If you magnify the echoes made from drops of water as they travel down steel pipes, you might discover what Andrei Lanes has an orchestra of sounds that makes for a solid basis in which to build full-bodied compositions. Electronic artist Andrei Lanes is at it once again with his latest release Fractal Collapse, building electronic symphonies that transport the listener to magical sounding realms. These are places that require a vivid imagination in order to be able to construct, like the imagination it takes to follow the echoing sounds made by droplets of water as they pass through steel pipes. Andrei's use of mobile digital beats wired by shapeshifting electronic impulses is wickedly esoteric and scintillating to the senses. He uses robotic movements moderately and accentuates the sci-fi aspects which make listeners feel like they are traveling into another galaxy. Galactic-electronica and cosmic-techno are forms of music that Andrei creates on Fractal Collapse. It is unlike anything you have experienced, yet the music has melodic esthetics which make it appealing for global audiences to enjoy, and avant-garde enough to make it a unique artistic expression with ambient-soaked landscapes and sonic valves. It is an album that is impossible to dislike no matter what are your musical preferences. Tracks like "Ad Noctvm," "Shapeshifter," and "Samaire" feel like child's play using electronica linings, digital schematics and laser-like formations that excite, fascinate and hold the listener in awe of an empyrean world. Performed, arranged and produced by Lanes, the album suspends a startling constellation of galactic atmospherics and spy-like thematics using a multitude of spectral hues. The opening track "Eyeliner" combines robotic and organic piercings with a child-like play, as the funky digital fragments of "Phantom" paint a sonic landscape with a deluge of wiggling notes and squiggling lines. The capsules of notes alternate from moving with swiftly skiing glides to erecting colossal electronic bonfires. The spellbinding tonic of sound waves in "Amyland," which is dedicated to Evanescence 's lead singer Amy Lee , evolves into fascinating sonic contraptions. Following in this artistic vane is the fuselage of suspense-filled electronic patterns of "Hydra Electrolight" with notes moving all over the place, jostling about while maintaining a symphonic unity and preening a shiny lapis lazuli luster. The magnetic fields of "Balearic Interchange" have a startling brilliance, while the beguiling ninja movements of "Cheshire (Delta Edit)" prompt martial arts captions in the mobility of the electronic notes. Fractal Collapse is all instrumentals so there are no lyrics and the tracks don't suffer from a lack of vocals. Lanes keeps the music moving and transforming into new art forms, which make them attractive in and of themselves. I found nothing to dislike about Fractal Collapse, but a lot to like. The electronica formations and digital soundscapes are decorative, but they also feel very natural and empyreal. It is like the music that you expect galaxies to make with the instruments that you expect their heavenly bodies to use. The album has rich content and ingenuity, which engages in outer-space dimensions. It is music that you don't mind being consumed by, you may even welcome the onslaught of electronic music.

Electronica arranger/composer/scriber Andrei “Lanes” has released his third album Fractal Collapse, the follow up to his sophomore album Hydra Missing, Fear the Worst and his debut CD Smoke and Mirrors. Each installment is evidence of Andrei's expansive imagination, and Fractal Collapse is a personal best for him. The music is like an orchestra of sound crystals which are continually in a state of motion. He surpasses the artistic melees and montages of many electronica craftsmen who commonly perform what DJ's spin on their turntables, but Andrei's music never feels like DJ-spun scribbles. The compositions are sonic tarmacs with ornate drawings and a massive level of artistic coordination. The songs make you stop and listen, even without visuals to accompany them. Fractal Collapse is like an optical illusion that is experienced aurally.

