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Artist: Rudy Adrian Reviews:
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New Zealand electronic keyboard virtuoso Rudy Adrian is one of the more adept artists at crafting both ambient soundscapes as well as neo-Berlin sequencer excursions, even blending the two subgenres on a single album, such as on his debut, Twilight. He has released albums like Kinetic Flow, which feature his updating of classic Germanic EM and he's also recorded works such as The Healing Lake, containing floating ambient and new age music pieces. On Starfields (subtitled Sequencer Sketches Vol. 3), he once again sets sail for Germany and a unique re-working of the music of Schulze, Tangerine Dream, and other practitioners of sweeping analog keyboards, pulsing sequenced beats, and outer space effects flying every which way in the soundfield. Once again, he doesn't disappoint. Working almost exclusively in long-track form (only one track is less than eight-minutes long and the title track is nearly twenty-four minutes of music!), Adrian displays his talent for weaving slowly evolving Berlin tone poems that move effortlessly from serene washes to propulsive passages to dramatic soaring melodies and then back into the inky blackness of the deep cosmos. The higher energy music dominates here, though, such as on the great album opener, "Space Border Patrol." One can almost feel the deep throbbing of warp engines underfoot, imagine the sensation of great speed, and envision the sleek star cruisers as they keep the peace on the outer rim of some distant galaxy. However, not everything here is pulsing with electronic energy. "Mars, the Rusted World" has some genuinely spooky moments at its start - swirling mildly discordant washes of spacy static and eerie keyboard sounds. The music begins to transform into a more classic type of spacemusic, with lush analog (or analog-like) chords weaving through the air while subtle twinkling sound effects lend a science fiction feel to the music. As the more Germanic elements are added, the drama of the music becomes almost palpable. You can almost imagine you are on a slow fly-over of the barren yet compelling Martian landscape. When the sequenced pulses and notes come pouring in, face it - you're hooked! I really like "Venus, the Clouded Sphere" which is positively cheery compared to the previous track. Lively sunshowers of bell-tones and synth arpeggios are buoyed by warm ethereal keyboards. Rapid fire percolating rhythms do not detract much from the more optimistic mood of the track. The nearly twenty-four title track can't really be detailed (in this review, at least) except to say it's classic Adrian, shifting from subdued ambient tones to high energy Berlin homage with ultimate dexterity - energizing yet not overpowering and with more musicality than you might expect from Germanic EM (and the latter is another Rudy Adrian trademark). The album closes with "Kuiper Belt," the only real "spacemusic" track here (although there are even rhythms on this cut, but they're of the Meg Bowles/Geodesium variety). I hope Rudy records a whole album like this 'cause it's great. He even lends his (heavily echoed) wordless vocalizings to this track and they're a perfect fit with the floating keyboards, mildly pulsing synth notes, and spacy tone of the cut. If I read the liner notes right, this was supposed to be an album of atmospheric spacemusic, but one thing led to another and bam - out came another neo-Berlin work (the details behind what happened are in the notes). While Starfields is a very good album, I also look forward to that more drifting ambient work still to come from Rudy. In the meantime, this CD is highly recommended for German EM fans and others who like their keyboards accompanied by plenty of pulsating rhythms.
New Zealand keyboard player Rudy Adrian proves once again that he is an artist of remarkable versatility with his first release on White Cloud, The Healing Lake. Beginning with the opening title cut, which is heralded by what sounds like a bass flute and the sound of waves lapping on the shore, Rudy paints a mostly serene and floating ambient/space portrait, filled with many moments of grace, beauty and serenity. While the title song has some moderate drama in it, most of what is on this recording harkens back to classic space music, a la pioneers like Serrie, early Steve Roach, David Lange, Nik Tyndall and other practitioners of layered washes of gently drifting sound. What is uniquely Adrian, though, is how seamlessly Rudy pieces together various subgenres of spacemusic as these disparate elements weave through the CD. "Valley of Mists" definitely reminds me of Tyndall's classic Lagoon at times, but also carries echoes of Kevin Braheny (sans his trademark EWI). Gentle waves of warm melody issue forth, with a subtle shimmering quality, while reverbed effects in the background add an additional spacy quality to the song. "Shelter from the Storm" opens with a well-recorded rumbling of thunder and soon morphs into a calm blend of keyboards, synth choruses (somewhat reminiscent of Liquid Mind), and more shimmering style synths. It's a lovely piece of music, filled with a hushed sense of awe. This is followed by the more quietly majestic "Night Sky" which showcases Rudy's brilliant ability to intermix diverse elements into a cohesive whole. The song features heavily reverbed gong sounds, strange cricket-like effects, and rising and falling washes and keyboards. Wonderful! The rest of the album is likewise densely layered and full of unexpected wonders, as Rudy finds a new wrinkle for every cut, bending the spacemusic and ambient genres just enough to raise an eyebrow in appreciation without straying too far for the purist fan of the genre to shake his or her head in disdain. Songs like the deep space drifter "Beneath the Stars" (evoking thoughts of Serrie's And the Stars Go With You) and the somber "Promise of Snow" (which is a mixture of Jon Mark's melodic sensibility and Steve Roach's more spacemusic-oriented recordings) clearly show that Rudy Adrian, who now has three very solid releases to his credit, has joined the ranks of that group which I call "the young lions." This is esteemed company, as the young lions are those artists who are taking the spacemusic and ambient genres by storm with fresh and exciting music. Some of Rudy's contemporaries in this group would include the minimalists Stephen Philips and James Johnson, the versatile Brannan Lane, and the man of 1,000 names, Daniel Byerly (along with more than a few others). Rudy easily deserves his place among these artists owing to his abundance of talent, his imaginative composing and his unique ability to stretch the boundaries of electronic music. This man has a bright future and The Healing Lake is proof positive of that!
