Totalno začudne, psihodelične kombinacije klasične, avangardne i rock muzike: olujno-operetne kozmičko-liturgijske poeme. Wakhévitch, učenik Oliviera Messiaena i Pierrea Schaeffera, komponirao je i muziku za operu Être Dieu Salvadora Dalíja.
Igor Wakhevitch studies the piano under the guidance of the composer Olivier Messiaen. He spent a short period at the GRM of Pierre Scheaffer in 1968. He discovered Maurice Bejart, met Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, worked with Terry Riley and composed the music of the Opera-Poem by Salvador Dali "Etre Dieu" in 1974.
LOGOS (rituel sonore) - 1970
Debut album by one of the most revered of the avant-garde electronic artists of the 1970s. As original LPs, Wakhevitch’s albums are near impossible to find (especially the early ones). Fortunately there exists a 6 CD box, titled “Donc…” containing the majority of his work, though I suspect that this too will one day be a rarity. “Logos”, from 1970, is closer in spirit to modern classical, in the genre of “serious” electronic music, with extensive use of eerie choirs, machines, violins and percussion (which can get intense in that Pink Floyd ‘Saucerful of Secrets’ way). All of this dark seriousness leads to the album’s climax, the brilliant seven minute ‘Danse Sacral’, as performed by the French psych band Triangle. On it’s own, the rock instrumental song is pretty average, but in this context the impact is severe and engaging. Igor, what an enfant terrible . One can just see Wakhevitch at a party near the Sorbonne, with red scarf wrapped around neck, joined by Pierre Henry, Terry Riley, Ralph Lundsten and other avant composers of the day, martinis in hand, gorgeous girls in black and white modernist dresses, heavy mascara de rigueur . Makes one want to dump a can of paint on the canvas and call it “Le Bleu”. Time to eat - Croque Monsieur anyone?
DOCTEUR FAUST - 1971
On Docteur Faust you will hear a very eclectic approach to music. Strange electronic effects, choir-like vocal arrangements, snippets of orchestral music, and rock music are combined with fragments of musique-concrete like the voice of (most likely) the pope, and on top the sound of a whip, a spoken voice reciting over weird electronic sounds, gun fire, a neighing horse, etc. A strange, but fascinating album.
http://rapidshare.com/files/11066147/igor_wakhevitch_-_docteur_faust.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/11066147/igor_wakhevitch_-_docteur_faust.rar
HATHOR (lithurgie du souffle pour la rιsurrection des morts) 1973 http://rapidshare.com/files/10865589/igor_wakhevitch_-_hathor.rar
LES FOUS D'OR - 1975http://rapidshare.com/files/11070721/igor_wakhevitch_-_les_fous_d_or.rar
NAGUAL (les ailes de la perception) - 1977 http://rapidshare.com/files/11082366/igor_wakhevitch_-_nagual.rar
Letter from Michael GIRA (Swans) - November 10, 1998 :
The most astonishing music I have heard in some years is the new Box Set of Igor Wakhιvitch - 6 CDs, from 1970-79. Amazing approach to sound, from classical to experimental, psychadelia to film music. Ominous and beautiful, then clamorous and Wagnerian. At some points it sounds like contemporary electronic music, then shifts seemlessly into a full classical orchestra. You must buy this.
Audion - n°40 (page 7-8) - August 1998 (UK) :
Donc... innovation !An unclassifiable talent, Igor Wakhιvitch could be seen as the French equivalent of someone like Ralph Lundsten, or an explorer like Franco Battiato, a pionner who proliferated in the 70’s with a series of highly original and unusual albums.
Igor Wakhιvitch’s roots are obscure , though his name implies he is obviously of Russian ancestry, and apparently his father was a celebrated theatre set-designer. It was obviously in the setting of the theatre that Igor Wakhιvitch saw new potentials in music. He was something of a genius as a young musician. By the age of 17 he had already won the first prize for piano at the Superior Conservatoire in Paris. But, not content to stay in the classical world, he moved on. His academic qualifications served him well. In 1968 he was working at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (then directed by Pierre Schaeffer) with access to some of the most advanced studio equipment around. There he learnt his craft as a sound designer, as a master of studio trickery and musique-concrete techniques. The perfect foil for his own musical talents, and as a way to play with the possibilities of sound and other musical forms. This fertile environment, at studios that were regularly visited and/or used by the likes of Pierre Henry, Franηois Bayle, Bernard Parmegiani, et al, was the ideal springboard for the creation of a new form of music.Pierre Henry had already become celebrated for his works combining rock and electronics in the early part of the 60’s, and particularly his music for the avant-garde ballets of Maurice Bιjart. Igor Wakhιvitch saw this as his oeuvre, being fascinated by the new forms of psychedelic rock that were making shock-waves in France. With the moniker "Ballet for the 21st Century" he worked with Bιjart in an attempt to turn this underground pop culture into high art. Inspiration came from Soft Machine and Pink Floyd, and in fact Igor Wakhιvitch worked quite extensively with Robert Wyatt and Soft Machine for a while.At this time, Igor Wakhιvitch also worked together with Terry Riley learning special tricks about tape delays and looping techniques. All this experience melted into the pot of what became a unique music, with a focus that lay in processing instruments, usually in a melodic framework, blending in rock and diverse classical forms, bringing different unlikely musics together, often in most perplexingly odd ways. Igor Wakhιvitch thus became established at Pathι Marconi Studios and also did production work for other studios and labels, and as a result got in touch with the French up-and-coming home-grown rock scene. The seeds were set for a radical and unique new form of music.
Igor Wakhevitch biography
Boxset/Compilation, 1999
4.00 | 1 ratings
Studio Album, 1977
4.02 | 6 ratings
Studio Album, 1974
3.13 | 8 ratings
Studio Album, 1973
3.85 | 17 ratings
Studio Album, 1971
3.97 | 16 ratings
Studio Album, 1970
4.22 | 15 ratings
Studio Album, 1977
4.02 | 6 ratings
Studio Album, 1973
3.85 | 17 ratings
Studio Album, 1973
3.85 | 17 ratings
The most astonishing music I have heard in some years is the new Box Set of Igor Wakhιvitch - 6 CDs, from 1970-79. Amazing approach to sound, from classical to experimental, psychadelia to film music. Ominous and beautiful, then clamorous and Wagnerian. At some points it sounds like contemporary electronic music, then shifts seemlessly into a full classical orchestra. You must buy this.
Audion - n°40 (page 7-8) - August 1998 (UK) :
Donc... innovation !An unclassifiable talent, Igor Wakhιvitch could be seen as the French equivalent of someone like Ralph Lundsten, or an explorer like Franco Battiato, a pionner who proliferated in the 70’s with a series of highly original and unusual albums.
