Saturday, January 5, 2013

New "Let It Out!+" review!

A very kind and positive review of "Let It Out!+" is now online on the website of "Radio Goethe".


 Please read it "here".

Friday, January 4, 2013

New reviews for "Let It Out!+" and "Patterns Of Light"

"Sylvain Lupari" provides two very nice reviews about "Let It Out!+" and "Patterns Of Light" on his "Synth & Sequnces" website.

Please read it here:

BERND KISTENMACHER: Let it Out! + Compressed Fluid (2012)

“I said it once and I'm saying it twice, Lit it Out! is a truly masterpiece of contemporary EM. Hat to you Bernd!”
1 Let it Out! 41:08
2 Compressed Fluid (Bonus track)
19:58

MellowJet Records | cd-bk1202 (CD 61:06) *****
(Berlin School, Symphonic EM)
Caresses of violins! Enormous caresses of violins which escape from the cavern of cosmos and run on the seas of abysses in order to waltz with melancholy. These strata are wrapping us with an infinite tenderness and transport us up to the cliffs of violent orchestral arrangements which debauch the gargantuan appetite of the multiple strings which inflame in violent staccatos. And bang! So bursts this compressed sound dynamite that is Let it Out!. How many of you still haven't heard this monster of intensity that was presented within the framework of the 2010 Ricochet Gathering festival? This music, available only in downloadable format since its release in December2010 is now distributed in factory pressed CD by the German label MellowJet Records. In complement we are entitled to a portion, the encore, of the concert given by Bernd Kistenmacher at the Planetarium of Muenster on January 14th, 2011.
Let it Out! + Compressed Fluid” presents two music pieces that are very alike. If one, "Let It Out!", sketches a furious musical overview of this magnificent musician and composer career, "Compressed Fluid" is a surprising dissection of Kistenmacher last album (Antimatter
) on a slow and mesmerizing staccato overhung by delicious solos that the German synthesist cuts with a surgical musicality out of his MiniMoog. If it's less violent than "Let It Out!", it remains as much intense. And the solos...Hum pure delight! You can read about the Let it Out!downloadable album here: http://synthsequences.blogspot.ca/2011/05/bernd-kistenmacher-let-it-out-2010.html
I had already written that Let it Out! was 2011 album of the year. And I maintain this position. Rarely did I hear an album so intense where the scents of vintage EM espoused marvellously the symphonic ambitions of a musician. And when it comes from Bernd Kistenmacher, the capture of the delight is amplified. Offered in pressed CD Let it Out! is finally franked from a downloadable version which simply didn't give it justice. The powerful performance of Kistenmacher at the Ricochet Gathering is unique. It's a piece of anthology in the chessboard of contemporary EM which doesn't deserve the forgetting in the vast areas of the Internet. And “Let it Out! + Compressed Fluid” is even bigger with two powerful tracks of a rare intensity signed Bernd Kistenmacher. A must have!
Sylvain Lupari (January 2nd, 2013)


BERND KISTENMACHER: Best of-Patterns of Light (2012)

“There are compilations that are only simple compilations and others that are an interesting journey at the antipodes of a career which knew an important artistic bend, Best of-Patterns of Light is of those”
1 The Beginning 4:14
2 In Face of Saturn 8:49
3 The End of the Record 12:59
4 A Hand Softly Touching You 11:47
5 The Memorial 6:58
6 On The Shoulders of Atlas 6:05
7 Lost City 14:01
8 Autumn Leaves 6:24

Innovative Communication | 872377-2 (CD 71:15) ****
(Classical Berlin School, Symphonic EM)

