From: "Stephen & JoAnn Ellis" <> I was able to borrow a CD of Michael Hoenig "Departure From The Northern Wasteland". I had this on LP years ago. I remember that I found this "new" music so refreshing... By 1977 when this CD was released I was very much lamenting the "death" of prog music. This LP was the first of many in the purely e-progvein that had me thinking that I had found the new direction of progressive music. As I listened to this CD today I remembered why I had thought that back then and I also remembered why this particular type of e-prog music just lost me. The various looped events were interesting in the beginning but after a short while they became almost silly. Now I'm not saying this CD is that way, hell no... This CD was a beginner, one of the first... But soon the field would be full of these , start a loop, play some keys over top, god awful e-drums, maybe some guitar or at least key/guitar... Anyway I found listening to music I had not heard in almost 20 years, and still found a 'warm spot for' was cool. I guess ultimately I prefer a mixture of instrumentals (all e or not) some vocals, and real drums. I realize all the keyboard gods sit at home and just puke out a drum beat but guys... The e-progeny sampler really proves that REAL DRUMS add to all the electronic STUFF!
From: David Kuznick <>The various looped events were interesting in the beginning but after a short while they became almost silly. Why did they become "almost silly"? You act as if it was like much of today's modern techno; i.e the same thing over and over (BTW, there is lots of modern dance music that IS interesting as well). You're not listening carefully enough. One of the main influences on this style was Minimalism. But the premier Berlin-School EM'ers took the basic sequences and did all kinds of wonderful improvs, both on top of them, and with the sequences themselves. Listen to Tangerine Dream's Encore disc for a prime example. And a fabulous modern example would be Air Sculpture out of the UK. FWIW, "berlin-school" electronic music (Hoenig, Tangerine Dream, Schulze, etc) uses repetitive sequences as an integral part of the style. They do evolve over time (at least the good ones do :), and there is generally TONS of stuff going on besides. These guys PLAYED their sequencers just as much as their synths, mellotrons, guitars, etc. > Now I'm not saying this CD is that > way, hell no... This CD was a beginner, one of the first... Hmmm.... TD and KS had already put out quite a few albums in this style before Hoenig (who was a member of the touring TD for a short while). > But soon the field would be full of these , start a loop, play some keys over top, god > awful e-drums, maybe some guitar or at least key/guitar... That's a terribly uninformed generalization. You sound like you're generally not a fan of this style of music; fine. As in all forms of music, there are good examples and bad. To dismiss a whole genre out of hand like this borders on the insulting. > Anyway I found listening to music I had not heard in almost 20 years, and still found a 'warm spot for' was cool. I guess ultimately I prefer a mixture of instrumentals (all e or not) some vocals, and real drums. I agree that real drums can add a lot to "berlin school" EM (Klaus Krieger's contributions to TD for example), but it's not as if the early EM artists were using synthetic rhythmic sounds as a substitute for drums; they were an integral part of the music. > I realize all the keyboard gods sit at home and just puke out a drum beat but guys... Again, what on earth are you talking about? If you're simply taking a potshot at artists who for whatever reason use synthetic drums, that has absolutely ZERO to do with Berlin-School EM.
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