Igor Wakhιvitch’s roots are obscure , though his name implies he is obviously of Russian ancestry, and apparently his father was a celebrated theatre set-designer. It was obviously in the setting of the theatre that Igor Wakhιvitch saw new potentials in music. He was something of a genius as a young musician. By the age of 17 he had already won the first prize for piano at the Superior Conservatoire in Paris. But, not content to stay in the classical world, he moved on. His academic qualifications served him well. In 1968 he was working at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (then directed by Pierre Schaeffer) with access to some of the most advanced studio equipment around. There he learnt his craft as a sound designer, as a master of studio trickery and musique-concrete techniques. The perfect foil for his own musical talents, and as a way to play with the possibilities of sound and other musical forms. This fertile environment, at studios that were regularly visited and/or used by the likes of Pierre Henry, Franηois Bayle, Bernard Parmegiani, et al, was the ideal springboard for the creation of a new form of music.Pierre Henry had already become celebrated for his works combining rock and electronics in the early part of the 60’s, and particularly his music for the avant-garde ballets of Maurice Bιjart. Igor Wakhιvitch saw this as his oeuvre, being fascinated by the new forms of psychedelic rock that were making shock-waves in France. With the moniker "Ballet for the 21st Century" he worked with Bιjart in an attempt to turn this underground pop culture into high art. Inspiration came from Soft Machine and Pink Floyd, and in fact Igor Wakhιvitch worked quite extensively with Robert Wyatt and Soft Machine for a while.At this time, Igor Wakhιvitch also worked together with Terry Riley learning special tricks about tape delays and looping techniques. All this experience melted into the pot of what became a unique music, with a focus that lay in processing instruments, usually in a melodic framework, blending in rock and diverse classical forms, bringing different unlikely musics together, often in most perplexingly odd ways. Igor Wakhιvitch thus became established at Pathι Marconi Studios and also did production work for other studios and labels, and as a result got in touch with the French up-and-coming home-grown rock scene. The seeds were set for a radical and unique new form of music.
- LogosWith such a background, and a concept based on Greek legend, Logos "Rituel Sonore" amounted to a revolutionary creation for a 1970 release. Even if you know works like Pierre Henry’s The Green Queen, which was weirdly comprised of rock and avant-garde musics fused together, you’ll still be in for a surprise. Here we have a soprano singer, strange orchestral textures and percussives (drums, cymbals, gongs, etc.) blended with effects and processing. As the ominous percussion sets off with drum-rolls and ritualistic tension, the mood is of a looming anticipation of what is to come. here we go through phases of weird swirling effects, vivid reverb and atmosphere. The tension becomes overpowering, yet we are led on. Here we have the key to Igir Wakhιvitch’s sound, in a tension that becomes awe-inspiring.The climax of the whole opus comes with "Danse Sacrale" , an extraordinary psychedelic instrumental performed by Triangle (one of the earliest French psychedelic bands) that has to be heard to be believed. A great band in their early days, this goes to prove that Triangle were not just Pink Floyd cum Traffic copyists. This all amounts to a unique fusing of psychedelia and the avant-garde, and an awesome experience !
- Docteur FaustThis is the most obscure album of the lot. I’d never hit it before this release. Aptly in tune with the title, it is also one of the strangest. Docteur Faust was created for a festival in Avignon, and was later choreographed. Though, the mind boggles as to how anyone could dance to this. "Full of fury and energy" to quote a reviewer at the Avignon festival, it certainly is !On one hands this is a more balanced blending of classical and dramatic musics, yet also it is much more extreme. There’s a wealth of sonic collage, dense musique-concrete, and bizarre musics that collide and fragment against rock structures. There’s also moments of pure classical avant-garde moving into ensemble pieces feeling like Henze meets Ligeti or Xenakis. The use of electronics is really vivid too. There are no rules or boundaries in what makes up a Wakhιvitch composition ! The rock elements return throughout this album and, although not credited, I would guess that again Triangle members are featured. The guitar reminds of Alain Renaud, and percussion is quite distinctive, backed-up with weirdly treated organ. Although a short album, it is so engrossing and weird that it would be too-much if it were much longer.
- HathorDating from 1973, shortly after working with Terry Riley on his Happy Ending soundtrack,there’s an obvious big advance in Hathor "Lithurgie du Souffle Pour la Rιsurrection des Morts", with greater use of keyboards, synthesizers, and looping techniques. But Hathor is no mere synth album, far from it, but is Igor Wakhιvitch’s most powerful opus. Making use of the Paris Opera choir (no-less), along with weirdly processed vocals, his usual off-the-wall electronics, and even drum/sequencer drives unprecedented in any form of music before this. It’s another sonic roller-coaster ride, in which we experience an ominous bellowing God-like voice heralding something visionary.As with his previous albums, Hathor contains a number of separate tracks that continue or segue from each other, amounting to what feels like one work. Here, we have surging electronic and percussion drives, a climax sparked off by lightning, thunder-crashes, a wealth of weird contorted voices, and much much more. Here tension gives way to intense power resulting in a kind of dark Vangelis - on the edge ! With a weird Gothic choral number and another electronic rock opus to follow Hathor really flies ! Only the closing coda offers relief, with a reflection on obvious Terry Riley influences, and hinting at the albums to come.
- Les Fous d’OrThis is quite simply, the weirdest of the batch ! Scored for ballets by the much celebrated avant-garde choreographer Carolyn Carlson. A big step away from rock, this &ηθ( album is the challenching start to the second phase of Igor Wakhιvitch’s career. A very avant-garde opera in parts, starting with a warbling soprano and cello, you’d never guess where this album is going to take you. Synthesizers (in looping patterns) take us close to the feel of Ralph Lundsten at this time, which is not so surprising as Ralph Lundsten had also worked with Carolyn Carlson. Tape collage is also used extensively, along with ritualistic horns (sounds like Jac Berrocal), waves of sonic slurry, and a total disregard for conventional musical continuity. Admittedly, it took a long while to really get into this one !
- NagualAlthough a concept in its own right, Nagual "Les Ailes de la Perception" (from 1977) again features music for a Carolyn Carlson ballet. Arguably, it’s the closest to Ralph Lundsten, as a largely cosmic work, with looping synthesizer patterns, putting melody against dissonance, moving on from the darker edge of the "new-age". The format is different to all the previous albums, in that this has 12 tracks (ranging from 30 seconds to 8 minutes) and features musics unheard of within the Wakhιvitch oeuvre before, like piano works of a weirdly construed type (reminding of Ron Geesin) and what feels like a bizarre Celtic jig amongst them. The mood is generally mysterious and enigmatic, largely based around cycling patterns of keyboards and other instruments. The range is very diverse and surprising. But, having said that, typically Wakhιvitch it is - as an uneasy balance that’s engrossing - still so enigmatic and fresh !
