Mark Dwane is unquestionably one of the masters of guitar synthesis. Dwane weaves imaginative landscapes, emotional crescendos, and breathless wonder through his instruments. It all becomes the soundtrack to a journey inside another world. Cinematic music that paints the sky in electronic colors. Dwane is creating truly modern music, born of technology and draped around imagery of possible futures and past mythologies. After listening to Mark Dwane's compositions, you feel like you've really been somewhere.
"Mark Dwane's midi-guitar music continues to evolve in a more progressive fusion direction on his latest recording, The Sirius Link. As on Planetary Mysteries (his previous release), some tracks stray far from the Ohio-based artist's spacemusic past, here integrating more aggressive rhythms and using his guitar in more conventional (relatively speaking) ways. The resulting music is high-energy, propulsive and both immensely and immediately listenable. I'd rank this as one of the best driving CDs of this year, easily. Between soaring midi-synths (controlled via the artist's guitars), electro-organic percussion beats as well as conventional drum kit work, lots of assorted spacy textures and effects, and perhaps the best outright guitar playing of Dwane's career so far, The Sirius Link, if it is given half a chance, could be this artist's breakthrough recording to a much broader audience.
This album is a newly remastered audiophile CD-R of melodic ambient music from Mark's existing catalog. This is a limited-edition CD-R, and only 500 have been burned. Each has been personally signed and numbered by Mark.
Edgar Wilmar Froese (1944-2015) was a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream. Edgar was a great musician and a shrewd businessman. Realizing that he and his associates would need money to fund the progress of Tangerine Dream, he took advantage of both of those qualities and launched his solo career while Tangerine Dream was still in their infancy. That solo career has contributed many gems and classics to the e-music community. Ages is one of those classics. This album has all of Froese's virtuosity and something that his listeners rarely hear - a sense of humor. Froese does not show that side of himself to his listeners very often, so it is a treat. Putting that positive energy into play does much for this album; it makes it a classic. This CD will appeal to fans of Paul Ellis, Ian Boddy, Ron Boots, and Mark Dwane. It is an e-music essential.
Belgian composer Frank Van Bogaert’s new album is a collaboration with Norwegian guitar player Erik Wøllo. It’s also Frank’s first conceptalbum. All tracks together tell the story of a failing Air production machine, the Air Machine. This concept has also been impressively interpreted by graphic designer Michal Karcz. His coverdesign reminds us of the works of Pablo Magne or Hipgnosis. The album has 10 tracks in which Frank and Erik, besides the typical electronic elements, also use a lot elements and influences out of Progressive Rock.