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review by Bill Binkelman What an unexpected treat this album was to listen to, although since I was introduced (many years ago) to Jon O'Bergh by Richard Bone, I shouldn't have been that surprised. Still, Songs from Other Planets displays a whole new side to electronic keyboard artist O'Bergh that caught me mostly unawares. Speaking of Richard Bone, after playing this album a few times, I wonder if the wizard of cyber-lounge will come to regret his introducing me to this artist (I am, of course, kidding). If an album can be "summed up" by listing its genre(s) Songs from Other Planets would present quite a problem. Is this space-lounge? Retro-chill out? New age futurism? SF hip-jazz? Well, label it any way you want to, but mostly this is a blast of a recording, showcasing O'Bergh's production and engineering skills and his clever innovation at mixing all manner of keyboards (some retro, some contemporary) with a fascinating use of vocals (courtesy of Bombay Records artist Marcel) that are highly processed in order to yield "alien voices" (which is what the album's title alludes to, of course). You may be able to glean from the review so far that if you are a fan of Richard Bone's releases such as Coxa, Electropica, or Alternate Realities (to name a few), you will almost certainly love this CD. The presence of Fender Rhodes (deliciously echoed of course), other cyber-loungey keyboards, lots of spacy synthesizer tones and washes, and mellow chill-out beats and rhythms would, I imagine, captivate Bone's fans almost right away. Granted, the presence of the alien "singing" might startle you at first, but O'Bergh mixes in the vocals (which, by the way, are not present all the time by a long shot, as lots of the music is purely instrumental in nature) with such dexterity that they become one with the rest of the music, seeming completely natural. In a radio interview I had with Jon O'Bergh he admitted his fascination with science fiction and outer space, and that's apparent with a reading of the song titles ("The Moons of Sarna," "Hypnoticon," "Zero Gravity," "Ceruvean Twilight," and "Epsilon Eridani" to name a few). And there are plenty of bleeping and blooping and weird effects in most tracks to put a grin on a fan of Forbidden Planet or other classic SF films. Yet, this is not a "joke" CD at all. It merely has an abundance of warmth and good cheer that is irresistible (at least for me) as well as a future funky infectiousness that is bound to make you shake your groove thang during tracks like "Harmonic Vibrations of the Tau" or "The F1 Factor." On the other hand, straight-up more spacemusic cuts, like the aforementioned "Ceruvean Twilight" (with mellow bell tones, fluid synth chorales, retro keyboards, and haunting echoed spacy effects) are fantastic "serious" songs, taking the listener into deep space at a leisurely "cruising" pace. The snaky vibes and sultry rhythms of "Orbiting Aldebaran" are counterpointed by vibrating pulses and fuzz tones evoking images of a mysterious planet's surface glimpsed from the window of a spacecraft hovering far overhead. However you view or characterize Songs from Other Planets, Jon O'Bergh has delivered a CD that surely is one of the most unconventional and, for me, enjoyable recordings of 2004. I highly recommend this to fans of Richard Bone as well as those out there in their fifties (like I am) who have fond memories of classic Saturday afternoon SF matinees at their neighborhood theaters. Now, excuse me while I strap myself in and fire up the anti-gravity unit before I engage the star drive! |
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