Tracks like “Eyeliner” and “Phantom” create sonic mirages with figures that leap, ski, and zigzag like bouncing tennis balls swishing, flugging, and juggling into a vast array of futuristic-clad phrasings. The wind blown digital soundscapes of “Chimera” suture slinky curvatures that astound the listener and the towering register of electronic blades sustain their mariner pitch throughout “Karmas Melody” as bustling movements activate the registers below. “Samaire” is a top-notch track starting out with small bleeps that grow into palatial dunes. More evidence of Andrei's artistic inclinations is shown in the glittering digital crystals of the title track shooting off soft sonic ringlets producing a nightly seduction, and the animated trajectories of “AD Noctvm” run rampant with a wonder-emporium feel as the cybernetic notes sound like they move on stilts. The melodic coordination of the electronic patterns is stunning to experience with amazing sonic flips and mysterious naves morphed from the digital sound waves. The music forms visual images in the listener's mind so vivid they seem touchable. It is hard to believe there is an area of electronica music that has not been inhabited, but just when it seems like the genre has reached its final frontier, Lanes forges into unoccupied territory. Fractal Collapse has Lanes coming out full throttle and finding the impetus to expand his thinking from people whom he has come to look up to like Evanescence's Amy Lee in the track “Amyland,” Danica Deering in the track “Shapeshifter,” and Kris Renta in the track “Karmas Melody.” Lanes is an artist who finds inspiration for his material in people. His compositions are reflections of human behavior – the good, the evil, the mischievous, the proud, and anything else that Andrei can discover inside them. Fractal Collapse is an abstract representation of human behavior and has a positive outlook for the future.

How do indie artists become world renown without the backing of entertainment lawyers or publicists, you might ask?If you ask New York City based electronic producer/composer/arranger Andrei “Lanes” Terskikh how he has done it, you will hear his earnest story about going virile on the Internet as his means of availing himself to world-wide opportunities for his music. He comments, “100% of my following has come from the Net. Since I don't play live so far, the online outlets are the major channels of exposure for my work. I have invested lots of time to build my Internet presence and it takes more than a minute to keep it all up on an interactive level. Out of all sites hosting my music, the most permanent are my own turf, my Myspace page and my page on ReverbNation”. Whether or not the Internet encourages artistic endeavors and creativity in people, Andrei speculates, “Frankly, I doubt it. I don't think any technological advances can carry any positive impact on human nature. Internet has definitely opened an entirely new level of communication and information access as well as a whole set of tech possibilities never available before, but I see it neither as an influential source nor as a boost for creativity.” Andrei reveals that he discovered his need to make music in his teenage years. “I think I was about 16. Me and my high school mates were under a huge influence of this whole hard rock/heavy metal wave, so we started our own band and needed proper repertoire. By that time I picked up some skills as a guitar player, plus my older sister had taught me some piano basics, so I decided to give it a shot as a songwriter, and somehow I came up with few tunes that we were able to turn into full songs. The most powerful of my early inspirations was probably The Scorpions. We were totally addicted to their music and image. We lived on their songs, so no wonder our ultimate dream was to become as huge and influential as they were at the moment.” While growing up, Andrei was also exposed to his family’s talents. “The most creative person in my family was probably my uncle. He used to work as a head drummer/percussionist for a local opera house and he was the one who introduced me to a world of drums. I was about 14 when he invited me to his studio for the first time, and as I look back now it was definitely one of the biggest impressions of my life. Just looking at his more than extensive set of tympanis, tam tams and bongos was mesmerizing enough, but that was before he showed me how many sounds can be extracted from each piece of his ‘kitchen department.’ How to create a perfect percussion harmony, how to improvise creatively, and most surprisingly to me, how one man can be a full scale drum orchestra all by himself. He was totally something else.” After much soul-searching, Andrei settled on electronic/illbient music as his style of music, making compositions with an array of elements from ambient/orchestral-tinged atmospheres to trippy-industrial tones. “Electronic music per se is a quite challenge for a musician. It is not a kind of issue universally agreed upon, but in my opinion, this genre takes a lot more skills and knowledge to operate than any other, all the way from the moment you start writing a song to taking your whole show on stage. It also allows me to express my ideas to much fuller extent, mostly due to additional sound dimensions that I can open and experiment with.” He clarifies that having the most technologically advanced gear does not compensate for an artist’s lack of creative ideas. “No latest and greatest toys will do much good if they are not used to their fullest potential, and it takes time and patience to master it all properly. Better equipment is not a primary factor in making better music. Creative potential is.” He specifies, “The principal marketing trick of music software manufacturers is to fool their potential customers into a delusion that having the right software is all it takes to become another Mozart. People, please!” He implores, “Believe me, it takes more to be different. You gotta have a different set of mind to start with.” Andrei’s strong stance about his music fostered his desire to become a solo artist as he responds, “I would never feel completely satisfied with just being an addition to someone else. I always wanted to build my life around my own ideas and my own projects no matter how clever or ridiculous they might seem. Probably the most important issue when faced with a dilemma of going out on your own or joining some team is to decide on how clear your creative vision is, and whether you got enough skills, energy and patience to materialize it all by yourself. Frankly, when it was my time to make that choice, I couldn't say I felt completely secure on that, but I did believe in my ability to learn and progress and I knew that I'm not gonna quit no matter what.” His second solo album, Hydra Missing. Fear The Worst, has catapulted him across the Web.
“First album was Smoke & Mirrors of 2005. I just don't like to attract attention to it because, in my opinion, it wasn't perfect production-wise and was more like a first attempt in music, which surprisingly to me got liked by some people including KUCR 88.3 FM's Music Director, but I still try not to mention it anywhere.”

