Ypsilon Project

Ypsilon Project is born out of a studio session held in

Odyssey's

studio on September 2002 with

Remote Space

. Together they melted their influences and styles in a musical union which joined the recollections of the 80's. Making it

Tomasz Pauszek

,

Konrad Jakrzewski

and

Krysztof Rzeznicki

signed an album with rhythms as varied as styles. From

Kraftwerk

to

Jean Michel Jarre

en passing by

Robert Schroeder

and

Double Fantasy

, Ypsilon Project is the meeting point of a period of transition in EM.
A threadlike cosmic furrow comes down from the deep end of the galaxy to cross its harmonies with a splendid guitar that a synth molds poignant heart-rending solos. A very beautiful smoothing track, In-Thro-Duction introduces us to Ypsilon with an astral tenderness where our dreams float on guitar solos which go adrift in a cosmos filled with stars and celestial bodies which furrow and shine with their musical irradiations. Sequence Space is shaming us out of our soft morphic torpor with fine droplets falling trough their echoes. A suave and warm rhythm is settling down and livens up Sequence Space which moves like a down tempo, but more spatial with beautiful electronic tonalities which wrap a pace becoming more caustic. A soft moon-tempo anchored on a sequential line with delicate pulsations of bass of which notes skip among sequences and more fluid keyboard keys. A track strongly tinted of cosmic fragrances and which reminds me

Double Fantasy's

musical universe, Sequence Space is flied over by beautiful twisted synth solos and nice mellotron mist. Percussions pound the opening of Busy City, a track that could easily compares to

Kraftwerk

techno style. The rhythm is crystal clear and unfolds pleasantly on jerky synth layers of which the repetition molds a still surge. A strong electro techno track, Busy City unravels its 8 minutes with a steady rhythm and a pulsating frenzy where a variance in the percussions and frenzied pulsations assures a rhythmic which kicks down the shed on a long movement of which the melodious approach varies without ever losing its very electronic cachet, quite as the boiling and furious Morning Rush which is more contemporary and who soaks in an array of heterogeneous electronic tones. Ypsilon's intro is melting with the finale of Morning Rush and offers a more suave tempo, with fine subtleties in the movement, a little as on Sequence Space but with more firmness in the beat.
Experience sticks Ypsilon with crystalline arpeggios which collide on a sequence to resonant undulations. While we expect an explosive rhythm, Experience takes quite another form with a heavy rhythm certainly, but imprinted by a nice musicality. A kind of techno based on minimalism arpeggios which roll on dichotomous percussions and of which all the rhythm aspect is wrapped with dense synths layers. Synths which sing and charm while freeing nice warbling solos. It's one of the very good track on Ypsilon. With Ambiente we approach the ambient part of Ypsilon. A complex track segmented in several movements, the intro is a slow cosmic waltz where synths strata are multiplying by borrowing contrasting sonorities on a slender sidewinder sounds structure. Abrasive strata which are melting themselves on others with more cocoon-like sounding to form a strange lunar dance and which borrow a superb musical corridor where soft mesmerizing percussions light an odd hypnotic tempo. A real electronic dance which is not without recalling the caustic universes of the first

Schulze's

works, Ambiente evolves with such unpredictability as every development charms the listener. A wonderful track with synths as wheedling as charismatic which feed an outstanding lunar procession that sidewinder sounds effects come, here and there, to add more strangeness to this sublime track. It's a real one for real fans of evolutive ambient EM. Halfway between the ambient sweetness of Ambiente and the shy rhythms of Sequence Space, Current Drive evolves on a slow, but constant, rhythmic progression where percussions play a dominating role in its hybrid structure. The more Current Drive moves on the more its tempo espouses a tribal approach with a jerky rhythm where percussions shape a kind of aboriginal tom-toms coming of an unknown planet, whereas keyboards polish a fascinating outer space melody and that synths wrap the structure of long resonant and twisted strips. Current Drive is yet another very strong track on Ypsilon where styles are leaking away in the creative originality of the Polish trio. Acti-Vate concludes on a hectic rhythmic which dances on beautiful synth surges. It's a kind of techno a'la

