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This album is genious at times. Experimental techno at its finest.The good thing is that here is a varied theme through-out this. "Code 1026" sounds like a cold electrifying version of daft-punk on crack. Heavily filtered synths race towards a big explosive end with lush majestic pads and operatic choruses. This could literally tear a big-room to peaces! This album is not just for the dancefloor though. "Cecile" is a beautifull a-la 70s kraut-rockian moogy epic sci-fi adventure in the vein of pioneers such as Vangelis,(70s works),Schulz, Kraftwerk (Autobahn) and Neu!(75). The main lush retro-synth will take you in a massive space adventure. From that point we depart from the 70s and head directly to the 90s and "Europa's" Detroit-Techno, Agoria's favorite genre. The classic detroit formula is here. Futuristic rhythmical of-chord techy synths and a lush spacey lead-line over a groovy driving bassline and drum. The track builds and builds (or shall we say drives through a neon-shocked highway with inceasing speed?) till it breaks in a wanderfull arpeggiating end.
Agoria's adventures in electronica are non-stop and hence he trys his luck in "Massive Attack" style trip-hop. This is what we get in "Million Miles" although more soulfull from the vocal side of things. The artists musical eccentricity though is unstopable and it is evident in tracks like "Like A Bull" and "Inner Kiss". The first one sounds like an electro-house version of what could be a furious epic black-metal tune(seriously!)albeit not for the vocals (thank god). Massive heavily distorted electro in-your face riffs acccompanied by operatic female choruses and orchestral chamber synths. As for the second, it's 80s synth-pop in a very theatrical version i would say(Agoria has gone quite classical in a dark way in this album)where 80s-style analogue synths are accompanied by a polyphony of high-pitched male alto vocalisations.The darkness is not over yet as "edenbridge" is a dubby, spooky, horror-film soundtrack that features the voice of Peter Murphy, the singer of the 80s goth-rock/dark-wave group "Bauhaus"(great band by the way..."Bela Lugosi is Dead...") .
This "classical" theme also continues in a beautifull tune, that is "Les Violons Ivres". A soft low-end with a clicky,glitchy (yep its trendy)melodic sequence of sounds is topped with a beautifull autumnal violin melody. "Baroque-Techno" (or "romantic-minimal") anyone? The melodic theme is mostly evident in the playfull sampletronica (hip-hop?)of "wrong-line" where a hooky-as-hell melody with some wanderfull pianos accompanys a deep french voice (Agoria himself's?) that raps in a whispering tone. Beautifull and haunting tune...
Overall a great album with many musicians but some tunes are really weak IMO. For example the opener "Baboul Hair Cuttin" sounds like stupid non-sense rock , whereas an r'n'b tune featuring princess superstar such as "lips on fire" was not essential...if for not these tunes, the album would be more then excellent. But even like this, the current album is experimental, beautifull, very artistic,inspired by almost anything that is quality electronic (and not only)and quite varied!If every EDM album was like that i would personally be living in heaven. Unfortunately this is not the case. A "techno"(in the broader sense) album that could withstand the test of time!
7.5/10
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Agoria - The Green Armchair
Looks amazing.
