Javi Canovas – In this moment, in this place

3 reviews for Javi Canovas – In this moment, in this place

1. 

   Phil Derby / Electroambient Space – 2022-11-22

   This live improvised recording without computers, overdubs, or edits is the pinnacle so far in Javi Canovas brief EM career.

   In This Moment, In This Place truly captures the essence of the magic that can happen in this genre when everything comes together just right. The music is classic Berlin school, constantly on the move, going through definitive changes every few minutes, each section seemingly better than the one preceding it. After some bubbly atmospheric space music for a couple of minutes the first sequencing fades in, along with an understated but very effective synth lead.
   The music evolves just right, with hypnotic sequences layering over the top of one another. Next they gradually get stripped away one by one, ebbing into a dreamy passage of space music around 12:00 into it. At 16:00 or so, the next sequence gradually fades in, a low percolating bass line. Mellotron flutes add just the right touch, followed by dizzying sequences that take things to Redshift-like levels of intensity. And so it goes, alternating dramatic, climactic highs with cool, chilled-out lows. My favorite section may be the terrific Teutonics starting just past the 35:00 mark, but its all good great, in fact.

   Retro EM doesnt get any better than this.

   2010. Phil Derby / Electroambient Space

2. 

   Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness – 2022-11-22

   Fans of retro Berlin School, here is a whole surprise. Recorded live and delivers overdubs, remixes or edits, In This Moment, In This place is a long improvised musical piece which is the most beautiful example of an artist symbiosis between his emotions and his gears. A tour de force, done without the use of PC, for an artist who is alone on stage and which the creative conception is faultless, quite as the final result.

   A slow wave-like intro with a very extraterrestrial sound approach opens this long epic title of 71 minutes. An intro to sound strangeness where lapping and reverberations form a sinister curve which switches around into a soft synthesized approach of which beams sweep the sound horizon of its soft circular strata. A first hopping sequence appears from this eclectic intro. It dances among this synth to tones very Jarrian (Calypso 3) of which breaths wriggle on a fine line of bass which build another fatter sequence, hammering an embryonic rhythmic. Heavy, the musical world of Javi Canovas is. And In This Moment, In This Place is targeting pretty well in it, with the inversion of this 2nd sequence which draws a weighty pace shaping a slow rhythm, pummeled by its weight and streaked with distant synthesized blows which filter some brief solos. A pace which diminishes under oblong rumbling strata, before embracing the soft night-spheres filled of synths that prowl as the eye of robotics Cyclops. We are in the 14th minute and the musical concept of In This Moment, In This Place evolves in subtlety with loud vigorous passages that cross atmospheric moments, stuffed of heterogeneous tones. At around the16th minute, the Spanish synthesist brings us into a sequential fury equal to Tangerine Dream great moments (Encore and Stratosfear are), with powerful sequences to almighty explosive doubloons which modulate an untimely pace. A cadence that runs at high speed, trapped in a thick cloud of mellotron breaths where synth tortuous solos fly over a stormy and explosive passage which will ease 10 minutes later under a morphic hold where laments, rippling stripes and ethereal ambiance dominate this long ambient passage which quietly wakes up with crashing sequences the 35th minute spot.
   This passage is doubtless the cornerstone of In This Moment, In This Place with its hybrid sequences which whirl in every corner of their tones, creating a torrent rain of intermingle cadences mixed in surprising harmonies coming out of these rhythmic striking and from discreet synths which hum in an attractive anonymity. Gradually, the movement becomes heavier and brings us into a ceaseless rhythmic whirlwind where fragmentary melodies appear without a warning, clearing a path towards a meander sequential of a variance rhythmic at once muddled and coherent. Some great sequential art which runs out at around the 50th minute spot, going away towards another ambient passage. This lifelessness lasts only the time needs to catch our breathe, because a heavy wobbling march awakens the tempo with a caustic bass line and flickered sequences which flutter in a foggy metallic disorder and mellotroned by a synth to brief ethereal interludes. A roaring finale which takes back the reverberating heavinesss which punctuate this album of an infinite rhythmic variance, before lighting off into the intriguing limbos that opened the introduction of Javi Canovas 7th opus.Exploding of rhythms as unpredictable as diversify, In This Moment, In This Place is a fabulous exercise in style where Javi Canovas spreads all his knowledge for furious sequential movements.

   In This Moment, In This Place is to contemporary EM what Tangerine Dreams Encore is to 70s EM. A mighty, creative and powerfully unexpected album which amazes to each strike of listen. An inescapable for fans of retro Berlin School to heavy and intuitive sequencers. A very good, but very good album which is amply worth its purchase.

   2010. Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness

3. 

   DFL – 2022-11-22

   This disc is a bit special- my favorite release from 2009. It is one long 70 minute track but with many different sections. It was recorded live but you would never know it, sounding like a wonderfully crafted studio album of all new music.

   Fizzing electronics give way to the first sequence and even at this stage the quality shines through. It is rather melodic, bouncing along beautifully. A second sequence nestles with the first perfectly as a gorgeous slow lead hovers above the pulsations. Yet another sequence comes in, packing quite a punch, the melody swelling in response. The sequences then build to such amazingly powerful proportions, diving this way and that. Just turn up the volume and make the ground shake. This is absolutely awesome stuff. In the twelfth minute things subside to a rather spooky section lasting just a couple of minutes before another earthquake of a sequence bursts through, full of rumbling bass and enormous energy.
   Things are softened slightly by a contrasting flutey lead line and whooshing effects. A higher register sequence enters flying over it all, the initial sequence storming back creating even more wonderful mayhem than before. Very gradually the intensity subsides only to return again in wave after wave. By the twenty sixth minute we are given time to get our breath back, relaxing in the beautiful gentle pads. A fizzing lead adds a little detail before things become really deep then rather stormy. Javi has already shown us what he can do with power sequencing, now he shows us that he is also an expert at atmospheric descriptive music.
   The images that come to my mind are of a rather strange rainforest. A slow pulse can be heard, as if something is awakening. A brace of playful sequences change the mood once more, like rays of bright light twinkling through the canopy above. The tone is optimistic and the pace fast. The sequences start to surge, gaining power all the time, sounding like a crackling raging fire. This section then changes in character once more as yet another sequence / melodic loop is thrown in the brew, like a giant crushing all before it- absolutely amazing. There are so many elements to each section, every one fitting perfectly with the whole. Things start to subside as a single slow lead settles over it all like some vast hand smothering all beneath it. We then get another gentle interlude, this time with lovely solo piano. Its really quite tender stuff, softening us up nicely for the next sequential barrage. It starts off simply enough with a sturdy twangy sequence, a second rapid one darting in and out of the pulsations like a wasp around a picnic table but then as more and more roller coaster sequences and mellotron are introduced we are once again in the middle of another blistering turbo charged wall of sound.

   Pure Berlin School Heaven! If you are into sequencer music this album is simply essential.

   2010. DFL