ALBUM REVIEWS ↓
Rick Jamm, JamsSphere Magazine
“SIX BC”
A SUPERB SLICE OF INTELLIGENT MODERN ELECTRONICA
The good news is that Six BC is a superb album, one of the best to bear the Bruce Cohen name in quite some time in fact, with the visionary musician utilizing combining a Yamaha Reface YC Organ with a Reface CS Synth, “to see how far he could push the two keyboards into one big spacious ethereal sound.” This was his initial grounding towards crafting a series of 10 tracks around them that find a strong balance between atmospheric longer reaches, electronic explorations and more melodious compact pieces – plus a touch of dance music. So boxed in purists and snobs, approach this with caution. For all the other expanding creative minds ― enjoy!
There’s a constant distinctly current sound, with endless respectful nods to the vintage exploratory heritage of Cohen’s previous works through every bit of the album. It all makes for a superb slice of intelligent modern electronica, and even the rarer straight-forward spots, are far weightier and more subtle than many of the tracks that have shown up on numerous electronic recordings currently doing the rounds.
As the title Six BC presumes, Bruce Cohen started out the series, with One BC in 2009, eventually reaching Five BC in 2018. The opener Under The Nova holds a series of experimental and ambient fragments a world away from commercial appeal or easier melodicism. It’s essentially an arrangement that coasts between freeform serene electronic drifts, and an urgent churning beat, making for a confident statement from Cohen, straight off the cuff.
Each re-listen reveals a secret exciting layer and a complex flow under the louder keyboard flourishes, on the mysteriously intriguing, A Single Step. Inspired by Miles Davis, Rated Are offers clacking percussive momentum and a searing theme whilst dipping into bombastic sonic excursions. Cohen then spoil fans with the beautiful and deeply immersive epic, Prelude for Oodako.
Mr. Harrison is a homage to Bruce Cohen’s favorite Beatle. It’s a bouncy and sparkly piece, sprouting delicate Eastern nuances. Dance Of Mogera is the closest Cohen comes to a slinking EDM beat, except it holds a more reflective elegance than his club orientated counterparts could wish, or are allowed, to produce.
The buzzing ambient music of Sunrise Over The Moon is all crystalline ringing expanses, and fizzing implosions, culminating in an uplifting refrain. Overloaded with feverish percussive runs, Cohen’s keys take center stage alongside the driving rhythm on Moove, constantly soaring majestically over electronic pulsing, and a dramatic imposing beat.
Which Is Which is another ambient digression, with Cohen challenging the listener to determine which is the organ, and which is the synth. Fooled Who, is a tribute to The Who, another of Cohen’s all-time favorite bands. This is an astoundingly busy piece of music, especially percussively. There’s this incredible collision of rhythm and sound, which only builds upon Bruce Cohen’s musical mystique.
Six BC is evocative and smart electronica from a talented artist who constantly calls to mind moments from many electronic eras. It showcases one of those rare instances when a musician continues to be incredibly creative and forward-thinking, even eleven years down the line from his first solo album release.
■ Rick Jamm, JamSphere Magazine, 8/12/20
Better Auds Blog
Electronica at its best • Check out the album Six BC by Bruce Cohen
Hi Friends, you know I love listening to various music genres. Today, I bring to you another fantastic album from Electronica Genre – Six BC by Bruce Cohen released by Tarock Music.
I would suggest you put on your headphones, close your eyes, and experience the ten track exceptional music journey!
The album blends ambient, experimental, funk grooves and percussion in abundance. It is a delightful musical composition that brings out a sense of adventure. The electronica feels so intense and dramatic. I really liked listening to the rhythmic sound that is unequivocally contemporary. The beats in the music create a mysterious and pleasant aura. You would love listening to it when you are sitting in a club enjoying drinks with friends. The stimulating and precise percussion dominates the scene throughout.
It has some fantastic ambient tracks:
- Under The Nova – The album starts with this. It is a rousing number that oozes rhythmic energy.
- A Simple Step – A mysterious groove having a mix of synth and organ sounds.
- Rated Are – A rampage of Afro-Latin percussion with sounds swirling in-and-out producing electronic madness.
- Prelude For Oodako – This one has Bruce’s signature EDM style.
- Harrison – It is a tribute to Beatle with synths and organ swirling around to produce a different, enigmatic Eastern feel.
- Dance Of Mogera – An explosion of percussive beats!
- Sunrise Over The Moon – This one is intense and spacey.
- Moove – Ambient funk.
- Which Is Which – It leaves the listener marveling about which is the synth, and which is the organ.
- Fooled Who – It is a tribute to The Who, with pulsating drums and thumping synths building on top of each other, making you feel euphoric.
When I was listening to it, I felt a mysterious feel to it that made the music so much attractive. I liked the album so much that I had put it on repeat mode and thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. I am gonna keep on listening to it for quite some time now, that’s for sure!
Bruce has been releasing his solo albums since 2009. He has earlier released popular albums One BC released in 2009 which has German electronic minimalism. Two BC released in 2011 which expands on his earlier ambient electronic themes, but are more danceable. Three BC – In A Trance released in 2015, it’s all about EDM and trance. With Four BC, released in 2017, Cohen came back with his ambient electronic roots. Five BC released in 2018, a mix of ambient, electronic and the element of funk. Six BC is the latest 2020 episode of Cohen’s signature electronic journey.
Check out the music on Spotify and SoundCloud. You can also check out TarockMusic on Instagram.
I have added it to my Spotify playlist. What about you?
