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Ian Boddy, alone and with Erik Wollo

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IAN BODDY: Strange Attractors (DDL on DiN)

This release from 2012 features 75 minutes of gripping electronic music recorded live at Awakenings in April 2011.

Versatile electronics are utilized to craft engaging tuneage with a touch of energy with delightful results.

A selection of atmospheric electronics are employed to establish background textures, but the gist of the music is propelled by keyboards. Nimble-fingered chords conspire to create alluring riffs that loop into undulating progressions, which are in turn embellished by additional layers. An inventive array of sounds are featured, each serving to increase the music's strange attraction.

Lilting threads of supple sound intertwine to generate a celestial beauty often tinged with a subtle degree of brawn. This latter mettle imparts a favorable charm to the songs. The tunes achieve a compelling majesty as they muster puiissance and attain pinnacles of gleaming intensity.

Among the synthetic sounds are tones that resemble the shimmering pitch of steel slide guitars; this contributes a searing edginess to the flow.

Some percussives are present in a few tracks, but these rhythms serve mainly to emphasize the music's mounting charisma.

While steeped in soothing temperaments, these compositions consistantly muster a spry liveliness, delivering melodies of bewitching animation. By mixing growling tonalities with sweeter sounds, an assortment of lush tuneage is created. This contrast of gritty and heavenly elements establishes a dramatic flair that is quite gripping.

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IAN BODDY & ERIK WOLLO: Frontiers (CD on DiN)

This CD from 2012 features 56 minutes of enchanting electronic music.

Boddy plays synthesizers, gliss-keyboard, samplers and field recordings. Wollo plays electric/slide/E-bow and fretless guitars, guitar synthesizer, synths and field recordings.

Artificial, natural and processed guitars merge with electronics to generate a panorama of sparkling mellow tuneage.

There are so many guitars here, it's difficult to break them down for analysis, especially since many of the chords reach the listener's ears after undergoing influential treatments. Some riffs soar, while others drift on whispery breezes. Many of the passages adopt an ethereal character that defies codification, delightfully so.

The electronics merge beautifully with the guitars, achieving a sly masquerade that often blurs the distinctions between the two classes of instrument. Atmospheric textures coexist with fluid cybernetics. For all the versatility of the electronics, however, they are intentionally proximate to the myriad of sounds created by the guitar array, which (you'll recall) are particularly un-guitar-like in their sultry resonance.

Boddy's stylistic electronic signature superbly compliments Wollo's dreamy flair, resulting in music of an enchanting nature.

Some rhythms occur (albeit synthetic), but these tempos are hardly a driving force in those tunes, seasoning rather than propelling the music.

While there's an ambient edge to these compositions, they are flavored with a touch of oomph that elevates them from that genre. Subtle density prevails, giving the airy music a solid power that is quite entrancing. The melodies convey an icy quality tempered with a sense of exploration, seeking new frontiers with these pleasant sonic excursions.

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