Magazine 07-2023

CYCLICAL Magazine INTERVIEW: HARALD GROSSKOPF GEAR REVIEW: ALBUM REVIEW: GS MUSIC E7 THE ZONE OF POLYPHONIC MALLEABLE FEARS BY BRENDAN POLLARD ANALOG 1 JULY 2023

GEAR The integrated software is perhaps REVIEW: a bit basic, although there is access KORG SQ 64 to its controls and it is possible to save them. And it allows you to It is a 64-step sequencer with 64 import and save projects, unfortu- buttons for each step, this puts it nately we do not have a display of in an advance situation, surpassing MIDI notes or an option to import other manufacturers. Providing 3 .mid files and send them to the se- polyphonic tracks and 1 drum track. quencer. Perhaps a firmware 3.0 It manages to integrate the features and a reissue of the driver softwa- of a traditional MIDI sequencer, but re could bring these advantages. has added the current touch that is trending: randomizable parameters Ulises Labaronnie such as velocity per step, probabili- ty of playing each step, several ways to play including an interesting sto- chastich mode. It is of an intuitive programming, quite well resolved with its four-space screen. It pro- vides a good level of MIDI control, being able to program its four assig- nable knobs into 4 banks (so 16 a fi- nal knob control) and 64 buttons to various channel voice messages and this is expanded with 16 program storage memories slots. Very useful for controlling digital module syn- thesizers. The voltage outputs are efficient, with pitch, gate and mod for its 3 polyphonic tracks and 8 ga- tes for the drum channel. One nota- ble feature is that it sends MIDI clock even if in stop mode, this maintains time on external arpeggiators and delays that might otherwise acquire their own time if they don’t receive the clock message from the master. 2 JULY 2023

BRENDAN very much inspired by albums such harmonic symbiosis with the flow POLLARD: as Thief, Flashpoint and Wavelength of the sequencer, which begins to by the famous German trio. More dribble bass sequences that lead THE ZONE complete in terms of harmonic the track to a finale with a more OF MALLEA- rhythm, Scanner Rate is molded in sober rhythm. The title track takes BLE FEARS the same essences and is one of the us back into a more ambient sphe- best tracks on the British synthe- re, with winds, mechanical frictions Hum! A Brendan Po- sist’s new album. Probe is the first and hums forming a compact sound llard album consis- of the half-dozen tracks of murky, mass akin to space shuttle engines. ting of 14 tracks ave- dark ambient music that criss-cross The sensation of emptiness, of floa- raging around 5 minutes the 14 musical stories on THE ZONE ting in the hollow of the universe, in length? THE ZONE OF OF MALLEABLE FEARS. Its essence is very present in The Zone of Ma- MALLEABLE FEARS features is very obscure, with droning wa- lleable Fears. The same can be said electronic music (EM) com- ves sailing in linear motion. Sound of Voids of Intuition, with its dark posed over the last 2 years, effects add a cinematic spectral di- layers, reverberating emanations but inspired by a storyboard mension to the music. Intriguing and shimmering chords. Steel Blue Brendan created a few years fog, puffs of white noises and la- Sphere is another of the album’s ago following a heartbrea- yers of vampiric organ are among gems. Repetitive, its rhythm des- king - and ultimately happy - decision concerning his cribes circular axes on sui- 92-year-old mother. Short tes of 8 sequencer chords tracks, some of them very that zigzag beneath a mass short, where electronic of ambient drones and of rock and Berlin School mix gothic haze. The vibratory their roots and influences resonance effect of these through a flock of dark am- juicy, resonant sequences bient tracks. We’re mainly breathes a chthonian air in a mosaic of film music, that suits the synthesizer’s with influences from Tange- apocalyptic trumpet har- rine Dream and Klaus Schul- monies. It’s very 70’s TD! It’s good old Berlin School! This sequencer tone reso- nates in the slow rhythm of Sol 173. These sequences are clothed in light and sha- dow in a slow procession ze snaking through a well-struc- the elements that adorn the slow, of which the tonal intensity evol- tured EM for such concise tracks. 3-minute-plus, opening of Institute ves under a haze of orchestral dri- We are in the heart of the vintage of Shift and Validation. The chorus is zzle and of stylized synth airs with a years, with a hint of the early 80’s. gothic and chthonian in inspiration, delicate bouquet of medieval flute. Levada - The Traveller begins this with sonic elements that sound very The longest track on THE ZONE OF mosaic of EM with a bouncy rhythm. Klaus Schulze from the days of Star- MALLEABLE FEARS, Venture to the A rhythm whose zigzagging modu- dancer on the Body Love album. A Circles evolves in phases, rather like lations give it the effect of cavor- pulsating rhythm emerges from the Institute of Shift and Validation. Ho- ting through an elegiac woodland organ’s vibrations. It runs with slight llow breezes, Schulze-like electronic where flute tunes blow. Keyboard sideways inflections under a layer of effects, reverberating drones and a chords fall and mini synth refrains chthonian voices and some Arabian layer of elegiac mellotron make up roll in loops in this setting that fills tunes floating in a vaporous essen- its slow opening, which ends with with the mythical haze typical of ce. The synth unleashes catchy mini a string of luminescent sequences Tangerine Dream works from the refrains. They roll in loops over this 30 seconds into the 3rd minute. A Baumann and Schmoelling years. structure that doubles its rhythmic bass shadow supports the fluidity The music here, and in some other impact with the addition of a line of of the fluttering movement, and tracks on the album, seems to be glittering arpeggios. It hops along the rhythm develops through 3 ele- in its own shadow, developing a 3 JULY 2023

