“A powerful cosmic journey scrolling like a huge sound maelstrom on varied beats”
1 Against Agitation (Origin) 4:21
2 Against Agitation (Revelation) 4:53
3 Senseless Visions 5:48
4 Selene on the Dark Side of The Moon 5:15
5 Lunar Eclipse (+10 Seconds Mix) 6:05
6 Intermezzo 2:29
7 Path To Alaia (Le Voyage Dans La Lune) 5:19
8 Between the Sentiments 6:33
9 Infect Me 6:26
10 Awaken by Moonrise 4:37
11 Sequenzer 9 (Dark Night Studio Mix) 8:59
12 Somewhere Between Moon and Earth 3:58
13 Reflected Glory 8:59
Bonus Tracks
14 Break Piano 5:51
15 Live in Peace (live Summer Mix) 6:41
16 O R B 5:06
17 Search 4 Oxygene (the Journey) 4:47
18 Sequenzer V 5:30
(CD-r/DVD-R/DDL 102:12) (V.F.)
(Techno-E-Rock & New Berlin School)
LUNATIC VOYAGE is Moonbooter's latest space fantasy. A powerful cosmic journey which scrolls like a gigantic sound maelstrom on rhythms constantly slowed down by synths with arrangements of bubbling and harmonious opacity. A 74-minute opus, divided into 13 musical acts as fiery as they are melodious on rhythms more seductive than boring. Clever techno with a new kind of Berlin School twist. Hold your hats because with Moonbooter it's always rocking and dancing.
Against Agitation says it all. Short howling streaks are lost in moving waves and dark choirs with floating wanderings. Loud and heavy music that slowly turns in a lunatic cosmic turbulence. It's bubbling rhythm trapped in a cosmic cyclone, like everywhere on this 5th album by Bernd Scholl who fills our ears to the rim with arpeggios that swarm in staccato in a heavy static state. Guitar chords cross heavy pulsations and fluty layers in a perfectly delicious harmonious opposition. Techno on the verge of exploding! But there is no explosion. Against Agitation (Origin) turns on itself before melting into its 2nd part, Against Agitation (Revelation), which explodes the restrained rhythm of Against Agitation (Origin) on a feverish and unbridled sequence which dances on a melodious keyboard with circular arpeggios such as Moonbooter has accustomed us to the course of his works. And so, goes LUNATIC VOYAGE! Capricious rhythms, animated by fiery and syncopated sequences, like Selene on the Dark Side of the Moon, Intermezzo, Infect Me and Somewhere Between Moon and Earth which are excited by brilliant percussions with delirious sound effects. Intermezzo, Lunar Eclipse and Sequenzer 9 are very solid tracks. There is also heavy rhythm wrapped in synths with creamy layers and impetus of waltz which is melodious and sometimes hypnotic like Lunar Eclipse. Others are wrapped in choruses and fluted mellotrons, recalling certain eras of Tangerine Dream, I'm thinking of Between the Sentiments and Reflected Glory. In short, languidly chaotic cadences trapped in the static and turbulence of cosmic spheres. And through these rhythms, there is room for superb cosmic melodies like Senseless Visions, Between the Sentiments (by far the most beautiful track from Moonbooter) and Awaken by Moonrise, which are tinted of a good nostalgia, showing the loneliness of this trip to lunatic evolutions.
One year after the release of LUNATIC VOYAGE, Mellow-Jet Records also released a 5.1 Surround Mix DVD version which included 5 bonus tracks for a total of 28 minutes of additional music. This version still exists on MellowJet, along with a few other titles from the catalog. If you didn't buy the DVD, Moonbooter offers the DVD version of LUNATIC VOYAGE on his Bandcamp site. Well, was it worth it? Break Piano lives up to its name with beautiful piano lines on a Techno Dance rhythm of the EDM genre. The piano is very good and if the percussions and sequences have a pale complexion, the bass has this small organic side which makes forget this rhythmic deficiency. Live in Peace (live Summer Mix) is as good and beautiful as on the album Devided. A good electronic ballad with threads of children's voices on a barely stroboscopic rhythm. ORB! This is Electronica with a Techno beat that is more melodious than infernal. Search 4 Oxygene (the Journey) is a good track. Melodious, catchy and listenable, it remains below the best of Bernd Scholl. Except that he always finds a way to inject something that attracts the ear... And no, it's not the scents of TD that are well present! This sequence of new music ends Sequenzer V, a fiery track with a good sequencer that makes its keys jump in mists that once belonged to Froese's gang, as well as some good keyboard riffs. A very good Moonbooter-like track that deflects its harmonious run to a very good solo of a synth sounding like a violin on its last string.
LUNATIC VOYAGE is a musical fresco where the rhythm remains ambiguous. An opus which is the reflection of a finely crafted work possessing a sonic charisma such as one rarely hears. Not necessarily being a fan of the boom-boom, tssitt-tssitt genre, I like the morphic Techno side of this album. And tor me, it is surely the best opus of Moonbooter. A powerful album. A musical story in 18 melodious tracks, animated by a rhythmic complexity that is out of the ordinary.
Sylvain Lupari (May 15th, 2009) ***½**
Available at Mellow-Jet Records