Winther, Terje

Artist: Terje Winther
P: 2009
“Electronic Regions”, a concept album with varied expressions spread out over two discs, took Norwegian musician Terje Winther a long time to complete, almost five years to be more exact. For this release, Terje actually wanted to pay homage to all the electronic music that has inspired him, from early Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, through prog rock and electronic hit songs, to long symphonic works mixed with sounds that stretch your imagination. For this purpose, he mostly used ProTools, next to main synths as the analogue modulars, the Moog and ARP synths, plus various string machines to put the icing on the cake.
Musically, Terje has come up with inspired vintage electronics consisting of lots of full tonal and atonal analogue sounds, strong rhythms from sequencers, good tunes and themes, keeping in mind there’s always a rough, overtly strange and experimental edge to it all. Together, they act like “a walk through a giant landscape where you meet all these wonderful places to visit”, as Terje said it in an interview. Well, the vibe and backbone of ‘70’s vintage electronics lies firmly embedded in the centre of the highly improvised music. There’s the one hour, five-part “Entering Regions Suite” on the first disc, of which the masterful middle track “I Feel Life” is one of pure and grand design, actually making retro music shine so brightly, while the sequenced, enigmatic spheres of “Repeating (itself)” send its greetings to TD’s “Ricochet”. This also goes for the three pieces on the second cd: although the short opening piece “Electronic RendezVouz” is rather pointless and silly, the over 51-minute “Where the water leaves the road” carries on very nicely in classic Schulze in the first 20 minutes or so. After that, the music turns more melodic and a bit too freaky at times. Eventually, the vintage style works out better on the cinematic, more harmonic sounding “Evermore”, which strays along the numerous paths of “electronic forests”. In its own right, the music re-interprets and redefines the impact of the auditory landscapes from the past, which were ahead of their time. Mr Winther has transformed them into massive and expansive new shapes and figures, even into off-the-world dimensions if you like. Summarizing: Terje’s “Electronic Regions” is not an easy-to-chew or digest kind of retro music, but a tough one with a full-grown edge of maturity, demanding adventurous ears to experience and appreciate its full meaning.

Artist: Terje Winther
P: 2010
Recorded live at the fantasy festival inside the bronze age house at the Landa prehistoric site in Forsand, Norway July 2007. Berlin school style with sequencerpassages like TD around 1975 (Phaedra or Ricochet).

Artist: Terje Winther
P: 2004
Trespasser is an excellent album of very 70's sounding neo-prog EM, often cosmic and in most cases sequencer-heavy. The fact that all music is improvised is a plus. "The City of Cruithne", begins with the obligatory three minutes of space sounds after which the sequencers carefully blend in. Soon the tempo increases and the synths start reverberating all over the place. It reminds you of a modern Cyborg that punches your body regularly in the stomach. After nine minutes the shocking truth is revealed: Terje has to be nobody less than Jean-Michel Jarre. Equinox like fragments. With this strong debut, Winther is definitely one to watch. “Running through the Edge” is a 23-minute piece of pure Teutonics, very much like Klaus Schulze circa 1975. The mood, the synth sounds, and once again the sequencing are all very familiar and well done. Drums appear later, and are simple but effective in setting the tempo and building the intensity. The main theme is steady going, but there are enough twists and turns to keep the interest level high. It gets a little wild at the end, shifting into prog rock mode with cymbals and organs joining the fray. Abruptly we jump headlong into “Essinc”, which eventually winds down to dark choirs. As sequencing again joins in, we’re transported to Tangerine Dream’s seventies sound.

Artist:
P: 2007
This CD from 2007 features 79 minutes of diverse electronic music.
The theme of this anthology is that all the equipment used to create the music be of an analog nature.
You get:
Gert Emmens and James Clent: a tasty blend of deep gurgling and stratospheric airs serving as a foundation for a fanciful melody.
Create: a pensive piece that seasons cybernetic brooding with delicate filigrees.
Stephen Parsick (from ‘Ramp): dark ambience that delves into celestial depths with moody results.
Gert Blokzijl: loops ascend with lighthearted vigor to expand their circumference into realms of bubbling zest.
Russell Storey: a brief excursion into cosmic territory.
Synth.nl: a windswept journey into contemplation that slides into a peppier selection of bouncy chords and languid bass sweeps.
Francois-pol Cornec: electronic bubbles punctuate a bouncy melody drenched in rich tones that erupts with shrill dynamics.
Erwin Hofstede: atmospheric textures sway across a sparse panorama.
James J. Clent: a peppy piece with resounding clatter and serpentine riffs sliding through a vivacious mix.
Another track by Russell Storey: that expands on the previous cosmic journey with subtle determination.
Terje Winther: an energetic track that increases the heartbeat with lively chords racing to expose further surprises.
Studio35d: a chugging melody struggles to escape the clutches of a pensive mood.
Schonwalder’s Filterkaffe (being Mario Schonwalder and Frank Rothe): locomotive chords flow through a series of dramatic augmentations en route to an emphatic crescendo.
Eric G: urgency drives this frenetic tune.
Rene van der Wouden: a celebratory track with a bouncy central theme seasoned by gurgling embellishments.
Mono-Poly: a brooding atonal piece of grinding gears and muttering radio signals.
Ron Boots: a slowburn escalation heading faithfully for emphatic altitudes with a poignant finale.
On one hand, you get a worthwhile selection of exclusive tracks by notable musicians. On the other hand, you get glimpses at the works of a variety of promising newcomers.
A well-rounded and rewarding collection

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2006
This is the nice collection of Ambientlive with new tracks by the listed artists.
 

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2012
"Mythology"
A double album of mainly Berlin School tracks.
With some quite different and new tracks too.
 

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2012
"Ambient Mythology"
Once again the "point 5" Ambient album is a 2 CD set.
Both discs contain Ambient tracks in a continuous mix.
 

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2014
A single album of mainly Berlin School tracks.
With some quite different and new tracks too.

Artist: Terje Winther
P: 2008
The Norwegian quartet Wintherstormer, playing analogue instruments only, recorded the "live-in-studio" music of "Electric Fairytales" in front of an audience.
On this album the band has broaden and developed their sonic output and creative skills, blending musical craft and spaced-out themes.
Although retro in vein, their improvised output always continued to contain a rough, surprising and unconventional edge, which is again the case here. The four lengthy pieces on this 77-minute album seem a bit more melodic and structured compared to their previous recordings, on which psychedelic, space-out and prog themes match with vintage sequencing, guitar solo’s and drums/percussion.