Tag: Jean-Michel Jarre (Page 3 of 8)

CERRONE DNA

10 February 2020 /


Marc Cerrone is best known for ‘Supernature’, a Top10 UK hit in 1978 which subsequently gained longevity thanks to its use as incidental music during the first series of ‘The Kenny Everett Video Show’.

Featuring lyrics by an uncredited Lene Lovich containing a warning about environmental catastrophe, ‘Supernature’ with its transfixing hook put Cerrone up with Giorgio Moroder in the European electronic disco stakes.

The iconic tune was subsequently covered by ERASURE and inspired the title of the fourth GOLDFRAPP album.

Having influenced the likes of DAFT PUNK and remixed THE HUMAN LEAGUE, the diminutive French maestro returns with a new album ‘DNA’, his seventeenth. Made primarily using Arturia VSTs of the MiniMoog, ARP 2600, Prophet 5 and Solina, one hardware instrument that appears is a Behringer Odyssey copy, alongside a kit of Roland V-Drums.

Harking back to the theme of ‘Supernature’, the opening ‘DNA’ track ‘The Impact’ looks at the spectre of global warming 43 years on; it’s a epic start with sparkling arpeggios and deep synthbass before building to a thudding metronomic beat and a throbbing backbone equal of Moroder.

But before getting carried too away with the mood of the dance, an excerpt of a speech by the well-known primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall announces “Every single day we make some impact on the planet. We haven’t inherited this planet from our parents. We’ve borrowed it from our children. If we get together, then we can start to heal some of the scars that we’ve inflicted” to outline just how grave the earth’s situation is.

With the marvellously optimistic ‘Resolution’, Cerrone presents what that many have always wanted, a Jean-Michel Jarre disco track. With layers of string machine and pulsing electronics, the mechanical feel is offset by various live drum rolls, a trademark of Cerrone’s having begun his career as a sticksman.

‘Air Dreaming’ gives the disco a breather, being more in the vein of Vangelis at its start, but it picks up the rhythm with a great brassy spacey theme to offer as well. Meanwhile, the ‘DNA’ title track tips a hat to PINK FLOYD’s ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ and in particular, Richard Wright’s memorable keyboard passages.

With some great hooks, ‘I’ve Got A Rocket’ feels it is about to launch into ‘I Feel Love’ but is much less rigid and adds some complimentary vocoder, while ‘Let Me Feel’ actually could be mistaken for Moroder with its groovier stance recalling aspects of ‘E=MC2’.

But after a run of great retro-futuristic disco numbers, ‘DNA’ loses momentum; ‘Close To The Sky’ sounds like a theme to a cruise ship documentary but ‘Experience’ is slightly better, being more dramatic and Sci-Fi led. However, with the proggy overtones of the closer ‘Prediction’, the album sadly runs out of puff altogether.

For its first six tracks, ‘DNA’ is an enjoyable uptempo electronic instrumental record. So it’s perhaps no coincidence that back in the day, the classic Cerrone albums had even less on them than that.

While many of the approaches are familiar, at its highs, ‘DNA’ is much better than Giorgio Moroder’s ‘Deja-Vu’ or Jean-Michel-Jarre’s recent ‘Oxygène’ and Equinoxe’ reboots.

‘DNA’ is released in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats by Because Music

http://www.cerrone.net/

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th February 2020

RICARDO AUTOBAHN Check The Gyroscopes

30 October 2019 /


Ricardo Autobahn is a something of a music industry veteran and a known purveyor of pranklectro through his various adventures with THE CUBAN BOYS, SPRAY and POUND SHOP BOYS.

And all this without mentioning a 2006 Eurovision entry with rapper Daz Sampson, plus recordings with CBBC puppet star Hacker T Dog and the late country legend Glen Campbell with a cowpunk-techno reworking of ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’. So when ‘Check The Gyroscopes’ arrived in ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s inbox, it caused some headscratching…

What, a serious instrumental electronic album with intricate complex layers that was thematically a reaction against the current fashion for Synthwave? “I had been writing a lot of library music, production music and TV music and occasionally found myself doing stuff that was too meandering for that format” said Autobahn on how ‘Check The Gyroscopes’ developed as a follow-up to 2012’s ‘Rasterscan’ and 2016’s ‘Panophobia’.

