“EVIL 17NL is like a Best Of...the most dance Moonbooter's tracks which have this tight link with the New Berlin School style”
1 Nachtvogel 2:40 2 Satellite 6:07 3 Time 6:08 4 The Wave 4:59 5 The Raven´s Light 7:08 6 Last Exit Eternity 6:09 7 Daft Moon 5:07 8 Earth Two 6:42 9 Edge of Sanity 7:51 10 Apeland 6:04 11 Sequencer 9 5:47 12 Like Angels 6:17 MellowJet-Records | cdr-mb1702
(CD/DDL 71:14) (V.F.)
(EDM, New Berlin School)
Prince of Electronic Dance Music, Bernd Scholl possesses an impressive discography. The one who set up the label MellowJet Records in 2007 produced more than about twenty albums since Teralogica in 2005. Plus, he realized albums in collaboration, he produced music events, DJ evenings, made a couple of DVDs and did the master of many albums. You have there an impressive career and discography of albums which allies marvellously the approach of Dance to New Berlin School or still to the French School (Jarre among others) from the 70's and 80's. EVIL 17NL, for Netherlands Live 2017, is an album in concert performed on April 29th 2017 within the framework of the prestigious E-Day Festival in Oirschot, Netherlands. Moonbooter locked himself in his studio and edited the 72 minutes of this concert, removing the noises of the crowd, to do the mixing a mosaic of Dance Music which goes softly like an appealing journey into the lands New Berlin School Dance like in the style of Morphing Dance Music or yet in EDM.
It's the lively rhythm and the very Tangerine Dream synths of Satellite that follows the ambient Nachtvogel and its good effects of percussions. Moonbooter guesses that the ambiences there are more convenient to the Berlin School style, the Festival also welcomes Pyramaxx and Arcane, because he selected titles of Dance Music which are in direct link with the Berliner style. Certainly, there are some big boom-boom-tchick-tchick, like the wild and ferocious Daft Moon and Like Angels, but the rest of the selections of Bernd Scholl rests on a great Dance Music with good harmonious effects which is rather unique to his signature. The Wave is as much lively and catchy with its harmonious solos while titles like Time, Last Exit Eternity and Edge of Sanity share their sweetness and mi-ambient/mi-dance rhythms. I like the interpretation of The Raven´s Light, from Schwarzmond, which seems to me more incisive here, as well as Sequencer 9, an old title of 2008 (Lunatic Voyage album) which sets the table in a very brilliant way to the finale with Like Angels. It's been a while since I heard Apeland and I remember how much I liked its heavy and slow rhythm. Very good! And what to say about Earth Two? I repeat myself again and again by saying that it's there that Jean-Michel Jarre should have go!
In brief, I had a good time with EVIL 17NL, a lively and catchy album which isn't really so much of a Dance Music album. To say the least, not that this much to frighten those whom the kind annoys. It's a very beautiful album of EDM where, as usual, Moonbooter is second to none to make this link between Berlin School and the lively and catchy beats of EM.
Sylvain Lupari (July 10th, 2017) *****
Available at MellowJet Records
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