Fascinating electronic music from Heldon guy
BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 12/25/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I haven't heard the Live Paris, 1982 part of the CD as I'm actually reviewing the original 1977 French LP of Rhizosphere that I own that was released on a label called Cobra. Rhizosphere is so different from Heldon that it's hard to believe that Richard Pinhas was even involved in that band. For one thing, on this album he does not once touch a guitar at all, and concentrates entirely on synthesizers. While the music of Heldon is often relentless, kind of Robert Fripp meets industral and electronic minimalism, the music on Rhizosphere is quite tame and actually quite laid back at times. The album opens up with "Rhizosphere Sequent" and is a great piece that sounds just like what Tangerine Dream was doing around the same time (like Richochet) or perhaps Michael Hoenig's Departure From the Northern Wasteland. The next piece, "A Piece For Duncan" is a totally mindblowing spacy electronic piece. The same sequence of notes gets repeated throughout, but it's one of those pieces I wished never ended. This cut epitomizes everything that was great about electronic music from the 1970s, no plastic stuff here, no sickingly sweet New Age stuff here. "Claire P." is dedicated to Philip Glass, so not surprisingly, it's a minimalist piece, but it actually bears more of a resemblance to Terry Riley's A Rainbow in Curved Air, except played all on synthesizers, rather than organ and electric harpsichord. "Trapeze/Interference" is just a plain bizarre, creepy sounding electronic piece that makes me think of what H.R. Giger might've sounded like if he was a musician, rather than an artist. But the album isn't perfect, because side two is the side length title track which is really boring for the most part, it just simply lacks punch, and only near the end does it reveal that it's an extended version of "Rhizosphere Sequent". Except for the title track, this album is truly a wonderful example of all the best qualities of electronic music from the 1970s, and so if you like Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, minimalism, or of course, Heldon, you will like this."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1