ALPHA WAVE MOVEMENT: Soniq Variants (CD on Harmonic Resonance)
This release from 2010 offers 60 minutes of gentle electronic music.
Alpha Wave Movement is Gregory Kyryluk.
Delicate electronics produce engaging tunes of shimmering beauty.
The electronics are soft and ethereal. Texturals serve as lustrous backdrops for elegant melodies and their unhurried variations. Tones are generated and elongated, then subjected to sensuous enhancements by additional chords. The melodies reside in these auxiliary embellishments as keys deliver pacific passages of fragile suspension.
Calm riffs float with stately demeanor and periodically engage in swirling activity of a mesmerizing nature. Crisp electronics achieve a regal posture that incites an alluring attraction with their luxurious definition.
While a degree of rhythms can be found here, the beats are extra soft and especially unintrusive, lending punctuation to the melodies more than propulsion.
To be fair, not all the tracks are floating structures. A few display a degree of oomph with more spry keyboard riffs in tandem with understated tempos.
These compositions were created primarily using Ensoniq gear, which bestows the tuneage with a gentility that excellently matches the composer's tranquil intentions. The music flows with a soothing serenity, instilling a restful mood in the audience.
BLUTIGER FLUSS: Rings of Saturn (CD on Sleep on the Floor)
This release from 2010 offers 70 minutes of cosmic electronic music.
Blutiger Fluss is: Jeff Hutchison (on synths, keys and effects) and Jim Duede (on synths, keys, guitar, and effects).
Blutiger Fluss has harnessed modern technology to recapture the mood of 70s era Euro electronics with flowing atmospherics tempered by dreamy melodics.
Mild texturals are utilized to generate an environment of celestial characteristics which serve as a foundation for additional harmonics. The temperament created by this substructure is one of gentle cosmic vistas, expansive in scope yet deeply moving in their fundamental simplicity.
Meanwhile the auxiliary electronics serve to establish a more melodic presence with fluid chords and darkly churning tonalities, all contributing to evoke a panorama of interplanetary locale. The listener is transported into an orbital position where sparkling pulsations approximate the majestic sweep of Saturn's rings, while the basic undercurrent maintains an awe-inspiring vantage of high altitude, gazing down upon the stately clouds of the far-flung planet.
Instead of agile keyboarding, the chords are established and coaxed into eternal sustains. The tracks are long, affording the songs to gradually coalesce into somber structures of noble mettle.
Devoid of rhythm, this music exudes a spacey disposition with streaming harmonics and serene passages of tenuous definition. Sidereal effects enhance this otherworldly milieu, resulting in tuneage with a strong appeal to aficionados of outer space.
UWE GRONAU: Midsummer (double CD on Confido)
This release from 2010 offers 117 minutes of pastoral electronic music.
Multi-instrumentalist Gronau is joined on a few tracks by: Martin Brom and Wolfgang Demming (on guitar).
Pleasant electronics share the sonic stage with a variety of instruments, all dedicated to establishing moods that span from serenity to slightly energized calm.
Keyboards dominate the electronics, guiding notes into shimmering chords that float with undulant ease. High reedy tones flitter through pastiches of earthier character, producing a comfortably rounded palette. Lilting piano passages wind through the songs, creating a cerebral touch that is excellently tempered by the rest of the instruments and delivered into a region of common appeal.
Many of the songs feature beats, but these are generally restrained to relaxed rhythms that season the melodies rather than provide any urgent propulsion.
The guitars are often well-hidden. Their contributions blend superbly as they avoid any shrill outcries. These strings provide a gentle embellishment for the airy melodies.
These compositions luxuriate in a zone of infectious relaxation, instilling calm and providing the listener with comfortable tunes that convey the beauty of nature and how that beauty flourishes in the midst of summer warmth. With adequate activity in the music, the tunes sidestep ambience and express a sense of endearing poise.
With the exception of two tracks (one featuring English vocals and another with German lyrics) the material is all instrumental. While disc 1 offers some upbeat music, the tuneage on disc 2 is softer in tone.
PETER MERGENER: Phonetic Society (CD on Prudence Records)
This release from 2011 offers 58 minutes of pleasant electronic music.
Pleasant tuneage is achieved with crisp electronics supporting nimble keyboards and a modicum of rhythmics.
The electronics are generally sweet and congenial with no guttural undercurrents. This results in a gentle experience as sparkling keys intermingle with atmospheric textures to generate pastiches of endearing relaxation.
Keyboards deliver complex melodies with sprightly demeanor, but even when things reach a lively pace a soothing edge is maintained. Engaging peripheral effects contribute gregarious embellishment, keeping a degree of activity going beneath the surface.
While percussion plays a role in some of these tracks, the rhythms are subdued and manifest primarily as mild emphasis for the floating melodies. Not to imply that these songs lack any pep, the animation is simply restrained to a cozy level.
A few pieces feature voice snippets that do not disturb the music's instrumental quality.
The sweetness of these compositions evokes an escape from life's sonic barrage, delivering tuneage which the listener can wrap around themselves as protection from external distractions. The title track epitomizes this contrast as gentle melodics clash with and overcome jarring noises, affirming an air of dominant relaxation.
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