PROGRESSIVE ELECTRONIC

Milky Way's material was originally recorded in 2009 to be used as a soundtrack for a German film called "Hacker". It's a remarkably meditative and introspective album, like many others that would come to light in the following years, and very reminiscent of the sound that would be present in the following decade, "without so many distractions", as Schulze himself liked to say. All this doesn't prevent the album from carrying a certain degree of tension in some moments where the percussion rises, which ends up sharing space with the fluid atmospheres and deep bass bases. Another thing that is very clear is the master's signature, which can be seen throughout the work, with his characteristic melodic turns. Milky Way is certainly a work aimed at fans who are already familiar with Schulze's work and, in fact, a great end-of- year present for all admirers of electronic music. May they continue with this work of recovering unreleased material, we the fans thank you and good music thanks you too. Long live the music of Klaus Schulze.

3.5 stars. KRAFTWERK began life as the duo of Hutter and Schneider, they had met in Art school and both had a fondness for improvised avant music. But they started out by calling themselves ORGANISATION and releasing one album before changing their name to KRAFTWERK, but continuing in that experimental Krautrock style of ORGANISATION. In fact the first three KRAFTWERK albums along with that ORGANISATION record are my favourites from them by far. "Autobahn" is where I got off the KRAFTWERK bus.

But for many including the band, this is where they are just getting started. Soon electronics and drum machines will rule their world. Not mine. And that swing in opinions is on full display with the reviews and rating here on this site. That electronic/pop sound that would make them some cash is front and centre on that 22 1/2 minute self-titled opener. Follow the money boys. And they did. Sadly.

"Autobahn" was released late in 1974 and is very much a transitional album as those Krautrock sounds have all but vanished. We still get some organic sounds here which would be completely gone by their next record. And they have expanded to a four piece for the first time here from a duo. My first taste of this album came when my Krautrock loving brother-in-law lent me this cd. My first impressions weren't good, but I only played it a couple of times. My favourite listen of that long title track was my first listen. A novelty I suppose that first time, but then it just sounded lame after that.

I feel pretty much the same about "Kometenmelodie 2" just not my thing by a long shot. My favourite track is easily "Mitternacht" for some actual depth to the sound contrasted with spacey ones. And check out the disturbing violin. Love it! I do like that cover art but I'm just such a big krautrock fan, while Electronic music is much more hit and miss. This one I can take it or leave it so I can't go 4 stars, it doesn't have that value to me. I'll stick with their earlier music.

— First review of this album —

The full name of the band is Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. / David Borden while the album is 'Make Way For Mother Mallard: 50 Years Of Music', and as one may surmise from the title is a celebration of a band's 50th anniversary. American composer and musician David Borden helped pave the way for electronic music ? via both analogue synthesizers and digital instruments ? by forming the world's first ever synthesizer ensemble in Bob Moog's Trumansburg studio, using Moog's prototypes and finding a way of enabling them to be used in performance. He then later founded and headed Cornell University's Digital Music Department. This 2- disc set features one disc of early (1970's) and one disc of recent (2019) Mother Mallard performances of several key Borden pieces.

The first two songs on this set, "Endocrine Dot Patterns" (15:30) and "C-A-G-E I" (32:10) feature the earliest full line-up of the band, with David Borden and Steve Drews being joined by Linda Fisher following the duo's early concerts when they realised they were limited at just how much they could play due to a lack of hands. They had commenced by performing works by the likes of Robert Ashley, Morton Feldman, Daniel Lentz, Jon Hassell, Terry Riley, John Cage, Philip Glass and Steve Reich, but as time progressed their own compositions took precedent and for me the one which really stands out for me on this release is "C-A-G-E I" which is incredibly hypnotic and following a similar path to what would be experienced with Tangerine Dream who had much more musical success. The repeated melodies and changing layers make for a complex arrangement which is quite dangerous to play when listening to in the car as it really does take hold of one's consciousness as all that exists are the notes, and the music is all-encompassing. This is the first time I have come across Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. who appear to be one of those bands whose influence has been much larger than their recorded output, with their debut only coming out in 1973, yet there is no doubt that Borden's work with Robert Moog had a huge impact on the world of synthesizers.

— First review of this album —

Dirk Jan Müller is back with some more modern Berlin School of Progressive Electronic Music, this one very much founded in the sequences and familiar soundscapes of Classic Era TD or Klaus Schulze but enriching the music with new 21st Century sounds, samples, and techniques.

