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BIOMECHANOID |
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ATMOSPHERES AND MELODIES INSPIRED BY THE available as... 1. Landscapes 1-3 7'10"
Composed,
produced & engineered by Biomechanoid. Biomechanoid (Alan & Steve Freeman): synths,
keys, guitars, loops, samples, electroacoustic collage. notes... Originally an Alto Stratus
idea, the Biomechanoid project became something different. A concept based on
the paintings of H.R. Giger, it resulted in vast tapestries of sound, meshed
with electronics and soundscaping, a special island unto itself. From the
early rehearsals through to mix-down it took over a year to complete. A great
deal of preparation and invention went in to montaging sounds, fusing analogue
and digital textures, with mechanical and organic properties, into a music of
melody, dissonance, rhythm and form. Truly biomechanical music! The results
are often unnerving, with an underlying elusive beauty. As one of Auricle
Cassettes best sellers it was a prime choice for CD reissue. Digitally
transferred by Colin Potter, and cleaned-up really nicely, with a bonus
track, this now comes across as so surreal, cosmic and strange! At around the time we decided to reissue this on CD, new
work had been started on other projects, including Endgame (an
improvising cosmic avant-garde trio), the conceptual Newt Hounds,
alongside other experimentation at our new Tachyon studio. Some of these
works, which were planned as a new Biomechanoid album titled "Visions Of
The Necronomicon" instead became the guts of a new Alto Stratus called
"Catharsis". The only actual new Biomechanoid piece that came out
of those sessions is featured on the various artists release
"Dronsz". See press release original cassette review... ...the perfect sonic reflection of the artwork of H. R.
Giger. In fact the music here was inspired by Giger's work and the surreal
electronics/guitars twist and turn into an intense and enchanting tapestry of
light and dark musical sound. [by Archie Patterson in Eurock] CD reissue review... The "Atmospheres' album is easily the most accessible
of the three to someone who hasn't been around the musical block for that
long, but even here the music is once more firmly on the dark side, as you
might expect bearing in mind the concept behind it. Here, across twelve
tracks, you get a much greater range of dynamics, textures, sounds and layers
presented in more digestible chunks, although the combination of synths, tape
effects, devices, keyboards, electric guitar and more, often made me think of
the music of Brain-era Cluster, only not as obvious and more cosmic on
the whole, but a music with whose heart and soul this album shares, and
possibly just as innovative, certainly capable of sounding as good in thirty
years time as the 'Cluster 2' album does today. With plenty of spooky
ice flow passages of electronics allied to some, it has to be said, quite
beautiful yet eerily stark soundscapes, particularly the mix of tonal colours
on track two that had me going through Frippertronics and Tangerine
Dream only much more of an edge and heavier. Yes, there are also rhythms
in this music, as well as melodies, or what they regard as melodies anyway,
and that's pretty good. Overall, for electronic music fans who want something
with an undoubted seventies influence, plenty happening, magical assortments of
layers and textures, never boring, and really unlike most of what came out of
that era, then this is one gem of an album. Originally a cassette (various editions) - released ?/4/1986. |
ATMOSPHERES AND
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