“A timid first album where the scents of KS & TD reflect the very ambiguous artistic characters of two artists who are so close, and yet so far away”
1 21th Century Oscillator Suite 29:43
2 Vibrations 16:42
3 Answers without Questions 22:06
(CD-R/DDL 68:31) (V.F.)
(Retro Berlin School)
The musical universes of Von Haulshoven and Syndromeda intersect without being alike. While one does progressive Berlin School with the scent of Tangerine Dream, the other is just as fond of Berlin School but with a more personal and daring touch, as well as a very special tone for Danny Budts. The fusion of their universe, at the same time so close and so distant, could only give a result to the image of the two characters which are at the opposite on the level of the musical structures; Von Haulshoven preferring long winding and improvised paths, while Syndromeda doesn't improvise. The result gives a hybrid music where the styles that have influenced the two musicians intertwine in this musical encounter which will leave more than one perplexed.
Between the poetic waves of Klaus Schulze, the dark wanderings of the fluty synths of Tangerine Dream and the metallic breathes of Pink Floyd (Wish You Where Here), the slow morphic intro of the 21th Century Oscillator Suite is a pure sonic marvel for a cosmic, ambient and psychedelic universe. An oblong intro which stacks the dreamlike synth layers to those a little more corrosive and cosmic gives way to sinuous solos with the breaths of old baroque organs which make their way through chthonic choirs. This staging survives at a degraded pace which appears a little before the 12th minute. A delicate rhythm emerges on a thin undulating bass line and a sequence which hiccups in the shade of a little more strident solos. Percussions fall and dress the rhythm of a sustained measure in an ocher universe where the synth solos draw soft vaporous melodies, before sniffing the morphic sweetness of its intro. Part 1 of Vibrations demonstrates the interest of Eppie E. Hulshof and Danny Budts for a post-Berlin School psychedelic approach. Caustic waves wander in a cosmos tetanized of metallic tones where strange voices call out to the brief tranquility of this introduction. Vibrations then starts with a bang! With a bumpy sequenced movement which is surrounded by heavy resonances, while the synths pitches lines as melodious as howling in a heterogeneous sound sphere where everything is confusion. This heavy rhythm is forged with vacillations and it grope forward between a synth and its multiple layers' loops. The 2nd portion takes on a much more melodious approach with good intersecting sequences which bite a hesitant bassline which beats under the charms of a more musical synth. A duality of rhythms and structures which shows the antipodes of the duo and nourishes the boldness of the two accomplices for the time of an album.
Answers without Questions evolves like a nice Berlin School and its angelic attractions. A fluty synth emerges and traces a superb melodious line that a sequential movement embraces perfectly. A superb synth and sequencer fusion flows smoothly, like the good and yet incomplete moments of Tangerine Dream from the 70's, era of Encore to Green Desert. Around the 12th minute, the duo plunges into the irresistible cosmic vapors of a parallel universe where a brief psychedelic approach re-initiates a rhythm made up of chaotic and imperfect sequences which ignites a synth with very punctuated spectral striding. A finale that reflects the very ambiguous artistic characters of two artists who are so close, and yet so far away. We now find this album on SynGate under the name of The First Meeting.
Sylvain Lupari (May 15th, 2010) *****
Available at SynGate Bandcamp
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