1. "planet dirt" (13:28) traditional Berlin School sequenced song with rich and unusual, even what you'd call "earthy," sounds and textures woven into the atmosphere. (26.375/30)

2. "eternal autumn" (4:05) extraterrestrial planet exploration, on foot, complete with chatter between the scientists and scraping, scratchy noises of their boots walking through the gravelly touraine. A sci-fi soundtrack extension of Brian Eno's work from the mid-1980s. (8.66667/10)

3. "revelation" (5:12) slow development and rise of what sounds like a variation on the Run, Lola Run sequencer theme. Why does s/he keep running by the industrial parks--along the train tracks? Definitely a Klaus Schulze connection here, as well. (8.75/10)

4. "black rain" (18:30) odd droning loop for the first three minutes, then Eno "Lizard Point"-like scratchy "outdoor" soundtape feel for the next three, moving underground into subterranean worlds for the next part of the journey (perhaps the catacombs beneath Naples, Italy: Napoli Sotterranea), before resurfacing on one of the planets in the Hyperion universe: the lush, swamp-world known as God's Grove. As a matter of fact, from this point on I am feeling as if a soundtrack has been laid while I wait, hiding, watching and waiting (in fear and trepidation) for the arrival of the TechnoCore assassin, Rhadamanth Nemes. Awesome (yet unnerving)! (35/40)

5. "melted past" (7:56) a very traditional, smooth Berlin School sequenced song that feels quite indistinguishable from the great soundscapes of the past masters--except in the more-modern sound treatments of the final two minutes. (13.25/15)

6. "scab" (16:50) more expansion and variation upon Brian Eno's work from the On Land period of his Ambient Music series evolution. The final four minutes is the best part. (30.125/35)

Total Time 66:01

B-/3.5 stars; rated up for excellent production and intention. While I always like the music Dirk Jan Müller makes, I seldom find myself drawn to bring it back into my world for repeated listens. This is partly due to the fact that I do not choose this type of music for either my aural backdrop to my day--or to my meditations--but also because it often, like this album, lacks the moments and effects that surprise, interest, or excite me. It is, however, almost always quite excellent musical representation of the 21st Century Progressive Electronic sub-genre.

The Quebec duo of Dionne(drums) and Bregent(keyboards) released to very good albums in the mid seventies. In fact both will get a lot of consideration if I get a chance to do my "best of" Electronic list. But before those back to back releases in 1976 and 1977, Bregent had released an album in 1973 with his brother Jacques who actually wrote and produced the album I'm reviewing today. But back in 1973 their idea was to take the lyrics of some of their favourite poets and make an album out of it. We get the dramatic and sometimes spoken words of Jacques to the music that his brother created which was often electronic and orchestral.

So after the duo of Dionne-Bregent called it a day after their second album, the Bregent brothers reunite to make a followup album to their 1973 debut. The dates attached to these songs are from 1970 to 1977, but by far most are from 1972. We get some different lineups on these tracks. Like their debut the vocals dominate, and often in a theatrical manner, but there's spoken words as well. The focus, like on their debut, are the lyrics of poets.

The bombastic opener and the ballad-like tracks that follow are not my thing at all. There are a couple of tracks though that made an impression on me beginning with "Les Mouillures" for that haunting atmosphere, but my favourite is "L'intersection" for that zeuhl flavour out of nowhere. And how about the female vocals and that ripping guitar. The drumming and guitar are outstanding on here by the way, but this is a very inconsistent album in my opinion. And not close to the quality of the Dionne-Bregent records.

By the way Dionne is on that short ninth track which was nice to hear. The cover art is the best thing about this album, and I'll stick to my two Dionne-Bregent recordings. And lastly, not knowing French certainly doesn't help me here when the lyrics are so important and the focus.

Claudio Milano is perhaps the most unconventional and boundary pushing artist that I know of. And this attitude is from top to bottom. From the studio albums he is on, to those legendary live performances that are as much about the visual as they are the audio. To even the packaging that the music comes, which has been so unique at times. One of his recording I own has a literal string tied in a bow around the cd package. This most recent cd comes in a glossy, mini-magazine that is about 8 1/2 inches high and almost 6 inches wide. Some ten pages or so of lyrics and info all in Italian, plus pictures. The cd is held in a clear plastic sleeve attached to the inside back cover.

Like Claudio who is honest to his visions, I feel like I too have been honest with my opinions. Especially when free physical music has been sent to me for review. Not swayed in the least by that, and Claudio knows this, but still keeps them coming. I decline free downloads, as my whole reason for being on this site is to have a place for my opinions of My record collection. I have zero interest in throwing up reviews for music I don't physically own. Of the fourteen cds I own that Claudio's on I have given 6 three star reviews, 6 four stars reviews(including this one), and 2 five star reviews.

