Block, Jonathan

Artist: Jonathan Block
P: 2008
The new album, The Anatomy of Waves, is a series of four long tracks featuring improvisations using an electronic "wind instrument" device, an Akai EWI4000s wind synthesizer.
Surface waves. Standing waves. Sound waves. Waves are disturbances that travel through space and time transferring energy from one point to another; often the physical manifestation of an underlying cycle. The Anatomy of Waves is a study of these cycles through evolving waves of sound — representations of our attachment to the crests and troughs that are characteristics of living in this world.
The music on this CD was created using a wind synthesizer processed through an effects pedal board and looped using long delay times that fade slowly, enabling new sounds and loops to be added and subtracted. All the tracks have a compositional foundation but this structure is fluid enough to allow the music to move in any number of directions, often simultaneously.
From melodic to abstract, musical elements emerge and coalesce by design and hazard as phrases interact with one another and sounds are added that never become part of a repeating loop. Jonathan Block has been releasing electronic music for over 20 years, often under the name Synthetic Block. In addition to his solo works, Block has performed and recorded with Dave Fulton, The Circular Ruins (APK) and Ben Fleury-Steiner.
The Anatomy Of Waves was recorded using an Akai EWI4000s wind synthesizer with a Vox Tonelab LE for sound processing and a Boss DD-20 digital delay for looping.

Artist: Jonathan Block
P: 2003
This Hypnos/Binary debut by Synthetic Block blends "classic EM" elements with a more modern approach. It was mastered by Dave Fulton (who also played on one track) and is sonically amazing. Sonic Approach amply demonstrates Jonathan Block's imaginative vision of a contemporary direction for EM by integrating subtly abstract (yet accessible) elements with more mainstream Berlin school structures and sounds.
Some tracks on the album have a rich cinematic characteristic and others are draped in neo- and/or retro-futurism. I enjoyed the album the more I played it, as (like so many "pure" electronic music releases) its compositional depth is revealed slowly, rewarding the patient listener.
While less emotionally involving than, for example, the works of Dom F. Scab or Ron Boots, Block's album still presents music that offers an enjoyable experience and represents time well spent exploring its assorted pathways.

Artist: V/A
P: 2007
Sounds of a Universe Overheard is a collection of ten tracks exclusive to this CD, created by a cross-section of ambient, experimental and soundscape artists from around the world. Included in this diverse group are more established recording artists who will be known to most listeners to these genres, as well as new, emerging names. We feel a compilation is most interesting when it varies from the familiar to the new. This disc covers all sorts of territory in terms of sound, from more musical and soundtrack-like sounds, to darker ambient, to pure sonic experimentation.