[engl] This is the reissue of a 1958 album by Henk Badings and Dick Raajmakers (aka Kid Baltan) composers, arrangers, conductors and pioneers in the field of electronic music. The 1968 release „Evolution & contrasts“ contains the same recordings as the 1958 „Electronic music“ album. But what exactly do these nowadays scarce as gold dust albums. Bading and Raajmakers create electronic soundscapes with a rather creepy atmosphere. This stuff is different to the 50s avant garde classic as well as to the more pop oriented electronic albums of the same time. Badings „Capriccio for violin and two sound tracks“ can be seen as strange dialogue with sloping melodies between the violin and unidentifiable electronic devices that gives you goosebumps. It has a rather picturesque approach and might be used for early horror flicks as accompanying music for the horrifying scenes. The amazing fact is that this music still sounds fresh and exciting even nearly six decades after its initial release. The lengthy „Genese“ on the other hand is a lengthy composition of chirping, bubbling and droning sounds swelling and ebbing away in regular intervals. Cosmic music of the highest order. Some sections also feel like an intergalactic information transfer signal of unknown origin. All in all a very spooky and haunting affair. Interesting how electronic music already went back in the late 50s while most people consider the late 60s and early 70s as heydays for electronic experiments and cosmic sounds. Well, here we get to listen to the pioneers of this genre and they really do it well. Raajmakers even had a hand in writing groovy dance compositions when collaborating with Tom Dissevelt. He used the pseudonym Kid Baltan at these occasions. Anyway, this is quite a different thing. This is dark and utterly strange. „Contrasts“ by Raajmakers is a mixture between funny swirling sounds that make you think of a quick tempered discussion between little androids and menacing drones in the back that soon gets interrupted by single blows and hisses with frightening howls far in the back. This is definitely an album for true enthusiasts of strange electronic sounds who even consider early TANGERINE DREAM as fluffy pop music. Far out, folks, far out and therefore just great.

[engl] You would never believe this record to be a relic from a past of electronic music that happened before anybody even spoke about rock music. In 1957 this compilation of electronic and orchestral compositions by the three masterminds Otto Luening, Vladimir Ussachevsky and William Bergsma saw the light of the stars for the first time and has become a cult piece among lovers of electronic space music since then, despite the fact that only the first side features the so called tape compositions of Luening and Ussachevsky from the 50s while Bergsma's lengthy piece from the B side gets performed by a regular orchestra consisting of living beings. You certainly have to lay back and let yourself drift away upon this stream of sound but it is still a very human effort all in all. All instruments are for real and even though this piece of music moves within the narrow borderlines of classic orchestral music patterns, there is a warm and gentle flow of energy pouring out of it and reaching out for your mind. Luening and Ussachevsky on the other hand work with sounds of undefined origin recorded on tape reels which are their main instruments for creating something new out of everything. The result is dark and gloomy. It pulls you away from your earthly existence and drags you out into space to the furthest corners of the cosmos. This is the right music for all lovers of spaced out sounds from the days before the synthesizer. If you love all the late 60s and 70s stuff like early TANGERINE DREAM, KRAFTWERK / ORGANISATION and KLUSTER you will be happy to find these compositions 10-20 years prior being on par with all the newer and now legendary cosmic music acts. This long out of print gem is definitely one of the important steps towards every kind of electronic music that was successful ever since.

[engl] Reissued for the first time! Plus 2 Bonus Tracks! Pierre Henry is most popular among rock fans for his collaboration with the English band SPOOKY TOOTH in 1969 but already had a great reputation as composer and performer in the field of modern classics, musique concrète and pioneering electronic avant garde. And so it is obvious that there have been quite a few albums by him and in cooperation with other artists not necessarily from the field of music. This record at hand dates back to 1958 and has been issued in an utterly limited quantity of 333 copies which nowadays go for 400,00+ EUROS among collectors. It features sound contributions by Pierre Henry, spoken word performances by popular French actors Michel Vitold and Silvia Montfort basing on two texts by fellow actor and singer Claude Pascal. It can be rather seen as an audio book than a regular music record backed with sounds. And the musical part of this album is even quite intense with a haunting atmosphere. If you understand French fairly well it will certainly bring you even more joy. This is a haunting affair, droning and disturbing at times. The drone music, the musique concrète shows the roots of what should become cosmic music in the late 60s and early 70s performed mostly by artists such as TANGERINE DREAM. And indeed there are a few moments here that remind me of the classic „Zeit“ double album by Edgar Froese and his mates. You have to engage in this record if you want to really enjoy it for this is just utterly strange. A sound experiment, a twisted and creepy manifestation of weird thoughts in something that is loosely connected to music. A challenge for sure. But if you love the obscure and have a heart for avant garde music you are welcome to this first ever reissue of a long time vanished record.