I have really fallen for this album. And talk about unconventional! We have three very classy, world class singers and a keyboardist playing a live gig at a gas station in Prato, Italy. A city of around 200,000 people, and the second largest city after Florence in Tuscany. In a gas station?! Unconventional right? Claudio Milano sings on the longest and by far most adventerous track on here called "Dissolvenza" at almost 19 minutes. Milano as usual provides an incredible performance that is as varied as the song is long. He puts on a show, and this is the only song featuring our fourth member Teo Ravelli, who can play drums with the best of them and is also known as Borda. He is also an electronics guy, and it's this song that instrumentally does something for me with those electronics. I love the sound of them as they come and go throughout. This is the track that prog fas will appreciate.

The other three tracks are quite sparse instrumentally, usually piano only. This really is a vocal album which usually isn't my thing, but it is here. We also have Niccolo Clemente on vocals singing on track two called "Comparsa". My least favourite but I still like it. He adds his own piano and synths to his vocals, and is somewhere between the adventerous Milano track, and the mellow Nemo songs.

Lets talk about Alberto Nemo. My first spin of this recording left me completely taken with Nemo's vocal style and tone. He clearly is a spiritual man, from the way he dresses to the music he performs. His songs open and close this album which just seems so appropriate, tying it all together. He sings in wordless melodies like some of those traditional middle eastern singers, or even like some of the singers from India. I had an Indian co- worker who always had his music cranked, and I always complimented it. I'm for some reason really drawn to this style of singing. Slow moving with Alberto emphasizing every syllable, and holding the notes. So impressed.

A very solid 4 stars for this special release that I'm so proud to own. Thanks Claudio!

Another album by Klaus SCHULZE when he left, strange at first; less so when we know that this album is in fact the result of a commission dating from 2008 for a film!

01. INFINITY (part 1,2 & 3) with the dark, mystical, soaring, black start with brackish colored scents, yes dark I confirm; it progresses on airy droplets and a languid base before having a world variation by the oriental vocal; we find hints of Jean-Michel JARRE on the endless rise, a mysterious violin coming to cast even more doubt on the direction of the piece; latency and contemplation are required, the sound at the origin of 2008 is less austere, heavier and more pregnant 02. ALPHA in detached piece continues however on the line of the master by proposing a typical reverberation beginning, a plaintive air more than melancholic, we approach the meditative expiation here; a digression in fact

03. MULTI (part 1,2,3,4 & 5) dives into a sequence of more than half an hour with 5 parts; at the beginning it is different, but it is also a bit the same; we have to wait until the end of the second drawer to glimpse a desire to turn up the sound, the 3rd to realize that we have forgotten time and that the Schulzian sound still has an effect even after his death; yes these pieces are part of a work requested for a film soundtrack, but we know that Klaus is gone, and this sound resonates much more like a memory, a solemn hymn, a temporal hook beyond death, a bit like the famous library of Interstellar', but I digress; these multi-titles would be like multi-glasses allowing to communicate with Klaus, I digress, I dream, I soar, I start to believe it; the moment when I think I hear pads of his hands, he who was a drummer at the beginning; yes the 4th phase is indeed the start of the album by associating what made SCHULZE the creator of the linear, monolithic, hypnotic and dangerously mantranic sound; of the bass rhythming our brain with the treble pricking our heart, or the opposite; in short the final part is an extension that definitively buries us next to him to whisper his last notes, oh there this chronicle becomes subjective, unreal, incredible

04. META arrives, follows, a sequel, a redundancy, a passage with the velvety keyboards always, with this synthetic pad that sets the rhythm, makes you close your eyes and listen in a syncopated way to the musical framework reveal itself, again and again; this piece goes by faster, I wonder if I fell asleep as I often do for more than 40 years while listening to Klaus; yes his atmosphere is in my skin from now on 05. UNI (part 1, 2 & 3) with the electronic latency that continues at first glance, you need the second drawer to have one of these openings of which only he had the secret; an electro air coming out of a keyboard, another from a synth and the piece suddenly comes to life; a little about JARRE's spatial orientation again, ah yes he did good things at the beginning too; this long monologue of high syncopated notes that seem to fall on a still damp cement screed; long contemplative melody to approach the Heavens, again; the easiest piece to access on the edge of redundancy, lacking that little extra that imprints the electronic progression; in short the finale slows down the air, the pads become more present, the low sound is gone, the one that reassured by offering another nap and another replay because of the brain's escape. An album from 2024 that takes the time to last in a disordered world, a bit paradoxical. (3.5). originelly on Planèteprog on Facebook.

