Airsculpture - Thunderhead. 1998 Neu Harmony (CD). Collection revisit (Aug). Airsculpture were one of a handful of Tangerine Dream revivalists coming from Europe in the late 90s. All of their albums are very good and consistent with the Berlin School aesthetic. Airsculpture are less distinctive than their brethren such as Redshift, ARC, Radio Massacre International, and Free System Projekt. This was the first one I bought by them, but I think I'll let it go. I've purged a few others from the collection but I still have three CD's by them and I'm certain to keep at least two of those.
*Robert Rich / Steve Roach - Strata. 1990 Hearts of Space (MC). Thrift shop find (Aug). No surprises from two veterans of the ambient scene. Rich brings the percussive elements while Stearns is the master of sleepy electronics. Hit play and doze into dreamland. I can see where cassettes are a good format for this kind of music. Flipping the cassette is the effort needed to get through it all.
x - Jo Anna Burns-Miller - Snow Flower. 1990 Little Pond (MC). From the same thrift shop, but a year ago (Jul). From Portland, Oregon all-about-me Burns-Miller proves to be boring as hell and sleep inducing. Same music on both sides for "maximum relaxation". Snore. This kind of saccharine fluff is exactly why new age music fell out of favor.
*Suzanne Ciani - Seven Waves. 1982 Finnadar (MC). From the same thrift shop as the Roth tape (Jul). As noted on The Velocity of Love review, I was curious how her debut sounded. And I wasn't disappointed. While very much a product of the early 80's, Ciani loads up on the analog gear anyway and creates a wonderful soothing album with emulations of "Waves". Keeping this and, as a bonus, it's going for good money these days.
Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors - Waves. 1991 Raven (MC). Thrift shop pickup (Jul). Here's the other title I bought along with Dancing Toward the One. My suspicion of that album being an "accidental" great work appears to be correct. Here Roth goes all in Tribal, and it's annoying as hell. She seems to know her audience and is far more self-conscious of her image, none of which interests me. Gone are the psychedelic edges. She's trying real hard to be "native American" and it sounds ridiculous. You're better off buying real Native field recordings from the 1950's/1960's on Folkways.
Vangelis - L'Apocalypse des Animaux. 1981 Polydor UK (1970) (LP). Thrift shop find (Jun). Though recorded in 1970, the album wasn't originally released until 1973. This is a TV soundtrack and very much ahead of its time in using electronics to set the mood. A bit slow for listening but one can certainly admire the pioneering spirit. Along with Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis was leading the pack in creativity in the early 70s. He settled into old age too fast.
Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats + Live. 2011 Industrial (1979) (CD). Of course this is neither jazz nor funk, and the cover is purposely misleading. Complete dadaist styled music, where the band admits they're not even musicians. It's abstract experimental, minimal synth, industrial type music. There was a lot of this kind of music in the 80s, but Throbbing Gristle were doing this as far back as 1976, so they were indeed groundbreakers. It's musically interesting though not overly compelling for repeated listens. Going to earn you a sideways glance if playing for coworkers. From an antique mall in Hutchinson, Kansas (Oct 2023) (May)
Reuter / Boddy – Pure. 2004 DiN (CD). Collection revisit (Jan). Ian Boddy plays modern synths with sampled mellotron. Markus Reuter is a German “touch” guitarist. Each track is different from the other and all are unique in their own way. Elements of Ash Ra, spacey Schulze, electronica, and Berlin School can be found. But mostly it sounds like nothing I’ve heard. DiN’s mission statement is to provide electronic music between old analog and modern digital. They succeed here.
Bernard Szajner – Some Deaths Take Forever. 1999 Spalax (1980) (CD). Collection revisit (Jan). Zeuhlish electronic piece. The album is often described as Magma meets Heldon, which is fair, with members from both. However it's more experimental, cold, and predicts the 80s style of electronic. To be discovered, as Musea used to say in their old catalogs.
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