10 April 2018: Alphataurus - Pete Namlook/Klaus Schulze

Alphataurus is an Italian progressive rock band from the Milan area. Under the original lineup Alphataurus released only one album, Alphataurus, dated 1973, at the peak of the European progressive rock wave. The album was generally well received ^[1] and work on a second album started, but due to “a string of personal events” the band split up in 1973.

From the Italian prog website:
      A group from Milan born in 1970, Alphataurus were one of the many unknown Italian bands who suddenly had a recording deal, made an album and disappeared into oblivion.
Having played in some important festivals in 1972, the group was offered by Vittorio De Scalzi of New Trolls a recording deal for his new label, Magma.
ThTheir one and only album, Alphataurus, the first on the newly born label, is a masterpiece, so well crafted and played that it seems impossible that's been made by a group of unknowns. The singer Bavaro has a very original voice, keyboard player Pietro Pellegrini plays with competence and no self-indulgence, guitar-playing of Guido Wassermann is well cared and the rhythm section of Oliva and Santandrea creates a powerful background.
       The album includes five long compositions of which Peccato d'orgoglio and La mente vola are the best, the latter featuring a nice moog intro and a stunning vibes solo.
Soon after this the band split while preparing the second album. A 1992 CD entitled Dietro l'uragano includes some demo recordings of unreleased instrumental parts with no vocals, the result is good though it obviously sounds incomplete at times.
      Drummer Giorgio Santandrea was briefly in Crystals, while keyboardist Pietro Pellegrini has long collaborated with Riccardo Zappa and PFM.
      Singer Michele Bavaro, from Bari, released a commercial solo album in 1988 (Surplace - Macaroni MAC 64701) and various CD's of Italian songs, playing throughout the world.
     In 2010 three of the original members (Pellegrini, Wassermann, Santandrea) reformed Alphataurus to play at the Progvention held in Mezzago (near Milan). The new line-up, which includes singer Claudio Falcone, keyboardist Andrea Guizzetti and bassist Fabio Rigamonti, has stayed together for a few concerts, and at the end of 2011 the original drummer Giorgio Santandrea left his place to Alessandro "Pacho" Rossi.
       The nice 2010 reunion concert has been issued on CD and LP in 2012 with the title Live in Bloom. In the same year the second official studio album by Alphataurus has finally seen the light, entitled AttosecondO, an album of excellent quality.

Tracklist

1	Peccato D'Orgoglio	12:22
2	Dopo L'Uragano	5:05
3	Croma	3:16
4	La Mente Vola	9:20
5	Ombra Muta	9:43

Pete Namlook (born 25 November 1960 as Peter Kuhlmann [ˈkuːlmaːn] in Frankfurt, Germany, died on 8 November 2012^[1]) was an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversaw. Inspired by the music of Eberhard Weber, Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chopin, Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd, and most important Klaus Schulze; He composed and produced his albums while many in collaboration with others.
As of August 2005, Namlook and company had released 135 albums (excluding re-releases, vinyl singles, compilations of existing material, and FAX releases beginning with PS, in which he personally is not involved in the music making).
Pete Namlook released many solo albums, as well as collaboration albums with notable artists such as Klaus Schulze, Bill Laswell, Geir Jenssen (alias Biosphere), Gaudi, Atom Heart, Richie Hawtin, Tetsu Inoue, Atom™, and Tying Tiffany.
"Namlook" is "Koolman", a phonetic rendering of his real name, spelled backwards.
Kuhlmann died on 8 November 2012 after suffering a heart attack.^[2]

AllMusic Review by Jim Brenholts

Pete Namlook (aka Peter Kuhlmann) and Klaus Schulze developed and nurtured The Dark Side of the Moog series. The Dark Side of the Moog 5 also features Bill Laswell. (He has collaborated on four of the CDs.) One of the coolest things on this disc is a 14-second intro by Robert Moog himself. Namlook, Schulze, and Laswell used "Adam's Psychedelic Brunch" as their base track title, a play on Pink Floyd's "Adam's Psychedelic Breakfast" from Atom Heart Mother. And, as listeners expect, this CD features the sequences, atmospheres, and ambience associated with this trio. The soundscape elements flow seamlessly within the intricate sound design. Namlook, Schulze, and Laswell are always at the top of their game. This Berlin school offering will appeal to fans of Ron Boots, Edgar Froese, Ian Boddy, and Paul Ellis.

Dark Side of the Moog 5

Tracklist

1	Psychedelic Brunch (Part I)
2	Psychedelic Brunch (Part II)
3	Psychedelic Brunch (Part III)
4	Psychedelic Brunch (Part IV)
5	Psychedelic Brunch (Part V)
6	Psychedelic Brunch (Part VI)
7	Psychedelic Brunch (Part VII)
8	Psychedelic Brunch (Part VIII)

Credits

• Producer – Pete Namlook
• Written-By [Created By] – Bill Laswell (tracks: 3, 7), Klaus Schulze, Pete Namlook

02 February 2016: Edgar Froese & Bernhard Wöstheinrich - A Celebration of Electronic Music

Edgar Willmar Froese (6 June 1944 – 20 January 2015) was a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream. He passed away just a little over a year ago.
Epsilon in Malaysian Pale, also known as Ypsilon in Malaysian Pale, is Edgar Froese's second studio album, released in 1975.

Recording and history

Epsilon in Malaysian Pale was recorded between June and July 1975, following Tangerine Dream's Australian tour, and was heavily influenced by the places they had visited whilst on the tour.
The album consists of two instrumental compositions, each originally filling one side of vinyl. The first, "Epsilon in Malaysian Pale", is a Mellotron-based piece, inspired by Froese's visit to a Malaysian jungle. The second, "Maroubra Bay", is a more synthesiser-based piece named after a place in Australia. "Maroubra Bay" later appeared on the compilation album "Electronic Dreams", but was accidentally recorded backwards. ^[1]
In 2004, the album was reissued in remixed form by Froese's own Eastgate label, with a new cover based on that of the original.
TRACKS:
1. Epsilon in Malaysian Pale - 16:26
2. Maroubra Bay - 17:00

Tonight we'll be playing Part Two of "Live at Princeton University 2015" which is available as a free download here.


Bernhard Wöstheinrich elicits meaning from abstraction in electronic music and painting. He has studied graphic design and has created an eclectic body of work in both graphics and music.
Among others he has worked with electronic musicians Ian Boddy, Erik Wøllo and Conrad Schnitzler and filmmaker Telemach Wiesinger. Bernhard has created numerous album artworks for the DiN, Unsung Records and Ozella labels and has been exhibiting his evocative paintings in his native Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, for the last 20 years.