The latest sampler from the Erdenklang label is a fantastic collection of mesmerizing music, representing the current vanguard of inventive and eclectic fantasy/progressive space music stylings. This modernistic renaissance in popular electronic instrumental music is taking place across Europe, but especially in Germany, as this diverse sampler illustrates. There is often as much emphasis on original acoustic sound, including the human voice, as on the electronic and computer sounds. You will hear unreleased material by label-stalwarts
Blue Chip Orchestra, Daidalos Ensemble,
Kristian Schultze and
Bernard Xolotl, France's
Hector Zazou and Estonian
Peeter Vähi, whose spectacular 20-minute album finale includes vocals by the Buddhist monks of the dGe-lugs-pa school. 76 minutes in length,
Magic Age II also features tracks by the group
Vox and Bulgarian violinist
Elka Atanasova. ~ Backroads Music/Heartbeats