Nocturne - the contemplative new album by Vangelis

After the Rosetta album that took us into outer space, and returned to a uniquely epic and passionate version of space rock we last heard some decades ago on a Vangelis album, the new studio album Nocturne is eminently intimate and terrestrial. It contains 17 tracks, with the majority being new compositions.

The record company's initial information about the upcoming release may have wished to entice certain segments of the public, as Nocturne was everywhere stated to be a "solo piano album". As it became increasingly clear that it wasn't, various outlets have backpedalled on this...

Some sites to this day obstinately misinform with statements like "for the first time Vangelis plays a grand piano on this record", which is complete and factual nonsense, full stop.

Based on the first single to see the light of day, namely the track entitled Nocturnal Promenade, it became obvious that one will be treated to piano (and sometimes piano-like) sounds pushed through copious amounts of reverb, and synthesizers, too would make an appearance.

However, to put to a side rather surprising cases of misinformation, the music on the album is bound to polarise and divide audiences - as even the early comments on e.g. Youtube have shown.

One of the major problems arises if one sees this album with nostalgia-tinted optics, or one does not treat it separately from all other Vangelis albums.

Why? Well, as it could be perfectly expected from the (overstated as it was) initial information, this was not to be an album of groundbreaking technical or musical wizardry. We have not had that for many years. Nor was it to be a dramatic and vastly orchestrated production, like some landmark albums from Vangelis's discography (note how some compared it to Rosetta and even El Greco...).

Also, Vangelis has made us quite used to changes in direction and large variations in genre and style from one album to another. As some have stated, this album feels extremely commercial, as if he had become what he criticised the most: a brand.

Well, another way to look at this is that Nocturne is actually true to a Vangelis ethos: he releases whatever he wishes, and without riding some fashion trend. We can recall how Oceanic or Portraits were received, and how much vitriol they gathered in reactions from some sections of the public.

It is interesting to hear, though, how the apparent weakness of some tracks is their key strength. One may find that Promenade has no concrete structure nor melodic direction, it is a quiet improvisation with little melodic motifs connected with musical wanderings. If one thinks of musically conveying an aimless and relaxed promenade, well, this improvised-sounding piece does exactly that... hence it is quite suggestive.

Calm renditions of  tracks like the main theme from Chariots of Fire are the re-interpretations of a composer several decades after the original. It is striking that the relationship between the new and original version is quite similar to the one between the late and the original versions of e.g.  Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now. The late versions, in both cases, are completely lifted out of their original context, are more intimate and highly personal.

The reworked version of To The Unknown Man, too is achingly beautiful and intimate in its stripped-down arrangement. Once again, comparisons with the original are, by definition, rather pointless.

Something that does not work terribly well on piano is Love Theme from Blade Runner - the long, sustained, and repeated notes of the original's melodic theme, now re-arranged to sparse piano notes suspended in the air (and occasionally connected up with little arpeggios) are having a hard time to keep that seamless flow and emotion that was present in the original. Re-arranging wind instrument-based pieces with long held notes to a piano or plucked instruments-based version, too present this classic problem - and this track is no exception.

New tracks like Moonlight Reflection are characteristic Vangelis: minimalist tiny motifs built from quick ascending/descending notes are instantly catchy and playful. The melody of Through The Night Mist puts the listener in a melancholic, but not dark or sad, mood - think of the piano-centric tracks on Mythodea or El Greco (the studio album, not the soundtrack of same title).

Early Years has innocence, longing, contemplation, simple beauty. Intermezzo stands apart in its arrangement, it is indeed a track that serves as a separator of sorts between the first and second parts of the album. Longing has again a remarkably simple and delicate rendition.

Unfulfilled Desire has perhaps the most chromatic adventures and passages of genuine harmonic tension that fit nicely with the title, quite unlike the other tracks' very comfortable sound. The closing track, Pour Melia, has a splendid arrangement with a superb purity, innocence and a gentle fairy tale-like feel, something to go to sleep with at a fragile young age.

From a technical viewpoint, there was considerable debate about what sounds from what period of synth making we hear on the album. The dissonance with Vangelis's own, and remarkably consistent, ethos is again notable. Maybe we should remind ourselves and appreciate what Vangelis has been saying throughout his entire career, and separate misleading marketing from that: he never cared, nor cares, about what makes the sound...

As he put it countless times, the source of the sounds he chooses to use does not matter, but due to various features and possibilities of electronic instruments, he "happens" to use predominantly the latter...

