Electronic Component Test

German-japanese sound wizard Naoki Kenji started his career as a keyboard player in Tokio and Osaka. Deeply influenced by the Japanese culture that surrounded him, his interest for electronic music started to grow. And when it have been the big electronica heros such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Riuchi Sakamoto that inspired him back then, Kenji today may look back on his own long-lasting career as producer, composer, and remixer.
With his first album Tozai from 1999 he already landed a US release, such as few European artists manage. In 2000 Naoki released the album Shogun on Neuton under the pseudonym “JP Juice”, followed in 2001 by the album Electric Bolero on ICM by his project “Planet Lounge” - a style mix of jazz, world percussion and electronics…

By combining elements from Ambient, Atmospheric Pop, Synth-Pop, Techno and Trance, Hemisphere create compositions where the melodies of a sensual, romantic hue, not lacking in mystery, have an important role. The emotional air of the music is emphasized by the warm textures of the synthesizers. The rhythms, of a rather slow nature, yet often powerful, complex and with an important percussive component, complement the basic approach of this album.

The Concerts in China is a live album by Jean Michel Jarre, recorded in 1981 and released in 1982 on Disques Dreyfus. It was recorded during Jarre's Concerts in China tour of Autumn 1981, which consisted of five Beijing and Shanghai concerts in China; this was the first time a Western pop artist performed in China after the Cultural Revolution. The album is a balance of previously released tracks by Jarre, new compositions inspired by Chinese culture, and one rearranged traditional Chinese track ("Fishing Junks at Sunset"). The album consists mainly of live material, plus ambient sound recordings and one new studio track "Souvenir of China". Other new compositions recorded live include "Night in Shanghai", "Laser Harp", "Arpegiator" and "Orient Express". "Fishing Junks at Sunset" is a new arrangement of a very old traditional Chinese song known as the "Fisherman's Chant at Dusk", which was performed and recorded with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra and is often wrongly attributed as being composed by Jean Michel Jarre, misled by the album inlay.

Uwe Marburger, whose nationality is German, has chosen pseudonym and acronym as the word UMA, which means in Hindu language - the living earth. Perhaps it is a nod to the origins of Nemo. Unknown to the general public, and for good reason, he has composed numerous musical pieces for various media such as games. This album entirely composed on synthesizer is a complete self-production. Uwe was supported on production by Ralf Hess (P.C.M.) which is a colleague of Peter Mergener. The work offers a personal vision, and light in its conception, the universe Oceanic Nemo. The fifteen tracks component, have some great moments of the novel. Not far from his countrymen Tangerine Dream, this work is modest but pleasant.

Gas 0095 is an album by Mat Jarvis (aka Gas). The album was first released in 1995 and soon became one of the more sought after albums in all of electronica. Many would describe Gas 0095 as ambient, which is probably due to there being a decent ambient component of the album, its otherworldly sound, and even Mat Jarvis sharing an alias with the better known Gas of Wolfgaing Voigt (who is a prolific ambient producer). But Gas 0095 is really not ambient, but more in the IDM, downtempo mold. There are lively, interesting, colorful sounds everywhere, and a few pretty upbeat tracks; definitely not something you could or would want to shove into background listening. While Gas 0095 has several claims to underground electronic music fame, its best is that it is quite simply a fantastic CD. Gas 0095 is just one of those albums that you find yourself enjoying time after time, one of those albums you can always listen to.

In 1973 Tangerine Dream signed with Virgin Records, recorded Phaedra and embarked on the most commercially successful and critically lauded phase of their existence. What made Phaedra different from Tangerine Dream's earlier albums was the use of the sequencer (the band had used sequencers on their previous recording, Green Desert, but that album was not released until much later), a device that was a crucial component of the band's classic style. Phaedra is a landmark album of 1970s electronic music and was also Tangerine Dream's most accessible and "musical" to date.

Synth pop's first international superstars, the Human League were among the earliest and most innovative bands to break into the pop mainstream on a wave of synthesizers and electronic rhythms, their marriage of infectious melodies and state-of-the-art technology proving enormously influential on countless acts following in their wake. The group was formed in Sheffield, England, in 1977 by synth players Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh, who'd previously teamed as the duo Dead Daughters; following a brief tenure as the Future, they rechristened themselves the Human League after enlisting vocalist Philip Oakey. The trio soon recorded a demo, and played their first live dates; they soon tapped Adrian Wright as their "Director of Visuals," and his slide shows quickly became a key component of their performances.