Peter Frohmader - Advanced Alchemy of Music

Order Number ncd007

Retail Price from indie-cds.com site A$5.00: / Unit

An artist who is rarely predictable - Peter Frohmader's work varies considerably from release to release as he explores different styles and sound textures. This CD is intense and beat based, with overlays of angst-ridden guitars and almost middle-eastern sounding melodic fragments. Slap and electro bass lines lay down a funky groove at times, in other places the 12 string acoustic guitar takes the dominant instrumental role, over a tense bell cymbal with djembe underneath. Fragments of moods come and go. All instruments on this album are played by Frohmader himself.

review from Dead Earnest website - "From 1993 in the main, here are six tracks and seventy five minutes of music and the effect is shattering. Take the opening track - a twelve minute piece where Frohmader gets angry and unleashes this torrent of electric bass work, sampled drum rhythms, electronic backdrops and swirling synthesizer morass, taking us on a ride through raging soundscapes that are dense and intense, and out the other side into a world of shuddering rhythms, keyboards cascades and massive blasts of sonic delight, all so hypnotic and yet so easy to take in. The musician at his best. In contrast, the twelve minute 'Golden Dawn' starts with acoustic guitars, then you hear another super-solid electric bass rhythm begin as a sizzling electric guitar lead emerges from the background, keyboard patterns are added, the acoustic guitar returns and then the whole sonic soup strides forcefully onwards, the strong layers running the gamut of emotions from the gut-wrenching bass via the blood-curdling guitar to the melodic top layers - stunning track. The near thirteen minute 'Key Of Calomon' continues in this vein, only here we have a mix of power and serenity within the same track, as the piece changes from strong and intense to dark and eerie, again using electric basses, electric guitar, cosmic synths, piano and acoustic guitar to breathtaking effect, the dynamics melting with the melodies to provide a quite awesome track. The fourteen minute 'Phaethon' starts much looser in its approach, less dense and with more emphasis on the textural and layered qualities of the instruments, although around the seven minute point, it suddenly changes into this gorgeous section of string synths, rippling harp-like percussives and surrounding electronic sound, almost symphonic and sweeping you away in its richness, ending in classically powerful filmic mode. The fourteen minute 'La Foret Du Perceval' is dominated by the piano leads above the rivers of bass, synths and electronics, becoming much more of a Gothic Electronic-meets-classical type of affair. Finally, the ten minute Rose+Croix' uses a mix of piano, electronics, sampled electronic drums rhythms, big beefy bass and textural synth layers to provide a really strong track that is not quite as intense as the earlier pieces and a good way to end a huge-sounding powerful mix of dynamic instrumental work." - www.deadearnest.btinternet.co.uk