Nocturne is, and will be, more enjoyable if we keep in mind not just what it is meant to be as an album, but also its creator's nowadays unusually consistent artistic credo... It is an album without sharp edges, dramatic contrasts, surprising turns and twists - and despite its length, it seems to stay self-consistent.

Does it reflect an "old-fashioned" credo of human being composing, improvising and playing the music with as little as possible automation or computer technology? Thankfully, for a personal and instantly recognisable touch, yes, it is unashamedly "old-fashioned". Again, it is true to Vangelis's long-held convictions on the relationship between the musician and technology, and also to his principles on what role technology plays in the creative process.

Ultimately, it is a personal contemplation rendered with trimmed-down, sometimes entirely sparse arrangements - therefore, after all this non-exhaustive review blurb, one can state the obvious: due to its intent and nature, it really, really will be a matter of taste and "old-fashioned" musical (not synth musical) sensitivity whether this is a loved or disliked point in Vangelis's considerable discography...

Perception transformations: Sessions IV by Tangerine Dream

The fourth volume of live compositions, whose presence in Tangerine Dream concerts by now have become a firmly established tradition, continues to be a highly valuable addition to one's Berlin School electronic music collection.

As stated before on this blog, whenever attempted to pour into some words the rather indescribable previous Sessions releases, these lengthy live compositions constitute a stunning return of the vast live soundscapes that one could hear during Tangerine Dream concerts from many decades ago - but with an entirely up-to-date sound.

The two compositions on this album were recorded live in Oslo, Norway and in Pisa, Italy, during August and October last year.

The first track Persepsjontransformasjon (or, aptly called, Perception Transformation) is a perfect overture for this CD...

Hearing the gentle mellotron choirs, then the patient build-up of the piece, one can again realise: what others may describe, about other music pieces, as something reaching its "inexorable conclusion", in the case of Tangerine Dream we, once again, have inexorable development.

There is no self-indulgence here, despite the powers that can be unleashed, there are no static repetitions of some patterns or catchy accidents that improvising musicians may have stumbled onto and fell in love with.

As with all other Tangerine Dream sessions, the discipline that is again combined with imaginative treatment of the live music elements is remarkable.

We have a steady development of ideas, culminating in a fiery mid-section of sequenced Heaven. The superb organic textures produced by the violin, the semi-organic mellotron flute,  and the gentle piano sounds that arrive when the tight and hypnotically powerful sequencers fade away are not elements that stand out as contrasting ones to the eminently electronic discourse.

The second track entitled Four Degrees Parallax, which has another splendidly dreamy beginning, proves the same point: the intimate and gentle personality of the violin brought to life by Hoshiko Yamane, the mellotron and acoustic instrument-emulating textures emanating from Thorsten Quaeschning are in no way playing the role of gimmicky sonic contrasts against the high-octane sequencer sounds from Ulrich Schnauss and Thorsten,

As this second track eminently shows, the mind-blowing sequencer sections are making, as paradoxical as this may sound to those who have not yet heard Tangerine Dream or these Sessions, a perfect home for the gentle sounds rooted in acoustic instruments (real or sampled).

One can easily substantiate these claims by inviting the listener to really track how the fiery sequences pull back, dissolve in piano chords and sublime violin dialogues, then run alongside these hand in hand - to finish off with profound bass pads and an achingly beautiful violin hovering above the electronic landscape.

As someone once said about a German baroque composer, there are no straight lines in his music, only curves and waves.

Here we could easily say, well, paraphrase, that there are no cutting contrasts in Tangerine Dream Sessions, only fluid dialogues - between instruments with vastly different characteristics. There are no excesses nor self-indulgent show-offs, only seamless development of countless musical ideas.

Once again, Sessions IV is a two-part journey. Once again, it is a true adventure that will not disappoint, with a full range of experiences ranging from utterly dreamy passages to fluid and ever-changing melodic textures to mind-expanding sequencer fireworks.

As unbelievable and perhaps biased it may sound in the second decade of the 21st century, in terms of form, structure, execution and artistic intent, one finds it virtually impossible to find such electronic music that simultaneously can tick so many boxes.

The band's trust in the listener picking up on the myriad ever-changing elements and joining the band in its adventures has not changed since the first inception of the live Sessions - so those pampered listeners may say that it is impossible not to expect, even audaciously demand, further Sessions releases...

