“An excellent compilation that gives you a true ear of a universe that flirts with all the known borders of the 70's”
1 Río Cósmico (Eridanus) 13:17
2 Nueva Vida (Sophos) 9:04
3 Aldea Olvidada (Lucas Tripaldi) 14:42
4 Ikebana (Roberto Marconi) 3:40
5 Somnbie (Pagination) 8:48
6 Dendrogyra II (Alnocys) 2:52
7 Lost in Space (Antonio Visual Project) 6:44
8 Dusk (Massimiliano Cerioni) 10:00
9 Letter for Vangelis (Francisco Nicosia) 18:56
10 The Sequence of Memories (Michael Brückner) 11:10
11 Circular Logic (Beyond Our Galaxy) 4:18
12 La Ventana (Pabellón Sintético) 3:30
13 Sentrifuga (Screener) 4:49
14 Sun and Shiva (M3NASH) 5:29
15 Glory (Electro / Magnetic) 6:03
(DDL 123:27) (V.F.)
(Progressive EM, Berlin & Spanish Schools)
After Gemstones, Cyclical Dreams releases a second compilation album, this time built on the model of DiN Records with its iNDEX series, either a title selected from all of its albums. The major difference is that here the leaders of the Argentinian label target all the albums released in 1 year. Without cuts, nor remodeling of the titles offered, DREAMS # 1 flows as such, or album after album in chronological order.
Eridanus sets off with the Argentinian label's very first album, Eridanus. This project joins the ideas of Pablo Bilbao, Esteban Menash and Lucas Tripaldi, better known as Cartas de Japón, to Ulises Labaronnie, the man behind Sophos. De facto, Río Cósmico portrays all the colors of Cyclical Dreams. The ambiences are very cosmic with a sequencer whose Software's tones in Chip Meditation fills our neurons to the rim. There is no such thing as a rhythm. Just kicks among synth whines of analog colors in a black hole where chthonian voices await us around the corner. The bass extends its empirical power, giving Eridanus this incredible cosmic depth. And in the end, it gives a cosmic mood with spectral waves, borrowed from the tones of a Theramin, on a shifty rhythmic structure divided between its ambient cosmic vision and its walks in solo in the vast cosmic ocean. Sophos' Nueva Vida presents a rhythm that leaps nervously in a linear vision where different elements are grafted to maintain its splendor, including very good guitar solos rolling in obsessive loops. Ashra and happiness! Lucas Tripaldi's Aldea Olvidada is one of those tracks that explore the capabilities offered by the Argentinian label. It is not a complete album; it is a single title offered as a maxi single. A minimalist title in the art of extending its sound canvas, it offers an introduction based on the tears of a synth in his Theremin clothes. These lamentations scrape the invisible walls of a cosmic corridor which is swept by wooshh and waashh, raising musical particles, like droplets of sound, in an oceano-cosmic ambience. Exploiting its 15 minutes, the Italian musician sculpts an ambient rhythm resulting from good oscillating curves which breathe around a more tangible and threatening synth line. The quavering takes hold of our senses after the 5th minute, when Aldea Olvidada sinks into a beautiful electronic texture where the psybient marine quite well with its rhythmic evolution that goes to electronic cosmic rock. A good title! I can't wait to hear more. Ikebana takes us into a good oriental blues with a slow tempo and slamming percussions which are not afraid to frighten us with the echo effects. A good title here where I do not condemn its cosmic effects. Somnbie from Pagination is a long ambient track built on the bass reverberations of a buzzing line in a cosmic Dark Ambient style. And if you like this genre, tell yourself that Massimiliano Cerioni's Dusk is of the same line, but much darker.
It is with the tolling of a Tibetan bell that Dendrogyra II brings us out of our momentary torpor. We stay in Dark Ambient with this title from Alnocys which, on the other hand, is well decorated by these ringing of bells while the impulses of the synth sculpt an ambient rhythm. Intense and creative! We remain in linear calm with Lost in Space. Antonio Visual Project achieves a tour de force by drawing the listener into a state of mind bordering on a kind of claustrophobia, so much the movements underlying the musical structure become magnets. The quavering, the buzzing in loss of altitude, the intense synth envelopes and these silent impulses are all elements that project us into a possible reality. Or that of being lost somewhere. A powerful and intense title! I will refer you to the review I wrote about this superb track by Francisco Nicosia, some true modern Vangelis, Letter for Vangelis. Michael Brückner also gave us a solid album on this label with The Sequence of Memories from the excellent Footprints. There is also this other album, Circular Logic by Beyond Our Galaxy which we extracted the title-track for the needs of DREAMS # 1. Pabellón Sintético presents us a good electronic ballad which is a weaver of earworms and which docks to a nice and sensual slow whose spheroidal rhythm is well hammered. A vocoder occupies the melodious space which exchanges its turn with nice synth solos. And yes, the impression of seeing the scene through the window is very realistic. La Ventana, a very beautiful track! Screener's Sentrifuga flows between our ears like a good cosmic ode with its shivers of loneliness. A nice mix of dreamy electric guitar and a heavy mellotron mist. I like the short presentation of M3NASH and its title Sun and Shiva. Its introduction is dreamlike, Neuronium genre of the 70's, to pitch into a rhythm that links the Stratosfear years to the Miramar ones of Tangerine Dream. Pretty amazing, right? And the final !!! Erected in the mysticism of Legend and The Keep. A great title! This fascinating compilation ends with the hybrid structure, slow rhythm on kaleidoscopic sucking pulsations, of Electro / Magnetic. There is a suspended path in Glory, instituted by scintillating arpeggios in place, which is replaced in a cosmic panorama. Another little turn, and Glory is vanishing in my ears, but not in their memories.
An excellent compilation that gives you a true ear in the Cyclical Dreams' universes, DREAMS # 1 is an album to own. It's 2 hours of an EM that flirts with all the known borders of the 70's with a cheeky zest for the more contemporary ones. It is like hearing Baffo Banfi and Alluste on structures flowing like a musical river having a sometimes daring as risky, chaotic as catchy and often melodious course. Yes, it depicts the areas of the Argentinian label quite well!
Sylvain Lupari (01/14/21) ****¼*
Available at Cyclical Dreams Bandcamp