- Let's StartThis final album, from 1979, was created for the Batsheva Dance Company (for the festival of Jerusalem), and musically is the sum of many ideas from the two albums before, but in a more atmospheric framework. The grand opus here, the 21 minute "Let’s Start" itself, is a treat for those into the pioneering works of Terry Riley and Steve Reich in that this combines use of delay lines on keyboards a-la Riley with phasing techniques on voices first explored by Reich. Not really systems music though, as the development of the work is not predictable, even the ending is a surprise where confused phrases organise themselves into a logical sentence ! Extremely clever, indeed ! The remaining works are Igor Wakhιvitch at his most restrained and subdued, largely synth/keyboard based, and feel more like a hybrid of Deuter and peter Michael Hamel, with a very film soundtrack type of feel.
As far as I gather Igor Wakhιvitch sees Let’s Start as a return full circle to his roots, though such a progression or connection is hardly logical. There are characteristics and stylisms that one picks up on in Igor Wakhιvitch music, but they are very hard to pin-down. Though I had heard rumour of other works, this seems to be his entire published oeuvre. It all amounts to a bizarre and fascinating trip with one of the true revolutionaries in new-music, and a definitive set collecting it all together. The set is presented in a small red box, including a poster (with the album sleeves) and a 24 page booklet (in French, with a number of pictures), along with the 6 individually sleeved CD’s. The original Igor Wakhιvitch LP releases, despite being on major labels like EMI and Atlantic, are nowadays all pretty rare and collectable (most are reputedly worth £30+, with Docteur Faust reckoned to be worth £100). Alan FREEMAN. - Mutant Sounds
Igor Wakhevitch biography
Igor Wakhevitch is a a french "musique concrete" / electro acoustic composer who has worked in many musical directions, always sensitive to new ways of expressing sonic sound constructions. In different contexts, he explored the acousmatic approach of processed sounds but also occasionaly dissipates this compositional form into psych rock aesthetic. Igor Wakhevitch's musical universe is a patchwork of styles. His musical background is heavily influenced by contemporary avant garde, dodecaphonism and sound experimentations. At the end of the 60's, he notably worked for the french "Group of musical research" (connected to the ORTF) under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer. His first electro-acoustic pieces have closed relationships with others french precursors as Luc Ferrari or Bernard Parmegiani. "Logos" (1970) and "Aethenor" (1971) reveal pretty excellent spectral forms & modulations which concentrates the listener in seriously dark, immersive mentalscapes. A few pieces contain rocking, spaced out instrumentations in the genre of cosmic krautrock classics (during this early period, Igor Wakhevitch was also a great friend of Robert Wyatt et Mick Ratledge).
Published in 1973, the sumptuous "Hathor" marks a turning in IW's personal career. It was recorded after he met Terry Riley (the father of spiritualized minimalism). "Hathor" is deeply impregnated by magical and tellurical elements. In 1974, the surrealist painter Salvador Dali employed IW to write the music of his audiovisual "opera poème" in 6 parts, the result is named "Etre Dieu". During the 80's Igor Wakhevitch decided to live in the south of India, he wrote musical scores for the Goethe Institute and the National Center of Performing Arts à Bombay (in 1991). IW's last publications are largely reserved to theatre, opera performances, epic electronic pieces for orchestrations and straight meditative synthezisers. All IW's career provides a subliminal collection of experimental electronic recordings.: : : Philippe Blache
IGOR WAKHEVITCH MP3, Free Download (music stream)
- danse sacrale Logos, 1970
- materia prima Docteur Faust, 1971
- Hymne a Sathanael (aimantation des forces) Hathor, 1973
- ritual of the master of the doll Les Fous D'or, 1974
- Segunda Entrada O La Lucha Con El Angel Salvador Dali & Igor Wakhevitch: Être Dieu, 1974
- in the nagual's time (flash i) Nagual (les ailes de la perception), 1977
- Taddy's Fruit Garden Let's Start, 1979
IGOR WAKHEVITCH Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
 0.00 | 0 ratings Boite1971 |
IGOR WAKHEVITCH Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)
IGOR WAKHEVITCH Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
| 4.00 | 1 ratings Donc... 1999 |
IGOR WAKHEVITCH Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)
Let's Start
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
This is Igor's last 70's legendary work and, as far as I know, his last musical creation put to disc. Released again on the Pathé label, this album features a vaguely erotic artwork (I'm probably below the belt here), and it is well in the continuity of Nagual, but better and more experimental (read minimalist and dadaist). It's probably Igor's closest he got to Krautrock, and in many ways, TD's Zeit or Atem comes to mind. Opening on the almost-sidelong title track (23-mins+), we discover a synth and kb-only (with some possible percussions) track where dramatic vocal eructions (and eruptions) and echoed & looped spoken words are providing haunting and dronal soundscapes, where oscillators, sequencers and phasers reign supreme. The short Fruit Garden is an electric piano piece. On the flipside, the 12- mins+ Eriador opens on monophonic synth lines, but gets dubbed soon enough multi-echoed, but overstays its welcome until some organ keys add some contrast and provoke a total change of ambiance for the second half. Monks In The Snow returns to the Zeit/Atem realm, but beware of the screechy and strident arrows piercing your armour, despite the soothing presence of wind noises. The closing Ramallah's Road returns to the piano, but this time acoustic, before jumping electric and electronic.
This last inaptly-titled Let's Start (by the end, maybe?) is one of my fave of Igor's works aftr Faust and tied with Logos, but despite its minimalist ambient nature, it could indeed be a good starting point to his discography. Whatever happened to Igor??
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
This is Igor's last 70's legendary work and, as far as I know, his last musical creation put to disc. Released again on the Pathé label, this album features a vaguely erotic artwork (I'm probably below the belt here), and it is well in the continuity of Nagual, but better and more experimental (read minimalist and dadaist). It's probably Igor's closest he got to Krautrock, and in many ways, TD's Zeit or Atem comes to mind. Opening on the almost-sidelong title track (23-mins+), we discover a synth and kb-only (with some possible percussions) track where dramatic vocal eructions (and eruptions) and echoed & looped spoken words are providing haunting and dronal soundscapes, where oscillators, sequencers and phasers reign supreme. The short Fruit Garden is an electric piano piece. On the flipside, the 12- mins+ Eriador opens on monophonic synth lines, but gets dubbed soon enough multi-echoed, but overstays its welcome until some organ keys add some contrast and provoke a total change of ambiance for the second half. Monks In The Snow returns to the Zeit/Atem realm, but beware of the screechy and strident arrows piercing your armour, despite the soothing presence of wind noises. The closing Ramallah's Road returns to the piano, but this time acoustic, before jumping electric and electronic. This last inaptly-titled Let's Start (by the end, maybe?) is one of my fave of Igor's works aftr Faust and tied with Logos, but despite its minimalist ambient nature, it could indeed be a good starting point to his discography. Whatever happened to Igor??
Boxset/Compilation, 19994.00 | 1 ratings
Donc...