‘Cocktails On The Dream Train To Hyperspace’ is a delightful uptempo opening, taking a leaf out of Jean-Michel Jarre and his ‘Arpégiateur’ but with a harder beat. ‘The Tranquility Of Gravity’ extends on that vibe but with a spacier outlook, thanks to its swimmy string machines which sit within a grand widescreen setting haunted by its wintery Berlin origins.

A pulsing lattice shapes the sub-eight minute ‘Jetsphere Luxury Lounge’ into a more progressive proposition before the more chillingly ambient ‘Icedrop On The Camera Lens’. Meanwhile ‘Rocketronic Mooncar’ is a beautifully melodic metronomic piece that is both lean and to the point.

‘Atomic Romance’ swirls and sparkles in a manner that trumpets with a folky resonance like Mike Olfield. And as Autobahn prepares for launch on the lengthy ‘Destination Astroworld’, guitar makes its presence felt although it’s the Kontakt software variant with “acoustic strum” and virtual Strats among the palettes used; the track is a fine demonstration of modern production techniques if nothing else as a computerised Steve Howe pops out… but like many YES tracks, it does go on a bit unfortunately.

Things get back on track with the frantic but rousing ‘Too New To Be True’ which enters Vangelis territory with its sweeping texturing, despite its pace and octave interplay. Although possessing a rather long title, ‘Emporium For Art Deco Adventurers’ is as minimal and sparse as the album can get with more synthetic guitar stylings, leading into the closing tune ‘The Comet Collector’ which re-enters Planet Jarre but additionally throws in digital strums and bright Synth Britannia themes.

‘Check The Gyroscopes’ is an immediately likeable record and some may even prefer it to Jean-Michel Jarre more recent offerings. And as a reaction to Synthwave, it certainly hammers home the point and remembers to include some variation and tunes.

‘Check The Gyroscopes’ is released as a digital album by Banoffeesound via the usual platforms and direct from https://spray.bandcamp.com/album/check-the-gyroscopes

https://www.facebook.com/ricardoautobahn

https://twitter.com/ricardoautobahn

https://www.instagram.com/ricardo_autobahn/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
30th October 2019

RELIEF Futureproof

8 September 2019 /

RELIEF is the project by Swedish instrumentalist Staffan Ericson who has most recently been a member of the mysteriously named LANDMARK 4:11.

While that project features vocals, RELIEF is retro-futuristic instrumental synthpop that uses samples from 50s commercials and Sci-Fi movies.

Recorded in Gothenburg over a three year period, ‘Futureproof’ falls into the current vogue for instrumental electronica, thanks to the popularity of Synthwave. But this is no Synthwave album, as it is far too dynamic, catchy and melodic to fall into that category.

The brilliant opener ‘Trough The Wires’, which originally premiered on the ‘Romo Night Records Vol 1: A Collection Of The New Brat’ compilation, sums up the album’s intentions as a melodic instrumental work which even throws in an unexpected key change. The following track ‘Say My Name’ with its harder bass arpeggio is like Jean-Michel Jarre with nothing to fear, while ‘The Gathering’ keeps the synthpop alive with a squelching rumble and the reminiscent air of LADYTRON and ‘Turn It On’ in particular.

‘Modern Life’ seems moodier but doesn’t let up with percussive magnetic overtones before ‘Shades and Light’ literally provides sparkly relief alongside the atmospheric electro-disco bounce of ‘In the Air’. ‘The Mercury Effect’ has a spikier cinematic drama while also in the filmic vein is ‘The Polygon’.

But ‘!= TheEnd’ is slightly more doom laden as per the title but is constructed with a lattice of electronic hypnotism. The more frantic ‘Arise’ veers towards proggier textures as the throbbing legacy of Giorgio Moroder looms on ‘Seconds of Eternity’. Ending on a dystopian note with understated vocoder, ‘Einbrush Aus Mintropstrasse’ can be seen as something of a KRAFTWERK tribute, ending in a barrage of sirens.