The passing of a visionary: Alan R. Pearlman, founder of ARP

Alan R. Pearlman, founder of, and creative genius behind, ARP Instruments has died on 6 January, aged 93.

Even as a student, after the 2nd World War he was dreaming of electronic instruments that could be real musical instruments for musicians, instead of laboratory curiosities. When he founded ARP Instruments, he started to put his dream into practice - and the list of his patents is impressive to this day.

When Moog and ARP Instruments were rival companies, ARP being the second most known synthesizer brand, even Bob Moog recognised the technical merits of ARP 2500. First of all, unlike Moog synths of the day, the ARP had famously stable oscillators - so it didn't need the notorious frequent re-tunings due to oscillators drifting over time.

Unlike the modular Moog, this ARP legend has employed a matrix system and special pins to achieve the patching, instead of a mass of cables.

Illustrious names used the ARP 2500 and its more affordable successor, the ARP 2600: Pete Townshend, Jean-Michel Jarre, Jimmy Page, David Bowie, Herbie Hancock, Jerry Golsdsmith, Jeff Wayne... and many uses of the legendary synths are as famous as some of these artists.

In Star Wars, the R2-D2 robot's whistles and bleeps were made via ARP 2600, and a few years earlier, the musical communication with the UFO that landed in Close Encounters of the Third Kind was made on an ARP 2500...

Jean-Michel Jarre to this day possesses and uses an ARP 2500, and he employed it on the recent live revival of his classic Oxygene album, too.

As a masterstroke, ARP has also released a charming and eminently portable synth, too - the ARP Odyssey. It was a duophonic, compact and quite affordable powerhouse of a synth has become another sought-after legendary instrument, featured on countless records. Everybody from Klaus Schulze to Chick Corea to ABBA to Billy Currie has used this synths that was ultimately made in three versions.

What can illustrate better the longevity of A. R. Pearlman's ideas and innovations than the fact that mighty Korg in 2015 has resurrected the ARP Odyssey as something that some abbreviate fondly as the KARP Odyssey...

To quote Richard Boulanger, "even at 90 and beyond, Alan R Pearlman was still dreaming of new circuits, modules, and controllers! Undeniably, Alan R Pearlman was an engineering genius. Everyone recognizes that his synthesizers were beyond brilliant. But I truly believe that the heart and soul in his machines drew their spirit and life from Alan’s musical virtuosity on the piano, his truly deep musical knowledge, his passion and enthusiasm for “all” music, and his nurturing and generous support for young composers and performers, regardless of whether they were into classical, avantgarde, film, fusion, rock or pop."

Korg ARP Odyssey

It is extremely rare to have a brilliant engineer and innovator with deep musical sensitivity and understanding of what a musician needs. On top of that, Alan R. Pearlman had superlative feel for ergonomic design, for aesthetic considerations - therefore his creations were true gems of electronic instruments, in the fullest sense of that word.

It is not overstating his and his creations' significance if one says that his instruments had life-changing impact on many, on both technical minds and on great musicians who embraced technology.

Rest in peace, relentless innovator and dreamer...

The Vangelis Register

In expectation of the upcoming piano album Nocturne, some internet comments on the first single from that album prompted a bit of an inventory...

No paperwork is involved, and it is not a catalogue of Vangelis releases... Instead, as some commented on Youtube along the lines of why Vangelis is releasing a "new age"-like album, or why he "pretends" to be a "classical composer" etc., it attempts to capture the list of genres, sub-genres and styles Vangelis has composed in. Some may have only heard of him due to certain soundtracks, but the full picture of his musical output is as astounding as one could possibly imagine (or not, in our world of increasingly pigeon-holed electronic music).

The list, admittedly, contains some quite loose categorisations, too - apologies, but latter are inevitable... not only because Vangelis often manages to fuse vastly different styles and genres, but also because often he can put a very personal spin on a well-established category...