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
This six-disc boxset is the only way to get Igor's full 70's works, whether in one piece or if you wished for a single album. If you were opting for the latter, you'd have a hard time choosing just one separate album, because all of Wakhévitch's work is relatively similar to the other albums he made: highly experimental doom electronic avant-garde music, with a constant progression, away from the musical mainstream and conventions. Some of that music that can be loosely linked to the "rock scene", in part due to the appearance of the Triangle pop-rock group in his first two albums, especially in his second opus Dr Faust. These two can be seen as Igor's rock phase, and IMHO, this is his most interesting period.Of course, you'll also find the two "esoteric" schmaltz albums of Hathor and Fous D'Or albums, which don't find much grace (especially the latter) to my eyes or ears. We'll call this his esoteric phase. Missing from this Donc boxset, supposedly gathering all of Igor's 70's works, is his Salvatore Dali collaboration from 74, and if I haven't heard it, it's rumoured to sound a bit like the Nagual album and its surrealist soundscapes. As for the closing Let's Start, it is one of his better works. The last two art h closest to Tangerine Dream IMHO.
On the boxset and booklet presentation front, there are many infos lacking, like line-ups, the liner notes being weird, esoteric, voluntarily evasive and bizarre and uninformative. The boxset's artwork is somewhat reminiscent of Igor's debut album Logos. The six discs comes in white paper envelopes with a number (fortunately chronologically sequenced) and colours roughly reminiscent of the album's artworks (except notably for the Fous D'Or, which is yellow instead of green). The front artworks are all assembled in one big folded page, but there is not much else. It's not like one would have a choice, though. From my informations, the albums are unavailable separately in CD format, so the boxset might just be the only way to go, unless finding the original vinyls.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
— First review of this album —
This six-disc boxset is the only way to get Igor's full 70's works, whether in one piece or if you wished for a single album. If you were opting for the latter, you'd have a hard time choosing just one separate album, because all of Wakhévitch's work is relatively similar to the other albums he made: highly experimental doom electronic avant-garde music, with a constant progression, away from the musical mainstream and conventions. Some of that music that can be loosely linked to the "rock scene", in part due to the appearance of the Triangle pop-rock group in his first two albums, especially in his second opus Dr Faust. These two can be seen as Igor's rock phase, and IMHO, this is his most interesting period.Of course, you'll also find the two "esoteric" schmaltz albums of Hathor and Fous D'Or albums, which don't find much grace (especially the latter) to my eyes or ears. We'll call this his esoteric phase. Missing from this Donc boxset, supposedly gathering all of Igor's 70's works, is his Salvatore Dali collaboration from 74, and if I haven't heard it, it's rumoured to sound a bit like the Nagual album and its surrealist soundscapes. As for the closing Let's Start, it is one of his better works. The last two art h closest to Tangerine Dream IMHO.On the boxset and booklet presentation front, there are many infos lacking, like line-ups, the liner notes being weird, esoteric, voluntarily evasive and bizarre and uninformative. The boxset's artwork is somewhat reminiscent of Igor's debut album Logos. The six discs comes in white paper envelopes with a number (fortunately chronologically sequenced) and colours roughly reminiscent of the album's artworks (except notably for the Fous D'Or, which is yellow instead of green). The front artworks are all assembled in one big folded page, but there is not much else. It's not like one would have a choice, though. From my informations, the albums are unavailable separately in CD format, so the boxset might just be the only way to go, unless finding the original vinyls.
Studio Album, 19774.02 | 6 ratings
Nagual (les ailes de la perception)
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
While I may have not appreciated the preceding album Fous D'Or, the least we can say is that Igor's musical aesthetics are definitely not straying from its original path drawn out in the arly part of the decades. In some ways, Nagual is just as unnerving and almost irritating as its predecessor, but at last it doesn't put forward any of that spoken esoteric bull[&*!#] right in your face. Oh yeah sure, there is a Mayan or Meso-American mythology concept (the nighttimes tropical forest artwork of Olivier Legris points to it), but it avoids the ridiculous Christian-related liturgical narratives, incantations and pagan-idol adoration bits encountered in his previous works. The music was created for an experimental theatre group taking residence at the Paris Opera, under the direction of Carolyn Carlson, already responsible for Les Fous D'OrClearly rid of the intrusive vocal interference of the last two albums, Nagual's almost-all instrumental and mainly-electronic music gets all the space it needs to develops its wings and shows its charms, despite letting some room for acoustic instruments interventions (both string instruments and piano). The unconventional vocals are mainly concentrated in a short section of the early musical progression. If there is a haunting shamanic drums sequence that can give you a tribal ambiance, it's followed a bit later by some kind of semi- celtic jig, it sms to lack a clear musical direction, especially when confronting the titles and their sonic contents.
The minimalist piano and electronic drone of Never Poem has a Terry Riley influence that gives an avant-garde flavour that otherwise lacked in many parts throughout the course of the album. However, I'm not exactly sure how this all relates to the semi-Chinese and semi- medieval acoustic string device used in Smile Of The Wolf piece to the supposedly Mayan mythology, but the Tangerine Dream-like synth layers of the closing Chirakan piece is not really Meso-American-sounding either.
A vast improvement of its predecessor, Nagual is still a very intriguing concept (well matter of speech, really), precisely because it doesn't have any logical explanation to the conceptual soundscapes, but then again, not everything needs explaining. One of his better later albums, this is also one of his less-logical one as well, despite not straying from his general musical quest.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
While I may have not appreciated the preceding album Fous D'Or, the least we can say is that Igor's musical aesthetics are definitely not straying from its original path drawn out in the arly part of the decades. In some ways, Nagual is just as unnerving and almost irritating as its predecessor, but at last it doesn't put forward any of that spoken esoteric bull[&*!#] right in your face. Oh yeah sure, there is a Mayan or Meso-American mythology concept (the nighttimes tropical forest artwork of Olivier Legris points to it), but it avoids the ridiculous Christian-related liturgical narratives, incantations and pagan-idol adoration bits encountered in his previous works. The music was created for an experimental theatre group taking residence at the Paris Opera, under the direction of Carolyn Carlson, already responsible for Les Fous D'OrClearly rid of the intrusive vocal interference of the last two albums, Nagual's almost-all instrumental and mainly-electronic music gets all the space it needs to develops its wings and shows its charms, despite letting some room for acoustic instruments interventions (both string instruments and piano). The unconventional vocals are mainly concentrated in a short section of the early musical progression. If there is a haunting shamanic drums sequence that can give you a tribal ambiance, it's followed a bit later by some kind of semi- celtic jig, it sms to lack a clear musical direction, especially when confronting the titles and their sonic contents.The minimalist piano and electronic drone of Never Poem has a Terry Riley influence that gives an avant-garde flavour that otherwise lacked in many parts throughout the course of the album. However, I'm not exactly sure how this all relates to the semi-Chinese and semi- medieval acoustic string device used in Smile Of The Wolf piece to the supposedly Mayan mythology, but the Tangerine Dream-like synth layers of the closing Chirakan piece is not really Meso-American-sounding either.
