Alex Moulton


[Exodus sleeve]"Exodus" (Album, 2008) !DSO Recommended!

Expansion Team Records

If it is possible to somehow bridge the gap between flamboyant 1970s disco, its electronic prog rock soundscape contemporaries and the noughties club-friendly beats of Daft Punk and co., then NYC's Alex Moulton has somehow managed to pull off that impressive feat. The epic, fantasy sleeve artwork by famed 70s concept album artist Boris Vallejo boldly puts Moulton's intentions firmly on the table. He's saying from first appearances: "Yep, that is what I'm proposing to do, and here it is…" Only more impressive than this remarkable self-imposed challenge is just how successful he is at pulling it off, and so convincingly at either end of his chosen musical spectrum too. (Interestingly, Vallejo's cover art alone was enough to prevent many narrow-minded press writers even playing review copies!)

Spanning rocking cymbal-crashing and tumbling drum fills, through to deep, rich, bass synth-driven club beats (sometimes within a single track!) this is audacious stuff. But Moulton has the bold foresight to imagine the outcome and has, miraculously, consecrated this most unlikely of marriages. It only really wavers on those individual tracks working purely within the modern sound palette where it briefly drifts into weaker house music territory. Moulton then is obviously a fan of that under explored space that at its edges envelopes the 1970s electronic concept albums of Jean-Michel Jarré, his more rock-influenced contemporaries like Tangerine Dream, and the more classical sweeping soundtracks of Vangelis. Georgio Moroder would certainly smile in appreciation too. Fascinating historical touch points aside, Exodus stands apart as an unusual, successful and mind-expanding experiment. 8/10

Rob Dyer (February 2010)

See also:

Daft Punk
Jean-Michel Jarré
Georgio Moroder
Pink Floyd
Les Rythmes Digitales
Tangerine Dream
Vangelis


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