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New and extremely exciting 2016 discovery from the world of Electronic Music that has modelled himself on some of the real greats from the 70’s and 80’s!
After the first minute of the opening track on ‘Anunnaki’ I suspected this album was going to be “special”, but by the end I knew I had a piece of “EM” gold in my hands!
For a debut album to blow me away like this on just the first listen is extremely rare, but equally extremely exciting, because that reaction usually signifies he start of something big for CDS Towers, and this IS going to be BIG I’m sure!
First, a bit about the artist and his debut release …
After Adam Bownik and Vanderson there is another ambitious Polish composer and performer working in the “Berlin School” of Electronic Music who has just emerged on to the scene, and this guy’s going to be big news in the future!
Piotr Gepert’s debut album ‘Anunnaki’ comes with “significant sequentional stigma” and offers almost one hour of attention grabbing, melodic, rhythmic electronic music on the highest order.
The title of the album alludes to ancient mythology from Euphrates -Tigris valley.
The eight original compositions suggest strong contemplation and the soulful character of the music’s creator, convincingly building a consistent message that leads the listener into a completely different dimension, one far beyond the comfort of the armchair!
The elaborate, yet simple arrangements are thoroughly addictive and captivating, and portray a musician who has full control over the instruments he is using to produce the musical tissue of his compositions.
Piotr Gepert may well be a new name, but going of the outstanding qualities of this debut album, it is a name I’m looking forward to hearing a whole lot more of in the near future!
Here’s our Track-by-Track description…
‘Inner Transformation’ opens with two minutes of atmospheric synth textures and Jarre-like note-bending set over a bed of drifting soft string synths and spacey effects, and this instantly grabbed my attention, reminding me of when I heard JMJ’s ‘Oxygene’ album for the first time.
High-register space melodies and effects then burst into play and it all develops into a rhythmic flow that is SO infectious, with various star streams of sound swishing and swooshing all over the stereo image to maximum effect. There’s lots going on in the mix and your attention remains transfixed as the music builds into a gorgeous rhythmic flow that is again almost Jarre-like in construction, but with traces of Schulze and Schroeder’s flowing rhythmic forces in the background.
As the track steadily evolves, gentle rhythms further excite and anticipation grows and grows, until just past the five-minute mark there’s a change in direction as scattered drums integrate into the hypnotic rhythms. These drum sounds are VERY real, but as no drummer is credited I guess that the technology is now so good now that a “real” drummer was not required.
At seven and a half minutes in, there’s another break in the flow, with haunting, brassy styled synth satellites surrounding the central drum rhythm and drawing it up in their path.
‘Anunnaki’ opens in a spacey mood with echoed effects and more distant sound streams swishing and swooshing all over the place, then at just past the two-minute mark a driving synth rhythm comes in and carries you along in its magical flow. Again, this is very Jarre-like in construction with simple rhythms creating the driving force amidst a sea of effects and noises that all seen to integrate smoothly without any actual tunes having been added at this early stage, but you can’t help but get the feeling that this musician is holding the big ones back until the time is just right!
‘El Nino’ opens with a raw sequencer rhythm, and then comes the first of his mega melodies, and it’s like a melding of early Jarre, mid-late 70’s TANGERINE DREAM and KRAFTWERK in one! A vibrant and infectious track for sure!
‘Boat To Freedom’ follows and at this stage there’s a genuine sense of building excitement being created as Gepert moves into a fantastic energy-filled groove that comes right out of the “Berlin School” of thought. The piece is basically an infectious flowing rhythmic work with synth melodies and effects smoothly and expertly layered on top, making me think of that wonderful Schulze-like album by Wolfgang Bock entitled: ‘Cycles’ (released on the German Telefunken label back in the early 80’s I think?) – Now WHY is that not on CD yet!!!
‘Exodus’ reveals the first of the album’s major tunes, and as the title may suggest, this one’s a biggie!
The theme-like melody intro’s an infectious KRAFTWERK-like rhythm, with soaring high-register synth tunes on top, and again, it’s all done with a flowing groove that is totally addictive – a bit like John Dyson in ‘Time-Node’ mode!
‘Bolimowski Szlak’ opens with bird-sounds in the air and a simple a warm glowing melodic synth theme, then a just over a minute into the track, a rhythm kicks in. Melodies quickly follow and dance in a gorgeous kaleidoscope of twisting tunes that soar high and low to the heavens and back - Modern day Synth music doesn’t normally come much more melodic and infectious than this!
At almost thirteen minutes, ‘Voyager’ is the longest track on the album and it opens with a slowly moving synth melody that seems to float in the breeze before being joined by some cosmic dialogue.
You just know you are about to go off on a dream-like trip as the rhythm kicks in to set the track off on another path to the stars. The rhythm slowly builds with a gentle soft synth backdrop looming above, and just as you start to listen out for the first melodic layer to appear, instead Gepert further develops the groove being set by the main rhythm by adding new and finely tuned melodic background synth layers, that together with moving stereo image effects create a really hypnotic passage of electronic music.
Then, as the 8th minute approaches in comes that mighty melody line we’ve been waiting for in the form of a bending high-register synth theme, but it doesn’t hang around for long and becomes swamped in the on-going build-up of background grooves and effects.
‘Loss Of Gravity’ closes the album with a stunning, anthemic, emotion filled synth theme that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck and have them standing to attention for the entire duration of this short but straight to the point piece.
Conclusion…
It’s been some time since a new synth album has got my juices going quite as quickly as this one has!
‘Anunnaki’ seems to consistently press all the right buttons for me from start to finish, with almost every track seeming to echo some part of my favourite synth music albums from the 70’s and 80’s.
Robert Schroeder, Klaus Schulze, TANGERINE DREAM, KRAFTWERK, Jean-Michel Jarre, Wolfgang Bock and John Dyson all come through at some point or another!
This music is firmly rooted in the style of the seventies, but there is an exciting fresh feel to the production that brings it right into today. Gepert lets rip with his rhythms and tunes, and is not afraid to use all his toys and tools at his disposal to maximum effect, but without over-producing the recording, instead concentration on creating some of the most infectious grooves and fantastic melodies you’ll hear this side of the seventies!
Fantastic music, excellent artwork – most ‘EM’ fans will be thoroughly delighted with ‘Anunnaki’!
Just buy this CD – you won’t regret a single penny if you are a fan of simple, yet exciting electronic music!!
‘Anunnaki’’ is released on 22nd April 2016.
PIOTR GEPERT: ANUNNAKI Track List:
01. Inner Transformation (10:52)
02. Anunnaki (10:26)
03. El Nino (6:00)
04. Boat To Freedom (8:00)
05. Exodus (3:46)
06. Bolimowski Szlak (5:55)
07. Voyager (12:51)
08. Loss Of Gravity (1:27)
TPT – 59:36