A vast improvement of its predecessor, Nagual is still a very intriguing concept (well matter of speech, really), precisely because it doesn't have any logical explanation to the conceptual soundscapes, but then again, not everything needs explaining. One of his better later albums, this is also one of his less-logical one as well, despite not straying from his general musical quest.
Studio Album, 19743.13 | 8 ratings
Les Fous D'or
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
Fourth and very schizophrenic album, Les Fous d'Or is again in Igor's logical musical continuity, going more experimental, but keeping a lugubrious doll-related esoteric/religious concept, that I won't even bother understand and explain. Figure it out for yourselves, but the artwork his from his brother George. Just know that the project was coupled with a dance choreography under Carolyn Carlson's direction.Opening on some kitschy French-spoken narrative, the Cornerstone side features some lengthy soothing and cosmic electronic soundscapes, interrupted by dumb liturgical mass lectures. A while later, one has to "suffer" some Devil's Trill violin lines with some agonizing diva (Eva Brenner) yodels, rendering the listening particularly difficult if you're afraid of ridiculous and sinister rising-from-the-dead ambiances. The Fous D'Or flipside is not much easier, because the agonizing diva hasn't croaked yet and she's billing overtime hours on your brains' patience budget. Even the 'tronic soundscapes are patience-grinding and are fast eroding it, especially once the newborn cries, loony laughter and clown-horns are spilling from your speakers.
To be honest, this is easily Igor's lesser and more ridiculous work, mixing French narratives and declamations with English titles. To think it took two years for Igor to generate such nonsense is actually just as mind-boggling as the music is, but this is not a positive thought. Best forgotten if you ask me, but you might not have a choice in avoiding it, because it comes in the 6-discs Don boxset, but no doubt it will stay at the bottom of the box.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
Fourth and very schizophrenic album, Les Fous d'Or is again in Igor's logical musical continuity, going more experimental, but keeping a lugubrious doll-related esoteric/religious concept, that I won't even bother understand and explain. Figure it out for yourselves, but the artwork his from his brother George. Just know that the project was coupled with a dance choreography under Carolyn Carlson's direction.Opening on some kitschy French-spoken narrative, the Cornerstone side features some lengthy soothing and cosmic electronic soundscapes, interrupted by dumb liturgical mass lectures. A while later, one has to "suffer" some Devil's Trill violin lines with some agonizing diva (Eva Brenner) yodels, rendering the listening particularly difficult if you're afraid of ridiculous and sinister rising-from-the-dead ambiances. The Fous D'Or flipside is not much easier, because the agonizing diva hasn't croaked yet and she's billing overtime hours on your brains' patience budget. Even the 'tronic soundscapes are patience-grinding and are fast eroding it, especially once the newborn cries, loony laughter and clown-horns are spilling from your speakers. To be honest, this is easily Igor's lesser and more ridiculous work, mixing French narratives and declamations with English titles. To think it took two years for Igor to generate such nonsense is actually just as mind-boggling as the music is, but this is not a positive thought. Best forgotten if you ask me, but you might not have a choice in avoiding it, because it comes in the 6-discs Don boxset, but no doubt it will stay at the bottom of the box.
Studio Album, 19733.85 | 17 ratings
Hathor
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
Third Igor album in so many years, and this on brings yet another dimension, without straying from his gnarl musical aesthetics. We're still dealing with an electronic-sprinkled classical modern-symphonic canvas, and this time, the French narratives are a lot more present, something roughly useful (yet cheesy and embarrassing, like so many narratives) if you wabnt to make something of the concept album this is. As the album's title suggest, we're dealing with a pre-Roman and pre-christian sects and their related religious mythology, and the afterlife. Roughly, we're dealing with the Egyptian death cults and whatever Satanist bull[&*!#] that ensued in the last two centuries: read, watch and listen to the Lucifer Rising project with Jimmy Page, Bobby Beausoleil and Alistair Crowe links, for another similar example (with some incredibly excellent music. Anyway, this third Hathor album present a bland and blanc artwork, got released Atlantic, but did not feature the Triangle pop group, as its predecessors did. Instead, we find organist Estellet-Brun, Guy Boyer, the Ensemble Polyphonique (this album is much more vocal and lyrical than its predecessors) and the pop group Pachacamac.In some ways, Hathor is Igor's gloomiest album ever, often sinister, but not really scary: actually if you're an atheist, this is pretty laughable. You could imagine a clown-ier or kitschy Shub-Niggurath (for those who know them), but the quality of the music and soundscapes avoid ridicule or pastiche. The nearly-symphonic electronic soundscapes opening the album could have you think of Tangerine Schulze intro with aerial choirs, but soon enough the 'grandiose' narratives pull you in the satan-derived concept, before diving us in the sea of oscillating and pulsing electronic sounds and hypnotizing rhythms of Grand Sabbath and Rituel De Guerre. A bit later, the crowd-rising harangues and the Latin mass incantations are downright silly, and will most-likely make you reach for that ffwd button on your remote control, past the first few listens. Once the music returns, we still have to deal with dronal choirs, but the sinister farce has stopped, to leave a haunting soundscape of Amenthi, but it overstays its welcome. Howling owls greet you in the night-ending dawn (Aurora), with some soothing liturgical organ.
A thankfully fairly-short album Hathor might have gained somewhat from being a wordless concept and maybe gain a few more instrumental passages. Indeed past these doubtful conceptual meanderings, we're left with a very groundbreaking electronic soundscape album that can only impress the historically-conscious music-heads. Too bad this would- be masterpiece of an album is littered with esoteric junk, though.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
Third Igor album in so many years, and this on brings yet another dimension, without straying from his gnarl musical aesthetics. We're still dealing with an electronic-sprinkled classical modern-symphonic canvas, and this time, the French narratives are a lot more present, something roughly useful (yet cheesy and embarrassing, like so many narratives) if you wabnt to make something of the concept album this is. As the album's title suggest, we're dealing with a pre-Roman and pre-christian sects and their related religious mythology, and the afterlife. Roughly, we're dealing with the Egyptian death cults and whatever Satanist bull[&*!#] that ensued in the last two centuries: read, watch and listen to the Lucifer Rising project with Jimmy Page, Bobby Beausoleil and Alistair Crowe links, for another similar example (with some incredibly excellent music. Anyway, this third Hathor album present a bland and blanc artwork, got released Atlantic, but did not feature the Triangle pop group, as its predecessors did. Instead, we find organist Estellet-Brun, Guy Boyer, the Ensemble Polyphonique (this album is much more vocal and lyrical than its predecessors) and the pop group Pachacamac.In some ways, Hathor is Igor's gloomiest album ever, often sinister, but not really scary: actually if you're an atheist, this is pretty laughable. You could imagine a clown-ier or kitschy Shub-Niggurath (for those who know them), but the quality of the music and soundscapes avoid ridicule or pastiche. The nearly-symphonic electronic soundscapes opening the album could have you think of Tangerine Schulze intro with aerial choirs, but soon enough the 'grandiose' narratives pull you in the satan-derived concept, before diving us in the sea of oscillating and pulsing electronic sounds and hypnotizing rhythms of Grand Sabbath and Rituel De Guerre. A bit later, the crowd-rising harangues and the Latin mass incantations are downright silly, and will most-likely make you reach for that ffwd button on your remote control, past the first few listens. Once the music returns, we still have to deal with dronal choirs, but the sinister farce has stopped, to leave a haunting soundscape of Amenthi, but it overstays its welcome. Howling owls greet you in the night-ending dawn (Aurora), with some soothing liturgical organ.A thankfully fairly-short album Hathor might have gained somewhat from being a wordless concept and maybe gain a few more instrumental passages. Indeed past these doubtful conceptual meanderings, we're left with a very groundbreaking electronic soundscape album that can only impress the historically-conscious music-heads. Too bad this would- be masterpiece of an album is littered with esoteric junk, though.