‘Futureproof’ shows itself as a well-produced album that focusses on melody and hooks rather than mood. Very immediate, it acts as a fine Nordic companion to Eric Random and his ‘Wire Me Up’ long player with some of the best instrumental electronic music released this year.

‘Futureproof’ is released by Plastic Men Records, available now as a download from https://relief-gbg.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/album/5CNlrkkY4tRi7ufgmT9a7f?si=XZVyYJsGQp-sbSx0t_niAA

Text by Chi Ming Lai
8th September 2019

2018 END OF YEAR REVIEW

8 December 2018 /

2018 saw Jean Michel Jarre celebrate 50 years in the business and whether the world really needed another of his compilations, ‘Planet Jarre’ was probably one of the better collected representations of his work for casual admirers.

But not standing still and releasing his fourth new album in three years, ‘Equinoxe Infinity’ continued the story as the French Maestro tuned 70.

SOFT CELL made a totally unexpected return for a huge one-off farewell gig at London’s O2 Arena; and with it came a boxed set, the ‘Northern Lights’ single and other new recordings which have raised hopes for a new album.

From the same era, FIAT LUX announced plans for their debut album ‘Save Symmetry’ with an excellent lead track ‘It’s You’, while B-MOVIE came up with their most synth-propelled single yet in ‘Stalingrad’.

But one act who actually did comeback with a brand new album in 2018 were DUBSTAR; now a duo of Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie, as ‘One’ they reminded audiences as to why they were the acceptable face of Britpop with their bridge to Synth Britannia. IONNALEE finally released her debut opus ‘Everyone Afraid To Be Forgotten’ and her tour which included choice cuts from IAMAMIWHOAMI, proved to be one of the best value-for-money live experiences in 2018, one that was even endorsed by Welsh songstress Charlotte Church.

CHVRCHES offered up their third album ‘Love Is Dead’ and continued their role as international flagwavers for quality synthpop, while EMIKA presented her best album yet in ‘Falling In Love With Sadness’, an exquisite electronic record with a Bohemian aura. John Grant was on an artistic roll both solo and in partnership with WRANGLER as CREEP SHOW with two new albums. However, he was beaten by Neil Arthur who managed three albums over a 12 month period as NEAR FUTURE and BLANCMANGE including ‘Wanderlust’, possibly the latter’s best body of work in its 21st Century incarnation.

It was a busy year for Steve Jansen with a new solo ambient work ‘Corridor’, the well-received vinyl reissue of JAPAN’s two Virgin-era studio albums and his epic, more organically flavoured band project EXIT NORTH with their debut long player ‘Book Of Romance & Dust’. Sarah Nixey went on some ‘Night Walks’ for her best solo album yet, a wonderful collection of everything she had ever been musically all wonderfully rolled into one. Meanwhile Tracey Thorn went back to the ‘Dancefloor’ with her ‘Record’ which content wise was right up there with some of Alison Moyet’s electronica output from the last five years.

Those who liked their electronic music darker were well served with NINE INCH NAILS, IAMX, KIRLIAN CAMERA and HELIX, but after experimenting with the single only format for a few years, Daniel Graves announced he was taking the plunge again with a new AESTHETIC PERFECTION album. The Sacred Bones stable provided some quality releases from Hilary Woods, Zola Jesus and John Carpenter. Meanwhile, providing some fierce socio-political commentary on the state of the UK was GAZELLE TWIN.

Hungary’s BLACK NAIL CABARET offered some noirish ‘Pseudopop’ and promising Norwich youngsters LET’S EAT GRANDMA got more deeply into electronica without losing any of their angsty teenage exuberance on their second album ‘I’m All Ears’. Less intense and more dreamy were GLASSHOUSE, the new duo fronted by former TECHNIQUE singer Xan Tyler.

