“This album is the first solos album of Jerome with compositions which have a scent of Electronica. This is here that I decided to follow his musical evolution”
1 Mobocaster 7:24
2 Jungle Jacula 8:41
3 Towards The Evening Star
(Blue Gravity Mix) 8:38
4 Digital Sister 7:10
5 Pixel Pirates 6:53
6 Culpa Levi 10:08
7 TimeSquare 8:42
TDI CD006
(CD 57:36) (V.F.)
(Electronic Rock, Electronica)
If one wondered who the dominant figure in the Dream's new artistic approach of the 90's was, this TIMESQUARE-DREAM MIXES II seems to be a good indicator. According to the great story of the Dream, Jerome Froese spent the summer of 1997 concocted this album which was to be a sequel to The Dream Mixes album realized two years earlier. But Jerome instead composed and produced an album of Tangerine Dream, with only two remixes; Mobocaster and Towards The Evening Star (Blue Gravity Mix). The rest? Well, five fiery titles that explode on constantly changing rhythms and explain the musical origins of Tangerine Dream since the Rockoon album in 1992 up until Mars Polaris in 1999 and which, little by little, continue to the present day and maybe even beyond. In fact, the rest of Tangerine Dream story is bubbling in the hands of Jerome Froese. TIMESQUARE-DREAM MIXES II is superior to its predecessor. The boy has matured and offers a fresh diversity in both rhythms and ambiences.
Mobocaster is one of two remixes in TIMESQUARE. This is a new version of Twilight Brigade from the album Turn of the Tides released in 94. If the intro is mystical, with its muffled drums and foggy synth strata, the extreme rhythm is not slow to debouch with an approach of rollercoaster. The tempo ripples with force and speed accompanied by a dense universe of percussions that touch both Techno, with batteries hammered with power, as Dance-floor thing with a whirling and syncopated rhythmic structure. Jerome brings balanced nuances to the rhythm which floats in different sieved atmospheres, thus respecting the harmonious musical approach of the acoustic guitar in Twilight Brigade, which collapses under a cloud of synthesized effects and an avalanche of percussions. After an intro of ether, Jungle Jacula wakes up with a structure encircled by a throbbing bass movement and a sequencer with ascending syncopated lines. The rhythm is supple and clashes tenderly under beautiful synth streaks whistling around the lamentations of an unknown voice. The tempo changes. It switches to an oriental sweetness with good percussions and layers which ululate under sound effects that twist to another rhythmic permutation. Throughout TIMESQUARE-DREAM MIXES II, Jerome Froese is hyperactive and decompartmentalizes his cadences to offer us a rhythmic diversity that amazes through different sound effects. At this level the intro of Towards The Evening Star (Blue Gravity Mix) is splendid. Drums! A world of disparate percussions that draws an elusive cadence under the lamentations of a synth with a corrosive complexion, while the keyboard tenderly resumes the melodious notes of the original version. Of course, Jerome can't stay so charming and dreamy. So, Towards The Evening Star (Blue Gravity Mix) takes a groovy turn with a good undulating bass line and strong percussions which hammer a rhythm constantly challenged to change its orientation, around nice colorful strata of a hybrid synth that are reminiscent of the universe of the old Tangerine Dream. This constant permutation of rhythms and its nostalgic synth pads are making of Towards The Evening Star (Blue Gravity Mix)a remix that goes far beyond the musical frame of a carbon copy.
Digital Sister offers these same rhythmic permutations, except that the title becomes more rock and more punched with its neurotic percussions nervously pounding a structure a little slow compared to the drum strikes. Let's say Jerome puts his heart on it! Pixel Pirates offers a strange intro where the synth layers are roaring in a universe where metal and nickel are merging. A bubbling universe of sounds and disparate voices before the heavy rhythm ges to pick up all its sounds to shape an excellent title where the motley approach is constantly present on rhythmic structures as varied as the melodies that cross them. Heavy and syncopated rhythms, voices with Oriental scents, keyboards that sweat full of Dream tones, ingenious sound effects and crystal chords that hammer a crazy rhythm are all elements that abound in the complex but harmonious Pirates Pixel's universe. Listening attentively to Cupa Levis, we have the impression to hear all the musical evolution of Tangerine Dream since its association with Froese's son in 1992. This long title presents a rhythm which gallops on the various rhythmic tangents of the Dream since Rockoon. Subtle variations, seasoned with good percussions as well as good sound and voice effects, are transformed into atmospheric envelopes of the synths and keyboards which became pale and without souls ... since Rockoon. A synth whistling between scattered chords draws a delicate melodious bit while the percussions mold a slow bewitching and pace. Timesquare is bubbling in this opening, which is heavy with heavy guitar riffs, while slowly the heavy rhythm envelops this melody that springs out of seraphic synth layers. While keeping its melody and its soft rhythm, Timesquare evolves through its permutations, tracing one of the nice rhythmic melodies that the Dream has composed since Legend. A superb track which concludes an amazing album where Jerome Froese ended up charming a resistant one to the new orientation of Tangerine Dream following the Optical Race album back in 1988.
Sylvain Lupari (October 28th, 2010) *****