DEEP IMAGINATION: Awareness (CD on Prudence Music)
This release from 2010 offers 55 minutes of noble electronic music.
Deep Imagination is Thorsten Sudler-Mainz (on keyboards, programming, guitar and percussion), with guests: Matthias Krauss (on additional keyboards), Thorsten Rentsch (on guitar, fretless bass, and percussion), and Stefan Hollering (on electro-saxophone and tenor saxophone).
Electronics and e-perc generate tunes that possess a regal demeanor.
The electronics exhibit a certain nobility, exemplified by majestic texturals which serve as foundations for keyboard-triggered riffs of lavish emotional content. The keys establish floating notes that are then embellished by additional chords, all blending together into riffs of endearing quality. There are instances in which the keyboards adopt a twinkling, more sprightly, demeanor, but the temperament invariably remains restrained and quite dreamy.
Rhythms provide suitable locomotion, often of a languid nature, which excellently fit the general dreaminess of the music.
Some guitar is present, but those occasions are sparse and invariably buried deep in the mix.
Saxophone lends a mournful soul to a few tracks.
These instrumental compositions are concerned with expressing the diverse aspects of human consciousness. And so the music tends to be pensive and usually introspective, despite the presence of tempos. The music possesses a noticeably stately disposition, though, that imbues the tunes with a reserved appeal.
There's Surroundings, a 13 minute CD EP (on Prudence Music) featuring two tracks: a radio edit and a 10 minute medley version. The latter displays a pronounced fluidity, offering tastes of the album's melodies in passages that flow together in a relaxed fashion.
THE JUPITER 8: Songs from the Engine Room, Part 2 (CD on A-Frame Media)
This release from 2010 offers 53 minutes of spacey electronic music.
Guitar and e-perc liven a selection of space age electronics.
Track one features haunting texturals that lead into a construction of melodic electronics tempered by e-perc. As the tune progresses, additional electronics enter the mix, goading things into a more lively state. Adjusting to this evolution, the rhythms adopt a spry attitude which results in a very engaging gestalt.
The next piece offers a drastic divergence from the rest of the songs in its raucous rock-out mien. Growling guitars and pounding drums create an optimistic explosion of rock'n'roll sentiments. Energetic keyboards contribute animated secondary riffs in conjunction with droning background electronics. The piece features some dazzling guitar solos.
Track three is a short song, comprised of sedate guitar chords blending with bouncy electronics. Some beats are thrown in to lend the piece some propulsion.
Track four takes a gentle. almost ambient, approach with winsome tones embellished by languid e-perc and electronic effects that eventually begin to bend the foundational tones into bewitching mutations.
Track five begins by seasoning astral textures with radio transmission, achieving a distinctly haunting mood...that leads to the introduction of guitar effects and additional electronics of a swaying nature. A gradual appearance by slushy e-perc heralds the advent of space guitar. The latter provides a desolate disposition to the fretful composition.
The last piece offers a dose of restrained rock tempered by electronic sensibilities. Grunting guitar and brisk rhythms mesh with chugging electronics, producing a tune that shines with a modern psychedelic edge, complete with mournful guitar solo that urges everything into a skyward spiral.
An excellent dose of spacey electronics imbued with a delightful oomph.
DAN POUND: Wolf Moon (CD on PoundSounds)
This release from 2010 offers 57 minutes of lupine electronic music.
Dan Pound plays: didgeridoo, flutes, voice, various analog and digital synthesizers, ocarina, shamanic percussion, samplers, field recordings, and sound shaping through various hardware processors and mixers.
This time Pound applies his musical focus to the essence of being a wolf. From that creature's environment to its habits to its spirit, he has captured each nuance with appealing exactitude.
While the electronics retain an ethereal delicacy, they still manage to express a sense of unbridled freedom, capturing the beast on the prowl as easily as they do the wolf sedately surveying its prairie domain. Throbbing texturals bestow those territories with expansive properties, as dark pulsations approximate a pensive nocturnal environment.
Winsome flutes contribute an airy disposition to this panoramic outlook. A sense of spiritual reverence is generated by the presence of breathy didgeridoo and shamanic chants, not to mention the ritual beats of distant percussives.
Several tracks put the listener on the move, riding along with the wolf as it races through the night. Softly urgent electronics instill a compelling sense of constant motion.
These melodic compositions are elegant and powerful. The instruments generate lavish soundscapes of prairie splendor, moody and evocative. There is a fine balance of predatory tunes and ambient auralscapes, each track offering vital stimulation to portions of the listener's psyche.
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