Aussies CONFIDENCE MAN provided some wacky dancey glitz to the pop world and after nearly four decades in the business, Canadian trailblazers RATIONAL YOUTH finally played their first ever concert in London at ‘Non Stop Electronic Cabaret’ alongside dark wave compatriots PSYCHE and Numan-influenced Swedish poptronica exponents PAGE.

Sweden was again highly productive with Karin Park, Johan Baeckstrom and Val Solo while Norway took their own approach with FARAO, SOFT AS SNOW and ELECTRO SPECTRE setting their standard. Veteran Deutschlanders THE TWINS and PETER HEPPNER returned with new albums after notable recorded absences while next door in Belgium, METROLAND presented themselves as ‘Men In A Frame’.

While the new HEAVEN 17 album ‘Not For Public Broadcast’ is still to be finished, Glenn Gregory teamed by with live keyboardist Berenice Scott as AFTERHERE. Their long-time friend Claudia Brücken performed as xPROPAGANDA with Susanne Freytag and partnered up with one-time TANGERINE DREAM member Jerome Froese, releasing the ‘Beginn’ album in the process.

It was a year of interesting collaborations all-round with UNDERWORLD working with Iggy Pop, U96 linking up with Wolfgang Flür for an excellent single called ‘Zukunftsmusik’ and German techno pioneer Chris Liebing recruiting Polly Scattergood and Gary Numan for his Mute released album ‘Burn Slow’.

Based in Berlin, THE KVB offered up some brooding gothic moods with ‘Only Now Forever’ while Valerie Renay of NOBLESSE OBLIGE released her first solo album ‘Your Own Shadow’.

Highly appealing were a number of quirky Japanese influenced female artists from around the globe including COMPUTER MAGIC, MECHA MAIKO and PLASMIC. But there were also a number of acts with Far Eastern heritage like STOLEN, FIFI RONG, DISQO VOLANTE and SHOOK who continued to make a worthy impression with their recorded output in 2018.

Heavy synth rock duo NIGHT CLUB presented their ‘Scary World’ on the back of tours opening for COMBICHRIST and A PERFECT CIRCLE while also from across the pond, NYXX and SINOSA both showcased their alluring potential.

At the poppier end of the spectrum, Holger Wobker used Pledge Music to relaunch BOYTRONIC with their most recent vocal incumbent James Knights in an unexpected twist to once again prove the old adage to “never say never” as far as the music industry is concerned.

Meanwhile, Chris Payne co-wrote and co-produced the excellent ‘Walking In West Berlin’ EP with KATJA VON KASSEL while also revealing plans for an autobiography and opening for his old boss…

The surprise album of the year was Chris Catrer with his ‘Chemistry Lessons Volume One’ while using a not dissimilar concept with their second album ‘Hello Science’, REED & CAROLINE took their folk laden synthpop out on a US tour opening for ERASURE. IMMERSION provided a new collection of their modern Motorik as SHRIEKBACK, FISCHERSPOONER, THE PRESETS, HEARTBREAK and QUEEN OF HEARTS all made comebacks of varying degrees with audiences still eager for their work.

Steven Jones & Logan Sky harked back to the days when Gary Numan and OMD would release two albums in one year by offering ‘Hans Und Lieselotte’ and ‘The Electric Eye’ in 2016. Those veteran acts themselves celebrated their 40th anniversaries by going orchestral, something which SIMPLE MINDS also did when they opted to re-record ‘Alive & Kicking’ for the ’80s Symphonic’ collection although Jim Kerr forgot how a third of the song went!

With SIMPLE MINDS also performing a horrible and barely recognisable ‘Promised You A Miracle’ during BBC’s ‘The Biggest Weekend’, making up for the live joke that his former band have become was one-time bassist Derek Forbes with the album ‘Broken Hearted City’ as ZANTi with Anni Hogan of MARC & THE MAMBAS fame.

Other former members of high-profile bands were busy too with Ian Burden, formally of THE HUMAN LEAGUE returning with the Floydian ‘Hey Hey Ho Hum’ while A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS reformed briefly for an orchestral re-run of their catalogue.

