“To me, those EM gigs of Saturdays are still one of the best way to get yourself introduced to the world of Berlin School's EM style”
1 Part 4 16:39
2 Part 5 18:39
3 Part 6 12:04
(DDL 47:23) (V.F.)
(Berlin School)
After an absence of 3 years, Alba Ecstasy seems to be resuming its series Where are the Quiet Saturdays? Three weeks separate this part from the last one and the music is still quite interesting. To me, it's still one of the best ways to get yourself introduced to the world of Berlin School's EM style. Part 4 offers a good romantic vision with a hopping movement of the sequencer. The keys gambol with a fluidity reminiscent of those delicate moments of dreamy rhythmic evasion of Klaus Schulze in the years 86 to 88 or yet Remy in his monumental Exhibition of Dreams. This procession of bouncy loops unfolds under a sonic sky scribbled with sound graffiti, intersideral whale songs and a synth whose solos intertwine their ethereal dances with high tones and rather musical bass lines. It flows very well! After an introduction specific to the universe of EM ambiences, Part 5 brings us into the territories of a lively Berlin School with this motorik movement of ghost train and two lines of sequences which structure an exciting rhythm. Electronic percussions embellish rather well this network of convergent sequences of Part 5 which offers a decor of ambiances more aggressive than that of Part 4. Apart from these sequences which add up in saccades in a harmonic vision, the cosmic mists and breezes built a panorama tinted of nebulosity while the synth always throws these good refined solos while bringing Part 5 to a more exploratory finale of ambiences elements. Again, it's impossible to feel a void in the creativity of Mihail Adrian Simion, whose ability to compose Berlin School is even praised by Indra. I bring the name of Indra, because Part 6 can't be dissociable of him! Composed live on the same day of its release on Bandcamp with the use of a single synthesizer, the Access Virus Ti2, Part 6 begins with a gentle floating introduction and a soft introduction to a beat which beats a hectic measure. Alba Ecstasy only adds 3 additional patch, and sonic squiggles, on this structure that evolves within this range of 3 patch. We note here a rhythmic trance approach that we hear in the series Tantric Celebration, an approach that Mihail Adrian Simion initially realized when he worked on special sound bank for the Access Virus Ti2. And some of these complex patches have been used by Indra. In the end, and as usual, WHERE ARE THE QUIET SATURDAYS? Vol.2 is a good honest album with a nice EM that is tasted with the ears in mode; I love to be charmed!
Sylvain Lupari (September 24th, 2018) ***¾**
Available on Alba Ecstasy's Bandcamp