Kraftwerk

way that shows the extreme diversity of

Tomasz Pauszek

,

Konrad Jakrzewski

and

Krysztof Rzeznicki

.
Curt and frenzied rhythms, other more suave and hypnotic, which go alongside to some ambient and morphic structures variety of Ypsilon is its biggest wealth. Ypsilon is this kind of album where the musicality and variety can reach and please a wider audience without sacrificing the musical research.
It's a very nice album that can easily split two styles in the same desire to tame music and so to bring down many presumptuous barriers.




The music on this album is made by

Tomasz Pauszek

(aka

Odyssey

) and the duo

Konrad Jakrzewski

&

Krysztof Rzeznicki

(aka

Remote Spaces

), of which I heard more years in the previous years. The outcome which makes up Ypsilon Project was composed during live sessions by the three musicians in September 2002. The 76-minutes of music has a vibrant and warm flavour. Its overall atmosphere more or less hails back to the electronic music made at the start of the '80’s when technology slowly but surely stepped in bit by bit. Just have a listen to the smooth and relaxed mood created on the 12-minute Sequence Space, followed by the dynamic electronic rock-pop and up-tempo sequencing of Busy City to get a picture of what the albums music is all about.
All in all, Ypsilon Project is somewhat of a cross-over of

Jarre

,

Kraftwerk

and even

Tangerine Dream

.
Nicely done, guys!




The journey begins somewhat in the mood of a radio-program a'la Radioactivity by

Kraftwerk

, soon there appear optimistic notes played on a slightly distorted guitar (or conjured up from a synthesizer?), and, after a while, some boiling chord-clouds fade out and the Listener is home alone with a mere ostinato in a slow pace, which marks the beginning of track two. Are we just taking a long walk through a japanese garden-labyrinth, are these slowly falling white spots snowflakes or tiny flowers? This quiet impression definitely has something to it which reminds me of the music presented by

Double Fantasy

(today:

Food 4 Fantasy

) on their album Universal Avenue; the same organic cleanness, which one may associate with empty cosmic space as well as with familiar earthly landscapes. This piece of music is 12 minutes of a solid lounge-trip into the exotic Unknown. Track three is quite a contrast to its predecessor: you immediately hear neonlights, city lights, vehicle lights and neverending car-loops. Welcome to the most modern city at steelgray dawn or in the navyblue evening... In track four, it sounds like

Harald Grosskopf

or the

Kraftwerk

musicians from the Tour de France Soundtracks era were invited to the session - this is what one should call "aerodynamic music". We are here just a step away not only from sequential electronica or "jarre'ing" elpop, but also from modern remixing moods. In the quicksilver-lively fifth track we hear a solo sounding exactly as if it were conceived on PPG Wave 2 – warm regards from

Jarre

or

Double Fantasy

(or

Paul Nagle's

Lore)! The most traditional piece is probably track six, where

Odyssey

vs.

Remote Spaces

combine Berlin-like sequences and some JMJ-like moods. The Listener may now enjoy digital clouds approaching just a few inches above her head, the clouds change their forms and colours ceaselessly... The next two pieces are fairly long, more complex, more difficult to classify. Various styles intermingle with each other, the arrangements seem to have been taken out of an electronic dream vault. Both compositions could be musical narrations about snowy parks at night – the first short novel is rather nostalgic, the other one rather murky - pay attention to this ingenuous tabla-loop in the background of track eight! As we all know, all good things move toward their end, and there it is - the final track, groovy elpop slightly in the mood of (once more)

Double Fantasy

or

Jarre

, but also

Marek Bilinski

or

Tangerine Dream's

film music in the eighties. In this track we hear a fresh breeze of ostinato-vocoderian "retro-sounds". All in all, Ypsilon Project is a well-produced, multilayered album, which contains 'many happy returns' to legendary electronic moods as well as some surprising arrangements and new formal ideas.