Studio Album, 19713.97 | 16 ratings
Docteur Faust
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
Second Igor album, also released on the Pathé major label, Dr Faust doesn't need much an explanation about its conceptual content, and musically, it's fairly well in the logical continuity of his debut album. Like its predecessor Logos, Dr Faust also features the pop- rock group Triangle, but this time the presence of the group is a lot more important and noticeable. Armed with a sinister but proggy artwork, it's also one of Igor's more sombre affair, but maybe the most accessible for rock crowds. Opening on a kitsch male multi-echoed narration that will turn into spoken female chants and choirs at later stages in the musical concept, Aimentation quickly turn to hypnotic drums and drones along with spacey chants and cosmic noises (keys and guitars). The transition in to the three-part Materia Prima piece is hard to discern, but signalled by Fournier's bass solo. Once the cosmic rock slowly segues away, the music veers to a modern classical symphonic mode, with a full orchestra that should have most Stravinsky, Mussorgsky or Prokofiev fans on the edge of their seat. Whispering vocals open an insanity phase, where illogical musical events reigns supreme, before string-scraping howling spaceship reactors bring you back to hell. Eau Ardente is no less weird with its religious incantations accompanied by firecracker percussions over electronic drones and foghorns.
Gentle harpsichord arpeggios open the Ténèbres piece, before plunging into the Walpurgis gloomy meanders. More harpsichords, this time segueing in wild electric guitar parts and other psychedelic freak outs traits draw you well beyond the most extreme GonG twiddles in the Matines and Licornes pieces. The closing Sang Pourpres ends the album in a more austere fashion, but no-less freaky soundscapes (including flying bullets) scrap their way into your now-numb brains, until its abrupt and unexpected end.
Please note that if you're familiar with Triangle's pop-rock discography, you'd have a hard time recognizing the same band. One can only dream about what the band would've achieved had they been more artistically ambitious rather than commercially ambitious. Definitely Igor's best suited entry point for rock crowds, Dr Faust is an amazing album that deserves at listen an investigation from every adventurous music freak.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
Second Igor album, also released on the Pathé major label, Dr Faust doesn't need much an explanation about its conceptual content, and musically, it's fairly well in the logical continuity of his debut album. Like its predecessor Logos, Dr Faust also features the pop- rock group Triangle, but this time the presence of the group is a lot more important and noticeable. Armed with a sinister but proggy artwork, it's also one of Igor's more sombre affair, but maybe the most accessible for rock crowds. Opening on a kitsch male multi-echoed narration that will turn into spoken female chants and choirs at later stages in the musical concept, Aimentation quickly turn to hypnotic drums and drones along with spacey chants and cosmic noises (keys and guitars). The transition in to the three-part Materia Prima piece is hard to discern, but signalled by Fournier's bass solo. Once the cosmic rock slowly segues away, the music veers to a modern classical symphonic mode, with a full orchestra that should have most Stravinsky, Mussorgsky or Prokofiev fans on the edge of their seat. Whispering vocals open an insanity phase, where illogical musical events reigns supreme, before string-scraping howling spaceship reactors bring you back to hell. Eau Ardente is no less weird with its religious incantations accompanied by firecracker percussions over electronic drones and foghorns.Gentle harpsichord arpeggios open the Ténèbres piece, before plunging into the Walpurgis gloomy meanders. More harpsichords, this time segueing in wild electric guitar parts and other psychedelic freak outs traits draw you well beyond the most extreme GonG twiddles in the Matines and Licornes pieces. The closing Sang Pourpres ends the album in a more austere fashion, but no-less freaky soundscapes (including flying bullets) scrap their way into your now-numb brains, until its abrupt and unexpected end.
Please note that if you're familiar with Triangle's pop-rock discography, you'd have a hard time recognizing the same band. One can only dream about what the band would've achieved had they been more artistically ambitious rather than commercially ambitious. Definitely Igor's best suited entry point for rock crowds, Dr Faust is an amazing album that deserves at listen an investigation from every adventurous music freak.
Studio Album, 19704.22 | 15 ratings
Logos
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
An Olivier Messiaen pupil, Igor is one of the more esoteric artistes of the French 70's, with his legendary six avant-garde (almost musique concrète) albums, of which Logos is the first. This first project was actually the music for a modern ballet of Schmuki to be performd at the Avignon Festival of that same year. Oddly enough, despite the highly experimental nature of his music, all six albums of his were released on major labels, but I doubt that they hardly exposed to the mainstream public. His debut was released on the Pathé major label (for France, anyway) and featured an "atomic or molecular artwork, on top of also gusting the entire Triangle pop-rock group (also on the Pathé label) as a back up band. Opening on a very 2001 Space Odyssey piece with eerie choirs and electronic music that could be labelled as "concrete", Ergon gives a good idea of Igor's fascination and fixation. The following piece describing the three reigns (Mineral-Vegetal and Animal) is no less abstract a description, when one could've imagined more organic soundscapes. Only sporadic drumming holds you back from sliding into insanity. If you can imagine Floyd's studio disc of Umma Gumma soundscapes on acid, you're getting close to Igor's fantasies. The HS Ignorabimus is closer to a space rock with a classical violin. The following Initiation (cut in two parts for time constraint reasons on the vinyl) is no more accessible, resembling to some bizarre sect initiation done by a drugged out shaman. The album-longest Danse Sacrale is definitely where you hear that Igor was thinking "rock" as well, because you finally get the full Triangl group for a few minutes, with Jeanneau's piano, Lorenzini's guitar and Fournier's bass on top of Prévotat's drums. They sound a bit like a cross of Magma and the future Art Zoyd band. The short closing Omega piece is an extremely doomy rock piece as well.
