Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

TER - Fingerprints [Cat Sun /Monotype Records - 2013]

T.E.R.'s "Fingerprints" is a back-to-basics album of electronic ambient/downtempo, similar in style and mood to the output of the Fax label in the early 90's, or to the ever popular Biosphere.  The songs are minimalist constructions of interlocking melodic loops, softly understated beats and circling murmurs of synth.  According to discogs, it's the group's first release.

It's a marvellous canvas for thought, more abstract perhaps than most Biosphere tends to be, and devoid of all human voices or samples.  The album was apparently creating using modular synthesizer, and it's certainly one for those obsessed with the sounds themselves, to be played repeatedly and slowly absorbed.  The Biosphere album "N-Plants", which abandoned his usual arctic atmospheres, was a similar flavor of micro techno.

The third movement is one of the best, with a thick, plodding 4/4 sub bass rumbling consistently beneath, and chime-like cascades of melody in the distance.  Despite being totally synthetic, there's a tribal primitivism to the repetitious pulses, and reverence to nature.  This track would make a great soundtrack to a run through the forest/jungle.  These sorts of sounds were commonly used for nature documentaries back in the day, and it's easy to see why.  There's a sense of having stumbled upon something mysterious.

In the reiterating square structures we see the ghosts of all of nature's circles: clouds passing endlessly overhead, the sun setting and rising, setting and rising.  If these sort of daydreams have ever filled your mind while listening to soundscapes or electronic textures, this album is for you.  Trance music, with its momentum charged constancy, has become my major focus in the last few years, and this album is a shining example of 'trance' by its original 70's Klaus Schulze derived definition, sparkling and seemingly endless arpeggi reflecting sun and moon light.  I look forward to any future work from T.E.R.

Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

Josh Landry
Latest Reviews

TER - Fingerprints
T.E.R.'s "Fingerprints" is a back-to-basics album of electronic ambient/downtempo, similar in style and mood to the output of the Fax label in the early 90's...
241225   Wrathchild America - Climbin'...
241225   Rushab Nandha - Tear
241225   Hitcher-Hiker - Hitcher-Hiker...
231225   Devil Fetus - Devil Fetus (B...
221225   Zoltán Huszárik-1963- 1979 ...
201225   Re-Animator - Re-Animator( Bl...
191225   Venus DIE-trap - Venus DIE-tr...
191225   Coyotes - Coyotes(VOD/ Blu Ray)
181225   Various Artists - Santa Is Ro...
181225   Death Ride - Death Ride( DVD)
Latest Articles

Creepy Images Books - Killer Art
Of all the cult/exploitation genres, Giallo stands as one of the more visually & art-based- be it with the grand/ dramatic location, choreographed murder...
231225   Creepy Images Books - Killer Art
221225   Best Of 2025 - Music, Sound &...
041225   The Spectral Sounds of The Pr...
281025   Michael Hurst Interview - Unb...
071025   Xiphos - The Rise And Fall Of...
030925   Third Window Films - A Label ...
130825   HNW fest- Barcelona- 12th Apr...
250725   Raté interview - Walled-in F...
180625   Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sha...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom