Various Artists

Artist: Various Artists
P: 1998
This is no. 4 in the ongoing, very successful series of electronic music inspired by the X-Files. Same as for the former parts, several teams of e-musicians teamed up in the studio, bringing adventurous music to life that wouldn't have happened otherwise. On "Four, The Truth" you this time can hear the stunning results from e.g. Ian Boddy, Vidna Obmana, Mario Schönwälder, Detlef Keller, Kees Aerts, Harold van der Heijden,Volker Rapp, Eric van der Heijden and of course Ron Boots. Those who already have the former three CD's, don't miss this one. If you're not yet familiar with it, do buy this one and become an addict of this unique concept music too!
"Four The Truth" was voted "Compilation Album of the Year" for 1998 by the listeners of the Canadian Radio show "The Nightflight" hosted by Scott Brodie and Matt Gilbo.

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2010
ClassXX is a new label for contemporary and expanding music to touch, explore and stretch the classical genre and they kick off with a fantastic and varied set of modern classical ambient/electronica by artists such as Bruno Sanfilippo, Mathias Grassow, Chris Edwards, Tomas Weiss and many others.
This is a frustratingly schizophrenic compilation. Out of Line is a perfectly appropriate title, because to these ears, there is almost a clock-like rhythm swinging from the pompous and over-wrought to the restrained and affecting.
The label´s stated intent is to explore the possibilities of so-called "neo-classical" music, brooking "no rules, no boundaries, no restrictions". But the anticipated "crossover" sounds more like a collision.
For some artists seriously over-egg the pudding, while others are more thrifty with their ingredients. I have no idea what feelings Chris Edwards harbours for Bucharest, but his opener dedicated to the city is so saccharine that he must have fallen goofily head over heels in love there. The palate is however immediately cleansed by ”Lost”, a tart, toy-like chamber piece by Eric Schwartz that sounds a bit like a music box trying to remember the tune ”Greensleeves”. Michael Travlos´ ”Indigo” is a angular, modernist collage of whispers, plucked strings, and turgid cello. Rüdiger Gleisburg´s string quartet ”Unfulfilled Longing” is so effective in rousing real emotion that it indeed leaves you unfulfilled by its mere two hundred and five seconds.
And so we continue to be cast between moods and styles: fractured spoken word, tongue-clucking and erratic piano by Thamnos (a duo featuring compiler Tomas Weiss) is followed directly by the über-symphonics of Nostalgia (another Weiss side project), which gives way to Maik Sever´s ”Division”. A lone piano being caressed by a slight breeze of strings, it is a perfect example of how one can compose modern Romantic music without resorting to melodrama.
However, the absolute revelation of the album is the cello duet between Donja Djember and Insa Schirmer (who together made a significant contribution to Hauschka´s excellent album ”Ferndorf”). It is spectacularly performed.
And after continued see-sawing, the album anomaly: the stately, weightless and electronic ”Silence Calls” by Weiss and Mathias Grassow, at nearly thirteen minutes also by far the longest track.
"El Ceibo" by Bruno Sanfilippo makes for a lovely epilogue and final impression.

Artist: Stearns, Huygen, Walter Holland,
Djam Karet, Loren Nerell, Klaus Schulze,
Bo Tomlyn, Steve Roach, Robert Rich
P: 1990
This is a truly great, moody, mixed up album. I bought it because I am a great fan of Steve Roach, who has the last tracks. All the other artists are great, each track a different aural interpretation of a different Dali painting. It's like looking at Dali through headphones. Try getting a book with images by Dali, and looking at the pictures while listening to the music composed for each one. Moody, creepy, raucaus, dreamy, eclectic...Dali.

