tempo is a bit faster, different from all the previous tracks. It is a quite interesting track, because after the new day we have to face the new normal, being in contact with people in a new way of life.

Kudos to Villalón Renaud, he did a very interesting album from one of our most memorable experiences in life, and it has not been an easy ride after the lockdown, so I really appreciate this honest work, and how it succeeded to move my emotions and memories. I felt it.

Congrats!

Something was keeping me away from this Alejandro Villalon Renaud´s SIMBIOSIS (2013), album, it was there but I kind of thought it could wait until I had no expectations whatsoever, because there were some factors involved as Alejandro Villalon Renaud nationality and mainly the year it came upon. I mean for a first release of a Berlin School electronic music oriented album, well time has certainly passed by, in an ever changing electronic music world where d there are those who want to be part of its evolution and those who unbury the skeletons of past legends and sell them as new to unsuspecting victims.

Well, Alejandro Villalon Renaud is one of the two Mexican P.E. musicians included in this site and he is no grave robber. the same as Mr. Beltran which of course is good news, so let me count the ways:

Although inclined to sound like the before mentioned electronic music school ( i.e. Tangerine Dream´s & Klaus Schulze´s respective classrrooms) his melodic structures, even when dream/cosmic like, are held back of sounding like those founders´ music by his personal and detached approach, which honestly is not because he does not try, it is really his quiet naive but focused execution and his frugal sound gear which keeps him off those foreign musical idioms and ironically this works in his benefit as he also shows no emotional connection or intention to recreate the super cliched overly sweet passages or cinematic sections which so many PE musicians (including its founders later works) are/were inclined to play with. His compositions (which by the way are 6 adding up for a 44 minute ride) are full of very good ideas which overcome, most of the times, their own sound engineering and sound gear limitations and even display brushes of geniality along the way.

The "not all that glitters..." news.

A musician which in his promising, but still on the making, musical language delivers a very decent first release, which if taken two steps up (composition, sound engineering and sound gear wise) could have brought the house down but there are still too many stones left unturned in favor of more common grounds and a repetitive high pitch synth sound, building interesting (but eventually annoying by its pitch) melodic lines which appears here and there and almost all through the album and ends up being predictable and obtrusive of better sonic solutions and disgraces otherwise good sections and even a whole composition.

I could bet that if Mr. Villalon actually dedicated himself making a living in the battered third world P.E. musician ´s life his future works could be measured alongside those ProgressIve Electronic legends, but for now a good 3 stars rating for this album because when he lets his own light shine you know it is his own.

To wrap it up, there is a flawless track (Espectro), a couple of very good tracks but also a couple which deserved a better treatment and a quiet forgettable one.

Electronic progressive music with a distinct cosmic vibe is the type of music Mexican composer and musician Alejandro Villalon Renaud has assembled on his debut album "Simbiosis". References to Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and to some extent Kitaro can be made, and while this isn't a production that comes within the confines of Berlin school, this isn't a soft new age affair either. Edgier and harder sounds are liberally used, giving these compositions a firmer and more vibrant tinge than your typical new age artists, and I'd describe those who are equally fond of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis as a presumed core audience for this disc.

The first two tracks drift the closest to the sound of Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream, but really only slightly. Rapidly rising and falling synth winds hiss with purpose in `Caos' around ticking sequencers and swirling effects. With a stark and mysterious opening, once the soft pattering beats hit, it moves up in tempo with confidence, then spirals down with gentle soothing washes for the finish. Fan-like chugging programming powers through `Espectro', the synths eventually taking on a floating elegance, suitably dramatic yet always restrained. Tolling bells offer a hint of darkness, drifting amongst slowly weaving distorted guitar strains. `Foresta' is an icy wonder, piercing glistening synths slicing through the atmosphere, often with a cold machine heaviness duelling with darting piano and drawn out sustained guitar notes.