So a quick "inventory" of what one can hear in his discography, with examples given as album and/or track titles:

• Early Medieval polyphony / Gregorian chant and Byzantine sacred music influences (parts of Mask, Heaven and Hell Part II, 1492 Conquest of Paradise, Ignacio)
• Echoes of mid- to late Renaissance secular and sacred music, including specific embellishments and phrasing (Monastery of La Rabida, parts of Direct and Opera Sauvage, a capella parts of Mask and Heaven and Hell)
• Jazz and jazz-rock (parts of Albedo 0.39, See You Later, Direct, Opera Sauvage)
• Progressive rock (Earth, certain Jon & Vangelis tracks)
• Space rock (Albedo 0.39, Spiral, Rosetta)
• Echoes of Berlin School i.e. works building on sequenced background and patterns (parts of Spiral, Direct)
• Minimalism, within that perhaps closest to a patterned/repetitive Steve Reich-like approach (Soil Festivities)
• "New Age", with a highly personal take on it (large parts of Oceanic, parts of Voices)
• Ambient (Creation du Monde, parts of The City, parts of Albedo 0.39 and Friends of Mr. Cairo)
• Electro-acoustic experimental (Beaubourg, Invisible Connections)
• Psychedelic rock (Hypothesis)
• Oratorio (Mask, Mythodea)
• Piano etudes (The Long March, seemingly the upcoming album Nocturne)
• 1920s style "easy listening" with 1950s arrangements (One More Kiss Dear)
• Synth-pop (I'll Find My Way Home and some other Jon & Vangelis tracks)
• Pop ballads (from Aphrodite's Child era, e.g. Spring Summer Winter and Fall)
• Eurodisco (Multitrack Suggestion)
• Rock 'n' Roll (Back To School)
• Symphonic poems / suites (El Greco - the studio album, Chariots of Fire final suite)
• Penderecki / Orff-style choral-symphonic suites (Heaven and Hell)
• Folk re-arrangements / re-interpretations (traditional and original songs on Odes)
• Blues and blues-rooted ballads (parts of Blade Runner, some Jon & Vangelis collaborations, Le Singe Bleu)
• Vocal-instrumental experiments and improvisations (Curious Electric and other parts of Short Stories, parts of See You Later)
• As a genre in itself, cinematic soundtracks (albeit spanning several above categories) - obviously, no examples are needed here of some of his era-defining classics... 

Identifiable specific ethnic influences:

• Celtic (Irlande, from Opera Sauvage)
• African (La Fete Sauvage)
• Far-Eastern (obviously the entire album China, some tracks on The City)
• Near- and Middle Eastern (2 tracks on Blade Runner, parts of Alexander, the ballet score The Thread)
• Greek secular and Byzantine sacred music influences (Earth, El Greco OST & same title studio album, original tracks on Odes, Rapsodies)
• Spanish / Andalusian with clear Moorish influences (parts of 1492 Conquest of Paradise)
• Native American Indian (parts of 1492 Conquest of Paradise)

It is a simple, but rather astonishing, fact that he really is the one and only synthesizer artist who managed to create music with such range - regardless of one's taste, the list is simply astounding. Whether one can appreciate all these musical genres, styles, historic periods' and geographic areas' specific musical characteristics, that is another matter entirely.

Considering that all of the above are instantly recognisable as works by Vangelis, one is reminded of a social media thread not so long ago. It asked, what genre does he compose in - the only correct answer was that the genre is called... Vangelis.

Vangelis - Nocturne, the new 2019 piano album

The surprise announcement of a new Vangelis studio album to be released in 2019 came few days ago.

Release dates are different in some sources (CDS states 15 Feb 2019, Amazon states January 2019), and pre-orders are already taken by some retailers. It will be a CD and double vinyl release.

What is known so far? It will be a solo piano album (!) with some tracks re-arranged from Vangelis's earlier albums. 

The track list so far was posted on Amazon Germany only, whilst others say it will come with new information on 7 Dec. It will be hugely interesting to see piano arrangements for some of the tracks, and to see how the ever-enigmatic Maestro surprises us with new material:

1. Nocturnal Promenade

2. To the Unknown Man

3. Mythodea - Movement 9

4. Moonlight Reflections

5. Through the Night Mist

6. Early Years

7. Love Theme (From "Blade Runner")

8. Sweet Nostalgia

9. Intermezzo

10. To a Friend

11. La petite fille de la mer (From "L'Apocalypse des animaux")

12. Longing

13. Main Theme (From "Chariots of Fire")

14. Unfulfilled Desire

15. Lonesome

16. Conquest of Paradise (From "1492: Conquest of Paradise")

17. Pour Melia

Retro futures, futuristic retrospectives: Equinoxe Infinity by Jean-Michel Jarre

Four decades after the seminal album Equinoxe, one of the most significant artists of the French School of electronic music has released a concept album that is tightly connected with that memorable epic from the late '70s.

