“Another excellent compilation guided at master hand by Ron Boots”
1 Sonic Adventure
(Martin Peters) 13:10
2 SpyriFy - NEUMix Etude K (Spyra) 8:15
3 ICE (Dyson-Ward) 4:56
4 Outpost Part 1
(Gert Emmens) 12:25
5 Caves at Dusk (Rudy Adrian) 6:25
6 Cosmic Theme (Awenson) 9:20
7 Sunstorm Aurora (VoLt) 7:01
8 Tercera - E-Live 2017
(Beyond Berlin) 17:35
(CD/DDL 79:09) (V.F.)
(Berlin School)
We love EM and we love bringing it to everyone! Ron Boots is good for a second try in his Free series. Relying again on the big names of his label, the boss of Groove nl has concocted another album of beautiful and diverse EM where the Netherlands, England and Berlin Schools genres flirt with cosmic music and meditative ambiences. FREE FLOATING GROOVES is filled to the brim with good and beautiful EM. And like with Free Grooves, you can get it for free when you buy 2 physical CDs from the Dutch label. It is also available in download format.
These are arpeggios twirling like sequenced flakes of sounds that Martin Peters throws to our ears to start this second Free edition from the Dutch label. We will remember that it was him who had also initiated the Free Grooves with the giant Sparks. The movement is frivolous with tinkling of limpid chords to which is grafted a line of bass-pulses. Stoic, the flow is almost stationary. Even with the debonair attitude of the sequencer that injects its unruly keys to all winds. This ambient, yet feverish rhythm is contained within its framework set by particularly good synth solos. Solos with lunar harmonies, even with this bucolic tone, which have this analog scent with whistles in both tones. The load of the sequences follows the caresses and arias of these solos that literally guide the harmonic development of Sonic Adventure with electronic dialogues as enchanting as two birds courting each other with passion. An incredibly beautiful track with mirific solos by Martin Peters. Spyra does things differently! SpyriFy - NEUMix Etude K is set to a passionate up-beat with good percussion and percussive effects, including those animated rattlesnake tails 😊. The solos also twirl around on this slightly spasmodic structure, except for the bridge with the 2-minute-long ambiences here. The rest! Electronic fiesta with punchy solos. John Dyson and Paul Ward calm down the ambiences with ICE, an ambient but poignant track with good orchestrations and a bit of Synergy in the audacity. Intense and moving! Always generous with his time, Gert Emmens often accepts Groove's invitations to promote the label's EM. And he offers good compositions! Like Outpost Part 1 which attacks our ears with his signature of electronic rock, but with a zest of Tangerine Dream's Silver Scale in the slow rhythmic build up. There is a nice balance between rhythms and ambiances in this compilation.
This is how Rudy Adrian comes to present us Caves at Dusk, a track inspired by the ambiences of his amazing As Dusk Becomes Night. A little livelier, this is tribal ambient with a zest of contemporary in its soundscapes! Cosmic Theme is a very good track from Awenson who offers an intense heavy pulsating rhythm in a cosmic setting filled with starry souls. This structure of dull beats borrows ephemeral meditative zones to take up this millipede race resounding dully in the corridors of Cosmos. Voices of celestial nymphs invade these zones of tranquility with songs that try to take us out of the borders of Cosmic Theme. A phase that Awenson adorns with his most beautiful synth solos. As celestial as magical, they take us away from these chants to follow the cosmic visions of an era where Adelbert von Deyen still felt at home. VoLt comes back for a second run, like in Free Grooves, to present Sunstorm Aurora. The intro is of silk with hazy violins from which come chords as romantic as melancholic. The melody is good and harmonizes with orchestrations where hides a kind of rhythmic excitement that explodes after the 3 minutes. A hard and fluid rhythm, like EDM, but with this touch of electronic rock unique to England School. Again, the synth solos are simply divine. When will VoLt be back? This compilation ends with a composition that Beyond Berlin presented at the 2017 E-Live, Tercera. Twirling percussion strikes with a metal tone emerge from a droning membrane. The random effect of the strikes prompts chords to jump with equal uncertainty over fluttery harmonies and huge layers of chthonic voices. Even out of sync, these elements live in harmony, no matter how much resonant chords need to draw attention. Gradually, the voice layer invites itself more and more until taking control of Tercera in a moment of pure meditation that gives a rather interesting duel inside the Mellotron and its duels of astral voice's layers and enchanting flute mists. A moment that flirts with the 3 minutes, before the sequencer activates the alternating movement of two mocking keys. And the sequencer playing, my friends, is simply fantastic with a very Tangerine Dream vision while the track goes for a big progressive rock of the Netherlands School and those solos with a head searching for infinite zigzags. Excellent! An excellent title which caps another excellent compilation guided by Ron Boots.
Sylvain Lupari (29/04/21) ****¼*
Available at Groove NL