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Orbital Decay at Soundscapes #1 Photo by Howard Moscovitz |
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Review: Orbital Decay at Soundscapes
It's not often that I get to hear electronic music performed in the classical Berlin school style, here in the Eastern part of the US. So I was pleased and encouraged to see Bill Fox begin his ambitious Soundscapes series, providing a venue for this kind of music. This is a watershed event, and hopefully will be a catalyst for the development of an electronic music community in this area. Orbital Decay (Terry Furber and Tim Richardson of Quakertown, PA) performed at the IceHouse in Bethlehem, PA on Saturday February 16. Tickets were $10, a real bargain considering that a full buffet was provided (by Chef Jeff) before the show and during the break. The IceHouse is a unique historic building which provided an excellent acoustic space. I didn't want to set my expectations too high, knowing that this was a debut for both Soundscapes and for Orbital Decay. But I couldn't have been more impressed with the music and the venue, overall an excellent experience! Orbital Decay played two sets and an encore, a total of a little less (I think) than 2 hours of music. I'm no expert at identifying genres of electronic music, but this seemed Berlin school to me, with spacey effects and analog-style sequences. The balance was about right between the spacey parts and the more upbeat sequences, and the sound was quite full for two musicians. The sequences and leads were catchy, and there was plenty of movement in the background parts to keep things from sounding repetitive. Terry Furber did a great job on synths, playing sound effects, drones, sequences and some sizzling leads. Tim Richardson proved that electric guitar can work well in this style of music. He played sound effects, patterns that fit with the sequences, and leads. My friend James, who is a real keyboard partisan, said this is the kind of guitar he likes to hear! For the encore they cranked up the tempo a bit and displayed some keyboard and guitar wizardry, playing some riffs in unison, which was even more impressive when Terry confided afterwards that had not been planned. Kudos to Bill Fox for bringing this together. I sincerely hope this is just the beginning of a successful endeavor to continue bringing live electronic music to the Lehigh Valley. Greg Waltzer as posted to the beyond_em yahoogroups list message 19374 |
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