With the release of their second album ‘Kinetik’, EKKOES handed over THE HUMAN LEAGUE support baton to SHELTER who came up with their best body of work yet in the more introspective shades of ‘Soar’. That darker approach manifested itself on singer Mark Bebb’s side project FORM with Keith Trigwell of SPEAK & SPELL whose debut long player ‘defiance + entropy’ also came out in 2018.

Having been championed by RÖYSKSOPP, Wales’ MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY returned with ‘Infinity Mirror’ while riding on the well-deserved momentum from opening for OMD, Ireland’s TINY MAGNETIC PETS embarked on their first headlining tour.

Representing North of the border were Ryan Vail and HANNAH PEEL, but hailing from Scotland were WITCH OF THE VALE who proved to be one of the most interesting new acts of 2018 having supported ASSEMBLAGE 23 on their most recent UK visit. There was a good showing from UK acts in 2018 with RODNEY CROMWELL, ANI GLASS, THE FRIXION and FAKE TEAK all issuing some excellent synth tinged songs for public consumption.

NINA’s long awaited debut album ‘Sleepwalking’ was a fine hybrid of synthpop and the currently fashionable Synthwave aesthetic; her live double billing with Canadian synthpopsters PARALLELS was one of the hottest tickets of the year.

The sub-genre was indeed making waves and there were some very enjoyable artists coming out of it like GUNSHIP, Dana Jean Phoenix and Michael Oakley.

However, the endless AOR excesses, moonlight sax breaks and highly unimaginative band monikers using numbers between 80 to 89 affixed to an archaic technology reference, illustrated by yet another neon sunset, VCR grid and Lamborghini, were becoming tiresome.

As Synthwave cynics, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s touch paper was being lit big time! The whole point of the synthesizer’s role during the Second British Invasion of the US was to fight against the insipid overtures of AOR like TOTO, CHICAGO and JOURNEY, NOT to make music coated with its horrid stench as THE MIDNIGHT did in 2018 with their long player ‘Kids’.

But there was naivety within some quarters too; electronic music did not begin in 2011 with ‘Drive’, an above average film with a good if slightly over rated soundtrack. However, its cultural influence has led to a plethora of meandering tracks made by gamer boys which sounded like someone had forgotten to sing on them; perhaps they should have gone back to 1978 and listened to GIORGIO MORODER’s ‘Midnight Express Theme’ to find out how this type of instrumental music should be done?

Many of the newer artists influenced by Synth Britannia that ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has featured have sometimes been accused of being stuck in the past, but a fair number of Synthwave acts were really taking the soggy biscuit with their retro-obsession.

Rock band MUSE’s use of glowing artwork by Kyle Lambert of ‘Stranger Things’ fame on their eighth album ‘Simulation Theory’ sent sections of the Synthwave community into meltdown. There were cries that they had “stolen the aesthetics and concept” and how “it’s not relevant to their sound”!

But WHAM! had Peter Saville designed sleeves and never sounded like NEW ORDER or OMD, while electropop diva LA ROUX used a visual stylisation for ‘In For The Kill’ that has since been claimed by Synthwavers as their own, despite it being from 2009 when Ryan Gosling was peddling graveyard indie rock in DEAD MAN’S BONES 😉

This was one of the bigger ironies of 2018, especially as MUSE have always used synths! One of Matt Bellamy and co’s biggest musical inspirations is ULTRAVOX, indicating the trio probably have a better understanding of the fusion between the synthesizer, rock and classical music, as proven by the ‘Simulation Theory’ bookends ‘Algorithm’ and ‘The Void’, than any static laptop exponent with a Jan Hammer fixation.

It is interesting to note today how electronic music has split into so many factions, but there’s still the assumed generalisation that it is all one thing and that synthpop fans must also like Synthwave, Deep House, EDM, Industrial and those tedious beach chill-out remixes.

Back in the day and even now, some fans of THE HUMAN LEAGUE didn’t like OMD, DEPECHE MODE fans only liked DEPECHE MODE and rock fans had a token favourite electronic band. Out of all the acts from the Synth Britannia era, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had very little time for THOMPSON TWINS despite their huge international success, but their leader Tom Bailey’s 2018 solo recorded return ‘Science Fiction’ was warmly received by many.

