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Review of the Almagest album by Rockerilla


Rockerilla
Vincenzo Santarcangelo 6/10
Intelligent dance music with frequent instrumental incursions. Fractals of digital sound and syncopated breakbeats ("1950 DA") that leave room to inserts of dark soundtrack music. As if Boards of Canada decided to weighten their geometries with loud guitars stolen from hard rock - Patrick Brocca, one of the two Swiss musicians behind Ptolem, works with Meshuggah's Fredrik Thordendahl when he is not writing soundtracks. As if, in a composition stance that is rarely really dialogic, epic and elegant post-rock ("Equant Point", "P-band Wavelength") was contrasted with the steps of a limping or vintage robotic machinic matrix ("Ring Structure").

Review of the Almagest album by Murmures

Thomas Bourquin
www.murmures.info
This swiss combo is named after the famous Ptolemy and bases its music upon the mathematical model set out by the astronomer in his treaty "The Almagest". The group develops ethereal synth soundscapes, mixing cold electronic instruments with warm acoustic sounds. Influenced by various artists (such as Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Trentemoller, Populous, New Order, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Mötley Crüe, James Newton Howard, Basil Poledouris, Angelo Badalamenti and Howard Shore), Ptolem, although promising, follows too many threads to deliver an album which is homogenous throughout. Nevertheless, this effort is well worth listening to.