TEUBNER, HELMUT 
272582
CD
FROM OUTER SPACE

POWERFUL/MELODIC (SYNTH)

This guy is totally unique entity in the Synth music world, in that, he can get away with sounding almost commercial at times without actually really ever really being accused of being pop, a fact that anyone already into his music will endorse!  His huge multi-layered synth sounds and strong melodies make him as much a rock musician as much as anything else, but one thing is for sure - he is one hell of an exciting synth act, and one of the few who is more than capable of raising the hairs on the back of my neck! This 15 track album gives you almost sixty-five minutes of pure listening pleasure, in a similar way to the classic ‘Heaven’s Light’, but expanding it into a whole new universe of sound and styles and leaves you with a blinding good album. You get all the big majestic grandiose themes, catchy melodies and more associated with the ‘HL’ CD; flying soaring synth and tuneful guitar solos, huge waves of multi-tracked cosmic, spacey choral synths, lush string textures, thrilling, fast driving rhythmic patterns and a an array of pounding drums and storm force percussion and toe-tapping beats. Overall, this can only be described as melodic synth driven rock instrumental excellence of the highest order. Read on for an in-depth track-by-track description.

‘In The Beginning’ opens the album and sets the scene superbly on a huge wave of floating atmospherics from synth textures, spacey chorals and a blanket of cosmic symphonic treatments that soar above and below for a couple of thought provoking minutes, then ZAP, it's straight into ‘Strange City’, a bright, melodic typically aggressive thematic Teubner style track with fragmented voice samples spread over the stereo soundstage for some sections and massed and multi-tracked synths taking the lead melody for others, plus massed choral interludes and a soaring electric guitar solo to top it all off. Although this track goes some way to re-creating the magical opening sequence of the ‘Heaven’s Light’ album, but it misses the spot a bit (mind you, that classic track is almost impossible to surpass). ‘Searching’ is a fast driving over-the-top work that's too fast to be danceable, in actual fact it's much more like a Jarre piece with an ever-so-catchy multi-whistle synth lead line with percussion that races at the pace of a high-speed train. This blasts straight into an epic sounding, catchy track called ‘Welcome’, with HT now firing on all cylinders with another memorable melody line and a punchy backbeat, followed by what sounds like a massed band of electronic bagpipes that take up the main melody line for a few moments and it's then taken over by many other "big" sounds full of thick chords and many layers of great synth textures and rhythmic patterns. ‘Lost In Time’ opens with huge orchestral, prog style spiralling melodic synths and the track goes on into a huge keyboard symphony with space chorals and massed strings with a fantastic, kind of huge wailing synth effect carrying the feel of the piece high into the heavens. Mega ELP-style crescendos with loads of Mellotrons, flying synths that soar into the heavens in majestic fashion all make for a totally thrilling track that's easily the best on the album yet - This is Teubner how we like him best; totally over the top, melodic synth music that really bites (or burns) into your brain! A fast, startling intro to track 6 brings a huge surprise to the ears (if you have not already noticed it on the track list) in the form of a cover version of a very famous old synth number that only one other EM musician that I know of has attempted to cover since it was first recorded in the 60’s. It's almost a disc version of the track, loaded with brilliant spacey keyboard textures and infectious rhythmic patterns with synth satellites driving the haunting melody line out to the edge of the earth's atmosphere in hypnotic fashion. I'm not going to tell you what it is, although I suspect you might have guessed already given that there are a couple of clues in this text! Another big intro blasts in for ‘Phaeton’ and it's another massive sounding epic with stacks of keyboard layers and a commercial edge that is common to much of HT's best work. Sampled male/female voices introduce ‘Strange City II’, and this is a slower (but still powerful) piece with a strong main theme and tuneful electric guitar overdubs, plus the usual HT array of drums and percussion. At just over six minutes, ‘From Outer Space’ is the longest track on the CD. It opens with a barrage of spacey effects, cosmic chorals and a Hendrix-style guitar that precedes synth solos of the "soaring into the heavens" variety with masses of Mellotron and other choir sample sounds soaking the background with lush, majestic, grandiose sounds that are built to thrill lovers of keyboard music everywhere - this is really powerful music even by HT standards, as the guitars fly even higher over the thickly layered choirs and strings on what is a mega-thematic track that chops and changes course all the way through to the end - Truly glorious stuff! ‘Deep Forest’ comes in on a whole host of animal/alien like samples & dark atmospheres effects and then quickly flows into a nicely paced synth dominated track with slick percussion and a neat toe-tapping beat. In floods more of the trademark choirs sounds as an attractive melody line drives on, with counter melodies peppering the background before a screaming electric guitar solo blisters the smooth surface created by the rest of the instruments and ends with more of the unusual alien like samples heard at the beginning. ‘Air Traffic’ enters on a huge wave of Mellotron style synth choir voices, female at first, then male, and then both together. Then a beat enters the scene and a fantastic melody is set up by the synths with the chorals still humming away in the foreground, with a huge array of electronic pyrotechnics entering from either side of the monumental soundstage - This is definitely Jean Michel Jarre inspired music, without a doubt! A startling intro comes up for ‘Meeting Of Souls’ as voice samples, a fast driving Giorgio Moroder styled keyboard melody and underlying rhythms take up a dazzlingly structured thematic piece with tuneful synths soaring up through the absolutely intoxicating theme going on below; a sound full of string and choral synths that is both catchy and hugely satisfying - This is melodic excellence of the highest order that would be massively popular with the general public if it had the exposure of someone like Jarre! ‘Electric Forest’ rolls in under a dark misty intro, then as the beat strikes up it becomes more like a Giorgio Moroder TV theme with it’s punchy rhythm and attacking melody line. The additional electric guitar riffs really set the track on fire and then a barrage of ELP like synth leads add more high-octane fuel to the powerful engine with some fiery solos. A Caribbean shuffling synth rhythm pulsates through the fast paced, delightfully melodic: ‘Cosmic Delight’, then the album closes to a grand spacey finale with ‘Encounters’, an atmospheric, but grandiose track filled with haunting Mellotron choirs and alien effects. This track sounds as if it could have been made for a sci-fi movie, and as the glowing, thematic synth theme gradually elevates the music to a higher plain, you can just picture in your mind a closing sequence where a glowing sun is slowly rising up over a dark landscape where a battle has just taken place, signalling the dawn of a bright new future.

Weight: 150.00 g