Trance Port Special Editions is pleased to announce the release of the first album of new material from pianist/synthesist/minimalist Ruben Garcia in nine years. "Through the Looking Glass" is Ruben’s first album since "Lakeland" (2000), released on Close Tolerance Music also available on CD Baby. In 2004, Trance Port put out a two disc overview of Ruben’s varied career entitled "Maybe Forgotten Forever."
As with all Ruben’s albums, "Through the Looking Glass" is somewhat different than its predecessors. It opens with four tracks that show off Ruben’s melodic and rhythmic talents. Then, “My Minimalist Life” and “Pulse” (which are are longer pieces), show off Ruben’s synth skills. The album then quietly ends with “Italian Café,” highlighting Ruben’s playing of a Hohner Melodica to a sequenced synth background.
Ruben Garcia began his solo career with the release of "Colors in Motion" (1992), an excursion into many classic electronic music styles, recalling the best of Klaus Schultze and Tangerine Dream pulse music.
In 1993, Garcia, Harold Budd and Lentz collaborated on "Music For 3 Pianos," a six track set.
In successive years, Garcia has put out several solo recordings: "The Gatekeeper," a solo piano album dedicated to the music of Eric Satie (1994), "Room Full of Easels" (1996), "I Can Feel The Heat Closing In" (1998), and "Lakeland" (2000).
Throughout "Through The Looking Glass," Garcia’s gift for melody and seductive rhythms shines through, as well as a gift for extended space/ambient excursions that in some cases exceed 15 minutes in length. Sometimes unexpected, but always a pleasant surprise, Ruben Garcia’s latest opus continues to show the evolution of an always interesting artist.
“I’ve enjoyed working with Ruben over the years. Our collaborations have always carried a sense of the unknown.” A Produce, 2009
“Something wonderful and magical happens when Ruben Garcia meets a piano. It happens to me sometimes; it happens to Ruben all the time.” Harold Budd, 1994
REVIEWS OF "THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS"
Ruben Garcia - Through The Looking Glass
CD-R, Trance Port Special Editions, 2009
After a wait of nine years, there’s finally a new album by pianist and synthesist Ruben Garcia, known for his minimalist style and sounds, whose music more than once resembles the quality heard on the ambient works of Harold Budd and Brian Eno.
As mentioned in the press sheet, the music of "Through the Looking Glass" is a tad different from the outcome heard on his previous albums, as its sees Ruben turn to a bit more melodic and rhythmic style. There’s still a lot of space and emotion embedded in these nicely rendered instrumental outings, which are nicely kicked off by the engaging soundings of “Pantoum”.
Things turn further moody and rhythmic on the lush tune “La Mesa Terminada”, on which Richard Bone joins on percussion, and whose musical influence can be heard here as well.
Next are the dreamy and smooth sonics of “From the Bottom of the Sea”, a track which previously appeared on the retrospective compilation "Maybe Forgotten Forever", so not that new. The title track follows, being the most dynamic track on the album, offering xylophone sounds, spacious synth textures and a fresh rhythm complementing them. On the other hand, the repetitive structure of the 20-minute “My minimalist Life” shows little to no progression as it evolves. This track should at least been cut by two third, as it now drags on an on quite annoyingly.
Fortunately, the straightforward, hypnotizing 12-minute “Pulse” is next with its whirling, high-tech (Vir Unis-like) sequence pattern and beautiful airy soundscapes topping it. A great track indeed. The cd rounds out very nicely and overtly quiet with the moody “Italian Café”, featuring a Hohner Melodica pleasantly hovering over a smooth sequenced synth backdrop.
All in all, the 62-minute “Through the Looking Glass” (mastered by Loren Nerell and A Produce) is a collection of instrumental tunes of which I expected a bit more, but which has a strong finale.
Bert Strolenberg
www.sonicimmersion.org
Read more...