Just as COLDPLAY and SNOW PATROL fans don’t all embrace ELBOW, it is ok to have preferences and to say so. Not liking the music of an artist does not make you a bad person, but liking everything does not make you a better person either… in fact, it shows you probably have no discerning taste! In 2002, SOFT CELL warned of a ‘Monoculture’, and if there is no taste differentiation in art and music, it will spell the end of cultural enhancement.

Taste is always the key, but then not everyone who loves chocolate likes Hersheys… and with that analogy, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK bids farewell to 2018 and looks forward to a 2019 that includes the return of TEARS FOR FEARS and the first full live shows from Giorgio Moroder, plus new releases by VILE ELECTRODES, KITE, VILLA NAH, I AM SNOW ANGEL and LADYTRON.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2018

PAUL BODDY

Best Album: MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY Infinity Mirror
Best Song: MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY Lafayette
Best Gig: TANGERINE DREAM at London Union Chapel
Best Video: THE SOFT MOON Give Something
Most Promising New Act: VOX LOW

IAN FERGUSON

Best Album: BLANCMANGE Wanderlust
Best Song: ELECTRO SPECTRE The Way You Love
Best Gig: OMD at Glasgow Kelvingrove Park
Best Video: NYXX Voodoo
Most Promising New Act: WITCH OF THE VALE

SIMON HELM

Best Album: DUBSTAR One
Best Song: PAGE Start (Poptronica Version)
Best Gig: DIE KRUPPS + FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY at O2 Academy Islington
Best Video: FIFI RONG Horizon
Most Promising New Act: ZANTi

CHI MING LAI

Best Album: EMIKA Falling In Love With Sadness
Best Song: FIAT LUX It’s You
Best Gig: SOFT CELL at London O2 Arena
Best Video: FAKE TEAK Bears Always Party The Exact Right Amount
Most Promising New Act: WITCH OF THE VALE

MONIKA IZABELA TRIGWELL

Best Album: GUNSHIP Dark All Day
Best Song: SHELTER Karma
Best Gig: IAMX at London Electric Ballroom
Best Video: JUNO REACTOR Let’s Turn On
Most Promising New Act: MECHA MAIKO

Text by Chi Ming Lai
8th December 2018

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE Equinoxe Infinity

18 November 2018 /

When Jean-Michel Jarre’s ‘Equinoxe’ was released on 16th November 1978 as the follow-up to the massive selling ‘Oxygène’, there was no hit single but the album cemented the French Maestro’s position as one of the world’s leading electronic music pioneers.

To celebrate 40 years since the original release, ‘Equinoxe Infinity’ has been issued as the conceptual sequel to its parent album. Themed around ‘The Watchers’ from the iconic artwork of ‘Equinoxe’, Jarre himself has described the album as “Equinoxe on steroids”.

With too much expectation, when the 40th Anniversary release ‘Oxygène 3’ appeared at the end of 2016, it was the weakest of the trilogy, sounding slightly underwhelming and even unfinished. But with ‘Equinoxe Infinity’, the longer gestation period has allowed Jarre to be more focussed, highly appropriate with the binocular presence of ‘The Watchers’.

Musically representing the struggle between human and artificial intelligence, the septuagenarian synthesist said of the dual visual presentations for ‘Equinoxe Infinity’: “One cover shows mankind at peace with nature and technology, and the other depicts a picture of fear and distortion with machines taking over the world.”

He added: With these two, I want to bring attention to two scenarios we are facing today with our love for and our dependence on innovation and technology. The music of Equinoxe Infinity is the soundtrack to those two different worlds.”

Comprising of ten individually titled movements, with the dramatic filmic beginning reminiscent of ‘Rendez-Vous’, ‘The Watchers (Movement 1)’ shapes a brooding mood with an ivory shaped motif before leading into the glorious arpeggiator driven ‘Flying Totems (Movement 2)’, its sweeps and textures rich with melody and recalling Vangelis.

