Digital Geist- The Apollo Program

Artist: Digital Geist

CD title: The Apollo Program

Label: Alex

Website: https://www.digitalgeist.com

Genre: Electro funk, Progressive, Trance

Reviewer: Mirco Rizza

Date: 21-4-2011

In 1999 artist Alex Kourelis began working with abstract sound and electronic instruments while in college. It was the turn of the millennium with lots of excitement about the coming 21st century – “we were either headed for a collapse of all society with Y2K or going to get flying cars, jetpacks and our own robots”. Well, neither happened. Maybe he read Neuromancer too many times but the ideas surrounding artificial intelligence, space exploration, “ghosts in the machine” and whatnot have stuck in the creation of his dark electro project Digital Geist.

From the start Digital Geist has filled a massive portfolio of work. Now living in New York City, Alex has performed live hundreds of times in the northeast USA, southeast and central Canada and even in the European Union – most notably at Detroit’s Movement 2003, the World Electronic Music Festivals 2007 and 2008, a residency in Buffalo New York and of course a few times in NYC.

With already several white label, released remixes and two surprising hit releases available worldwide, “The Zero Engine” has been released in 2006 and the next work titled “Motorcade EP” has been released in 2009. The long awaited album “The Apollo Program”, the work examined in this review, has been released in 2010. Its release will kick off a rash of live shows throughout the remainder of the year with dates planning in Albany and Buffalo NY and several shows confirmed in Belgium in August by popular demand. This is the opening description about the Digital Geist's activity through the years coming in the current date.

Digital Geist project, as announced, takes his sound influences by science fiction, current technology and of course other artists in the genres of electronic music from Brian Eno to Underworld. Well, “The Apollo Program” is the subject of our review: this album sounds like an electronic and awesome travel through fantascientific and space ambientation which allows to take the listener to another dimension through the senses and the own mind. Since the first listening, immediately I've noticed that the sound of this album is really perfect for clubs and radios, specially broadcasting this kind of music during the night, because the cosmic ambient evoked by keyboards and the delicate sound nuances are perfect for a contest where the sensations are muffled.

I've listened this album even driving my car in the night and I can say that it’s incredible how this album is so perfect when you are driving immersed in the silence of the night! It's clear, these are just personal sensations of mine, but I want to say that every electronic sound present in this work gives subjective emotions to everyone, and I think that is very difficult to listen this album without feeling emotions. Track by track, this work contains songs never similar among them, every track has a “world” apart inside, but there isn't a distance among the songs.

With this, I want to say that there is an equilibrium, the songs succeed to be different, and at the same time, they have a wire which connects them together. Very particular and weird the CD cover: what that you see appears like something of a little bit comical, weird: the CD cover represents a human astronaut in space with a big and uncovered head, surrounded by psychedelic-cybernetic lights in company of an improbable astronaut cat.

The overall mood of the album is positive, it transmits you pleasant and relaxed sensations and the weird electronic sounds take you also in a carefree and playful dimension. Some synths succeed to generate suspense effects, and they apper very suggestive like the parts of the album where the artist represents elegant and majestic music dimensions. The conclusions: I'm sincere, I can assure you that when I listen an electro, trance band, is rare that I succeed to appreciate it, because I don't like very much this kind of music.

Obviously, It doesn't mean that I could do a review on a band which play this kind of music without studying the artist background, his influences. I always try to pick up more informations as possible, and I review the works analyzing the music also writing about which are my sensations listening the work under review. In the case of this great work signed Digital Geist, I'm remained excited hearing songs so load of power, brightness and great rhythm sections richness. In my opinion, a track in particular, “Digitalis”, it is the most exciting song because there are awesome rhythmic sections, and at the same time the keyboards level remain high. The percussion parts in “Digitalis” are simply cool, effective and complex. What can we add? I bet this album could like also to the listeners which usually don't listen Electro funk, Progressive, Trance music!