Free System Projekt - Atmospheric Conditions.nfo
GENERAL INFORMATION
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Album: Atmospheric Conditions (2 CDs)
Artist: Free System Projekt
Year: 2002
Genre: New Age / Electronic / Berlin-School
DESCRIPTION
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At last re-issued giving those fans who missed out first time around a chance to own this totally fantastic double CD. When Dave Law asked me to re-run his original review I instead offered to give my perspective on this album which I've now had a chance to fully absorb and appreciate.
Firstly it's confession time. I initially greeted FSP's decision to tread the purely retro route with a level of dismay. The mixture of contemporary melody and retro sequencing on 'Pointless Reminder' was totally captivating and to replace it with an approach which so many are now treading seemed to be a backward step. However, all doubts were dispelled when I heard this album. It took a few sittings, initially I thought "great but nothing particularly special" but then I gradually realised what I had in my possession.
This could be by all intents and purposes a long lost TD album from the 'Ricochet' / 'Rubycon' period. You've read this sort of sentiment many times from me and other reviewers about dozens and dozens of other albums, but here the sound and style are so close as to be totally "on the nail".
CD 1 contains 4 tracks, a couple around the 25 min mark, a 17 min and a 5 min piece. Nearly all were recorded live, opening with 'Naiad' from the Gathering on October 2001. Just bask in the opening 10 minutes, with 70's atmospherics and liberal layers of mellotron. Then the sequences emerge at around the 11 minute mark, totally convincing, mutating all over the place, pounding and thundering through the whole soundstage. It could be a modern day version of 'Rubycon' - a comparison which does the original no injustice at all such is the quality of this modern day recreation. Totally, totally fantastic.
Gear fans will delight at the inside cover pictures, revealing that not only is the sound authentic the equipment behind it is too - well, if if you classify an Arrick modular as authentic. The next track was recorded at Jodrell Bank in 2002, a concert I attended and this is as mere peek at the magnificence on show. The sequence has a slightly more modern/complex feel, initially pitched higher in the register while motifs and atmospherics blend an absorbing backdrop. The sequence then takes a bolder stance, with a deeper bass line added, rounded off with beautiful mellotron flute sonics. This is Heaven.
'Despina' weighs in at a touch over 5 minutes but still manages to generate great atmosphere, then the final track 'Galatea' gets underway which is an excerpt from their Hampshire Jam appearance in 2001. Totally brilliant atmospherics precede totally brilliant sequencing. Usually I'd be happy with just one track of this quality on an album, here it's wall-to-wall. Every track hits the mark.
This would be a definitive album if it was just one CD, what's even better is that it's a double and there's no let up in the Berlin School rampage. 'Larissa' is a studio track but is still recorded "of the moment". The formula is the same, sequencing and retro synths but it's done so brilliantly. The sequencing is always shifting and merging. The palette of voices always changing. 'Proteus' was recorded at the Stars End Radio show, hence the late hour(s) mandated a more laid back approach. Here we hear the subtler side of FSP with a mere sprinkling of sequencing.
Another studio piece follows 'Triton', this time we are launched straight into the sequence run. 15 minutes of pure wall-of-sound pulsating magic follows. Finally (as far as the music is concerned) we get another 19 minutes from the Jodrell Bank concert in the shape of 'Nereid'. This is a totally blistering piece! Sequencer fans will be in their element. The final track is a 7 minute radio promo which describes a little of FSP's approach. I wouldn't have bet on excerpt from The Moody Blues 'Tuesday Afternoon' being included, though Pinder was of course a great exponent of the Mellotron. An interesting bonus anyway.
http://www.synthmusicdirect.com/atmoscon.cfm
FILE INFORMATION
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Number of Tracks: 9
Total Duration: 2:17:25
Total Size: 316 MBs (including scans, m3u, and nfo)
Parity Archive: Yes, 7%
Ripped By: NMR
Files Created on: NMR
Ripped With: NMR
Encoded At: 320 CBR / 44.1 KHz
ID3 Tags: Yes
NFO Created: 3 April 2015
Tracklist
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101) Naiad
102) Thalassa
103) Despina
104) Galatea
201) Larissa
202) Proteus
203) Triton
204) Nereid
205) Echoes Promo (Bonus Track)
POSTING
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