The 1970's was the golden age of progressive music. It actually started in the late 1960's after Sgt. Pepper and Brian Wilson's great push to use the music studio as an instrument, which he did so effectively with his Pet Sounds. Everything seemed to fall into place for energetic groups to take rock music to its extreme. Brian Eno did this with this release. In the mid 1970's the economy was experiencing inflation and Watergate had just been concluded in Washington DC. The US was in turmoil along with the rest of the western world. In the musical art world of English masters like Eno, he was only getting started. He wanted to go totally uncommercial and make true art with sound. I think he accomplished his goal with this record. It has everything in an avant-garde project. It is beautiful and sublime. It is 4.5 stars on my scale. No track is filler, everything fits and produces a grand whole with subtlety and artistic merit.

The second collaboration between Fripp and Eno is a more ambient and reflective statement which shows how Mr. Fripp started to excel with synthetic guitar and loops. Brian was a great teacher as evidenced by Robert's subsequent works of soundscapes. On this initial offering he delves deep into the emotional mind of pure sound and how it portrays feelings and thoughts without words. Eno released Another Green World in 1975 and EG Records released Evening Star that same year. It was the heyday for experimental rock music. Fripp took the idea that the guitar could express oscillation like the keyboard. It is a landmark record in this respect. 4 stars.

This time Claudio Milano releases a live album from a performance in a very unusual place, a gasoline station in a town close to Florence, together with two other vocalists and authors. They agreed to add this album to Claudio's discography on PA even if it's a sort of "split".

The first performer is Alberto Nemo who is also the pianist. "Frattura" (Fracture) is present at the beginning and at the end of the album, but the total time of the two parts together is inferior to those of the other two performers.

So let's start with "Frattura Iniziale (Initial Fracture). It's started by the piano. There's a lot of reverb, but I think it's just the acoustic of the venue. It doesnt sound like an electronic effect. Nemo's voice is strong and has some similarities with Claudio's voice. I must confess that I've had a doubt about who this singer is. Luckily the whole live performance is also on Youtube. Alberto Nemo sits at the piano dressed (or betteer, undressed) like a Sikh, and his vocals which I was struggling to understand are just vocalizations. It's a sort of fusion between Dhropal singing and Catholic chants. It may sound like a prayer, but the only intelligible word that I catch is "Matame" ("Kill me" in Spanish). The real meaning performance is well explained in the album's booklet (in Italian, sorry). I don't know whether an English version is available. In any case, the "vibrations" created by the voice and the piano can vehiculate the message, partially at least. My own consideration: being able to put the eastern and western souls together is a proof of the common roots of the Indoeuropeans. Traditional musics share their vibes from Ireland to Bangladesh.

Niccolo' Clemente, aka Whale, has a composing style similar to Claudio. This time his piano accompanies real lyrics. Not very easy also for an Italian. I interpret it as the appearance and disappearance of life on Earth. The mortal remains of an extinct mankind. The lyrics are not much long, but enough to make phylosophical references. In particular the sentence "Il Tempo ingoiato dalla tempesta dell'atomo" gives me the idea of an Universe totally indifferent toward us. It literally means "Time swallowed by the atom's storm" It's the alpha constant that changes its value and destroys matter and energy. Time remains but is no more useable. There are remains, but not the mankind. Very good instrumental piano coda follows.

It's now the turn of Claudio. Now there's electronic behind, An unusual loop is the base on which Claudio repeats four words several times before staring o use his voice as i knows: "Morte, Dissolvenza, Vita, Trasmissione" (Death, Fade, Life, Transmission). The multi-instrumentis and electronic maestro Teo Ravelli aka Borda creates very intriguing soundscapes also distorting the voice of Claudio, adding echoes and effects to the vocals. Listening carefully, it's like Claudio is singing acapella over an invisible (inaudible is better) chords progression. This atonal music may can be reconducted to a proper song...but why doing so? As usual the lyrics written by Claudio are harsh, row, intense and sometimes disturbing. And it ends with a catholic standard prayer before getting back to the initial four words, but with different interval, tonality and background toward the sudden end. Trying to interpret the poetry, I think there's a connection to "The Wall". Traumas and a consequent attempt to hide himself (I want to dive into an ocean of [&*!#]) until the decision to escape "With the voice of an angel I scream my interior void. I want to get out!". I see it like the desire of tearing down the wall. Of course it's just as I interpret it, I can be completely wrong. The key is more likely in the word Dissolvenza (Fade). Disappear, melt into small pieces of awareness in order to rebirth.

Finally, Nemo is back with his mixture of east and west backed by his piano. It's a reprise of the first track and an excellent conclusion of the performance that closes the circle. At this point we have experienced the wordless chant of the soul, the disappearance of the mankind into the void of existence, the death and the desperate desire of rebirth, to the return of the wordless voice of the soul.

Challenging but rewarding. It's a sort of journey to the abyss and back, in some ways similar to what Dante does in the Comedy's Inferno, which was the subject of the previous performance by Claudio Milano with "I Sincopatici".