Artist: Sonic Adventure Project

Title: Exergonic

Genre: Ambient Instrumental

Label: Starmill Records

Sonic Adventure Project Website-http://www.starmill.at

Thomas Viehboeck and Peter Koellerer are two Austrians that have learned well from their legendary neighbors in Germany, Kraftwerk. The two men find rhythm in ambient trance music on Exergonic, an unusual event by any measure. This is music for your own original soundtrack happening inside your head. I can see it fitting in the background of films without a problem.

It seems the more I listen to this CD, the more I discover, there is more to this than meets the ear. Obviously, the men are true students of music, covering the gamut from classical to rock. That is what you get in different doses throughout this album; there are elements of pop grandeur at times, but enough of the trance synth and swirling wind like sounds to keep you on a cloud, you will hear jazz at times as well (“Above The City”) which is welcome in any setting as far as I am concerned.

Therefore, in the end, you get what you would expect on a recording like this and a lot more in between the cracks ready for the taking if you choose to really listen to this music with big ears. It is a very cool CD, and as I indicated before, one listen will certainly not cut to the chase. This is not complex music, it is interesting layers of many sounds-a digital landscape if you will that soothes and invites you. There is a lot here for the open ears and minds of this world to embrace. The best example of their sound and approach would be their masterpiece of instrumental ambiance “Forty-two (V. 11),” which runs for nearly 12 minutes. I think it is their personal tribute to Kraftwerk, but one never knows.

Check out this duo and let them take you to a world far away from the one we exist in as physical beings.

May 8, 2005

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com

Rating-7/10

01. Forty-two (5:27)

02. Inner Journey (4:11)

03. Circuit (4:12)

04. Waters in Motion (4:46)

05. Memories of I Am (4:36)

06. Sitarian Supernova (3:48)

07. Pink Synth (6:12)

08. Double Helix (4:49)

09. Above the City (3:39)

10. Mode Iii (4:17)

11. Forty-two (v.11) (11:09)

12. Four Notes (3:00)