ments, including a looping ball of a long, twisted filament gnawed centuate the modulations, some of keyboard riffs. It comes and goes, by a radioactive humming wave, which have a dramatic texture, and in a form of cha-cha-cha tinted with Deflection Mode bursts forth with maintain its cadence beneath an shadow, under this string of glitte- a delicious structure of melodious imposing sheet of gothic fog whe- ring arpeggios that begins to follow rhythm worthy of a John Carpenter re a certain ghostly presence lurks. an ascending musical tangent. The film. Sonic spirographs drawing dis- Just because the tracks are short synth multiplies haze and discreet torted arabesques accompany this doesn’t mean that Brendan Po- solos, as do those trumpet-like tu- diabolical, ascending lullaby, whe- llard’s EM remains uninteresting! nes heralding the end of the world. re some excellent synth solos tie Different because of these short And the finale features the nostal- in. Some are even theatrically dra- structures rather than the long gic air of a flute. Two elements that matic. Double pulses and a second musical novels typical of his earlier enchanted our senses in the 70’s. sequencer line, which makes swift- works, THE ZONE OF MALLEABLE Ocean of Time is another passage of ly flickers its jumping chords, add FEARS takes us on a journey throu- dark ambience, with droning, guttu- depth to this hypnotic rhythm that gh the feeling of a range of emo- ral vocals complementing a distant, maintains its growth under an ava- tions that connects us with the rea- evasive melody. The Cavern of Ex- lanche of solos, some of which ma- lity of this storyboard by the English tractions and Utilities remains in the nage to titillate our emotions. Conti- musician-synthesist. There’s a right same genre. Its hollow winds undu- nuing this approach where specters balance between the very Berliner late with a tremolo, with a quavering lurk in secret, the track ends its rhythms and the dark ambient pha- effect in their droning voices. After rhythmic procession under a storm ses that at times teeter between the the short but superb Scanner Rate, of white noises. This flickering se- author’s dismay and the dark gothic Burning Sun takes us back into the quencer movement forms the basis worlds of the vintage years. This spheres of Dark Ambient with dro- of Arrival at the Arc of Vermilion’s beautiful album is available on CD nes that are accompanied this time ambient rhythm. Ascending, its (300 copies) and as a download on by the aerial screeching of some movement is slow and needs the Brendan Pollard’s Bandcamp site. metallic blue synth shadows. After presence of low sequences that ac- Sylvain Lupari synthsequences.com 4 JULY 2023

INTERVIEW: HARALD GROSSKOPF “I like international music cooperation” via internet” Grosskopf is a German musician born in 1949. He began his career in the 1960s as a drummer in the beat group The Stuntmen, and towards the end of the decade played in the then unknown Scorpions. He later played drums in Wallenstein and Ash Ra Tempel, as well as on many of Klaus Schulze’s solo albums. In 1980, he released his debut LP, Synthesist , which became a cult classic of German electronic music. How did you imagine your album Synthesist to be when you started composing it? -It was my first experience behind Synthesizer and Sequencer. I never thought I could be a composer before that experience. How were your first approaches with rhythm machines being a drummer? -When rhythm machines appeared on the music market I did`nt like them at all! I found they sound unrealistic. Much later in time I liked their originality. Roland 808 for example. These days I use electronic drum pads played by hand and also program VST plug ins. Tell us a little bit about what you are doing with your music these days. -It still a great pleasure to compose. Seems getting even more intense during my ageing. I hope I can do it for the rest of my life. That “rest” is getting smaller every day. An inspiration too. I like international music cooperation via internet. These modern tools are amazing. Using AI too for creating stunning pictures. 5 JULY 2023

CYCLICAL DREAMS: LATEST ALBUMS NONLINEAR CROSSROADS BY BART HAWKINS MUSIC COMPOSED, PERFORMED AND PRODUCED BY BART HAWKINS MASTERED: BART HAWKINS BANDCAMP ALBUM: https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/non- linear-crossroads-cyd-0084 ARTWORK: CYCLICAL DREAMS PHOTOGRAPHY: AMP PUTTIPONG TALES FROM URANIA BY SOPHOS MUSIC COMPOSED, PERFORMED AND PRODUCED BY ULISES LABARONNIE MASTERED: ULISES LABARONNIE BANDCAMP ALBUM: https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/tales- from-urania-cyd-0083 ARTWORK: CYCLICAL DREAMS PHOTOGRAPHY: AMP PUTTIPONG NEXT ALBUMS DECLIVE BY STEPS TO THE STARS BY SUSCRIBE NOW! M3NASH JOHN S. SHEPHERD AND NEVER MISS AN ISSUE 6 JULY 2023