Please note that if you're familiar with Triangle's pop-rock discography, you'd have a hard time recognizing the same band. One can only dream about what the band would've achieved had they been more artistically ambitious rather than commercially ambitious. Anyway, Igor's Logos is a highly-lauded experimental affair, but it is mostly bound to remain in the shadow of obscurity. I guess the present album would b vn more interesting when viewing the ballet it came with, but it doesn't hurt the music if it stands alone.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Sean Trane
Collaborator Prog Folk
An Olivier Messiaen pupil, Igor is one of the more esoteric artistes of the French 70's, with his legendary six avant-garde (almost musique concrète) albums, of which Logos is the first. This first project was actually the music for a modern ballet of Schmuki to be performd at the Avignon Festival of that same year. Oddly enough, despite the highly experimental nature of his music, all six albums of his were released on major labels, but I doubt that they hardly exposed to the mainstream public. His debut was released on the Pathé major label (for France, anyway) and featured an "atomic or molecular artwork, on top of also gusting the entire Triangle pop-rock group (also on the Pathé label) as a back up band. Opening on a very 2001 Space Odyssey piece with eerie choirs and electronic music that could be labelled as "concrete", Ergon gives a good idea of Igor's fascination and fixation. The following piece describing the three reigns (Mineral-Vegetal and Animal) is no less abstract a description, when one could've imagined more organic soundscapes. Only sporadic drumming holds you back from sliding into insanity. If you can imagine Floyd's studio disc of Umma Gumma soundscapes on acid, you're getting close to Igor's fantasies. The HS Ignorabimus is closer to a space rock with a classical violin. The following Initiation (cut in two parts for time constraint reasons on the vinyl) is no more accessible, resembling to some bizarre sect initiation done by a drugged out shaman. The album-longest Danse Sacrale is definitely where you hear that Igor was thinking "rock" as well, because you finally get the full Triangl group for a few minutes, with Jeanneau's piano, Lorenzini's guitar and Fournier's bass on top of Prévotat's drums. They sound a bit like a cross of Magma and the future Art Zoyd band. The short closing Omega piece is an extremely doomy rock piece as well.Please note that if you're familiar with Triangle's pop-rock discography, you'd have a hard time recognizing the same band. One can only dream about what the band would've achieved had they been more artistically ambitious rather than commercially ambitious. Anyway, Igor's Logos is a highly-lauded experimental affair, but it is mostly bound to remain in the shadow of obscurity. I guess the present album would b vn more interesting when viewing the ballet it came with, but it doesn't hurt the music if it stands alone.
Studio Album, 19774.02 | 6 ratings
Nagual (les ailes de la perception)
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by colorofmoney91
Prog Reviewer
One of the things that I absolutely love about Igor Wakhevitch is his tendency for eclecticism. On any one of his albums, you are guaranteed a listening experience that incorporates at least a few different elements - electronic music, choral singing and/or chanting, beautiful strings, tribal percussion, etc. - and these elements are found either playing solo or all together in a mash-up of confused and beautiful sound. Nagual (Les ailes de la perception) is no different an experience.This album, like Let's Start, has a strong leaning towards Wakhevitch's more beautiful side with tracks like "Never Poem for the Other", "The Smile of the Wolf on the Bench", "Beginning of Peter's Journey", which feature bouncy and cheerful playing of acoustic piano or guitar. In my opinion, the hopefulness of these tracks overpower the darker, brooding tracks such as the title track, the two "In the Nagual's Time" tracks, and "Spenta Aramati", which all have a typical electro-acoustic sound but with Wakhevitch's unmistakable touch. Unfortunately, these electro-acoustic tracks just don't have as great a punch as similar works on Wakhevitch's previous albums.
The tracks that stand out to me the most, besides the beautiful acoustic instrumental tracks that I've mentioned, would be "Hunapuguch" which is mainly steady mid-paced tribal percussion with a flowing drone in the background and feels quite brooding and mischievous and really gets the ritual feeling across that Wakhevitch has always been so great at, and "Cinderella" is a wonderful short interlude that take the acoustic instrument approach as before (this time with a music-box type of instrument) and adds a subtle electronic popping/crackling that all comes together to make a pleasantly creepy track. The album ends on it's best track, the symphonic and cinematic 8-minute long "Chirakan-Ixmucane", which is nearly entirely electronic save for a few moody string parts, but the synths are very much the focus of this adventure. As much as this track is great and a standout for this album and in Wakhevitch's discography, it's a bit too cosmic sounding considering the tribal and acoustic tone set by all of this album's previous tracks. Regardless, very well done and quite an enjoyable track.
A Nagual is the Mesoamerican folk name for what is now commonly called a shapeshifter, and the French portion of this album's title translates to "The Wings of Perception" (Naguals, as folk tells it, commonly took form as turkeys for whatever reason). I have no idea what this has to do with the music on this album, but I suppose if you sincerely want to try to string together imagery in your head of supernatural Mesoamerican turkeys, ultimately ascending into space, then this is the fuel for such imagination. Nagual (les ailes de la perception), in my opinion, plays out like a very "Peter and the Wolf" type of long-form composition that would possibly benefit from an accompanying written story-line or possibly even narration.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by colorofmoney91
Prog Reviewer
One of the things that I absolutely love about Igor Wakhevitch is his tendency for eclecticism. On any one of his albums, you are guaranteed a listening experience that incorporates at least a few different elements - electronic music, choral singing and/or chanting, beautiful strings, tribal percussion, etc. - and these elements are found either playing solo or all together in a mash-up of confused and beautiful sound. Nagual (Les ailes de la perception) is no different an experience.This album, like Let's Start, has a strong leaning towards Wakhevitch's more beautiful side with tracks like "Never Poem for the Other", "The Smile of the Wolf on the Bench", "Beginning of Peter's Journey", which feature bouncy and cheerful playing of acoustic piano or guitar. In my opinion, the hopefulness of these tracks overpower the darker, brooding tracks such as the title track, the two "In the Nagual's Time" tracks, and "Spenta Aramati", which all have a typical electro-acoustic sound but with Wakhevitch's unmistakable touch. Unfortunately, these electro-acoustic tracks just don't have as great a punch as similar works on Wakhevitch's previous albums.The tracks that stand out to me the most, besides the beautiful acoustic instrumental tracks that I've mentioned, would be "Hunapuguch" which is mainly steady mid-paced tribal percussion with a flowing drone in the background and feels quite brooding and mischievous and really gets the ritual feeling across that Wakhevitch has always been so great at, and "Cinderella" is a wonderful short interlude that take the acoustic instrument approach as before (this time with a music-box type of instrument) and adds a subtle electronic popping/crackling that all comes together to make a pleasantly creepy track. The album ends on it's best track, the symphonic and cinematic 8-minute long "Chirakan-Ixmucane", which is nearly entirely electronic save for a few moody string parts, but the synths are very much the focus of this adventure. As much as this track is great and a standout for this album and in Wakhevitch's discography, it's a bit too cosmic sounding considering the tribal and acoustic tone set by all of this album's previous tracks. Regardless, very well done and quite an enjoyable track.