It is concerned with the advent of artificial intelligence and the increasing digitisation of our lives. As Jean-Michel Jarre put it in a recent interview, after a somewhat disappointing contrast between what we idealistically expected from the new millennium and what we actually had in terms of technology, we are returning to that sense of wonder about the future.

Whilst the album intends to imagine what the world may look like in 40 years' time, both with its utopian and rather more dystopian elements, it embraces eminently retro technology, too - together with state-of-the-art production. Jarre has used some of his earliest analogue synths in his arsenal, hence sonic references to his first two albums are abundant - but we have also the latest digital technology eminently present in the journey that Equinoxe Infinity is.

As with the second and third installment of what has become the Oxygene trilogy, it was quite a task to make the album sound contemporary, make it stand on its own, yet directly reference the instantly recognisable sonic world that made the originals into major landmarks of the history of electronic music.

The opening track, The Watchers, has those direct references in the arrangements, yet the main musical motif is surprisingly Vangelis-esque in its gentle melancholy and the inflections - one is reminded of Oceanic.

Flying Totems injects considerable energy and synth-pop DNA into the mixture of different moods that the album gradually proves to be. The layers of sequenced motifs and electronic effects are self-consciously pointing us toward the Jarre sound of the late 1970s, with catchy and soaring melodic lead lines - an instant lift after the meditative opening of the album.

Robots Don't Cry is continuing the very direct references to the percussion, sequencer and melodic patterns of Oxygene and Equinoxe of yesteryear, including that characteristic glissando - whilst some bass arrangements are quite here-and-now...

All That You Leave Behind maintains that tight connection with the 1970s soundworld in Jarre's discography, whilst the melody and the overall mood of the track is of almost anthemic nature.

If The Wind Could Speak and Infinity show the age-old truth: simplicity is one of the hardest things to achieve. Both tracks are charming in the purity and simplicity of the melodic lines, the latter is quite  typical chart material - with the chorus and its arrangements making again very direct references to the opening track of the 1978 album's B side. So is the way in which blends into Machines Are Learning, the 7th movement, with the sequencer pattern reminding us, probably quite intentionally, of the former album.

Both aforementioned movements 5 and 6 tracks also introduce processed and pitch-shifted vocal sounds. In 2018, one could forgive listeners for thinking just how retro this all sounds... If one recalls the mind-blowing innovative world of Zoolook from the early 1980s (at a time where most used the revolutionary Fairlight sampler for just pedestrian playback of samples), this use of vocal samples in 2018 strikes one as quite conservative, even trivial.

The Opening continues with tight bass sequences reminiscent of the 1978 album, showing again a conscious choice of synth sounds to reference the B-side of that LP. It is another driving and high-octane, unashamedly happy and entertaining track.

Don't Look Back is more pensive, the filter sweeps on the white noise and the strings being again firmly rooted in the Jarre sound of the 1970s.

It almost seamlessly blends into the final track, Equinoxe Infinity, which is also a return to both the introspective mood of the opening track and its melody - making us think that perhaps the album will float away with this reprise... However, Jarre treats us to an epic build-up of patterns that start off deceptively simple - and lead to a majestic finale, which is all the more effective as it pulls back and calms to an almost ambiental, gentle soundscape in the last seconds of the album.

Overall, it is a structurally very cohesive and flowing concept album, albeit with quite a few gear shifts - it feels more consistent that the recent, and final, installment of the Oxygene trilogy.

There are no sharp changes and sudden corners in Equinoxe Infinity - it has, as the best of Jarre albums do, the ability to fill the room and transport the listener to a highly characteristic sonic Universe.

There are no excesses and there is no self-indulgent technological showing-off, the album is remarkably modest in a good sense...

One central contradictions remains: with all the musings about the future and how this album set out to meditate about how the world will look like in 40 years' time... can we find a single second on this entire album that is electronic music pointing to the future, instead of very self-consciously referencing the past?...

Whether it represents something still novel and unique in the soundscape of the second decade of the 21st century, whether it adds something memorable to the considerable Jean-Michel Jarre story of many decades of electronic music, well, that is a very personal verdict - one for each listener to make...

Fifty switched-on years: Wendy Carlos, a modular Moog... and Bach

The 1968 original cover

In October 1968, the seminal album Switched-On Bach was released. Wendy Carlos, using an era-defining Moog synthesizer, has surprised audiences with pioneering electronic renditions of selected Bach compositions.

