For several decades, UK synthesist Ian Boddy has been pushing the envelope of contemporary electronic music, experimenting with incorporating divergent styles and approaches to generate fresh new directions.
On a number of occasions, Boddy has traveled to the USA and played live on Star's End (the EM radio program on WXPN out of Philadelphia). Some of these concerts have been released as digital download releases (in MP3 and FLAC formats).
IAN BODDY: The Final Question (DDL on DiN)
This release from 2007 offers 63 minutes of pleasant electronic music recorded during an on-air concert performed in Philadelphia on May 7, 2000 and broadcast on WXPN's Star's End program.
A guitar loop by Markus Reuter was incorporated into Boddy's electronics on one track.
A fine mixture of ambience and slow-build electronics, culminating in a quasi-classical finale.
A computer voice ushers in an eerie configuration of pulsations and flowing atmospherics, afterwards the music is wholly instrumental.
The electronics are generally soft, pleasant but with a mysterious touch that serves to tantalize the subconscious. Spaciness plays a subliminal role here, too, putting the tuneage in a secretive realm where there exist many unanswered questions. Hints of classical strings lends the auralscapes a grounding influence. This classical milieu is accentuated by one of the tracks being an interpretation of a Charles Ivers composition.
The majority of the electronics are of a non-keyboard nature, which only enhances the music's overall atmospheric charm. Harmonics ebb and flow as machines sigh wistfully amid vaporous tonalities that undulate and gradually wrap themselves around proximate waves of breezy sound.
For one track, abstract noises seep into the fluid mix to generate a suggestion of tension, which is augmented by the introduction of a church organ. This slides into the last piece with keyboard sustains that conjure the feeling of the imminent resolution of all mysteries, no matter how huge or trivial.
With their pleasant gentility, these compositions are designed to captivate the listener's subconscious, resulting in a soothing sedation that simultaneously unlocks the audience's inherent imagination, coaxing the id to provide answers to unasked cosmic enigmas.
IAN BODDY: Three Dreams (DDL on DiN)
This release from 2008 offers 53 minutes of harmonic electronic music recorded during an on-air concert performed in Philadelphia on March 21, 2004 and broadcast on WXPN's Star's End program.
Harmonic slowburns are flavored with melodic passages, resulting in engaging electronic tuneage.
The first track exhibits an ominous mood as shuddering sounds crash against each other, building in intensity until a celestial crescendo is achieved. The ascension of an heavenly texture provides an interesting counterpoint to these guttural outbursts. Eventually, the weirdness prevails, reemerging in conjunction with mammoth impacts resounding from the far distance. Metaphysical tones inspire a sense of uneasiness as they interweave to conjure a realm of haunting beauty, a disquiet that is ultimately abolished by a gentle return of the heavenly airs--a peace that is disrupted by the sudden resurgence of acrimonious elements.
The second piece adopts a more earthly temperament as environmental samples chirp and twitter amid the receding grind of intensity. Lilting tones emerge to soothe the clash, softening the music into a commodious flow. Contemplative piano enters the mix, further enhancing the tune's organic quality. While the otherworldly growl continues in the background, it is submerged and lends only a subliminal influence, just enough to season the terrestrial melody with a vague tension.
The last track takes thing in a spacier direction. Pulsations rise and erupt into fireworks of cybernetic character, sliding into swishing sustains which pinnacle as piercing tones. Sighing diodes generate the impression of a peaceful passage through this region of harsher tonalities. As the destination (i.e.: the finale) draws nearer, traces of melodic electronics seep into the auralscape, swiftly coalescing into an orchestral coda which bestows a tender majesty on the cerebral excursion.
In their characteristic difference, these compositions offer a tasty variance in interpretations of dreamtime, from gritty to pastoral to outer space merging with inner space. This diversity offers prevalent satisfaction for EM enthusiasts.
IAN BODDY: The Mechanics of a Thought (DDL on DiN)
This release from 2007 offers 50 minutes of mounting electronic music recorded during an on-air concert performed in Philadelphia on October 1, 2006 and broadcast on WXPN's Star's End program.
Cosmic electronic meanderings open the set, establishing a spacey milieu with swooping tones and sustained ringings, all tinged with an undercurrent of astral ambience. Non-percussive rhythmics creep from this churning morass to achieve an entrancing passage seasoned by incidental effects and soaring pulsations of an airy character. A central melody slides into play, squeezing past the rising tide of electronic tempos and slithering into prominence in conjunction with the continued presence of sweeping effects. As the piece progresses, variations enhance the melodics into a slow decrease of energy and a lullÉ
That leads into the next track, where edgy e-perc sparkles darkly amidst a pastiche of haunting tonesÉwhich eventually allow a tune to emerge. This melody becomes rather sprightly, drawing in and harnessing the beats into a cohesive flow of engaging quality. While darker elements persist in lurking within the mix, the main melody is quite amiable, even cheerful in its disposition.
The third piece employs a spacey opening, with piercing tonalities shooting out of nowhere through a fog of pensive ambience. This medium gradually thickens with drama and tension, oozing portends of darker passages to come. After a period of eerie weirdness, the pulsations align into a rhythmic presence, and a streaming tune slides into place, making use of past effects to punctuate the mounting pace. The tune's velocity continues to increase, as does the inclusion of those sparkling effects, all fusing into a chugging gestalt of glistening luster. Fanciful keyboards lend animated embellishment.
Boddy has a signature tendency to build spry tuneage from atmospheric elements, and this release is an excellent example of that exquisite predilection.
| Entire page © 2011 Matt Howarth. All rights reserved. |
Webpage design by
 |