He resumes, “I released Hydra because I had enough material to put in as a cohesive record. It took me about a year to write it and I actually had more finished tracks than I have chosen to include in it, but I felt like those which made it to the album were consistent in terms of harmony and vibe. As to EPs, I'm not a big fan of EP format, mostly because I don't think it is wide enough to represent the full spectrum of my sound. I'm not planning to release any EPs in future and even if I decided to make a compilation out of my own remixes, I would still go with LP.” The music ideas for the songs on Hydra Missing. Fear The Worst came from various influences. “’In SpiraLS’ was influenced by my dear friend Spira Saxe from Trancient Dreams. She has managed to create a beautiful audio-visual aura around her and I got emotionally affected by it. ‘Soft Light’ was inspired by a series of interchanging images I saw on one of world's top flash websites. ‘Hydra Missing’ track has gotten out of my blind experimentation with sound effects. ‘Hello Stranger’ has appeared after I saw some extended documentary about deserts and their optical phenomena. I never know what kind of impulse will hit my imagination next.” For the title track of Hydra Missing, he elaborates, “I didn't really have a clear-cut idea for this particular track. I was playing around with a set of abstract sound effects, looking to create a pattern which I could more or less organically transform into a melody line, so I came up with this dark sequence of noises and whispers building up and turning into a rolling ambience that would keep the haunting element for a while, but then become twisted and shift the whole polarity of a song to end up with a liquid and exhilarating finale. It was basically a sonic imitation of a mood swing. This track was definitely fun to work on. I never got stuck at any point, no parts were clashing, all accents seemed to be in right places. I am planning to remix it later this year.” Andrei’s upcoming third offering, Fractal Collapse, delves into new music ideas. He discerns about the album, “Each track has come from different inspirational sources, be it other people who impressed me in some way or be it a result of a blind jamming or some pattern that I saw in an abstract sound effect or something visual/cinematic that has touched my emotions. Funny enough, I have no idea how exactly does it all get translated into my music.” He cites, “The more I write, the more meticulous I become. It's inescapable. Attention to details is one of the most important aspects in electronic music making. The more parts are used in one track the more delicate becomes a balance between them. Changing one element can require changing the others which are related to it. Having the same effect added at different points can bring absolutely different results, so you have to keep looking for an optimum, and it is really easy to get lost in it. It is rare that I can clearly see the point when a track is in its final version, and I should not touch it anymore. Even when it happens, I always know that I will keep teasing myself to try more distortion with it or to extend a finale, etc etc. It is a sickness.” He admits about the creative process, “I try to be as critical to my music as I possibly can, and I keep looking for imperfections in it even after it has been checked and rechecked. The hardest part here is to know when to stop and leave it as it is to avoid any overdoing. It is one fine balance which, as I have mentioned before, is not easy to establish.” This became an issue for the track “Amyland” from Fractal Collapse, which he says about the song, “Altogether it was the 8th edit that I decided to leave [it] without any further changes, musically, original version has remained almost the same all the way through. It is some technical details and sound effects that I kept fine-tuning for a proper match with the rest of a song. Only the last draft has gotten a new piano addition to its finale.” He dedicated “Amyland” to singer Amy Lee, which he explains, “Amy Lee is a songwriter and lead singer of Evanescence. She is one of the most impressive self-made artists around who managed to break through solely on her talent and energy, and who had enough integrity to stay true to her image and style all the way to the top. From what I know, it is close to extinct for a signed act not to become affected by commercial challenges and to be able to keep expanding his vision in the same independent manner he used to have before he has got a contract. Amy did it. She has kept her original appeal and she has proved her point. It was her story and her music that inspired me to write ‘Amyland.’” Regarding the sequence of the songs on Fractal Collapse, he remarks, “I usually decide on song sequence right before an album goes to post-production, and the only rule I use for it is to avoid placing tracks with similar vibe and tempo close to each other. Spreading them apart helps to make their differences a little brighter.” He expresses about the title of the album Fractal Collapse, “As to the title, it's a bit metaphoric. It means a breakdown of an irregular structure, every part of which has a shape identical to a shape of a very structure as a whole. It is a property known as self-similarity. I have chosen it for the album title because the main elements responsible for my tracks form and content are identical despite the obvious musical differences between songs and even between parts of the same song. It is a kind of signature which is hidden inside every one of my tracks. So the album as a whole represents a fractal which is being reduced to a set of its identically shaped components represented by individual tracks.” Both albums Fractal Collapse and Hydra Missing. Fear The Worst are distributed through CDBaby.com, whom he endorses without hesitation. “I only have a contract with my distributor, CD Baby, who is taking care of online store placements and physical CD orders. It is the biggest distro company for independent artists in US. They have very flexible terms and conditions. They take very reasonable commission for their services, and most importantly, they are doing a very good job. I found them when I was doing research on the whole subject of distribution a couple years ago. Official CD release date for an indie like myself is the day when CD Baby opens a separate page devoted specifically to new albums. That day they begin to take physical CD orders and offer digital downloads. It usually takes few more weeks before music starts to appear on iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, etc etc. They have a list of online stores they supply worldwide and wherever else I would like to place my album is up to me.”He reflects, “Marketing music is not that much fun, especially for an indie. It takes a ridiculous amount of time and requires a whole set of non-artistic skills.” Andrei has some ideas about where he would like to see his music marketed. “I would be very happy if Fractal Collapse was picked up by electronic shows on college radio. As far as I know, their MDs and DJs are not contractually bound to spin whatever their sponsors tell them to, so their playlists and rotation schedules are almost completely based on their own decisions and tastes, and that's why I rate college radio way higher than its commercial counterpart. Independent films, especially in sci-fi/ fantasy and horror genres, as well as mystery and suspense/adventure videogames would also be a proper placement for my tracks.” He discusses that electronic music offers numerous opportunities for song placements in different media outlets and its creative prospects are limitless for him. “Electronica for me is just a matter of personal preference and, although I do believe its general boundaries are a bit higher than those of other music styles, I don't see it as a basis for placing into VIP area. I just consider it a completely different form of music which requires a set of different skills to make and manage. As to what I dig as a listener, I love gothic/ industrial rock, especially by Collide, which in my opinion is one of the most impressive bands in this genre, not speaking about the fact that they gracefully manage to rule their whole empire all by themselves. They are definitely top of their game.” Andrei strives to be at the top of his game. Each successive album shows a new level of expertise for Andrei. He claims, “Believe it or not but I can't afford to waste time on trying to conceptualize my artistic status. It's not such a big deal for me. I want my music to make some difference and touch emotions, not my ego to keep blossoming on a non-stop media coverage. “ Maybe media coverage is not Andrei’s game, but going virile has been one of his biggest goals. He figures that the more sites featuring his music, the greater he increases his arsenal of exposure and finding people who will like his music, and that is every indie artists wish.