In 2018, this may sound absolutely banale - even if in 1968 none other than the legendary pianist Glenn Gould held the ground-breaking performances in the highest regard. We are  nowadays taking electronic instruments for granted, and synthesizer reworkings of classical pieces have been ubiquitous...

One really needs to put Wendy Carlos's unprecedented achievement in technical, musical, and also cultural context.

Electronic instruments, even with the arrival of Robert Moog's classic synthesizer, have been laboratory curiosities until then. Even if some electronic works so-to-speak escaped into the popular realm well before 1968, synthesized sound has not truly exploded into popular consciousness until then.

The technical challenges were numerous, and one can get an insight into this by consulting countless notes and interviews done with Carlos and others. The list is quasi-endless, from notoriously unstable tuning to the often overlooked fact that the synth on which Carlos performed the Bach pieces was essentially monophonic - i.e. it could produce sound for one note at a time. Custom "chord generators" had to be made, with chained-together oscillators, such that Bach's chord structures could also take shape.

We must not forget, this was Bach actually played on the Moog - no automation or programming of any sort has taken place. A revolutionary touch-sensitive keyboard allowed very articulated performances. Still, it necessitated an almost superhuman way of playing when faced with a monophonic keyboard - something that Carlos modestly called "detached" playing, as each key had to be activated on its own. Try and keep an eminently fluid and spirited performance going, playing on such an instrument...

These technical difficulties, heroically overcome by Carlos, lead us to the musical achievement.

This may well be a switched-on and fully electronic Bach, but it is very switched-on from musical performance perspective, too. As much as some voices denigrated the results, even "serious" musicians, like the aforementioned Glenn Gould, and the unexpectedly numerous public embraced it.

Even now, half a century later, Carlos's performances (including the particularly superb choices made in terms of the arrangements, i.e. synthesized timbres) range from eminently subtle to joyously bouncy.

The cultural impact and its effect on the public's perception of the new electronic instruments have been immense.

The first cohesive and large work, with truly world-wide popular success, recorded entirely with synthesizers was not a stereotypical pop or rock tune (like Telstar in 1962). It was an entire album of popular works by J. S. Bach... as a result of a stunningly audacious adventure centred around a synthesizer monster that was just about emerging from its laboratory environment...

Wendy Carlos in 1968

Have all negative preconceptions, by now simply anachronistic prejudices, related to electronic instruments been put to rest during the fifty years that followed?

Yes and no.

Both utterly high-brow and utterly popular music widely employs synthesizers, and so does pretty much everything in-between... Very often, the artificial delimitation line between non-electronic and electronic instruments is entirely blurred or non-existent, as audiences may not even be able to tell the difference between some samplers and the instruments they sampled. Also, often complex processing of traditional instruments' sounds makes those sound eminently electronic when they are not...

However, some still see electronic instruments as tools for creating "sterile", "not human", "machine" etc. music. Some sub-genres of electronic music, which heavily rely on robotic rhythms or entirely intentional robotic aesthetics, certainly do not help in shifting these out-dated misperceptions.

Even within the Berlin School of electronic music, e.g. Kraftwerk represents a diametrically opposite aesthetic and artistic intent compared to e.g. Tangerine Dream. Former had a specific message centred on technology, whilst latter explicitly used technology as merely a creative tool and never let it take over. See Kraftwerk standing immobile with their laptops, and see Tangerine Dream still, 50+ years on, jamming in lengthy live improvised sets... The concept and the intent behind their respective art is vastly different - and the resulting music also shows the radically different, even opposite, approaches to synthesizers.

The great Romantic passion in works by Vangelis are quite different from the energies unleashed by any of the trance or techno acts, and comparisons are unfair to make - as there are no valid comparisons between eminently different musical intentions and aesthetics.

However, one could say that views that consider electronic music to be "sterile" have been conceptually wrong from the very beginning.

Even in 1968, people looking at (as some never listened or wanted to listen to) Wendy Carlos's monster Moog synth as a tool for "machine" music were committing a fundamental error.

Not because of subjective pros and cons and tastes... but because it is an (intentional or not) confusion of three different things: instrument, medium, and content.

Synthesizers, as obvious it may seem when rationally thinking about them, are merely instruments... One can make, and has made ,sterile or cerebral music with a flute, too...

As the late, unparalleled Isao Tomita said once, synth-made electronic sound is as natural as the sound of thunder made by nature's electric discharges... After all, what creates the sound doesn't matter - the boundaries and preconceptions are in our minds only...