Pulse Emitter: Planetary Scale Synth Hypnosis 2CD (Metal Postcard, 2014) + Equinox tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2014)
March 1, 2014 at 10:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment
Pulse Emitter: Planetary Scale Synth Hypnosis
Pulse Emitter is the decade-plus running project of Portland synth artist/builder Daryl Groetsch, who started out releasing harsh noise, but gradually drifted towards more meditative, new age sounds. This 2CD anthology compiles pieces and excerpts from tapes, LPs, CDs and CD-rs dating back to 2007, originally released on labels such as NNA Tapes, Root Strata, Aguirre, Expansive, and Tranquility Tapes. Basically, this is Pulse Emitter’s equivalent of Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Rifts”, which means that it’s utterly essential and you should
buy it without a second thought, especially since you probably won’t be able to track down all of the original releases if you don’t have them already. Some of the excerpted works fade out pretty suddenly, they make you want to track down the original tapes and hear them in their entirety. But at least a few 10 minute pieces like “Nebula” are included in their full glory. This is just simply seriously beautiful, emotive synthesizer music, spacey and cosmic but completely in touch with human emotions. Seems basic on some levels (some of it’s slow-moving, there’s no flashy arpeggios or flanger effects) but the pieces are all carefully composed and there’s more intricate elements here than it might seem on the surface. It gets kind of distant (as on pieces like “Spaceship”) but most of it is just really melodic and emotive and beautiful.
Pulse Emitter: Equinox tape
Also out this year is a Pulse Emitter tape on the always reliable Constellation Tatsu label. Obviously this tape doesn’t cut pieces down to fit more on a CD, so most of the tracks here extend past 10 minutes. It definitely feels like a singular work, rather than a compilation, so there’s more of a similar mood to these pieces. It seems a bit more wintry than the compilation, but that could just be reflected by the weather, and the feeling that this winter is never going to end. But there’s a constant twinkling throughout much of the music on this tape, giving a feeling of light snowfall on a dark winter night. Not a blizzard, just a pleasant dusting of snow, it helps if you’re in your warm house looking outside rather than freezing outside in the cold.
The Answer Is In The Beat 
This is a great collection indeed. I’ve been following Daryl’s music since I discovered his NNA Tape Longing Thresholds, both tracks are featured here, although they are truncated. Pulse Emitter seems right for anyone interested in the recent crop of synth artists, the old kosmische wizards of European progressive rock or the new age gurus in between.
Comment by Chris— July 15, 2014 #