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While mainstream musicians spend all their time readying their image, waiting for someone to notice them, synthesist Jeffrey Koepper has been spending his most productive years working on becoming himself. With mind and instruments working at cross-purposes, the primary function of his album Terrelektra (71"35") seems to be to fascinate the listener. Teeming with vintage gear this album is dense and energetic and in love with the sonics of electronics. With precision, verve and color Koepper realizes nine tracks of sequencer expressions meant for forward thinking and serene contemplation. Pleasurable to consume, Terrelektra wraps the listener in a private cloud of sound. Being meditative does not mean being vague - as layers of synths collude, and patterns of echoing notes energetically spin away in steady mechanized accuracy. Koepper's motoring rhythms cycle, move and add rows - heard individually as a basic pulse, when listened to collectively these notes congeal into an epic kinetic mode of cerebral transport. Also present on Terrelektra are regions full of slow motion synthetic chords. Gently breathing through filtering and processing, these zones offer a welcome dreamy stillness between Koepper's more rhythmic adventures. One of the great things about Electronic Music is that it sometimes produces sparks. Throughout Terrelektra, Koepper effectively acts as both technician and musician - as he harnesses electricity, to produce colors which we cannot see.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 16 June 2016 |