Rapturous synths rise straight into the air and shoot for the heavens in `Revelaciones', before being brought crashing down with reverberating machine-like industrial unease. The first half of `Sueños' is more hopeful and reassuring, the synths taking on an ethereal, wistful prettiness. It's as close as the album comes to a more romantic piece, before trickling pulses, stinging electronic veils and delicate piano footsteps take it in a more mysterious direction. A droning insect-like electronic swarm buzzes through `Transmutaciones' before being overwhelmed by a sweeping classical grandiosity full of ebbing symphonic majesty. This hugely dramatic finale calls to mind the vast enveloping landscapes of Klaus Schulze.

It's greatly admirable that Alejandro offers original electronic music that doesn't resort to the clichés of so many other artists in the genre both new and old. His work here isn't full of lazy beats and obvious melodies, instead it favours collages of shifting moods and emotive textures. `Simbiosis' will very much appeal to listeners who prefer exploratory electronic works that mixes both vintage and modern styles, but there's probably too much movement to appeal to the more sedate New Age followers.

Alejandro Villalón Renaud is an electronic artist still finding his sound, yet his music here is full of vision and potential, and I have a feeling his next work will be even more satisfying. `Simbiosis' earns three and a half stars, rounded up to four as a sign of encouragement for a very promising modern electronic composer!

It is wonderful to be surprised by a man from your own country, and I say this because when I saw Azafrán Media released this album by a man called Alejandro Villalón, the first I asked to myself was "Alejandro who?" but none of it matters when I listened to the album and knew he is a Mexican man creating great music. So surprise, we have talented musicians in all the parts of the world, we just have to give them a chance so their music will rise. In this case, I am sure fans of progressive electronic music will have a ball with this album, whose name is "Simbiosis" and contains six tracks for a total time of 44 minutes.

The name of Tangerine Dream will come to your head, I believe that iconic band was an inspiration to Villalón Renaud. It starts with "Caos" which is slow in the first two minutes, but man, be careful because later it explodes and you can have a heart attack if you are not prepared for this drastic changes. Now you can feel on space, floating, flying, looking for a place to land, but at the same time you feel unsecure, with some nervous and a chaotic feeling, so the name of the song is actually reflected on the music. The track brings different passages, and the music is very visual, so you can close your eyes and put images on your mind, you just have be relaxed and open, the music will do the rest.

"Espectro" offers a bunch of textures and nuances since the very first second, the several synths' sounds create wonderful atmospheres, which are greatly complemented by a soft guitar that can be heard here and there. The track flows and progresses, different sounds can be heard even some bells after four minutes, so the inclusion of new noises is good and helps the music not to be plain, actually, it is far from being plain. "Foresta" is the longest track reaching 8:30 minutes. Though it is alike to the previous track, this one brings a salad of sounds, it takes us to another galaxies where we get on well with different species that surround us. The quantity of things I imagine is tremendous, which means the music succeeded, at least with me.

"Revelaciones" seems to be more chaotic than the first one, here I listen to a ton of sounds that in moments my senses can bear, I cruised the line and entered to another galaxy, where my eyes witnessed things they never watched before. But at minute three in my dreams I fell asleep for some seconds, when I woke up a bright light appeared, I was floating and some strange beings were surrounding me, watching me, I did not say anything, just stare at them and feel the light glowing, entering in my soul until a strange calm covered my body and felt tranquilized.

Now it is time to dream again, so "Sueños" appears with a much calmer sound, a friendlier and gentler one, here I remembered a bit to Rick Wakeman's Aspirant trilogy. This one track could actually fit in the relaxing music category, I really feel calm and easy with in spite later it brings more sounds and atmospheres, the calm remains. "Transmutaciones" is the last track, a piece that sums up what Simbiosis offers. It is a cool way to finish this spacey album made by this Mexican genius which has nothing to ask to the same Klaus Schulze. And though I do not consider it to be a true masterpiece, it is a solid album that fans of electronic prog and even from other styles of prog will enjoy, just like I did, because it is a great album without a doubt.

Enjoy it!