2024 Electronic Journal Vol. 1 - Complete

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.

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. 

* - Keeping for the collection; x - not in RYM

Suzanne Ciani - The Velocity of Love. 1986 USA-Massachusetts

Here's a surprising pickup for me. I found this perfect copy in shrink the last time I was in Pueblo for a dollar. I noted to myself that while these used to be ubiquitous in the record shops, I can't recall seeing one recently. Sure enough, it does have a little value now. I never took the time to hear what she had to offer back then, so let's go for it.

Boston based Suzanne Ciani definitely taps into the moods and sounds of 1986. You might recall my super rich buddy (Al Di Meola review) and his incredible stereo. This would have been the kind of album he would have owned to show that off. Musically it borders progressive electronic and new age, and has a very feminine sweet sound. I can't say I own too much music like The Velocity of Love and it does transport me to a time and place. Those are the type of albums I keep. If looking for comparisons, I'd suggest Vangelis was in this sound area around the same time. I think it's telling that the album was issued on RCA's Red Seal label, which is solely dedicated to classical music. That was the perceived audience for the time.

In reviewing Suzanne Ciani's biography, she was already 40 when this was released (she looks much younger on the back cover), and she's still making music today at age 77. Early photos demonstrate a young lady fascinated with electronics, and it's too bad there aren't any recordings of her music from the 70s (there's something from 1970, not sure what that's about). I can imagine they'd be more Klaus Schulze like than the more refined work of The Velocity of Love. I'm definitely interested now in her 1982 debut.

Ownership: LP: 1986 RCA Red Seal. Single sleeve. Acquired as noted above. 

12/18/23 (new entry)