hello all,
Parallel Worlds - "Obsessive surrealism (DiN26) cd
album review from Morpheus music
(www.morpheusmusic.co.uk ):
"STYLE: Moody electronica with strong structures and
deep atmospheric backdrops. Obsessive Surrealism
delivers eleven melodic synthesiser tracks where low
key beats or driving electro-grooves propel shadowy
compositions with periodic hints of exposed Berlin
roots. Rhythmic sequencer patterns work in tandem with
programmed percussion to give most pieces a clearly
measured pace, that said, the grooves often break down
into fluttering interludes or textural ambient
explorations. Parallel Worlds makes abundant use of
analogue hardware to create a sound that harks back to
the electronica of previous decades whilst set within
a twenty first century context. The melodic content is
understated, sometimes carried by drifting chord
progressions; sometimes dimly lit phrases shot through
with percolating, flickering sequences.
MOOD: The range of synthetic sound here is broad,
inventive and engrossing; the style also quite varied
from track to track - yet the whole album is very
coherent, establishing a well thought out sonic
environment. There is a fairly consistent shadow
hanging over most of this album - low light technology
and mysterious spaciness combining into sinewy,
ominous themes. The beats at their most strident
produce an engine-like drive, a dramatic futuristic
regularity, almost militaristic - but frequently these
are allowed to break down or disperse into lighter
rhythms or even into beatless expanse
ARTWORK: An abstract image that looks something like a
photograph taken from a TV screen fills three panels
of this package - thin horizontal bands of blue, red
and green form dark geometric shapes - on the front a
narrow white vertical strip holds the titles and the
DiN catalogue numeral 26. On the reverse a broader
strip of white holds track titles and their timings as
well as informing listeners that this is a limited
edition of 1000 copies only. Inside the two leaf
booklet opens out to reveal a bank of sound gear
illuminated by small rows of lights, meters and
glowing digits. Facing this large image, the remaining
inner panel is again white with black text in a simple
font - a repeated track list, credits and thanks along
with a gear list of 'selected equipment'.
OVERALL: Parallel Worlds is primarily the project of
Greek musician Bakis Sirros, although collaborators
occasionally lend their talents to the name. Here
Obsessive Surrealism is appropriately presented via
Ian Boddy's DiN label - the experimental, slightly
ambient approach to pure electronica fitting nicely
into the label's catalogue. Promotional material
explains that "Parallel Worlds use mostly Hardware
machines. Mainly huge Analogue Modular systems and
Analogue Step Sequencers of the past and present
combined with digital FM and virtual analogue synths
and sampling". This love of gear is evident in the
soundscaping of the music - in addition to the emotive
nature of the compositions themselves, there is a
clear delight in sound sculpture and sonic layering -
clearly a lot of time has gone into the production of
this album. Bakis Sirros is also behind the new
IDM/electronica project Interconnected with Ingo Zobel
(of DRON, Signalform, Self Oscillate, Datasette) and
the Ambient / experimental project called Memory Geist
with Steve Law (of Zen Paradox, Starseed Transmission,
Guild Of Fire, etc.).
WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM: Obsessive Surrealism will
likely please DiN regulars as well as fans of evolving
Berlin school electronica. Go for this one if you
enjoy moody synthetics with clear beats and ambient
cloudscapes"
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review from MusikZirkus-magazin.de
(www.musikzirkus-magazin.de) :
"Parallel Worlds ist der Projektname des Griechen
Bakis Sirros. Auf seinem 63minütigen aktuellen Album
Obsessive Surrealism befinden sich elf
Ambienttracks. Bakis hat die einzelnen Tracks mit
Ausnahme von Distracted, dass er zusammen mit John
Sirros (seinem Bruder ) gemacht hat, zwischen 2002 und
2006 komponiert.
Die Musik von Bakis weist ungewöhnliche Klangfarben
auf. Sehr schöne Harmonielinien werden von
Rhythmussequenzen und Klangeffekten durchzogen, was
eine Mixtur aus Ambient, atmosphärischen Soundscapes,
modernen Electronica-Elementen mit einem Hauch von
70er Jahre-Feeling und Electropop der 80er
darstellt. Im weitesten Sinne könnten Parallelen zu
Wolfram Spyra gezogen werden, aber wirklich nur im
allerweitesten Sinne. Es ist schwer diese Musik
einzuordnen, dazu klingt sie zu eigenständig und
anders. Der Hörer wird eine neue, faszinierende
Klangwelt entdecken, zumindest mir erging es so.
Mal klingt das sehr harmonisch wie im Opener Beneath
Fear, dann etwas düster und technisch wie in
Different Pathways. Empty Human Cells klingt
wieder technisch aber durch Sounds, die an Wasser
/Flüssigkeit erinnern, irgendwie organisch. Sehr sanft
entführt einen Increasing Compexity in einen anderen
Klangkosmos, in den man sich völlig verlieren kann.
Zwar ist Reflective durch unterschiedliche Sounds
sehr abwechslungsreich, doch weist es eine gewisse
Monotonie auf. Und Distracted ist ein Track, der
mitreißt, weil er eine sehr schöne Melodielinie
aufweist und diese über weite Strecken mit tanzbare,
technoartigen Rhythmen verbindet. Der letzte Track
Crying Spells ist wieder sehr monoton und überzeugt
mich nicht. Schade, eigentlich sollte der letzte Track
einer CD noch mal Appetit auf die Repeat-Taste machen.
Mit Obsessie Surrealism ist Bakis eine sehr schöne,
außergewöhnliche Ambientplatte gelungen, bei der er
mit unterschiedlichen Rhythmussequenzen arbeitet. Für
mich ist Parallel Worlds eine echte Entdeckung. "
Stephan Schelle, Juni 2007
Bakis Sirros - Parallel Worlds
w w w. p a r a l l e l - w o r l d s - m u s i c . c o m
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