Putting the Minipops and Eminent into action, ‘Robots Don’t Cry (Movement 3)’ is vintage flavoured Jarre as most people love and remember him, the hypnotic 6/8 swing offset by a wonderfully grainy Mellotron ensemble although this piece with its white noise waves has more in common with the template of ‘Oxygène’ than ‘Equinoxe’.

With ‘All That You Leave Behind (Movement 4)’, some younger listeners would probably call it Synthwave, but as 70-somethings Jarre, Moroder and Vangelis were inadvertently godfathers of the currently fashionable sub-genre, this would be highly inappropriate. There’s actually the haunting deserted air of Ennio Morricone’s ‘Man With The Harmonica’ from ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’ here, before it enters an underwater world reminiscent of ‘Waiting For Cousteau’ to drift into a bubbly cascade of manipulated voices on ‘If The Wind Could Speak (Movement 5)’.

Into ‘Infinity (Movement 6)’ and beyond, a brighter tone is adopted with chipmunk voice samples à la ‘Zoolook’ and a Europop-styled rhythmic mood like ACE OF BASS with traces of melody derived from the bridge of ‘Equinoxe V’. But the overall result is disappointing despite Jarre’s vision of “trying to survive in a hectic VR game with no real beginning and no real end, trapped in a world of “infinity“’.

Continuing the virtual reality theme and touching on artificial intelligence, ‘Machines Are Learning (Movement 7)’ sees stark arpeggios, glissando synth stylings and staccato voice samples rubbing shoulders as an intro to the pensive mood of ‘The Opening (Movement 8)’; a revamp of the track premiered at Coachella Festival 2018 and featuring on ‘Planet Jarre’, it is mechanically rhythmic and melodic despite the melancholy.

‘Don’t Look Back (Movement 9)’ drifts and bleeps away in a spacey pizzicato with a lineage from ‘Oxygène’ while the closing ‘Equinoxe Infinity (Movement 10)’ is a wash of ambience and dub wobbles before a sequence descends into an eerie synthetic cacophony; inspired by the late Professor Stephen Hawking’s assertion that for the human race to survive, it would need to depart Planet Earth and certainly with the effects of climate change first hinted at by Jarre with ‘Oxygène’, that could now be sooner rather than later…

As with most of Jarre’s synthonies, this album needs to be listened to as a whole, although the first third is the most satisfying. Considering some of the instrumentation aesthetics used on ‘Equinoxe Infinity’, parts might have contributed to make a better ‘Oxygène 3’ if they had been included, although this album is like an amalgam of Jarre’s various analogue and digital styles of the years.

Jean-Michel Jarre said a few years ago “Electronic music has a family, a legacy and a future…” and he can claim one of the biggest mainstream legacies. ‘Equinoxe Infinity’ has its moments, but should not be seen as a completely direct descendent of ‘Equinoxe’ in the way 1997’s ‘Oxygène 7-13’ was to Oxygène.

‘Equinoxe Infinity’ uses the following hardware and software: Yamaha CS80, EMS VCS3, ARP2600, Eminent 310, EMS Synthi AKS, Keio Minipops, Mellotron D4000, Roland Paraphonic RS-505, Korg PA600, Korg Polyphonic Ensemble, Korg MS20, Tasty Chips GR1, Erica Synths Modular System, Teenage Engineering OP1, Roland System 500 modules 1 + 8, Nord Lead 2, Nord Modular, Electro-Harmonix Small Stone, Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, Moog Sub37, Moog Taurus 1, Animoog, Omnisphere, Native Instruments Kontakt, Native Instruments Reaktor, Synapse Audio Dune 2, Spitfire, Replica ST, Boom, Valhalla, u-he Satin, DigiSequencer

‘Equinoxe Infinity’ is released by Columbia / Sony Music on CD, vinyl LP and download formats

There is also a vinyl LP + CD box set entitled ‘Equinoxe Project’ which also includes the original ‘Equinoxe’ album, ‘Equinoxe Infinity’, four posters and download card

http://jeanmicheljarre.com/

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https://twitter.com/jeanmicheljarre

https://www.instagram.com/jeanmicheljarre/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th November 2018

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