Steve Dinsdale is a member of the UK electronic ensemble Radio Massacre International, whose unique blend of progressive elements with electronic music have delighted the public for years.
STEVE DINSDALE The Vast Key (CD on Northern Echo Recordings)
This CD from 2012 features 39 minutes of cosmic electronic music.
While the title piece is technically broken down into short tracks, the music flows uninterrupted. This composition has a sultry slithery quality, with inventive pulsations wriggling through the mix, accompanied by snickety e-perc that lends the tuneage an eerie character more than any locomotion. While melodic passages dominate, they flow into each other to generate a spacey excursion tinged with dramatic elements.
When the music flows right into the second track ("A Galaxy of Dust"), the resonance adopts an even spacier disposition. The pulsations become mystical and somewhat removed, which cosmic surges wash through the mix attended by sparkling space dusts. Melodic tangents swim into prominence, evolving from the basic foundation and undergoing several pleasing mutations in the course of this piece. The coda adopts a very retro Berlin School model with ricocheting sounds plunging through a vista of urgent keys.
A very tasty dose of spacey electronics, injecting melodic passages into an evolving field of bewitching texturals.
STEVE DINSDALE Within Oirschot (CD on Northern Echo Recordings)
This CD from 2012 features 75 minutes of -------------- electronic music.
This release comprises a document of Dinsdale's debut solo live performance, which occurred at the Enck Theatre, in Oirschot, the Netherlands, on March 28, 2012, with him playing keyboards and V-drums.
The performance opens with grand piano counterpointed by orchestral percussion, resulting in a dramatic beginning...that eventually descends into a haunted pool of seething electronic elements, which proceed to mix with cello strings, an agitated confrontation between symphonic and synthetic. Tribal tempos enter the flow, creating a sense of imminence...which pays off with the appearance of moody oscillations which give the tune a livelier nature...until the strings conquer the mix for a period of somber sobriety. And that's just the first track.
The rest of the gig shows a certain whimsy in applying novel sounds to sinuous patterns, offering a solid dose of compelling electronic tuneage wherein a rhythmic presence lends propulsion while the recurrent influence of abstract electronics keep everything moving from melodic to atmospheric and back into enticing keyboard creations.
There are passages of pensively wavery chords, instances of a cathedral presence, tempos which resonate with a metallic charm...a variety of engaging bits are employed to give the music an enthralling quality...which couples nicely with Dinsdale's compositional expertise as he handles electronic pastiches with a progressive sensibility.
While the majority of the set consists of interpretations of tracks from Dinsdale's three prior solo albums, these versions possess their own character and fresh appeal. And there's new material, too.
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