Artist: Remy, Juno, Fractional...
P: 2006
Here we have a sampler of Remy's AKH Records label. All names except Remy's own are unknown to me. Lebenswelt starts this disc with "And My Life Is So Frail". I must say it's an interesting jazzy track with some synth coloring and a bit of FX but not EM. Anyway, on to Soapkills "Kadzoura". Sounds like a folk / classical piece, compete with female vocals! Gentle electronic rhythm / organs provide a nice backing. So, again, not EM, but nice to listen to anyway. It does make use of interesting sampling techniques but it ends up sounding like a mixture of Dub and Progrock. On to Iuno's "Spy" which opens with quiet piano playing but after a couple of seconds we can hear once again female singing similar to that heard on the previous track. I would say that there's little difference between this and "Kadzoura". In fact, they sound as if they were made by the same person. Another track by Iuno follows that features jazzy rhythmic backing and once again those female spoken / singed vocals. I must say it's nice stuff but all really not my cup of tea. Well, perhaps it will grow on me, as happened so many times with a lot of weird and different stuff. A track by Remy follows, called "In This Place". A mysterious bell-like melody casts its spell, echoing into the distance. Background Mellotron choir can barely be heard, as well as subtle strings. Great, moody stuff. A slow rhythm eventually appears and forms the basis for the last part of this highly repetitive, minimal track. We continue with Fractional's "Nirbel" that disrupts the flow with jarring rhythm / aggressive sounds. This is a nice track but it belongs to the Techno culture in my book. We continue with Sutrastore's "Succeed". Urban atmospheres are combined with broken rhythms. Looks like the album made a complete turn towards the IDM side of things. Male voice half-sings and is then joined by a female one for some sort of a chorus (year, right). Nice music, this one. "Central Station" by The After Affects only confirms my presumption about this sampler going for the IDM thing. Nice Pet Shop Boys-like processed vocals on this one. Remy closes the disc with "Visions". Mysterious piano notes make up for a nice intro. Well, actually the piano and the background pads are pretty much all we have on this number, plus a bit of a rhythm at the end. Nice track, though, and very different. I enjoyed it. The "AKH Records" sampler is something of a mixed bag, then, where Remy's own tracks were the ones I enjoyed the most.

Artist: Timescape, Gravity Four,
Tony Andersen, Bondee System, Nanovision
P: 2000
Dreams of the Acropolis is the definitive tribute to the new age Greek God, Yanni. This dozen-track collection features eclectic covers from artists such as Nanovision, Gravity Four, Bondee System, Timescape, the Y Experience, Tony Andersen, and more. This is certainly a must have for dedicated Yanni fans and fans of new age music alike.

Artist: Wave World, Marek Szulen, Daniel Bloom, Artur Lason
P: 2001
Live recording of the artists at the Festival of Electronic Music in Poland in 2001.
Nice liveversions and a videoclip of the different styles.

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2009
A collection of rare, unreleased and exclusive tracks from a collection of today's artists comprises the great new 'tribute' album to 70's German musical stylists Neu! The amount of artists citing Krautrock godfathers, electronic AND rock music innovators NEU! as a major influence has been exponentially rising over the last 3 decades. Artists from Bono to Noel Gallagher, Radiohead to LCD Soundsystem, Damon Albarn to John Frusciante who have clearly drawn from their influence from one of the most groundbreaking bands ever to appear out of the 70s. This compilation tries to show music fans what key influence this German duo had on some of today's biggest bands and it includes 2 tracks by NEU! musicians Klaus Dinger (as La Dusseldorf) as well as one by Michael Rother. Across tracks from acts such as the above mentioned as well as Kasabian, LCD Soundsystem, Oasis, Primal Scream, Holy Fuck, School Of Seven Bells and Melbourne's Pets With Pets, the compilation exemplifies to music fans what key influence this German duo had on some of today's biggest bands.

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2011
LTD: 400
As follow-up to the highly successful Analogy series (part 1, 2, and 3), Groove Unlimited is now releasing a new sampler.
This time the approach is very different. The idea is to do an album with Dutch EM artists and let them compose music to a painting they like. The album is called 'Dutch Masters' and you will hear music the artists composed to paintings of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Mondriaan, Escher, Bosch and many more.
Artists that participated are: Ron Boots, Gert Emmens, Eric van der Heijden, Bas Broekhuis, Remy, Synth.nl, Rene Splinter, Meesha, and René van der Wouden. If you want to hear how these artists translate the image of their favorite painting into music get a hold of this album.

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2005
A good collection of the french garde of electronic musicians with Berlin School style tracks.

Artist: Vidna Obamana, Steve Roach,
Thom Brennan
P: 1997
This is the Projekt rerelease of the 3 limited Amplexus CDs, which came out 3 years earlier and had been soon sold out.