Joël Vandroogenbroeck – Far View

More good news for Brainticket fans this year, following the reissue of the band’s albums on Lilith earlier in the year Drag City comes through with a bonus for the deep listeners. Following his work with Brainticket, the band’s Joel Vandroogenbroeck began a journey into Library music that began with a sought after find from Flirt Records –L’Immagine Del Suono. Shortly after he’d make another stop at Italian Library hub Cenacolo before settling into work for the Coloursound Library in the early ‘80s. That cache of work is where the material for Far View is drawn. The library/label was started by German composer Gunter Greffenius who would often pair the albums with paintings by his wife Waltraud, though the label’s first album, Biomechanoïd would snag H.R. Giger for the cover.

A few of the albums would see individual reissue over the years, particularly through Belgian label Aguirre, but this collection provides a nice overview of the work that Vandroogenbroeck did in his time at Coloursound, spanning ‘70s funk excursions, meditative synth, and free jazz. The progressive appetite served as an extension of the work he’d done with Brainticket, with the thematic shifts allowing Vandroogenbroeck to explore some the influences just touched on in their catalog with more focused depth. If you’re just dipping toes into Coloursound, which boasted releases from other Library luminaries like Alessandro Alessandroni, this also serves as a nice introduction. Included is one cut from Vandroogenbroeck’s band Joel, which explored jazz fusion for the label, but this collection does exclude his work under the name Eric Wann, which he seemed to mark for compositions outside his normal purview, though it may also just have made the label’s roster seem more diverse since Vandroogenbroeck had such a large swath of it dedicated to his works. With a Robert Beatty cover wrapping this one up, this should appeal to synth fans, Library nuts, and Jazz seekers alike.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.