Music critics have described Andrei Lanes' music as "electronic wonderlands," "orchestral oracles possessing surreal dimensions," "shape-shifting figments," "aural illusions," "sci-fi expeditions," and simply "out of this world." His soon to be released album "Fractal Collapse" is his third offering and is sure to captivate listeners with his mystical soundscapes and spiraling effects. Fans were exposed to Andrei's gift for spinning phantasmal wildernesses on his debut album "Smoke & Mirrors" and his sophomore release "Hydra Missing, Fear The Worst," but his latest CD "Fractal Collapse" delves deeper into Andrei's psyche as he pictures the universe and its inhabitants as moving sound waves interacting with one another in blissfully elegant and wickedly draconian ways. He describes, "Frankly, I didn't envision Fractal Collapse' as a whole. Each of its tracks has come from different inspirational sources, be it other people who impressed me in some way or be it a result of a blind jamming or some pattern that I saw in an abstract sound effect or something visual/cinematic that has touched my emotions." Currently residing in New York City, Andrei discusses that his compositions are inspired by people of the world and global factors like the track "Amyland from "Fractal Collapse" which will jump out to listeners with its symphonic landscapes and elegant phrases. Andrei reveals that the composition honors the siren voice of Amy Lee. "Amy Lee is a songwriter and lead singer of Evanescence," as he champions, "She is one of the most impressive self-made artists around who managed to break through solely on her talent and energy, and who had enough integrity to stay true to her image and style all the way to the top. From what I know it is close to extinct for a signed act not to become affected by commercial challenges and to be able to keep expanding his vision in the same independent manner he used to have before he has got a contract. Amy did it. She has kept her original appeal and she has proved her point. It was her story and her music that inspired me to write Amyland.'" Other topics in Andrei's music like the track "In SpiraLS" from his album "Hydra Missing, Fear The Worst," he discloses is about "My dear friend Spira Saxe from Trancient Dreams. She has managed to create a beautiful audio-visual aura around her and I got emotionally affected by it." Also from "Hydra Missing," he tells, "Soft Light' was inspired by a series of interchanging images I saw on one of the world's top flash websites. Hydra Missing' track has gotten out of my blind experimentation with sound effects. Hello Stranger' appeared after I saw some extended documentary about deserts and their optical phenomena." He surmises, "I never know what kind of impulse will hit my imagination next," and relates, "The more I write, the more meticulous I become. It's inescapable. Attention to details is one of the most important aspects in electronic music making. The more parts are used in one track the more delicate becomes a balance between them. Changing one element can require changing the others which are related to it, having the same effect added at different points can bring absolutely different results so you have to keep looking for an optimum and it is really easy to get lost in it. It is rare that I can clearly see the point when a track is in its final version, and I should not touch it anymore. Even when it happens, I always know that I will keep teasing myself to try more distortion with it or to extend a finale, etc etc. It is a sickness." The vast sieve which Andrei stores his music ideas and pulls out these images for his compositions is bottomless. He expresses that electronic music provides him with a well of infinite possibilities for his compositions as he notes, "Electronic music, per se, is a quite challenge for a musician. It is not a kind of issue universally agreed upon, but in my opinion this genre takes a lot more skills and knowledge to operate than any other, all the way from the moment you start writing a song to taking your whole show on stage. It also allows me to express my ideas to much fuller extent, mostly due to additional sound dimensions that I can open and experiment with." The artist whom Andrei admits opened his eyes to the possibilities of electronic music is the techno-pop duo Orbital, comprised of the brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Andrei tells on his soundclick.com page, "It's hard for me to tell as to which extent, if any, my music reflects my influence. Although, I've been told on multiple occasions that certain compositions of mine do evoke strong associations with Orbital. Matter of fact, I