Tangerine Dream: Electronic Futurism
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CD Review 
Hiruma Cyrus
Maintain an active band for 40 years is a feat. If not a rarity. It is exactly the case of Tangerine Dream.
The group was founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese, a student of painting and drawing at the Berlin Academy of Arts and friend of Salvador Dali. The musician worked alongside the painter at his residence on the island of Lligat in Spain, creating the famous happenings, events typical of the hippie movement, the flower power. It was the source of the multimedia show: music, painting and literature were a single event, a cultural festival.
Thus, the Tangerine Dream had many influences in his sound: on the one hand, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. On the other, an aspect totally experimental, avant-garde style of composers John Cage, Iannis Xenakis and Ligeti Gyoergy. There were points in common between the two trends: electronic music, especially with the advent of a new instrument, the synthesizer Moog . And the idea of ​​generating novel and unusual sounds that were created by conventional instruments. Just listen to Hendrix's guitar version of the national anthem at the Woodstock Festival and understand that there was no limit to creativity.
The secret of longevity of Tangerine Dream is its incredible power of renewal. Despite numerous lineup changes (only Froese has existed since the beginning), the music always followed the trends sound. The group was called the forerunner of the Berlin sound that gave rise to movements like the new age, techno-pop and techno music.
It was the starting point for the career of Giorgio Moroder in 70 years, known as the mentor of disco diva Donna Summer and who composed the soundtracks like Scarface, The Mark of the Panther, The Midnight Express. In the 80s, the group of Froese joined forces with Madonna on the soundtrack of the film Vision Quest and participated in the successful film Risky Business with Tom Cruise.
In the 21st century, the Tangerine Dream embarked on new changes in his music. But their latest CDs, such as musical trilogy based on The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, and Madcap's Flaming Dutch, tribute to Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd member died, works were bold, but showed a loss of quality in the band . The dynamics and impact of compositions left to be desired in relation to the work of the past.
Views from a Red Train is the album that has come to "put everything in place." Although not a profound innovation, energy and potential rescues that were present in past decades. In the midst of a huge production and surrounded by synthesizers endless electronic paraphernalia, Edgar Froese's guitar highlighted. No doubt there are some of his best solos in recent memory.
The idea of ​​the musician and Salvador Dali to unite sound and image is still present throughout the CD. It's a song to hear and imagine places, regions, landscapes. "Caramel California," as its name, is a musical journey through California town of Caramel, rhythmic programming leads the listener to a sunny day, an adventure through the streets and busy roads. To keep the hot weather, "Fire on the Mountain" follows the same line. Just remember the constant fires that occur in California (Arnold Schwarzenegger say so ...)
In the exact opposite, "Passing All Signs" features sampled female voices who join an electronic database and style sacrum. It is worth recalling that the Tangerine Dream has done concerts in cathedrals up! In "Serpent Magique", the mystical theme is present and remember the electronic version of a song oriental, minimalist synths, rhythms that are repeated in cycles, loops.
"Hunter Shot By A Yellow Rabitti" begins with the choir of female voices, but the climate is changing, the pace gains strength and becomes denser. The percussion comes shattering. Froese guitar merge his sentences without worrying about print speed. His intention is to create climates that complement the melody.
The percussion section of "Leviathan" recalls the classic "Peter Gunn" by Henry Mancini (watch the version of Art of Noise ), the guitar is aggressive and lead the actions. "Lord of the Ants" also follows the same path, full of energy, begins as a thriller soundtrack and gradually gained epic dimensions.
Purple diluvial is another release of Tangerine Dream, a creative the band's label Eastgate Music. It is a format called Cupdisc, or a CD with shorter, between 35 to 40 minutes, and a more affordable price to the consumer. The idea is simple: enjoy the music during a time of leisure, a meeting with friends, while taking a cup of tea or coffee. In the case of the group, this meeting promises to be not so peaceful and relaxing. It is not an album made to serve as background music, on the contrary, there are moments of pure tension.
The great thing diluvial Purple is the fact that most of the compositions remain the responsibility of the keyboard instead of Quaeschning Thorsten Edgar Froese (only the author of "Armageddon In The Rose Garden - Part II"). This brought new air to the band and very different ideas of Views from the Red Train.
The title track is nothing more than pure contemplation. There are three segments: entry begins with a piano very well composed that represents the approach of a storm. Following the flood comes and brings thunder, reproduced electronically and percussion becomes hectic, chaotic. Finally, the calm after the storm, the composition sounds quietly closed down.
"Babylon the Great Has Fallen" has a great melody line and reflects the idea of ​​the title: a great city, represented by magnificent synthesizers that represent the same time an intense atmosphere, which grows throughout the song, and a certain nostalgia, a sadness which results in the decay of this metropolis.
"Armageddon in the Rose Garden (Part II)" begins with synthesizers something dismal like a horror movie, and continues in an atmosphere of suspense with fast rhythmic percussion that dominates the music until the end.
If you believe that a band formed in 1967 is a case of nostalgia, just watch the video below:
Eastern Haze
Recorded Live at Shepherds Bush London in June 2005
Link:
Official Website of Tangerine Dream
