MOOCH 
856420
CD
IN SEARCH OF ACID METAL GRILLE

CLASSIC (AMBIENT)

Picture the scene... You are a fan of synth and/or ambient music. You want something that's new, different yet familiar, original - something that's full of feeling. You don't want another 70's Tangerine Dream style CD 'coz you've got enough of those; you don't want more American space music that spends many a happy hour drifting away and doing very little; you're fed up with the twee melodies and tunes or the loads of Schulze-wannabes coming from the Euro-mainland musicians; you think you might like more ambient music, but you are worried about the presence of dance influences or trancey rhythms spoiling some wicked synth music! Well, your problem is solved with the arrival of Mooch’s ‘In Search Of The Acid Metal Grille’ CD.  With 4 tracks at six, fifteen, nineteen and twenty-two minutes, this music takes you places few have gone before, in a wholly original, yet spellbinding manner, and yet with soundscapes that are familiar, accessible, melodic (but not actual 'tunes'), rhythmic but neither is it clichéd or repetitive. This is a gorgeous album that is over far too soon - yet it’s perfect enough to guarantee many repeated airings. Yes, it doesn't come much better than this!

The opening track on ‘In Search Of The Acid Metal Grille’ is 'Ocean Of Mercury' and it lasts twenty-three minutes, opening with a full-sounding choral intro, before the framework of the rising and falling synth rhythms and expansive keyboard backdrops proceed to weave a multi-textured web that will have you completely wrapped up the music for the whole time. The way the sounds and textures of the rhythms and synth layers are changed along the trip is something new and engaging, as multi-synth soundscapes pour out of the speakers and you absorb the whole emotional feeling of the music in one towering composition. The textures cover the full range; from bass synth undercurrents through distant and lead rhythms to emotive electric guitar used in a wonderfully textural, dynamic and restrained lead role - A fantastic new musical universe to dive into!   The fifteen minute 'In Search Of Homo Sapiens Psychedelicus', is the second track and it features a gentle drum/percussion rhythm that's solid but never obtrusive, while lead synth melody lines and spacious synth backdrops/surrounds unfold, creating a landscape that is beautiful, relaxing, demanding and it is music in a class of it's own, full of depth and feeling, but, most importantly, it's original. The near twenty-minute title track: 'In Search Of The Acid Metal Grille' features layer upon layer of the most incredible synth music soundscapes backed (and surrounded by) a synth rhythm sequence that hints at the 70's, whilst maintaining its own course and textures throughout. This track has the lot: deep emotive synths, full-sounding backdrops (a key factor that runs throughout most of the album) and some spellbinding electric guitar work. Again, this feature is utilised in both lead and textural roles, but used effectively and sparingly and just in the right places and at the right volume levels. If you had to make a comparison with another group of musicians, then there are parts of this track that are a bit like a mid-late 1970's Tangerine Dream in a parallel universe. Towards the later parts of the piece, the guitar gives extra edge and bite to the complete textural feel of the piece - a perfect complement to the warm, expansive synth backdrops flowing all around the mix. Throughout the track, the layers change and develop, maintaining musical continuity but never staying in any setting for too long and all the time something is happening to keep your attention firmly fixed on the music. Finally, 'Vastscape' comes in as is a seven-minute composition of full-sounding multi-synth layers, distant, sparingly used rumbling drums and textural synth embellishments.

Weight: 150.00 g