never had an intention to become Hartnoll's follow-up act, but the overall cinematic character of my music is definitely a result of Orbital's impact on my creativity." Andrei stresses that all of his music comes from his own imagination. "I intentionally stay away from listening to anything else when I am writing," he asserts. "I try to keep focused for as long as it takes to finish a track and this kind of exposure would kick me right out of it. Most of ideas being tested in electronic music are rather technical and I don't really follow them much. It is way more fun to custom design your own production from the ground up than to borrow someone else's tricks." Though electronic music is his choice of medium for his compositions, he remarks that he enjoys other forms of music as well and finds value in them. "I do respect all existing genres of music. Electronica for me is just a matter of personal preference, and although I do believe its general boundaries are a bit higher than those of other music styles, I don't see it as a basis for placing into VIP area. I just consider it a completely different form of music which requires a set of different skills to make and manage. As to what I dig as a listener, I love gothic/industrial rock especially by Collide, which in my opinion is one of the most impressive bands in this genre not speaking about the fact that they gracefully manage to rule their whole empire all by themselves. They are definitely top of their game." Like Collide, Andrei would like his music to be picked up by college radio stations. "I would be very happy if Fractal Collapse' was picked up by electronic shows on college radio. As far as I know, their MD's and DJ's are not contractually bound to spin whatever their sponsors tell them to, so their playlists and rotation schedules are almost completely based on their own decisions and tastes and that's why I rate college radio way higher than its commercial counterpart. Independent films, especially in sci-fi/fantasy and horror genres, as well as mystery and suspense/adventure videogames would also be a proper placement for my tracks." Andrei also tells that the Internet has been a great forum for him to gain exposure. "100% of my following has come from the Net. Since I don't play live, so far the online outlets are the major channels of exposure for my work. I have invested lots of time to build my Internet presence and it takes more than a minute to keep it all up on an interactive level." He shares, "Out of all sites hosting my music, the most permanent are my own turf, www.lanespro.com, my Myspace page, www.myspace.com/lanespro, my page on Soundclick, www.soundclick.com/lanes, and my page on ReverbNation, www.reverbnation.com/lanes. My website has all the links so it's best to check it first." He comments that the "Internet has definitely opened an entirely new level of communication and information access, as well as a whole set of tech possibilities never available before, but I see it neither as an influential source nor as a boost for creativity." For Andrei, real-life people and facets which shape the world have been a source of inspiration for his creativity. And though, music critics may sing his praises for transposing human emotions and global happenings into electronic music, Andrei maintains a down to earth perception of himself as he reflects, "I treat people the way I would like to be treated and no one likes to be around someone who thinks he is bigger and larger than life no matter how much reason he has got behind it. It turns people off and hurts your reputation. Plus, even being lucky enough to get acclaimed and enjoy some temporary local success still doesn't make an excuse to get stuck-up and start living on a cloud. Believe it or not, but I can't afford to waste time on trying to conceptualize my artistic status. It's not such a big deal for me. I want my music to make some difference and touch emotions, not my ego to keep blossoming on a non-stop media coverage." The road for electronica artists can be very precarious. It can hold many lucrative prospects for them or it can simply expose the artists to a local following. Andrei has been branching outside of his local following in New York City and finding fans as far away as Australia. With such subject matters as world renowned figures like Amy Lee, altered-states of mind, and aural illusions as motives for his music, Andrei's thinking goes far beyond the local boundaries. "Fractal Collapse" is a cornucopia of fragmented sound waves that are strung together and tell the story of the universe and its inhabitants in a way that everyone can understand and picture in their own minds.

