WELCOME
Welcome to Synth & Sequences; a site entirely dedicated to E(lectronic) M(usic)identified as the Berlin School style and its sub-genres that have emerged over the years. Originally, it was the blog of the same name that I put on the Net in August 2010 and which also became the most famous in the field. Since then, it has welcomed more than 1,550,000 visits with nearly 2,000 reviews about EM to read.
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Now, what's Berlin School?
It's a musical genre based on a synth and a sequencer, giving a flow of harmonious solos and of sequenced rhythms. Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze were the main pioneers. Picked in the vaults of Experimental and Dark Ambient, the music became a little more accessible with major and influential albums in the early 70's. Stratosfear by Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity, Vangelis' Heaven & Hell, Oxygene from Jean-Michel Jarre and Klaus Schulze's Moondawn have been top albums which have had their moments of glory in FM radio here in North America.
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Guided by Tangerine Dream, a first wave of more rock EM, of an Easy Listening style, call it New Age, and therefore a more accessible EM hit this side of the Atlantic, diluting the style and the interest of the hardcore fans of the Berlin School. And by the same token, the interest of the big industry towards it. But still, an army of craftsmen was always developing the style in Europe, thus giving birth to the England, French, Netherlands, Poland and Romanian Schools. In America, the Pacific School organized itself.
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On Synth & Sequences, you will find reviews, as well as some interviews, about the Berlin School (very important to remember this before offering an album for a chronicle) and its wonderful sub-genres, including ambient music, psybient, progressive New Age and cinematographic EM.
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I hope this site will guide you correctly in this amazing world of sounds and tones of so many colors and wonders. If you are a musician and would like to submit an album for review, an album that respects the Berlin School and its derivatives, you can email me or contact me on the Synth & Sequences Facebook page.
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I never intend to make money with my Blog and this site, because my main aim is to help people discovering EM. But I have to pay for this website now. Thus, it will be so appropriate to donate what you want. The day that I’ll reach 500 each year, I will retire this clicking Paypal widget.
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Thanks for reading and for your support through all these years
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Sylvain Lupari