Saturday, November 29, 2014

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer (1979)



Led by Edgar Froese, Tangerine Dream is perhaps the premier exponent of electronic "rock" music. From their "free-rock" beginnings in the nascent Kraut Rock scene to the eventual triple keyboard standard that signed to Virgin, this German group can take significant credit in introducing synthesizer/sequenced electronic music to most of the western rock world. At the height of their success - during the mid to late 1970s - the Dream's spacey, pulsing music earned them a tenacious cult following. By the late Seventies, however, line-ups, and more importantly, the formula changed, tilting towards more conventional "rock" music. By the early 1980s, TD was primarily releasing lucrative soundtrack work, before settling into New Age content by mid-decade.
This is a very atmospheric soundtrack from the movie sorcerer.

Guitar, Keyboards, Grand Piano, Synthesizer [Oberheim], Synthesizer [Arp], Synthesizer [Moog], Synthesizer [Ppg]Edgar Froese
  • Mellotron, Synthesizer [Arp], Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Sequenced By [Projekt Elektronik Sequencer], Synthesizer [Projekt Elektronik]Peter Baumann
  • Mellotron, Synthesizer [Arp], Synthesizer [Elka], Synthesizer [Moog], Sequenced By [Projekt Elektronik Sequencer], Sequenced By [Oberheim Sequenzer], Synthesizer [Computerstudio]Christoph Franke*
  • ProducerTangerine Dream

  • Here

    Akikaze - In High Places (1993)

    Akikaze, Japanese for autumn wind, is the electronic exploration of Pepijn Courant (in English pronounced as Pepine Coorant). Pepijn Courant was born in Amsterdam on 30 January 1966.
    In 1977 he took piano lessons. He mainly studied classical music by composers such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, but also modern music such as by Béla Bartók. This seven year training was to have a big influence on his way of composing.
    The title "In High Places" refers to Hoogoord, the name of the building in south-east Amsterdam were Pepijn Courant then lived. This CD, as all music by Akikaze, was recorded at home and was mainly inspired by mankind’s great achievements such as the conquest of the moon and the climb of the Mount Everest. The guitar parts were performed by guitarist Dirk Zeeman, a blues musician, who appeared on a CD for the first time.
    Here
     
    (LIINK IS NOW FIXED! THANKS)

    Thursday, November 20, 2014

    Tim Blake - Waterfalls In Space (1979, 2006 digital release)




    Timothy 'Tim' Blake is a keyboardist, synthesist, vocalist, and composer with both Gong, and Hawkwind. Blake is best known for his Synthesizer and Light performances as Crystal Machine, with the French Light Artist Patrice Warrener.
    Blake first worked as the engineer at Marquee Studios, where Daevid Allen was recording his first solo album Bananamoon in 1971. At the end of the sessions Allen had invited Blake to come back to France to be Gong's sound mixer, but he refused. He eventually joined Gong full-time in September 1972 as the band's keyboard/synthesizer player, being among the first to bring the synthesizer out of the studio and on to the stage. He appears on all 3 albums of the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy; Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You. He left Gong in early 1975, prompting the eventual departures of almost all of the other members of the 'classic era' (with the exception of Pierre Moerlen, who continued the band under the name of Pierre Moerlen's Gong).
    Blake began a solo career under the name of Crystal Machine, which is noted for being the first live act to introduce the use of Laser lighting in the entertainment world. After 2 solo albums 1977's Crystal Machine and 1978's Blake's New Jerusalem, Blake joined another noted "space rock" outfit, Hawkwind, for a short stint between 1979 and 1980, and has sporadically rejoined them on several occasions, and since December 2007, is still with Hawkwind, with whom he performs on Theremin and what he chooses to call " Virtual Lead Guitar" .
    Waterfalls In Space was first released as a cassette album (in 1979) and later (2006) was digitaly remastered by Tim Blake himself. The music is basically a collection of tracks recorded during the rehearsals of a Japanese tour. Tim Blake is also accompanied by 16 year old Jean Phillipe Rykiel.

    Here!

    Saturday, November 15, 2014

    Xisle - Novins (1988)



    Xisle (pronounced "Exile"), is the product of synth wizard Chuck Van Zyl, who has also released numerous solo tapes. The two other members of the band are Peter D. Gulch (also member of the cult electronic band "the Nightcrawlers) and D. Andrew Rath, a composer with experience in scoring soundtracks for films, etc. More original than The Nightcrawlers, but also more melodically based, Xisle have been very active on the live scene in their local Philadelphia region. With a music based around sequences and rhythms, they've a most descriptive and unique sound, easily the rival of any of their European counterparts. I doubt any space-head into 80's Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ian Boddy, Wavestar, et al, would be disappointed with any of Xisle's releases.
    Get it...

