“This is another solid album from Stan Dart who starts the activities 2018 of SynGate on the right foot”
1 Duality 9:11 2 Zero G 8:26 3 Supernova 8:16 4 Seed of Life 12:48 5 Supernova (Video Mix) (Bonus track) 4:02 6 Zero G (Alma Drone Mix) (Bonus track) 4:31 SynGate Wave SD04
(CD-r/DDL 47:17) (EDM, E-Rock, Ambient)
Richard Hasiba fast became a very important pillar for the division Wave of the German label SynGate. The one that we discovered for his collaboration with Alien Nature, the album Accelerator in 2015, really put into gear in 4th speed with his concept album Ecclesia appeared last June. SUPERNOVA is an E.P. of about forty of minutes (sic!) that the Austrian musician offers as a contribution for the opening of the new ESO Supernova Planetarium situated near Munich, Garching to be more precise, in Germany. And as we know that Stan Dart likes a lively form of EM which is closer to Synth-pop, I try to make a link between the music of SUPERNOVA and the astronomical vocation of this new planetarium. But let us rather begin with the high-resolution 24 Bits format which SynGate offers on its Bandcamp download platform. A wonderful initiative! The sound attacks our ears with an incredible precision and a strength, that we can easily compare with the 2 bonus tracks offered in 16 Bits with the purchase of this EP that I would qualify somewhat as a complete album with its length of 39 minutes, and even more with the 2 bonus titles which lengthen the duration of 8 minutes. Yes, yes, but music?! It is as good as the sound can be awesome!
The creativity and the research in tones of Stan Dart is as meticulous as very magnetizing. Mounted on good percussive effects and lively percussions, Duality sets the tone with a good mid-tempo which can be danced rather well. The decor is multicolored by puny layers which moan such as cosmic cats while that arpeggios give some tonus to a rhythm which makes us skip on the spot, the ideas well planted in space. It's some good rock, with a rather funky presence I would say, where the elements of a music created of all pieces by synths and sequencers give phases of respite to old legs become soft. Zero G is divided in two parts. Its first 4 minutes are weaved in elements of atmospheres where cosmic voices and arpeggios tinkling as a xylophone of glass unite their diversity beneath a shower of good and very harmonious synth solos. An intensity increases its embrace on this ambiospherical opening, announcing a rhythmic rise which bursts with a 2nd heavy and dynamic part which has to nothing envy to the best of Moonbooter, or yet to Jean-Michel Jarre in his good flashes of his 2 Electronica albums. The Alma Drone Mix version favors the very furious rhythm, I believe that it strikes much harder, of this 2nd part of this mix. Speaking of Jarre, the title-track feeds of his influences with a very cosmic vision on a steady rhythm of dance. Still here, the synth solos dominate a long structure of dance music. The Video Mix version is just more shortened and we can view and hear it here on Stan Dart's Web site. Elements of cosmic atmosphere revolve all around the rhythms of SUPERNOVA. And they dominate the space of Seed of Life. Short rhythmic phases breathe here and there, adding a more musical dimension to this thick cloud of dark hummings which floats with slow oscillations in a linear movement. Layers of voices and some felted explosions excite the senses as much as the embryonic states of the rhythms reorientate the colors of the ambiences which pass from somber to a more translucent and less intimidating canvas as Seed of Life reaches its door on infinity.
The link?! Well Stan Dart manages to forge a cosmic universe around his rhythms which take stunning proportions on the 2 bonus tracks. The numerous synth solos are a surprise with this Berlin School approach whipped by good rhythms which are not too much draining for our eardrums. At this level, Richard Hasiba succeeds to find the right balance. It clicked for me when I was listening carefully the title-track. Then, nothing else could break the link. It's solid EM with a right vision of what Berlin School can bring to EDM. At the end, this is a very good album which starts the activities 2018 of SynGate on the right foot.
Sylvain Lupari (January 18th, 2018) *****
Available on SynGate Bandcamp