New Zealander and keyboard artist Rudy Adrian has delivered an excellent follow-up to his highly regarded debut, Twilight. Kinetic Flow (subtitled Sequencer Sketches, Volume 1) is a great assortment of Berlin-school sequencer pieces (no surprise there, given the subtitle) and spacier, more ambient EM. Once again, as he did on Twilight, Rudy shows a deft hand and savvy sense of composition and engineering (the music was recorded straight to DAT at his home studio) with both sides of the coin. The pulsing yet melodic opening cut is "Coming Home" and boy, is it good. Percolating sequencer beats, underlying synth washes of warm yet shiny textures, and laser-zap pulses and whooshes (even some timbre-rich bell tones) all combine to make a great hyper-space cruiser. This is followed by "The Legacy of Luxor," another fantastic number. Ethereal soaring synths start things off (sounding like Thief-era Tangerine Dream). Wave after wave of gently undulating chords cascade like cool water. Of course, soon the song dons its German clothing, as sequencer beats in a midtempo rhythm staccato their way into the mix. The mixture of the drifting synth elements with the beats is well-done, and Rudy even discretely uses some wordless vocals/chants (very subdued and in the background so they're more like another instrument). The song is a short one but short and sweet, to be sure. The title cut is next and it's almost twenty-minutes long! The first two songs were in the five-minute range. In fact, the next three cuts are all each over ten minutes in length. "Kinetic Flow" is obviously the centerpoint of the album (even literally) and deservedly so. The song begins with bell and chime-like synths, underlying washes that are somewhat melancholy, and a lead synth line that is somewhat mournful (sounding a bit like a solo violin at times). Berlin-school rhythmic elements and textures enter the song after about five minutes, with plucked notes and sequencer beats that gradually build in both intensity and tempo. Soon, we're off in as good a piece of Teutonic EM as exists today, in my opinion. How Rudy suffuses his EM with so much warmth while still embracing the conventions of German style is a mystery. But this music really draws me in, rather than pushes me away. That violin-ish synth darts and soars above the sequencer lines and it's just beautiful, even if sounding tragic at times. Things quiet down after the ten-minute mark and the song takes on a more ambient feel as it winds its way to its end, with a few brief re-emergences of rhythmic elements. Just before the climax, though, things shift into high gear once more and a electric guitar-like wailing (or is it a guitar?) erupts before the song fades out peacefully. There are four more songs on Kinetic Flow. The uptempo rhythmic music-box (courtesy of twinkling bell tones) meets spacy EM of "Turquoise," the beautiful and majestic deep space drifting of "Le Songe du Singe" (this piece is the soundtrack for the Otago Park planetarium and is an album highlight, for sure, especially at over thirteen minutes in length) and two short songs, the eerie "Happy Memories" (dark ambient textures that eventually lighten in feel and are combined with rapid fire sequencer beats) and "Luxor Revisited" (opening with what sounds like overtone singing and heavily reverbed chanting with an intriguing sequencer line racing along underneath it). Rudy Adrian has a lot of talent, something that I surmised after Twilight. Now, with Kinetic Flow, I think it's clearly evident. Rarely does a musician explode on the scene with the power and the skill in two diverse areas that he has displayed with these two recordings. The only other artist I can think of to display equal abilities in these two genres is Thomas Ronkin (his Within: Distance is a masterpiece). He's no longer alone. Kinetic Flow is highly recommended to all fans of Berlin-EM and space music fans not shy of sequencers.
Rudy Adrian's Twilight is a very solid CD that mixes high energy sequencer-driven EM and warm drifting ambient music. The production quality is excellent and this CD should please fans of all three genres: electronic, space and ambient, although if lovers of the last are averse to Berlin-school music, they may hit the "skip" button once or twice. The CD opens with "Eclipse" which is vintage floating space music with the added element of an echoed wordless vocal snaking its way through the synth washes. This is followed by the first of the German EM style tracks, "Towards The White Mountains" with a strong Tangerine Dream feel to it. Pulsing sequencer lines are counterpointed by swirling and swooshing lead synths. Classic stuff, in the same vein as TD's work on Thief or other releases of that era. Other songs include the gentle and serene "Enveloping Mists," the breathy-flute enhanced noirish "Return To Fire Island," the eerie yet beautiful "Disturbed Reflections"and the Serrie-like glow of "Autumnal Twilights on Victory Beach" (yeah, it doesn't exactly roll off your tongue, but it's a good cut). Later selections on the album tend to be more ambient, which gives the CD a nice fade-out factor. Twilight ends with "Watery Moon" which is about as good as space music can get - slowly revolving synth washes and spacy shimmering effects. There's a wide variety of good stuff on Twilight. Fans of any of the genres listed above would be well-served to check it out. I hope Rudy is busy on a follow-up. He shows an awful lot of promise with this one! |
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