New York City's techno clubs have a reputation for spinning mind numbing electro-pop music through its speakers, but the city's premier ambient producer Andrei Lanes senses music that takes the genre to a new platform where the mind and body are lucid of each other and reciprocate each others' actions. The result is an opus of successive compositions digitally mastered and orchestrally endowed, made from ciphers of calibrated sounds and aperture settings that create aural vignettes of human behavior and thought processes.

His sophomore release Hydra Missing, Fear The Worst, the follow up to his 2005 debut album Smoke & Mirrors, relates the weightless forms of Cirque du Soleil and the excitement of Blue Man Group. The numbers are descriptive of human action and feats of unearthly boundaries. They challenge the mind and effect the body's abilities. The music is an experience in and of itself, opening with the stimulating "Jade Blue Afterglow." The album is lit with vitreous lines, pronounced notations, and textural effects chiming, gliding, bubbling, somersaulting, and making angular strikes along a tight rope. The photogenic quality of numbers like "Acid Burn" and "Access Granted" are engendered with ambient frequencies that are futuristic in tone and exotically entrancing. The multitude of notes shimmying, scaling, vibrating, and blazing across each other transfix selections like "Amalgama" and "Area 51" with a mystical matrix. The flashes of sounds and apparitional sequences lance through each other and form a celestial harmony. "Urschleim In Silicon" (Urschleim is a German word meaning a protoplasm from which all life originated from) is suited with techno-pop phrasings and sonic effects that glitter along a flutter of sound waves. The composition is bathed in a luminous glow which gives Lanes music an orchestral loom. Orchestral electronica is what Andrei Lanes has discovered with his experimental processes. The digital sounds work in harmony with each other and form voluminous creations that portray human thoughts and actions. The surreal feats are magically plied and ambiently phrased. The fusion of sound waves and digital effects are familiar in Enigma's music, and yet uniquely arranged in Lanes' compositions. The realm of orchestral electronica has more untapped crevices than anyone knows, and Lanes is still scoping out their hidden secrets as he is currently working on his third album due out later this year.

