Brannan Lane - Hypnotic Drift (2002)

Brannan Lane is a very creative composer in the US ambient scene: his discography is impressive (26 ambient albums recorded so far...), as a solo artist or in collaboration projects (for example with Vidna Obmana, Zero Ohms, Amir Baghiri, Robert Carty, Tom Larson, Ashera....). 

As an introduction to his discography, I chose a very meditative and ambient album, Hypnotic Drift. You are invited to explore eleven "zones" in a 63 minutes sonic journey, with deep and space out atmospheres, slowly evolving electronic polyphonies, beautiful sounds and climates that could be compared to Steve Roach's most floating works (without ethnic drums).

Very remote from the new age musak, the music of Brannan Lane follows its own path and it built up its own style and beauty...

This is a quiet, deep and spacy music to be listened to after midnight or when you need just to chill out or to slow down from our hectic and crazy world.

Most of Brannan Lane's recordings can be bought online at Itunes and emusic, and they are highly recommanded !

link: mp3 :

download

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Michael Stearns - Chronos (1985)

Michael Stearns is one of the most interesting composers of the Californian electronic scene, with Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Iasos and a few others. In the 80s , they invented a new style of electronic music, exploring different spaces from those of the so-called "Berlin School":  sea and desert, alternative ways of life and new spiritualities, these musicians were the forerunners and the most inspired musicians of the new age movement, when it was still a quest and not yet a commercial market for muzak.

Chronos is the soundtrack of the IMAX film by Ron Fricke (one of the the creators of Koyaanisqatsi). One could define it as an electronic symphony (a single track of 41:30, with seven movements): few musicians can reach such a degree of expressiveness, of strength and power, of space and crescendos with synthesizers. Michael Stearns used a Serge Modular System, as well as Oberheim, Emu and Yamaha synthesizers, blending analogic and digital textures in a true symphonic way. Constance Demby added her impressive "Space Bass" sound, while a human choir added a lyrical touch to the composition. Slow and meditative or carried away by the hectic tempos of Western megapoles, Chronos is a unique sonic journey through the paths of time and memory, of origins and progress:  this soundtrack will inspire you many visions even if you don't watch the movie...

link : mp3 / 320

MS.Ch.zip

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Iasos - Angelic Music (1978)

Iasos is born in 1947 in Greece, but his family moved to the USA in 1951. He is one of the most intriguing and innovative composers linked with the developement of the new age musical trend in California. Actually, he is one of its forerunners, since from 1967, he started to imagine a new kind of music, "paradise music". He was then a student at Cornell University, and he graduated in anthropology in 1968.

Angelic Music was released in 1978 as a tape. I bought it in the early 80's and it was at the top of my personal playlist for a long time. One can be interested or not in Iasos spiritual and new age discourse and concepts. I was not... But the music was really innovative and inventive, there was such a unique way to manipulate acoustic and electronic sounds, to play with tape recorders speed, with reverse playing of tapes, with various reverb and echoes treatment... 

Iasos' music is very floating and ethereal, it is wide and deep as the sky... Listening to it is a unique experience...

Angelic Music offers two long tracks, "The Angels of Comfort" and "Angel Play". 

The CD release added a new dimension to this already multi-dimensional music...

If you like this music, you should support Iasos and buy Elixir (number 2 in my Iasos playlist).

Realms of Light and Essence of Spring could be your next steps to reach the new dimensions explored by this unique musician... 

Relax, forget anything else, and enjoy the music !

link / mp3

IaAnMu.zip

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Klaus Schulze - X (1978)

Klaus Schulze is a musician who played a very important part in my life. I love him so much that I am willing to introduce him to the readers of my blog who never listened to his music, I respect him that much that I do not want to share all his discography, just an album that could give a fair overview of his musical world...

I chose... a 2 CDs boxset from 1978: X. It was still the time of analogic and modular synthesizers; it was the rule of the Big Moog and Minimoog, of the ARP 2600 and ARP Odyssey. These instruments had to be explored and to be mastered, many tricks were to be used in order to retrieve a specific sound or climate. It was before MIDI, computers and samplers...

"X" offers six compositions, from 5:25 to 29:32 minutes and allows us to discover a very romantic and symphonic Klaus Schulze, obviously influenced by composers such as Mahler or Bruckner, and trying to invent new creative roads between rock, krautrock and classical music. 

Harald Grosskopf (from Ash Ra Tempel) plays drums on several tracks.

"X" is an attempt to create musical biographies of characters such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Georg Trakl, Frank Herbert, Friedmann Bach, Ludwig II von Bayern, Heinrich von Kleist...

Klaus Schulze is exploring the cultural history of Germany through his unique set of electronic instruments...

Thirty years after its release, "X" remains a unique album where a vintage musical technology created unforgettable climates...

Is Klaus Schulze the last romantic of the XXth century  ?

"X" is among the CDs I would bring to the desert island I will have to live in, sooner or later...

If any reader of my blog does not know Klaus Schulze, please, listen to this album, it will open many doors and you will not watch the sky anymore as you were used to...

link: mp3 / 320

KSX1.zip

KSX2.zip

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Bernard Xolotl and Daniel Kobialka - Procession (1983, rip of the 1993 CD)

Okay, let's start the third week of my blog with an almost forgotten gem, by French electronic composer Bernard Xolotl (born 1951). As a teen, he discovered electronic music through the works of musique concrète French school, with composers such as Pierre Henry or Pierre Schaeffer. Pink Floyd, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel, Riley and La Monte Young were Xolotl's main inspiration during the early seventies. In the late seventies, Xolotl, who created his studio in California,  was a forerunner of the forth-coming "new age scene" through his work with Cyrille Verdeaux (Prophecy, 1980). Procession could be considered as one of his most innovative works. He used, among others, PPG Wave 2.2, Yamaha C60, Arp Analogic synthesizer, vocoder, Korg Monopoly etc. Violin player Daniel Kobialka joined him for this project.

Procession was released as a cassette, and in 1993, was released again as a CD, with some additions and editing, by German company Erdenklang.

Procession is pure "kosmische musik", very close to Klaus Schulze's Dune and X albums, wherehe worked with cello player W. Tiepold. Procession could be a French interpretation of what the Berlin School was about... 

I rediscovered Procession during recent archeological excavations in my CDs collection... And I still love Procession's mood, sound, atmospheres, climates... Space music, with vintage synthesizers, symphonic climates mixed with a violin solo voice, analogic sequencers mirrored through echoes...

It is a very Schulzian album, and at the same times, it is also a step in the history of Californian new age music. 

It is space music at his best....

Close your eyes, you are in outer space...

links: mp3 / 320

BXPro1.zip

BXPro2.zip

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