Customer Reviews

Musique Méchanique: Electronic Music from 1971 to 1994

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One look at the play list and you should
(unless you are very new to ambient)
know where you are. Analogueville baby!

We get a little bit of everything with this
package. It really is a sample of different styles
from the 70s "Departure From the Northern Wasteland",
(which I recall listening to on Philadelphia's
WXPN) through the post-analogue mid-90s.

Disk One emphasizes the classical/synth motiff of
several European artists and has several long tracks
which may not be up to current tastes or trends
at this point, but which are interesting from the
perspective of the music's history (the disk comes with
a booklet with an essay written by John Diliberto).
"Aguirre" by Popul Vuh certainly stands its own
against the waters of time. Those more heavily invested
in the works of Klaus Shultz will probably at least have
heard of Eberhard Shroener.

Disk Two starts off with "labyrinth" by Michael
Stearns and rolls comfortably into bed with Kevin Braheny's
"Desert Walkabout." This is followed by two
well known Steve Roach tracks and then two by David
Parsons (more etherial and less teutonic). Chances are,
if you like any of this stuff you already have it.
I already had most of it when I bought this, but i
wanted a few select tracks from otherwise somewhat more
obscure artists.

Celestial certainly didn't 'experiment' or strike
any new territory with this release, and its therefore
never likely to get much attention (the art department
responsible for the disk's cover certainly won't get any prizes).
However, I like this compilation well enough
and find most of it listenable and enjoyable.
Its cheap so you won't break the bank on it, but if
you're unsure, go with an album's worth of almost
any artist listed.

With the proliferation of electronic 'genres', it seems safest to characterize this album this way: 'If you loved Phaedra, you'll like Musique Mechanique.' While that statement lets you know what sort of music you're in for, it may not be strictly true. Apart from a few brilliant moments on "Depature from the Northern Wasteland," (by M. Hoenig - he's a master of building dramatic tension within the ambient format), the album generally maintains a very low musical profile. Its various hums, drones, and somber keyboards evoke, if anything, the sense of religious immanence that the baroque period symbolized with the empty fifth interval.

This is all well and good, especially if one is in a meditative mood, but there is little here to engage the forebrain. So, if you're ordering a copy, break out the candles, incense, lava lamp, mandala, and that paper with the little blue stars printed on it.

It's either impressive or dispiriting that Celestial Harmonies should include such puffery (the above) to promote their albums. "Mechanique", for my taste, errs too much on the side of 'gentle, new age music'. If you want something that will lull you to sleep, fine, but you won't find anything especially stimulating here.