A Nagual is the Mesoamerican folk name for what is now commonly called a shapeshifter, and the French portion of this album's title translates to "The Wings of Perception" (Naguals, as folk tells it, commonly took form as turkeys for whatever reason). I have no idea what this has to do with the music on this album, but I suppose if you sincerely want to try to string together imagery in your head of supernatural Mesoamerican turkeys, ultimately ascending into space, then this is the fuel for such imagination. Nagual (les ailes de la perception), in my opinion, plays out like a very "Peter and the Wolf" type of long-form composition that would possibly benefit from an accompanying written story-line or possibly even narration.
Studio Album, 19733.85 | 17 ratings
Hathor
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Guldbamsen
Collaborator Prog Electronic, Psych/Space, New Bands
Inside the pyramidThis is a strange beast to say the least, and should probably be approached with caution. I mean, it feels like two different albums decided to work together, and out of this rather peculiar meeting came the weird and schizophrenic anomaly: Hathor.
Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of love, music and beauty - and bearing that in mind - projecting images of pyramids, solar devotion, high priests, magic and wonder, - then this album just might work for you, because most people will probably need some kind of help getting through the mystical and slightly avant garde world of Igor Wakhevitch.
This album is two faced like I said earlier, and on one hand you´ve got a hypnotic and trance inducing electronic Zeuhl music, that reminds me of both Art Zoyd´s Berlin and Popol Vuh´s In den Gärten Pharaos. You know that staccato and tribal percussion - building and building, sounding like music should to a 20th century Indian Shaman - accompanied by some spooky frog-like synthwork that jumps rhythmically every now and again. -On the other hand half of this album contains what can only be described as an evil ritualistic mass - done with electronics and various ominous sounding choir voices. These shift from deep bellowing chanting monks to operatic and dramatic sequences as well as spoken word poetry and whispering voices casting long forgotten spells.
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde you say? Not entirely, but the outer extremes of both these sonic personalities are thankfully interwoven in Wakhevitch´s completely original way of creating atmospheres through electronics. All the pieces are soaked in all kinds of synths and moogs, but you certainly won´t hear a keyboard solo - what he does is more like laying down a foundation of brooding and evocative surfaces - sounding like he´s summoning magic overhead the majestic presence of the Sphinx. At other times he merely adds colour and juice to the tracks through noises and bleeps, which range from underground moog burps to what sounds like electronic frantic grasshoppers, cockroaches and buzzing robotic flies - all weaving about in ecstasy.
I was listening to this during a power cut just an hour ago, and I finally saw the light inside my darkened apartment. The goddess of love didn´t exactly descend from her solar empire, but I did imagine all these wonderful images of an Egyptian death mass from the insides of a holy temple of stone with beautiful brown women wearing gold - moving like serpents, High priestesses with red feline eyes and a large gathering of devotional followers all chanting along with the powerful electronic orchestra banging away to the far right of the enormous altar of Hathor.
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Guldbamsen
Collaborator Prog Electronic, Psych/Space, New Bands
Inside the pyramidThis is a strange beast to say the least, and should probably be approached with caution. I mean, it feels like two different albums decided to work together, and out of this rather peculiar meeting came the weird and schizophrenic anomaly: Hathor.Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of love, music and beauty - and bearing that in mind - projecting images of pyramids, solar devotion, high priests, magic and wonder, - then this album just might work for you, because most people will probably need some kind of help getting through the mystical and slightly avant garde world of Igor Wakhevitch.
This album is two faced like I said earlier, and on one hand you´ve got a hypnotic and trance inducing electronic Zeuhl music, that reminds me of both Art Zoyd´s Berlin and Popol Vuh´s In den Gärten Pharaos. You know that staccato and tribal percussion - building and building, sounding like music should to a 20th century Indian Shaman - accompanied by some spooky frog-like synthwork that jumps rhythmically every now and again. -On the other hand half of this album contains what can only be described as an evil ritualistic mass - done with electronics and various ominous sounding choir voices. These shift from deep bellowing chanting monks to operatic and dramatic sequences as well as spoken word poetry and whispering voices casting long forgotten spells.
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde you say? Not entirely, but the outer extremes of both these sonic personalities are thankfully interwoven in Wakhevitch´s completely original way of creating atmospheres through electronics. All the pieces are soaked in all kinds of synths and moogs, but you certainly won´t hear a keyboard solo - what he does is more like laying down a foundation of brooding and evocative surfaces - sounding like he´s summoning magic overhead the majestic presence of the Sphinx. At other times he merely adds colour and juice to the tracks through noises and bleeps, which range from underground moog burps to what sounds like electronic frantic grasshoppers, cockroaches and buzzing robotic flies - all weaving about in ecstasy.
I was listening to this during a power cut just an hour ago, and I finally saw the light inside my darkened apartment. The goddess of love didn´t exactly descend from her solar empire, but I did imagine all these wonderful images of an Egyptian death mass from the insides of a holy temple of stone with beautiful brown women wearing gold - moving like serpents, High priestesses with red feline eyes and a large gathering of devotional followers all chanting along with the powerful electronic orchestra banging away to the far right of the enormous altar of Hathor.
Studio Album, 19733.85 | 17 ratings
Hathor
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Bonnek
Special Collaborator Prog Metal & Heavy Prog Teams
Wakhevitch's 3rd album makes a decisive turn towards progressive electronic territory. Hailing from 1973 it is quite unique, different from Schulze and Tangerine Dream as it emphasis avant-garde composition and theatricality over improvisation and cosmic exploration. It's still quite spacey but in general it rather reminds me of the avant-garde works from Vangelis.A strong opener 'Hymne' makes for an epic and disconcerting opener for synths and chorus. At the end, French recited 'poetry' make this track quite pedantic and a bit cheesy actually. It's a common problem with all Wakhevitch releases I've heard. Luckily the compositions remain at a high level throughout, exploring new forms as well as sounds. Like many avant works, it makes this the sort of music that I do enjoy very much at an intellectual level but that I find difficult to connect to on an emotional/intuitive level.- www.progarchives.com
Igor Wakhevitch Progressive Electronic
Review by Bonnek
Special Collaborator Prog Metal & Heavy Prog Teams
Wakhevitch's 3rd album makes a decisive turn towards progressive electronic territory. Hailing from 1973 it is quite unique, different from Schulze and Tangerine Dream as it emphasis avant-garde composition and theatricality over improvisation and cosmic exploration. It's still quite spacey but in general it rather reminds me of the avant-garde works from Vangelis.A strong opener 'Hymne' makes for an epic and disconcerting opener for synths and chorus. At the end, French recited 'poetry' make this track quite pedantic and a bit cheesy actually. It's a common problem with all Wakhevitch releases I've heard. Luckily the compositions remain at a high level throughout, exploring new forms as well as sounds. Like many avant works, it makes this the sort of music that I do enjoy very much at an intellectual level but that I find difficult to connect to on an emotional/intuitive level.- www.progarchives.com
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