Ode to A Dream

On a beautiful autumn day somewhere around '82, I took a walk with friends to the park close to our high school. Upon arrival I met Christopher, who had a boom box that was playing some of the most hauntingly beautiful textures and rhythms I'd heard in a while. He told me that it was "Ricochet" - a live album by a band called Tangerine Dream. Christopher and I went on to become very close friends, a connection of which was key around music... and what he turned me on to literally changed my life and musical perspective forever.

Tangerine Dream's music spoke to me in a unique way. I was already into electronic music... but their organic synth textures and woven sequences took hold of me like nothing before. There was also a particularly haunting quality that drew me toward them.

Many electronic musicians and an incredible number of dance music producers have sighted them as a major influence - for good reason. The textures they used - and perhaps even more-so - their sequenced rhythms pre-dated their dance music equivalents by decades.

Much of the next few years were spent scouring record-stores sniffing out their albums in the "import" bins. First was Tangram... but soon after I acquired "70-80" - a seminal collection of great tracks, some previously unreleased gems, and a picture book that I got lost in over and over again... filled with loads of concert pics and gear. Their music brought me to beautiful and alien places. I wanted to learn about all the gear - how to make such wondrous textures. Many nights were filled with dreams about gear - and ultimately learning to mimic those textures on my own primitive studio setup.

Music has an incredible ability to do that - a stronger force than anything I've experienced otherwise. To instantly inspire and tap into a part of the soul nothing else seemed to relate to. They will always be a major influence on me - because, "The dream is still the same..."

If you think and of this sounds or looks interesting - wait 'til you hear the actual recordings. Sublimely rich oceans of organic synth textures.