Quantum Fantay - Ugisiunsi


Year of Release: 2007
Label: self-released
Catalog Number: Mush CD 002
Format: CD
Total Time: 56:19:00

Growing up in the seventies meant you were able to witness lots of new musical developments. Armed with analogue synthesizers, string ensembles and drum computers, being the latest inventions, artists such as Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream created cosmic music. With eyes closed it was as if you were floating in a different dimension trying to reach another galaxy. The only setback was that a mere thirty minutes of music was crammed onto one side of the vinyl, whereas normally this was limited to around 18 minutes. Of course this resulted in a lack of dynamics; however, this was not at all important for the ambient sounds that were delivered. Sadly a tiny scratch meant you had damaged five or more minutes of transparent music.

It was a friend of mine who introduced me to the world of Klaus Schulze, having bought all of his early albums. In his room I listened to Irrlight, Cyborg, Blackdance, Picture Music and Timewind, and time after time I asked myself what was so special about this music? I virtually fell asleep each time he played me some Schulze music on his then very professional hi-fi equipment. One thing was for sure: this was different, VERY different! For my taste, however, I had to wait for Jean-Michel Jarre to spice things up. Me, I needed rhythm, melody, soul instead of the clinical, computer led, machine-like sounds. By adding more rock elements I soon arrived at the Ozric Tentacles' doorstep, which was when I really started digging synthloops and spacey elements.

Together with Hawkwind, the Ozrics seem to be in a world of their own, creating music for those who want to be on that other planet, too. A planet where music and love rule in true Woodstock spirit; in other words, a planet we could easily call Utopia. Hot on the footsteps of the Ozrics comes the Belgian based magic of Quantum Fantay. Originally intended to be called Quantum Fantasy, it was a printer's error which made them adapt Fantay as an original extra. The band is a sidestep for most musicians who are active in various kinds of bands (Oregon and Ghizibizzi, to name but two). The result, however, got them on stage at the recent Burg Herzberg festival, seeing them share the bill with tons of well known names such as Uriah Heep, Colosseum, Pavlov's Dog, VDGG, Paatos, Man, Riverside and more. Appearing at midnight on the opening night, the band's music for sure was well received by the international hippie community who were present to celebrate.

Whilst a lot of artists in that genre concentrate on the synth department, it is the presence of the guitar that gives the music that little extra, making it balance between spacerock and pure prog. It is "Blacktail" that goes back to the early success of Jarre with albums like Oxygene and Equinox with the flute introducing a slight oriental breeze. Although entirely instrumental, Quantum Fantay doesn't bore you one single bit. In fact they have the incredible talent to weave wonderful melodies through their liquid space as you can hear in "Snowballs In Ghostlands." Probably the most spacey track on this album has to be the drifting power of "Autumn Landscapes," which floats on repetitive synth loops before embarking on a wild chase fuelled by some great drumming. The album closes with the longest track "Lunar," with an intro that slighty recalls Camel's "Lunar Sea." Well, to be honest "longest track" isn't exactly right, as it concerns a teaser. There's several minutes of silence, but if you wait long enough a didgeridoo puts you back on track. Quantum Fantay can be proud about producing an international sounding album that can easily be placed next to some big names in the genre. Well done chaps!


Tracklisting:
Ugisiunsi (7:29) / Blocktail (4:45) / Forehead Echo (4:46) / Snowballs In Ghostlands (5:14) / Niek Shlut (7:35) / March Of The Buffelario (8:25) / Autumn Landscapes (6:32) / Lunar (11:30)

Musicians:
Pieter 'Pete Mush' Van den Broeck - synthesizers, vocoder
Wouter 'Jaro' De Geest - bass
Gino 'Bartolini' Verhaegen - drums
Karel 'Charles Sla' Slabbaert - flute
Srdjan 'Sergio' Vucic - guitars

Discography:
Agapanthusterra (2005)
Ugisiunsi (2007)

Genre: Electronic

Origin BE

Added: December 10th 2007
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.myspace.com/quantumfantay
Hits: 3802
Language: english

  

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