Peru – Continents

It's a very cool record and I would characterize a good portion of this music as Berlin School

This is a really hard album to pigeonhole. There are elements of Electronica (Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis), there are elements of Italo Disco, there are elements of Electro.

But, like so many great albums, trying to sort them into a neatly labelled box is unimportant.

What you get here is 5 tracks. Not much, eh? I remember growing up with albums by Queen, The Beatles etc. where if you got less than 10 tracks you felt cheated.

Then, of course, I got into Jarre & Vangelis and realised that it's not the quantity of tracks, but the quality.

Anyway, enough sidestepping! Here's what I think of Peru - Continents:

It opens with the epic title track's lush pads dropping you into some far off land, and soon a hypnotic refrain introduces you to the very memorable main hook. It almost sounds like a downtempo track by the legendary Psy Trance producer Yahel. It will definitely appeal to fans of early Italo Disco (acts like N.O.I.A.).

Cave really steps up the Italo vibe. It also has a feeling of early 80's electronic library music (like Astral Sounds - Teletext). Once again the melodies are first class, and even though this is by far the shortest track on the album it never feels rushed.

Savane is a very dark, downtempo piece. It's one of those tracks you'd appreciate greatly after having a smoke (and I'm not strictly speaking about tobacco here). It is awash with atmosphere, and even sitting here stone cold sober I find myself drifting away into some fantastic landscape in my mind.

Africa is one massive continent, and appropriately it's a massive track here (clocking in at over 11 minutes). Starting with little quirky synthesized animal sounds (to get you in the mood, this is Africa after all), a beautiful pad melody enters. I think fans of Jarre's early albums (Oxygene / Equinoxe) will really love this track. Around half way through the track a marimba style riff enters, and it's like a fresh stream of cold water down your back on a hot day. Maybe I'm getting carried away here, but this really is fantastic music.

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the euphoric synth line that enters after!

Okay, you'll find out for yourself…

Finally there is Oriëntal, and we're back to a more danceable Italo vibe. The melody in this track is very familiar to me, but I really can't place it. Having definitely never heard this album more than a month or so ago, it's definitely not recollection from this source. Anway, Oriental is a very catchy and bouncy track. Again, very synth library music in vibe.

Which is never a bad thing.

So there you go. If you like any of the artists I've mentioned above, I think there's a very good chance you'll enjoy Peru - Continents.

Why not pop over to those Youtube links just up there on the right of this page, see what you think?