Saturday, March 17, 2007

Song of the Second Moon

Tom Dissevelt/Kid Baltan [Get it Here]

Finally the full album for two of the greatest synth pieces of all time. Song of the Second Moon and Sonik Re-Entry. Probably the Batman and Robin of this scene, the duo put together a great song, and a wonderful album. Not many know much of Tom Dissevelt past the same "Song of the Second Moon" that's everywhere unless you're familiar with his jazz and experimental pianist works. Even more, it wasn't until I did some digging that I thought "Kid Baltan" was Tom's non-existant alter ago like some kind of electronic 'synth shady' or something. No though, Kid Baltan a.k.a. Dick Raaijmakers was very real. In this scene calling someone a pioneer can get a little redundant, but these two seriously were. They were some of the 50's originators playing around with the even by the 50's classic sound collage techniques that guys had been playing with since the 1920's. As you can clearly see from Song of the Second Moon, their efforts were a bit more listenable and even danceable I'd say. This album is an incredible mix of smooth synth composition, abstract pieces that are very loud, freaky, and random, and some tracks towards the end that show the creators jazz and pianist roots. There's one track towards the end where you can really see Tom's later experimental piano stylings making a surprising appearance. Excellent, history making album, it's an absolute crime for the title song to be the only thing known of this album when equally great songs are already on it. Don't leave without this one!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Ruth White - The Flowers of Evil
[Get it Here]

Wonderful spoken word doused in delicious synth from the electronic goddess Ruth White. This album while having an incredibly eerie satanic vibe, is actually based on book of somewhat grim poetry book by Charles Baudelaire. Controversial author and poet of his mid 19th century era, his works were banned multiple times and released in several censored forms. Uncensored for ages, Ruth White reminds us even further through her wonderful and quite sexy readings of Charles works just how wonderful uninhindered creative expression is. You don't need to be a literature buff to enjoy this album, be you a casual listener, some goth who wants to impress some pals, or a real satanist, this is the album for you. I never knew how much I loved spoken word albums until I started playing this almost more than my other stuff. If you've been paying attention, you get the point I love the readings, but what about the synth? It's just excellent! This album uses stuff I haven't really heard in any of the other synth albums out there. Really deep echoey keys that sound incredibly enchanting. When you're listening to this album, thanks to the synths setting up such a wonderful ambience, you may very well be in the 19th century at the most beautiful victorian mansion imaginable. Good albums make you happy, great albums make you ecstatic, but wonderful albums take you places you've never been. Flowers of Evil is a wonderful album.