Saturday, January 20, 2007

Elektriktus - Electronic Mind Waves (1976)




With just an album under this name, and no mention of the musicians' identity, Elektriktus was a mysterious group that only appeared with an LP on the PDU label in 1976. Under the name Elektriktus hid Andrea Centazzo, musician and composer from Udine, who also released dozens of LP's mostly in the free jazz and avantgarde fields.
The album, called Electronic mind waves, includes eight synthesizer-led compositions that show a great influence from the german cosmic music; in fact this is one of the most krautrock-inspired albums from Italy, and not unlike some of the early works by Roberto Cacciapaglia. For this reason it's not a surprise that it appeared on PDU, as this record company distributed in Italy most of the production of the german Kosmische Kuriere and Ohr labels.
Musically speaking the album will appeal to the keyboards fans, though some interesting variations can be heard in some tracks, as an upright bass part in First wave.
http://www.italianprog.com/a_elektriktus.htm

Often overlooked due to its much more well-known symphonic cousins, the electronic artist known as Elektriktus was a virtual iconoclast in mid 70s Italy, perhaps only approached by Roberto Cacciapaglia at the time. Finding more in common with Conrad Schnitzler than Klaus Schulze, Electronic Mind Waves sends shimmering waves of synthesizer patterns forward through a journey that is plotted out by flying, kicking off the voyage in "Frequent Departure Flying at Day-Break." Some interesting things begin happening when stand-up bass begins improvising on "First Wave." However, while Schnitzler's music was often formless, Elektriktus gets the sequencers going pretty early on, and there is usually a sense of patterning going on throughout. The synths often shimmer in the background, and as the album progresses, it seems to grow quieter and more meditative. While thematically Elektriktus seems to have set up a conceptual motion, the music seems to sort of meander by the end of the album. Overall, a good piece that, perhaps, lacks a bit of distinction.
http://gnosis2000.net/reviews/elektriktus.htm

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

an italian synth-prog classic. thanks for posting it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

toni

Anonymous said...

I have a slight technical question: Does the sixth track 'Third Wave' contain glitches?

Apart from that, a great album indeed.

Anonymous said...

Hhhhmmmm...

I've been wondering the same thing. Otherwise, a massive sounding record!

Grazie mille...

Anonymous said...

This version is now on private & public sharing networks (like slsk, etc...), with the same glitches on track 6. that's a pity.

no regrets said...

hello guys!!!
Just passing by I noticed this ELEKTRIKTUS!
Well.. it tours out that I'm the composer and performer of that....
Just to let you know: it had been recorder on the first 4 track TEAC machine and all played on a crappy GEM keyboard. No MOOG... too expensive for me then .. and now!!!
EVen the delay was made with a tape to tape open reel recorder!!!
Those were really pioneer times!
Here some more news about me
http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4402
And below my links.
if any body has an idea how I can start performing this live, please write me at the address below.
All the best and thanks for the kind words
Andrea Centazzo

andreacentazzo@andreacentazzo.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Centazzo
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1304428/

www.myspace,com/andreacentazzo
www.andreacentazzo.com
www.myspace.com/andreacentazzosoundtracks
www.myspace,com/andreacentazzotranscendentalgongs
www.ictusrecords.com
www.myspace.com/centazzorobinsonstowe
www.myspace.com/centazzowestcoasttrio
www.myspace.com/acvoyagers
www.myspace.com/joegiardulloandreacentazzo

vdoandsound said...

Andrea...Fantastic to see you commenting here and great to know that you're happy to find this album being shared. I'm going to be contacting you privately shortly about something related.

Eric
(vdoandsound)