Post by wtim on May 6, 2007 13:15:46 GMT
Have you seen this review, Jez? It came in Groove's weekly e-mail.
ASTROGATOR - THE DARKNESS BETWEEN (CD)
There are many Berlin School "tribute" or "retro" bands out there that tries
to keep the 70s electronic music subgenre alive, and many of them do a good
job but many of them are genre faithful almost to the point of repetition
and clichés, if one looks at the music from a bigger perspective than genre
masturbation (which is not necessarily bad - just not what you always are in
the mood for). Berlin school (Bs) bands can have a problem if they try to
innovate because if they loose the Berlin School image, they might alienate
the little audience they have, and also loose focus on the music they love.
Then we have bands and albums that are not pure Berlin School as such but
"electronic music" with strong roots in the Bs genre. Astrogator's the
darkness between is such an album, what I would call new-bs or classic space
electronica with evident Bs influences. Their own description is spot on,
for this album at least; "they produce electronic music inspired by such
artists as arcane, Jean Michel Jarre, radio massacre international, Klaus
Schulze and tangerine dream. The music of Astrogator is mostly improvised
and ranges from abstract ambient soundscapes to intensely rhythmic sequences
overlaid with melodic and progressive elements".
The album has only 3 tracks, which make them long, not uncommon in this
genre. The advantage of really long tracks is that length gives room for
structural developments of an epic scale, and more room for musical thought.
Astrogator uses the long stretches here to good effect, as no tracks appear
too long simply due to things that happen all the time in each track. There
are new refreshing ideas, themes and structures introduced every few minutes
at suitable intervals. One could argue that each new theme or structure
could just be another new song so why not name the parts more individual,
but each track is part of a bigger picture, where the first track represent
traditional Berlin School music (without being genre copycats), the second
track offers ambient washes, long chords, and slow beautiful movements, and
the third track is a little experimental (for a Bs album) with genre mixes
and a spooky repeating boingy sound that adds a whole new dimension to the
track just by itself. The third track is easily the best on the album,
because it has hit a dark nerve and shows that Bs can be innovative and
traditional at the same time without loosing it's appeal.
The album's sound is a little unpolished and thin, with less than glossy
production. It does not sound like a very fat, warm analog 70s album like
so many other retro-Bs albums, which is a bit of shame because the tracks
are arranged and constructed well, in spite of being mostly live
improvisations (or maybe because of), and have become good "songs". But I am
willing to overlook this aspect to enjoy the cosmic spheres and catchy
sequences that show a lot of promise.
Rating: 7 of 10
Glenn Folkvord
;)Although I would have rated it higher than 7 out of 10
ASTROGATOR - THE DARKNESS BETWEEN (CD)
There are many Berlin School "tribute" or "retro" bands out there that tries
to keep the 70s electronic music subgenre alive, and many of them do a good
job but many of them are genre faithful almost to the point of repetition
and clichés, if one looks at the music from a bigger perspective than genre
masturbation (which is not necessarily bad - just not what you always are in
the mood for). Berlin school (Bs) bands can have a problem if they try to
innovate because if they loose the Berlin School image, they might alienate
the little audience they have, and also loose focus on the music they love.
Then we have bands and albums that are not pure Berlin School as such but
"electronic music" with strong roots in the Bs genre. Astrogator's the
darkness between is such an album, what I would call new-bs or classic space
electronica with evident Bs influences. Their own description is spot on,
for this album at least; "they produce electronic music inspired by such
artists as arcane, Jean Michel Jarre, radio massacre international, Klaus
Schulze and tangerine dream. The music of Astrogator is mostly improvised
and ranges from abstract ambient soundscapes to intensely rhythmic sequences
overlaid with melodic and progressive elements".
The album has only 3 tracks, which make them long, not uncommon in this
genre. The advantage of really long tracks is that length gives room for
structural developments of an epic scale, and more room for musical thought.
Astrogator uses the long stretches here to good effect, as no tracks appear
too long simply due to things that happen all the time in each track. There
are new refreshing ideas, themes and structures introduced every few minutes
at suitable intervals. One could argue that each new theme or structure
could just be another new song so why not name the parts more individual,
but each track is part of a bigger picture, where the first track represent
traditional Berlin School music (without being genre copycats), the second
track offers ambient washes, long chords, and slow beautiful movements, and
the third track is a little experimental (for a Bs album) with genre mixes
and a spooky repeating boingy sound that adds a whole new dimension to the
track just by itself. The third track is easily the best on the album,
because it has hit a dark nerve and shows that Bs can be innovative and
traditional at the same time without loosing it's appeal.
The album's sound is a little unpolished and thin, with less than glossy
production. It does not sound like a very fat, warm analog 70s album like
so many other retro-Bs albums, which is a bit of shame because the tracks
are arranged and constructed well, in spite of being mostly live
improvisations (or maybe because of), and have become good "songs". But I am
willing to overlook this aspect to enjoy the cosmic spheres and catchy
sequences that show a lot of promise.
Rating: 7 of 10
Glenn Folkvord
;)Although I would have rated it higher than 7 out of 10