    Sunday, November 2, 2014

    Van Zyl & Gulch - Regeneration Mode (1994)




    A wonderful ambient/experimental album by Van Zyl, a composer of ambient music from Philadelphia, PA, USA and Peter Gulch ,americal synthesist - member of the cult electronic group "the nightcrawlers".
    Here  

    Friday, October 31, 2014

    J.Carpenter & A. Howarth - Halloween III (1982)



    Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a 1982 American science fiction horror film. The film is the third installment in the popular Halloween franchise. It is the only film in the Halloween franchise that does not feature the fictional character Michael Myers, and it also does not directly include story elements from Halloween I or II. It is the first film to be written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace.
    John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the creators of Halloween, returned as producers. The film stars Tom Atkins as Dr. Dan Challis, Stacey Nelkin as Ellie Grimbridge, and Dan O'Herlihy as Conal Cochran. The story focuses on an investigation by Challis and Grimbridge into the activities of Cochran, the mysterious owner of the Silver Shamrock Novelties company, in the week approaching Halloween night.
    The soundtrack was composed by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, who worked together on the score for Halloween II and several other films. Music remained an important element in establishing the atmosphere of Halloween III. Just as in Halloween and Halloween II, there was no symphonic score. Much of the music was composed to solicit "false startles" from the audience.
    The score of Halloween III differed greatly from the familiar main theme of the original and sequel. Carpenter replaced the familiar piano melody with a slower, electronic theme played on a synthesizer with beeping tonalities.[19] Howarth explains how he and Carpenter composed the music for the third film:
    The music style of John Carpenter and myself has further evolved in this film soundtrack by working exclusively with synthesizers to produce our music. This has led to a certain procedural routine. The film is first transferred to a time coded video tape and synchronized to a 24 track master audio recorder; then while watching the film we compose the music to these visual images. The entire process goes quite rapidly and has "instant gratification," allowing us to evaluate the score in synch to the picture. This is quite an invaluable asset.[20]
    One of the more memorable aspects of the film's soundtrack was the jingle from the Silver Shamrock Halloween mask commercial. Set to the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down", the commercial in the film counts down the number of days until Halloween beginning with day eight followed by an announcer's voice (Tommy Lee Wallace) encouraging children to purchase a Silver Shamrock mask to wear on Halloween night:
    Eight more days 'til Halloween,
    Halloween, Halloween.
    Eight more days 'til Halloween,
    Silver Shamrock.
    Synths used: Prophet 10 and 5 with sequencers, Arp avatar and sequencer, Linn LM-1 Drum Computer. This version has 13 bonus tracks.

    Trick or treat?

    Monday, October 27, 2014

    John Carpenter - Halloween (1979) - 20th anniversary edition


    Halloween was written in approximately 10 days by Debra Hill and John Carpenter. It was based on an idea by Irwin Yablans about a killer who stalks baby-sitters, tentatively titled The Baby-sitter Murders until Yablans suggested that the story could take place on October 31st and Halloween might not be such a bad title for an exploitation-horror movie.

    "With Herrmann and Morricone in mind, the scoring for Halloween began in late June at Sound Arts Studios, then a small brick building in an alley in central Los Angeles. Dan Wyman was my creative consultant. I had worked with him in 1976 on the music for Assault. He programmed the synthesizers, oversaw the recording of my frequently imperfect performances, and often joined me to perform a difficult line or speed-up the seemingly never ending process of overdubbing one instrument at a time. I have to credit Dan as Halloween’s musical co-producer. His fine taste and musicianship polished up the edges of an already minimalistic, rhythm-inspired score.
     We were working in what I call the "double-blind" mode in 1978, which simply means that the music was composed and performed in the studio, on the spot, without reference or synchronization to the actual picture. recently, my association with Alan Howarth has led me to a synchronized video-tape system, a sort of "play it to the TV" approach. Halloween’s main title theme was the first to go down on tape. The rhythm was inspired by an exercise my father taught me on the bongos in 1961, the beating out of 5-4 time. The themes associated with Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) now seems to be the most Herrmannesque. Finally came the stingers. Emphasizing the visual surprise, they are otherwise known as "the cattle prod": short, percussive sounds placed at opportune moments to startle the audience. I’m now ashamed to admit that I recorded quite so many stingers for this one picture." (John Carpenter).

    Instruments and equiment used: expanded Moog modular IIIP comprising of 5-9 box units incl. double sequencer complement, SCI Prophet 10, and a classical piano.

    Here!