BACK TO ORION

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC (Russia) At last I am holding a new outing by Mac & FaBIO in my hands! Let's see if the results are worth the wait. "Return To Earth" starts with resonating bells and fat synth pad. This is pretty haunting stuff. Soon a terrific sequence arrives, making this short opener a true Berlin School gem. The track's got anthemic qualities, too, especially once the drums come in. One can see how BIOnighT's sound has evolved from their previous efforts released several years ago. The music has become more powerful but at the same time crystalline-clear. "Sinus Iridum" has reflective harp-like sequence coupled with cello leads. This is almost Classical music in its scope and feel. What a surprise and what a great track it is! All textures are organic and / or sampled and yet everything is arranged like an EM piece. Subtle synthetic bass pulses can be heard that do not, however, interfere with the flow of this acoustic-sounding number. Everything then stops abruptly as we are left in a windswept landscape. Bass drum beats a couple of times and then goes away. Strange sounds like electronic flies swarm around the stereo spectrum. The bass drum pattern constantly repeats until a relaxed section supported by a steady drum rhythm appears. Is that the theremin I hear? At least it sounds like it. Excellent, moody music! If you like epic EM (and I mean epic in the sense of Symphonic Rock) then you must listen to this! "Floating Thoughts" begins with sparse melancholic notes. After a while some fat synth pads appear. What a reflective track, this one. Although "Back To Orion" is a collective work, this particular track was composed entirely by FaBIO with some contributions from Mac. A tinkling sequence appears towards the end, never really becoming a mainstay, the track remaining essentially an atmospheric number. "Moon Rocks" (excellent title for an EM track!) starts with strange sounds as if multiple balls are jumping off the floor. However, this one turns out to be the "pop single" of the album. Ok, I don't mean pop music of course, but this track is perhaps as catchy and "easy-listening" as BIOnighT gets. Seriously, you can even whistle along to it! It's a good song that somehow reminds me on an updated version of French band Space. Excellent work with sound here, the guys really managed to fill all the stereo space, resulting in the music sounding very intense, but at the same time open-ended, not compressed as is often the case with recent releases. The next track is "Little Gravity", composed entirely by Mac. What can I say? Sequences galore would be the description of it! Excellent, excellent pulsations, and that unmistakable "classic EM" feel. Pure cosmic power! Sorry, been away just enjoying the GORGEOUS sequences on this track! In stark contrast, "Falling" surprises with an aggressive sequence, heavy drums and excellent echoey analogue leads. Very evocative of its title! By now it is quite clear that "Back To Orion" is one of the best (if not the best) releases of 2007. At least in my book, it will be right up there with the top ones! But wait, there's one (long) track left, called "Ride On the Moon". Abstract sounds give way for a bass sequence. It is then joined by various synth sounds and Mellotron choir. This track has a rather loose structure, akin to mid 1970's Tangerine Dream. Until the upbeat drum rhythm is introduced, that is. After that it turns into some rocky EM with a bite to it that only a couple of Italian guys like Mac and FaBIO could achieve. It all then calms down, leaving us with the sounds of wind and a tolling bell. Synthetic textures then attack us from all sides before calming down again. A pad is heard and a nice relaxed sequence starts. More sequences are added together with one of the tastiest synth solos I've heard! This is some EM to die for! On this album, Mac & FaBIO have created something spectacular: they've showed why Electronic Music is the best genre in the world! Artemi Pugachov To visit this website click HERE

MENNO VON BRUCKEN FOCK (NL) The Italian duo BIOnighT are Mac and Sbrizzi FaBIO, Mac being pretty well known as a solo artist for he has released an impressive number of solo albums already. The title gives us a clue as to what kind of music one might expect: floating and dreaming into space? Not quite. Listening to the disc that's not really the case and I mean that in a very positive sense! The influences of the grandfathers of Electronic Music, Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre and Klaus Schulze can be detected easily throughout this delicious work by the two guys. The opening track reminds of TD from the late seventies, then we hear a gentle Jarre-like piece and the third one is more in a Schulze vein. The track Moon Rocks is a sort of a synthesis between TD and Nova/Peru (relatively well-known acts from and in The Netherlands during the eighties), while the next piece, "Little Gravity," can be compared with TD's music from the time they released "Phaedra" and "Stratosfear". Our journey through space continues with "Falling", a tune characterised by subtle percussion and a nice catchy bass loop as we know it from - for instance - Depeche Mode, therefore slightly in the direction of the ever so popular synthpop. The last and also longest track , over 14 minutes, is built up quite nicely: distant synthesizer sounds make way for sequencer-like themes. With these and high pitched melodies, plus a wide variety of colorful accompanying sounds, BIOnighT create an atmosphere again as TD from the early seventies at their best. In conclusion, I would say this is an excellent release in the "Berlin School" genre, and the best news is that Mac and FaBIO let us re-live "those good old days" without the slightest suspicion of stealing melodies from their sources of inspiration. To visit this website click HERE

Albert Pollard for Aural Innovations (USA) BIOnighT are a two man sound experimentation machine, and collectively, as well as solo, they have been progressively producing and creating excellent electronic synthesized music for nearly a decade now in their native Italy. Sbrizzi FaBIO and Mac, as they are also known, create cinematic soundscapes, here on Back to Orion, reminiscent of those early German pioneers Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Hans Joachim Roedelius, and many more. Back to Orion is their seventh release and it offers seven tracks lasting just over fifty minutes. The sound is ambient in its essence, sequential in its form. It is earthy, spacey, hypnotic and journeying. It flows enchanting, evolving and devolving through frequency and vibration, through time and space, and in my opinion, it is necessary listening for any lover of electronic music. From start to finish, we are immersed in colourful electronics that pump new life and fresh blood back into the veins of the aforementioned pioneers. Each track weaves seamless to the next and each new phase is relevant to the former. The ride is modern and vibrant, energy driven, and powerful, and it spiritually captures, overall, a Cyclone era Tangerine Dream feel, which is executed with craftsmanship, quality and passionate emotion. It is well worth investigation on the part of headphone experimenters and synthesizer adventurers. You will not be disappointed. To visit this website click HERE

Phil Derby - Electroambient Space (USA) After a hiatus of a couple of years, Mac has teamed up again with BIOnighT bandmate Sbrizzi Fabio, with the usual positive outcome. "Return to Earth" is a light bubbly melodic piece that serves to ease the listener gently into the album. "Sinus Iridum" starts with dreamy soft sequencing. A melancholy oboe-like synth plays the melody. A punchy playful bass line brightens things up nicely. Halfway through the mood changes considerably as a more ambient experimental section ensues, quite surprising but no less enjoyable than the rest. "Floating Thoughts" is a cool drifter, darker than the BIOnighT norm but again very good, a nice change of pace. "Moon Rocks" shows the duo's playful side, with unusual fun sound effects at the beginning followed by a soothing pleasant melody and bouncy moderate sequencing; a wonderfully light touch on this one. Equally pleasurable is "Little Gravity," with the flavor of mid-1980s Tangerine Dream but with a style all their own. "Falling" is like good 80s synth pop without the words. "Ride on the Moon" is a great 15-minute sci-fi trip across the lunar surface to bring the disc to a close. To visit this website click HERE