There are compilations that are only simple compilations! And then there are others which form an interesting journey at the antipodes of a career which knew an important artistic bend. And “Best of-Patterns of Light” is part of those. This superb compilation of Bernd Kistenmacher's works makes the auditor travelling between the both worlds that the synthesist and German composer has caressed for the greatest pleasure of our ears. From this universe to analog tones of the vintage years, strongly soaked by his Schulzian influences, to a more contemporary one, forged in great symphonic arrangements, “Best of-Patterns of Light” is a skeud which travels as much in the time as in the cosmos of Kistenmacher. A skillful mixture of two styles which in the end makes only a wonderful musical vein where the dream follows the patterns for a light that only Bernd Kistenmacher has the control over the switch.
"The Beginning" and "In Face of Saturn" form the superb intro of Celestial Movements. Here they start a compilation to hybrid flavor with somber synth layers which grow around the lamentations of a melancholic trumpet. The movement is symphonic and Vangelesque. It pours into "In Face of Saturn" and of its electronic percussions which row towards a tempo of which the curt movements are strummed under the aegis of a synth with splendid solos. This more contemporary vision of Bernd Kistenmacher shines with his symphonic arrangements while that "The End of the Record" and "A Hand Softly Touching You" bring us back to quite a different era. Pulled out of the Contrasts Vol I album, released in 1998, "The End of the Record" offers a rhythm slightly skipping with sober electronic percussions and sequences which alternate as knocks of bevels on a long minimalist movement of which the fine variations slip between some suave solos to analog flavors. We are in the temple of works typically inspired by Klaus Schulze. It's very good and very magnetizing. More intimist and ambient work, "A Hand Softly Touching You" from the 91 Outlines album reminds us of the first incursions of Kistenmacher in the universe of orchestral arrangements. The movement is black, mesmerizing and intensely meditative.
First unedited track of this compilation, "The Memorial" is inspired by a José Saramago's novel and wears very well the weight of its mood of procession with a Bolshevist flavor. Continuing on his symphonic impulse, Kistenmacher works this title with a dramatic approach where discreet angelic choirs wrap the symmetric pulsations of a slow evolution which became more oniric than clanic. Then follows the wonderful "On the Shoulders of ATLAS". The jewel of Antimatter parades in our ears with all the elegancy of a superb bolero of which the crescendo stigmatizes our emotions, so much it's beautiful, so much it's magical. It's undoubtedly one of the most beautiful tracks from Bernd Kistenmacher who blows our mind with another musical jewel coming out of the Beyond the Deep album; "Lost City". This very beautiful title is constantly torn apart between its melodious sweetness and some dense orchestrations built on dramatic approaches which are drawn in the breaths of a discreet synth. A synth which becomes more present and among which the spasmodic chords and the symphonic strata invade little by little this universe where the rhythm gets wins with knocks of bows and a little bit anarchic drum rolls before sinking into the tranquility of a finale which matches its introduction. An interesting reference point is Geoff Downes' very avant-gardism work; The Light Program. "Autumn Leaves" is the second unedited track of this compilation. It's a beautiful symphonic ballad for romantics with a nice melodious synth which sings under the delicate warning shots of a concerto for bows of which the jerked movements wrap carefully the caresses made by a dreamy synth. It's beautiful and its crescendo presents a very poignant finale.
Travelling skillfully between the periods and styles that Bernd Kistenmacher draws for our ears since 1984, “Best of-Patterns of Light” is a great compilation which makes a just overview of his career and establishes his links towards a more melodious and more symphonic EM. It's a compilation which concentrates on the more contemporary works of Kistenmacher and which should charm those who always hesitate to let be seduce by an EM as melodious as dreamy. The music is melodious, the rhythms are fine and the melodies mesmerizing. It's the universe of Bernd Kistenmacher at its best...or almost! The fans of Vangelis should adore and those of Kistenmacher are also going to feast with both unedited tracks, while being surprise by two tracks that we had forgotten on the course of time.
 A compilation which is worth its weight of gold!
Sylvain Lupari (January 4th, 2013)



 Of course this CDs are available at "Mellowjet Records" webshop!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Elektro Beats poll 2012

With kind regards from "Olaf Zimmermann" (RadioEins). A nice result at the beginning of 2013.

Ergebnisse elektro beats Hörerpoll 2012
==============================

Platz 25 Robag Wruhme „Olagamikks“

Platz 24 Moby „Destroyed Remixed“

Platz 23 The Orb „The Orbserver In The Star House“

Platz 22 Actress “R.I.P.”

Platz 21 Kreidler “Den”

Platz 20 Matthew Dear “Beams”

Platz 19 Monolake “Ghosts”

Platz 18 Dead Can Dance “Anastasis”

Platz 17 Mohn “Mohn”

Platz 16 Terranova “Hotel Amour”

Platz 15 Tolouse Low Trax “Jeidem Fall”

Platz 14 Flying Lotus “Until The Quiet Comes”

Platz 13 Hot Chip “In Our Heads”

Platz 12 Bernd Kistenmacher “Antimatter”

Platz 11 Paul Kalkbrenner “Guten Tag”

Platz 10 Mouse On Mars „Parastophics“

Platz 09 Grimes “Visions”

Platz 08 Tangerine Dream “Machu Picchu”

Platz 07 Orbital „Wonky“

Platz 06 Dapayk & Padberg „Sweet Nothings“

Platz 05 Modeselektion Vol.2

Platz 04 Schiller „Sonne“

Platz 03 Fritz Kalkbrenner „Sick Travellin’“

Platz 02 Can „The Lost Tapes“

Platz 01 Phon.o “Black Boulder"