- Better Auds, Storytellers Unplugged — May 1, 2020
Upstream Indie
Six BC is the latest album from Bruce Cohen, known primarily for his electronic noir film scores. As with his other solo projects Six BC is rooted firmly in the German Electronic Minimalism tradition. The 10-track album has an overall dark, brooding and introspective sound, one which feels especially poignant in 2020.
Cohen’s masterful layering of occasionally contradictory soundscapes create a feel of otherworldliness, an effect that is especially pronounced on Mr. Harrison’. Another running theme that adds an unexpected bit of groove is the use of complex percussion beats that are reminiscent of a drumline, noticeably in Rated Are and Fooled Who. Overall, the album is a fresh take on the genre, from an expert who is well-versed in it.
Claim your FREE download of Under The Nova on Soundcloud
- Upstream Indie — May 2, 2020
Gabriele Filippi, Nova Music Blog (Italy)
The latest from Bruce Cohen
is the Surrealist 10-tracks album ‘Six BC’
Bruce Cohen is a veteran recording artist, with over 40 years of experience and dozens of releases, published both as a soloist and as a member of the duo The Reds. It was 1977 when Cohen and Rick Shaffer gave birth to the first album by The Reds, which was certainly as important as the release, in 2009, of his first solo project, ‘One BC.’
Cohen’s long career could be labeled as an excursion of electronic music, very close to the minimalist one of the German scene, which also includes soundtracks for cinema. However, especially if we consider his latest release, the 10-track album ‘Six BC’, everything we have just said sounds restrictive.
Of course, ‘Six BC’ is part of the musical excursion that Cohen has matured over all these years. But what he’s offering with this latest release is something that goes far beyond this. Starting from an abundant fusion of ambient, funk, grooves, experimental, and percussion, his creative act gives life to a work that, we find, has many elements in common with the artistic movement of Surrealism.
The first connection is given by the entire musical delivery of the album: if on one hand it keeps us deeply rooted to the ground, with grounding low and sub bass frequencies, on the other it opens a boundless perspective on the dimension of dream. Putting in Relation principles of logic – the automatic – with a sense of freedom and expression – the dreamlike – what Cohen creates is a formidable impulse, aimed at overcoming the split between reality and the oneiric world.
Each single track could be understood as a single volume of a large and voluminous encyclopedia. There is an expressive and extraverted density in every single song of this album, to the point we could continue to listen to each for weeks, analyzing and decoding every single drop of the ‘Six BC’ nectar.
Of course, here the experimental, alternative, and avant-garde imprinting is particularly strong and distinctive, most likely making the listening not suitable for everyone. But what in the first instance could leave most people bewildered, contains within itself a great treasure of communicativeness.
At this point in the article, it seems almost demeaning to continue to define ‘Six BC’ as an album. Rather, it is something that by definition we put in a category of its own, with which Cohen dictates an otherworldly new line, that demands only to be discovered.
■ Gabriele Filippi, Nova Music Blog, Italy, April 2020
Which Coast Music
Bruce Cohen is an experienced musician who has written score for film and theater productions, is a founding member of the jazz trio, Big Fun 3, while his solo albums are released on the indie label Tarock Music where, according to his bio, he “likes to experiment with German electronic minimalism, and the atmospheric landscape of ambient textures.” “Under The Nova” is a track released by Cohen in April of 2020 from his album Six BC and it provides a great look into Cohen’s experimental tendencies and the groovy vibes he provides.
“Under The Nova” begins with a groovy bassline that remains prevalent throughout the track and from the outset, Cohen mixes in synths and organ that give the track just the kind of flair and energy it needs to remain catchy for its entire 4:33 run time.
Throughout the track, those aforementioned synths twist in a way that gives off strong psychedelic vibes and the music video on YouTube helps reflect that energy. Cohen incorporates many layers and textures throughout the song, giving it a fresh and groovy sound designed for optimum vibing.
∎ Which Coast Music, 7/22/20
Straight Bread Magazine
One of our biggest goals is to find new and experimental music and sounds and we recently struck gold in the single Under the Nova by Bruce Cohen.
In this single, Bruce takes you for a ride with a mind bending musical experience. This is a track that can not be fully appreciated in just one listen. The more you listen to this track, the more sounds you find and the more captivating it becomes. Under The Nova is the type of record that truly can take you for a trip if you close your eyes and let yourself ride to the music.
The track has a consistent flow to it that is constantly evolving with new sounds bouncing in and out. There is not one moment in the track that feels like it is ever repeated which provides a constant unique feeling at every turn of the track.
The beat starts off almost sounding like a Nine Inch Nails record and then warps and transforms into this trippy ambiance with vibrating effects going over top with more layers coming in and out. The creative genius it takes to create the sounds used and blend them so clean should not be underestimated. There are people who make music, and there are people who make ART. Bruce Cohen gives us a beautiful piece of art that should not go underappreciated. So put on your headphones and enjoy the experience.
∎ Jason Carter, Senior Editor, Straight Bread Magazine, 7/22/20
The Further (France)
Some artists remind you of how much there is to discover in terms of music, art, and experimentation. Our discovery of the day, Bruce Cohen belongs to this category.
Bruce Cohen latest album entitled “Six BC” blends electronic music with sound experimentation. The 10 tracks project is innovative and creates out of the beaten track.
From the first track “Under the Nova”, we disconnected from the reality thanks to the atmospheric universe and journey through textures. A beautiful enchanted moment that we advise you to discover right now.
The Further, France, 7/10/20