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Ptolem : The Almagest
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The new frontier for retrofuturist cinematic electronica with orchestral soundscapes and guitars.
Genre: Electronic: Electronica
Release Date: 2007
The Almagest
Ptolem
Record Label: Ptolem
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Preview Song Name Time Buy
1. 1950 Da 3:48 + MP3 $0.99
2. Ring Structure 4:26 + MP3 $0.99
3. Anomaly - the Backward Path 3:22 + MP3 $0.99
4. Entangled Clouds 2:09 + MP3 $0.99
5. Toledan Tables 4:59 + MP3 $0.99
6. Equant Point 5:09 + MP3 $0.99
7. Mercury 3:34 + MP3 $0.99
8. P-band Wavelength 2:11 + MP3 $0.99
9. To Travel On Epicycles 2:46 + MP3 $0.99
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Album Notes

To create the music that you can hear on our record "The Almagest", we loosely took inspiration from the astonishing work of second-century AD astronomer Ptolemy. Set to describe the irregular paths of the planets in the night sky and make them appear both circular and uniform, Ptolemy devised an ingenious mathematical model in which he considered the planets as worlds travelling in circular motion on solid crystalline circles (the epicycles), whose centres travel on other spheres, which themselves revolve around a fictional point in space (the equant) from which a planet's speed appears uniform. Ptolemy detailed his sophisticated model in his treatise "The Almagest", which dominated the western view of the world for the next fourteen centuries - we're not that ambitious of course but, yes, that's where the name of our record comes from. Now, we are neither astronomers nor mathematicians, but music makers. When we created our tracks, we considered each acoustic, electric or electronic instrument as a world in itself, and made it travel on a loop whose centre was itself moving around another sound, and so on. We played several instruments in order to illustrate this: lush chords, floating wind ensembles, perpetual beats, rotating percussions, silvery guitars, tense basses and glimpses of strange electronic devices. If, like us, you are moved by Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Trentemøller, Populous, New Order, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Mötley Crüe, James Newton Howard, Basil Poledouris, Angelo Badalamenti and Howard Shore, you may like our music.

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REVIEWS

Blade Runners soundtrack for the 21st century
author: Fidatch
                            
2007 is the year of the 25th anniversary of the film Blade Runner. The soundtrack has been republished with an entire album of new music from Mr. Vangelis. Forget that lousy electronica flat beats and get the Ptolems album instead. In a Squarepusher meets Röyksopp with the bass of Peter Hook and the guitar of Thurston Moore way, Ptolem creates dark, almost unhealthy, atmospheres with a touch of beautiful melodic sounds that makes your mind escape in others circumvolutions. Ptolemy, here they come !! The Almagest is the lo-fi Blade Runners soundtrack of the 21st century.
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soundtrack of the cosmos
author: gregor dubster
                            
The album i would bring on a space journey. The Almagest makes you travel through atmospheric layers, digital rain, ground braking basslines and wise pop riffs. An album that you can listen from begining to end and then press repeat to have another run. Ptolemy would surely approve...
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When Astronomy Meets Talented Creators
author: meshuggener
                            
Amazing. It makes me think of some Autechre with some Aphex parts and microsamples. But the likeness between them stops there. We have a real sensation of refinement in creativity and arrangements, meeting true acoustic instruments, electronic touch and movie scoring wich deserves the whole material. Sometimes dark "Entangled Clouds", sometimes cheerful "P-band Wavelength" but always with the sens of groove, "Anomaly" beats everything with the astonishing and growling slap-bass! The feeling is definitely SF. The idea to draw parallels between Ptolemy's works and the instruments, that's a very good concept. Ptolem's sound is so soothing! I'm sure of one thing, Ptolemy is turntabling your tracks in Paradise... www.perimetron.com
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A Pure Jewel
author: Plocifor
                            
Ptolem mix acoustic instruments and electronic beats and sounds that take you on a fresh and breathtaking journey. The pop licks (see ring structure), dark and strange, are as catchy as the concept of the album, taking inspiration from this astronomer. The album hides endless treasures, every listening has me discovering new things, new details. It would be a great soundtrack to a sci-fi flick. Keep up the good work!
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