Musea's May Music Missives
Date: Sunday, May 24 @ 22:10:00 UTC
Topic: Album Release News


The marvelous month of May is almost over, but in casting our eyes to the month that was, here are the multitude of music releases that Musea Records made available this month - either their own releases or distributions from others.

This roundup begins with Astrovoyager - ElectrOpera - Act 04 - Oscillations: Bio: Astrovoyager, also known as Philippe Fagnoni, is always searching for new musical and sonic sensations. Coming from Metz, the French keyboards player endeavors to compose, in a very personal style, original themes between soundtracks and relaxation music. His art relates as much to the great masters of the genre like Vangelis or Jean-Michel Jarre, as to the most renowned soundtracks composers, such as Hans Zimmer, Eric Serra... Astrovoyager uses synthesizers and electronic keyboards to develop music mixing electronic and cosmic tracks with symphonic layers. To avoid the traps of common electronic music, he develops real melodies, alternating dreamlike climates and chiseled rhythmic patterns.

Published on the Dreaming label, the second opus Temporal Gravitation (2006) places the listener at the center of deep and enchanting pads, mixing delicate synthetic harmonies and dynamic rhythms. These fifteen instrumental compositions succeed in removing any material cares from the listener, inviting him to an exciting spatial and musical trip to the center of the Temporal Gravitation field for close to 45 minutes. A story told in music that each of us has to interpret. One could sometimes think of the universe of The Universal Migrator Part One - The Dream Sequencer (Ayreon), and that says it all! Departure is imminent. Astrovoyager is ready. What about you?

Astrovoyager's imaginary universe offers timeless and fascinating melodies. After the trip into the heart of Temporal Gravitation (2006), the Space Traveller is now inviting you to another journey into a singular universe. Philippe Fagnoni, an atypical musician and an innovative artist, is launching his new multimedia endezvous, this time around a Symphotronic Lunation (2010). Like a sound-painter, he alternates dreamlike atmospheres and chiselled, sometimes electronic rhythmic patterns, with symphonic layers. Notably, his synthesizers and electronic keyboards are now mingled with the sounds of a real orchestra: the perfect cocktail to create his own musical mark, combining richness with simplicity. A musical short film, directed by Eric Parisi, photographed by Bruce Pierson and art-designed by Stéphane Monbel, has been created to coincide with the music. It is a journey to listen to and watch, a reverie to lapse into: an invitation to unwind your real self anew.

ElectrOpera takes us to a new level of sound exploration and Astrovoyager propels the experience further into the unexpected. A real electro-acoustic opera in four acts where the baroque rubs shoulders with the abstract. In 2012, discover ElectrOpera - 01 - Pulsations... Astrovoyager delivers a multimedia project opening up to new musical horizons while remaining faithful to what has been its strength: a really big sound, now completed with cutting-edge visual choreography. In other words, a musically ground-breaking album, the work of the maturity.

[A second part, Modulations was released in 2013, the third part Convolutions in 2014, and keeping with a part per year, part 4, Oscillations is released, "now produced by the French label CosmXplorer and still distributed by Dreaming-Musea & CD1D, AstroVoyager is back, concluding his concept… […] At the heart of this new project, an even closer integration of orchestral instruments, of songs without words and of electro-abstract videos consolidate the musical and visual hallmark of AstroVoyager."

Listen to a medley at Astrovoyager's Soundcloud page. ]

Art Decade - Novö Lüxo: Art Decade is a group that emerged in the late Eighties in the city of Lyon. Published on the Musea Parallèle label in the year 2015, Novö Lüxo is already the fifth album for this French duet, in a career spanning a quarter of a century. At first influenced by cold-wave bands like The Cure or Joy Division, Art Decade later made a detour in the field of contemporary choreography music, later on experiencing on industrial music. The duet is still rooted in cold-wave, but now mixes its legacy with a strong Progressive rock colour. Novö Lüxo contains long pieces, poetic flights, varied arrangements (symphonic or electro), and there's still that sound recalling The Legendary Pink Dots. Art Decade, or the Progressive cold-wave with the French touch. To be discovered!

[Listen to samples from Novö Lüxo and previous albums]

Plus there are these distributions from the Esoteric label: Joan Armatrading - Whatever's For Us, Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies - The American Metaphysical Circus, FM - Transformation, Rupert Hine - Unsby On The Skyline - The Best Of..., John Lees' Barclay James Harvest - North (Deluxe Edition), Lifesigns - Lifesigns, Man - Reanimated Memories, Premiata Forneria Marconi - Paper Charms - The Complete BBC Recordings 1974-1976, Todd Rundgren - State (Deluxe Limited Edition) and Global, Sky - The Great Balloon Race and Mozart, and Van Der Graff Generator - Merlin Atmos - Live Performances 2013, plus these DVDs: Steve Hackett - The Bremen Broadcast - Musikladen 8th November, John Lees' Barclay James Harvest - Legacy - Live At The Shepherds Bush Empire 2006 and Rick Wakeman - Classical Wakeman - Live In Japan

Finally, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Progfest 1995, Musea is offering the 2 DVD set Progfest Day One and Progfest Day Two for 19.99€. Day One (November 9th 1995) presents a much complete set-list than the audio edition: Ars Nova can be heard performing "Transi," while White Willow has twice more titles, with the addition of "Snowfall" and "John Dee's Lament."

Tracklist - Day One: Ars Nova: Morgan (10:53), Transi (9:01), Danse Macabre (9:19), Jihad (5:56) / White Willow: Cryptomenysis (10:16), Snowfall (3:28), John Dee's Lament (9:15), Lord Of Night (6:49) / Solaris: Apocalypse (4:22), Oz (8:11), Hungarian Danse (3:42), Solaris (5:30)

Tracklist - Day Two: Spock's Beard: The Light (16:30) / Landberk: Kontiki (7:31), Dream Dance (4:39), Time (3:57) / Deus Ex Machina: Exordium (9:35), Res Publica II (6:11), Ad Montem (4:44), Si Tu Bene Valeas Ego Bene Valeo (9:03)

As we have not reviewed the DVD, I will refer you to the review at the Dutch Progressive Rock Pages: their review of Day One.

[Source: Musea (plus Astrovoyager website; for PF85 info both DPRP and ProgArchives)]







This article comes from ProgressiveWorld.net
http://progressiveworld.net/html

The URL for this story is:
http://progressiveworld.net/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4212