“On Where Are The Quiet Saturdays? Alba Ecxtasy proves that he is as good as in a teacher riole than a great musician in EM field”
1 Moment Zero 5:27
2 Part 1 8:17
3 Part 2 14:17
4 Part 3 10:49
5 Sequenced Elektrons (Bonus Track) 3:32
6 Blood Moon (Bonus Track) 3:58
(DDL 46:22) (V.F.)
(Berlin School Ambient Beats)
Innovative in his own way, Alba Ecstasy for the first time released video clips where he performs compositions live from his studio on the YouTube channel. It was in November 2014. Since then it has had 52 episodes, so the last volume was epic with more than 2 hours of improvised EM, and barely retouched when offered for download on the Alba Ecstasy Bandcamp site. And always this damn question; how can he create as much music while maintaining some interest in his fans who soon noticed that after Volume 7, there was nothing? It was 2 years later, in November 2016. Faced with the pressing demands from his fans and from curious people who liked to visualize the details of how to do EM, Mihail Adrian Simion returns to the attack with WHERE ARE THE QUIET SATURDAYS? A very justified title for another live improvisation session that is far from being a simple answer to the fans of his music.
Moment Zero gently settles between our ears with synth waves spinning into hypnotic circles. Harmonious synth pads caress this staging scrolling in minimalist loops adorned with small distinct but quite discreet tinkles. Drums, meticulously anonymous, attempt a rhythmic awakening while the contemplative moods persist, even increasing a degree of intensity with these comfortable synth pads zested of Vangelis' perfumes. Part 1 also comes from the oblivion with a growing veil of buzz. The approach is of the cataclysmic kind with this whirring whose resonant irradiations are heavy of tonal radiations. I close my eyes and my senses are drifting into a cosmos where I can see the earth falling apart by a big black mushroom. A jingle, joyful as a goblin hobble in the festivities of Halloween, sculpts an ambient rhythm that trots on the spot while I hear angels throw synth solos that multiply and intersect their acrobatic loops in a title comfortable in its envelope of gloomier than cosmic moods. We can see the evolution of Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfGyzPudP8s. Part 2 draws on the atmospheres of Part 1 to complete its introduction. A synth line of snoring and another with chants more or less seraphic file their arguments, except that there won't be a debate since a sudden movement of rhythm emerges with indiscipline. The crystalline sequences tingle like crazy steps that seek to orient themselves until motorik pulsations seize the indocility of the sequences. The rhythm remains pulsating with these sequences that sculpt the reflection of a harmonic structure where solos revolve in the purest Schulze style and are roaring some muted reverberations, escaped from the introduction. A real Berlin School fair a la sauce Klaus Schulze, Part 2 gambols for as best as possible in an environment decorated of nice synth solos. This is the most beautiful title of WHERE ARE THE QUIET SATURDAYS? And you can watch its evolution on this YouTube link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxmdsh04c00 Part 3 begins with these introductions of atmospheric elements from the vintage years where the colors of the sounds explored a mid psychedelic and mid accessible approach for unadventurous ears. A swarm of fireflies carried by a burst of oscillations defies an atmosphere full of parasitic sounds, evasive solos and organ pads. The movement is thus initiated and serves as a guide to a line of smothered sequences whose vivified flow serves as binary mortification to these oscillatory flights of fireflies; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55rKl7JvqDc The album comes with two short bonus tracks. Sequenced Elektrons is a good very catchy rock / techno track whereas Blood Moon is more focused on an aggressive rhythm of an oscillator. The flow is lively and jerky with good effects of synth that remains active at the level of solos and fog masses. It completes a very honest and respectable EM album with a music composed live on the spot in order to demystify and democratize an art that joins more and more followers.
Sylvain Lupari (September 1st, 2018) ***½** SynthSequences.com Available on Alba Ecstasy's Bandcamp