Ken Martin Transparent Shadows Play:   56K Dialup   Broadband   Download:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track 'Transparent Shadows')

CDR / 1 track / 38.19 mins

Well, let's get the negative out of the way to start off with. This is a rather short album. One artist recently gave me a very hard time when I commented that his CD (even shorter than this) wasn't long enough for us. He informed me in no uncertain way that I should be looking at quality rather than quantity. The trouble with that argument however is that quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive. It is possible to have both and given the option that is what I would like. Anyway, I have tried to moderate the price a little to compensate for the running time as what we do have here is certainly excellent Berlin School inspired stuff.

A gentle reverberating melodic hum acts as a base over which a lead, that wouldn't have been out of place on Klaus Schulze's 'Blackdance', gently floats. Lovely little sonic textures hit the spot perfectly. So far things have been decidedly cosmic and wonderfully subtle, the keyboards being caressed into producing the most wonderful relaxing tones. In the tenth minute things become more bass laden and at times the mood reminded me of Klaus' very first album. Things slowly begin to change again in the fifteenth minute. A cracking sequence surges into life as we enter Under The Dome 'Demon Haunted World' territory. The intensity of the sequence is increased very gradually adding to the tension and excitement all the time before it eventually fades away. Our journey has taken us to a different area of the cosmos in which we can again, for a short time, collect our thoughts. The sequence, as expected, returns but this time with even more energy than before. It is as if the engine has been engaged again and we hurtle forwards once more. This is simply wonderful stuff, as good if not better than anything I have heard from him before. (DL)

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