WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY

One of the more unexpected things I have heard from Sébastien Gramond. A French multi- instrumentalist and composer who has covered as many genres as any one artist is likely too, the album here sees him going into a sort of crossover between classical composition and overtly futuristic, electronic performance. Easily evocative of a 21st century dystopia of the Blade Runner variety, 'Welcome To The 21st Century' is a disconcerting piece of work that really takes the listener on a ride into the future. Unfortunately, what is otherwise a solid and complex arrangement is somewhat marred by poor recording technologies and a loss of direction.

The first three tracks here make up the title suite, which is not so much an epic by prog rock convention as it is a running musical experiment. Each piece gets progressively more upbeat, going from the schizophrenic nuances and burstfire approach of 'Part I' to the Zappa homages and happy-go-lucky jamming on 'Part III'. Following that is what appears to be a comedy track of some sort; 'DJ Millennium' is a trance electronic dance track, or perhaps a track that parodizes it. Featuring a surprisingly decent beat and progression, it is made incredibly silly with Gramond's tongue in cheek sprechgesang.

Although the music certainly loses the compositional clarity and strength after 'Part I', it still features some of the best use of electronics I've yet heard from Sébastien. Even with 'DJ Millennium', I could see the piece being really great trance music, were it not for the lo-fi production and Gramond's apparent necessity to make it into something silly. This particular style does work for Gramond however, and I can see an excellent electronic album being within his reach, should the weaknesses be tightened up.

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