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Fri, Sep 10 2010

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Bert


	STEPHEN BACCHUS - Ambient Origins (cd)


	STEPHEN BACCHUS - Etherium (cd-r)


	STEPHEN BACCHUS - Pangaea (cd)


	JONATHAN BADGER - Metasonic (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI & MATHIAS GRASSOW - True North (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI & NIMH - Entities (cd-r)


	AMIR BAGHIRI & WEE BANDITS - A Brief History of Light (cd-r)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Bluebox Collection (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Cages (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Dreamresources (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Exosphere (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Planet X (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Rooms (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Time (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Winterscape (cd)


	AMIR BAGHIRI - Yalda (cd-r)


	CHRISTOPHE BAILLEAU - Air Resort (cd)


	DAN BARRIO - This Physical World (cd-r)


	EVAN BARTHOLOMEW - Caverns of Time (cd)


	EVAN BARTHOLOMEW - Secret Entries into Darkness (cd)


	KEVIN BARTLETT - Glow in the Dark (cd)


	KEVIN BARTLETT - Near Life Experience (cd)


	ADRIAN BEASLEY - Powerhouse (cd-r)


	MICHEL BEKKERING - Cosmopolitan Dances (cd-r)


	DENE DE BENEDICTIS - A Lone Reply (cd)


	DENE DE BENEDICTIS - Salvaging the Past (cd)


	MICHAEL THOMAS BERKLEY - Arctic (cd)


	MICHAEL THOMAS BERKLEY - Images from Earth (cd)


	BERNHARD - Down on Earth (cd-r)


	BETWEEN INTERVAL - Autumn Continent (cd)


	BETWEEN INTERVAL - Radio Silence (cd-r)


	BETWEEN INTERVAL - Secret Observatory (cd)


	BETWEEN INTERVAL - The Edge of a Fairytale (cd)


	AMIN BHATIA - Virtuality (cd)


	MARK BIEHL - Landscapes (cd)


	DANIEL BLANCHET - L’Harmonie des Mondes (cd)


	SERGE BLENNER - Musique de Chambre (cd)


	DANIEL BLOOM - Event Horizon (cd)


	BLUE STONE - Breathe (cd)


	BLUETECH - Phoenix Rising (cd)


	BLUTIGER FLUSS - Dawn of Mars (cd-r)


	BLüCHEL & VON DEYLEN - Bi Polar (cd)


	BLüCHEL & VON DEYLEN - Mare Stellaris (cd)


	CHRIS BOCAST - Through the Airlock (cd)


	WOLFGANG BOCK - Cycles (Lp)


	CLAUS BOCKSTANDT - Voyages (cd)


	IAN BODDY & BERNHARD WöSTHEINRICH - Hemispheres (cd-r)


	RICHARD BONE - Experiments ’80-’82 (cd)


	RICHARD BONE - Infinite Plastic Creation (cd)


	RICHARD BONE - Saiyuji (cd)


	RICHARD BONE - Short Waves (cd-r/dvd-r)


	RICHARD BONE - The Eternal Now (cd)


	RICHARD BONE - The Spectral Ships (cd)


	RICHARD BONE - Vesperia (cd)


	RON BOOTS & FRIENDS - By Popular Demand (cd)


	RON BOOTS & FRIENDS - Joie de Vivre (cd)


	RON BOOTS & IAN BODDY - Phase 3 (cd)


	RON BOOTS & JOHN KERR - Offshore Islands (cd)


	RON BOOTS, KEES AERTS & HAROLD VAN DER HEIJDEN - BAH! Live in Sweden (cd-r)


	RON BOOTS - 80's Box (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Acoustic Shadows (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Area Movement (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Beyond the Boundaries of Twilight (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Current (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Derby! (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Detachment of Worldly Affairs (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Different Stories and Twisted Tales (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Dreamscape (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Ghost of a Mist (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Liquid Structures in Solid Form (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Mea Culpa (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Of Desolate Places And Urban Jungles (cd-single)


	RON BOOTS - Screaming Whispers (cd)


	RON BOOTS - See Beyond Times, Look Beyond Words (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Tainted Bare Skin (cd)


	RON BOOTS - Too Many Secrets (cd)


	MEG BOWLES - Blue Cosmos (cd)


	KEVIN BRAHENY - Galaxies (cd)


	BRAIN LAUGHTER II - Not Far from a Distant Sun (cd)


	BRAINWORK - Ten (cd)


	STEVE BRAND - Bridge to Nowhere (cd-r)


	STEVE BRAND - SoulSpiral (cd-r)


	THOM BRENNAN - Satori (cd-r)


	THOM BRENNAN - Shimmer (cd-r)


	THOM BRENNAN - Silver (cd -r)


	THOM BRENNAN - Stories from the Forest (cd)


	THOM BRENNAN - Vibrant Water (cd-r)


	BROEKHUIS, KELLER & SCHöNWäLDER - Blue (cd)


	BROEKHUIS, KELLER & SCHöNWäLDER - Live @ Dorfkirche Repelen 2 (cd)


	BROEKHUIS, KELLER & SCHöNWäLDER - Repelen 3 (cd)


	BROKEN HARBOUR - Broken Harbour (cd-r)


	VINCENT BRULEY - Dauphins et Baleines (cd)


	VINCENT BRULEY - La Nature s’endort (cd)


	BRUNETTE MODELS - Last Poem (cd)


	HAROLD BUDD & CLIVE WRIGHT - A Song for Lost Blossoms (cd)


	HAROLD BUDD - The White Arcades (cd)


	RICHARD BURMER - Invention (cd)

MICHAEL THOMAS BERKLEY
Images from Earth
CD, Numinous Records, 1998

To me, the 26- year old Michael Thomas Berkley who hails from Oregon, is a new name in the genre of contemporary instrumental and electronic music. It seems this debut album "Images from Earth" created quite a fuzz on the other side of the ocean when it appeared on the market.

Well, first of all this 60 minute recording sounds very diverse as it paints "a history of the planet earth through music". Next to quite a bunch of electronica, there’s also room for intimate sounding ethno-acoustic instrumentation and percussion.

A beautiful, powerful electric violin pops up in several tracks, giving things an extra portion of emotion. The music as such alternates between ambient textural soundscapes ("Dawn", "Suspended in the Womb") and more prog-rock, vigorous rhythmic pieces ("Tectonics")

The properly composed music on the album at times reminds of Peter Gabriel's "Passion", the output of Bob Holroyd or the works of Steve Roach.
On the other hand, the engaging piano in the intriguing closing piece "Beyond" sounds more like Brain Eno and Harold Budd.

The overall production and mix of this highly cinematic piece of work are very well done.
To me, "Images from Earth" is an extraordinary recording!