Brooklyn, New York native Andrei Lanes has a gift for techno-pop compositions using shades of trance, ambient, and electronica. His soundscapes tap into the human psyche drawing out sonic schemes that form instrumental pieces capable of depicting human sagas. There is a surreal quality in these pieces, a sci-fi mysticism that besieges the listener into its cooling aura. The synergy of sound waves, fluctuating frequencies, and jewels of laser slicing effects come together at a variety of levels on Lanes sophomore album Hydra Missing, Fear The Worst, the follow up to his debut release Smoke & Mirrors in 2005.

Written, performed, arranged, and produced by Andrei Lanes, the 13 tracks on the disc are imbued with futuristic textures derived from sonic manipulation and digital contrasts. The album is chamber music with a progressive edge, a New Age tilt, and an avant-garde vibe. Displaying World Music influences concurrent with works by Philip Glass, the Symbion Project, Freeze Pop, Rob Byrd, and Enigma, Lanes’ works are steep in compressed sounds, bouncing notes, and lances of fibrillating sequences. But what distinguishes Andrei among such populated pontoons of techno-pop artists is his instinctive style for arranging sonic impulses into surrealistic mirages. Such pieces as “Jade Blue Afterglow” and “Colors In Motion” spool digital sounds and sonic effects into a revolving wheel of chimes flailing, piercing, coruscating, and colliding into each other. The sonic equations on “In Spirals” causes the emerging divisions to undergo a metamorphous, gushing into large swells and then, like a supernova, exploding into dispersing splinters.

The music does not overwhelm the listener but draws them into its trance. The futuristic ambience of “Aleera” and “Soft Light” procure an oxygen bar style atmosphere. The vibe is relaxing and stimulates the imagination into a euphoric state of mind. Aurally, the music is pleasing and calm without becoming boring. As much as the digital impulses, sci-fi tones, and robotic structures on “Access Granted” and “Hello Stranger” are repetitive, they are also uniquely applied so they don’t sound like the same song. “Area 51” exhibits a Mission Impossible style thematic coursing through the sonic schemes, while the darkly sinister hues in the tones on “Amalgama” create a mysterious chimera in the mood making it prime for background music in a movie depicting scenes filled with cunning behavior and cavort operations. The slight tension also gives this number a nub of eroticism and sex appeal.

The laser-like slashing marked by the effects on “Space In Time” are mildly modulated as the scribbling sound waves intermingle and drizzle with a light fall. The final track “Hydra Missing” exudes of dancing notes brightly pitched and exhilaratingly playful. Andrei causes contrasts in the pitch and direction of the digital sounds as well as the depth of their frequencies. He shows a scientific approach to his compositions that is initiated from the human psyche. Andrei Lanes is still going strong currently working on his third album. As there are an infinite amount of mathematical equations that exist, so too is Andrei’s imagination. The only predictable aspect about his music is that it is always aurally pleasing.

“Hydra Missing. Fear the Worst” is the new album from New York artist Lanes. With influences including the Hartnoll brothers (of Orbital fame) it is quite easy to describe this album as being towards the techno end of the electronic spectrum, but that would be missing the mark by a long shot. Yet another artist to pay respect to the communicative abilities of online music/networking websites (MySpace et al), this album may just hint at the revolution of self-produced artists coming out from the shadows and taking on the established order out there.

Independent electronic music composer, Andrei “Lanes” Terskikh creates musical compositions using MIDI files, drum loops, samplers, and electronic quantization commonly known as time signature grids to place precisely toned sound motifs along the melodic folds of the songs. His songs are like a landscape of sounds or soundscapes that use synth effects and instrument sequencing to paint colors and make movements along the flowing melodies. Like the fluid vibe of a rolling river with different shaped bubbles making sounds as they pop up along the water, so does Lanes songs with lines of sounds that cross, intermingle, harmonize, and move parallel with one another.

The track “Soft Light” has a mid tempo beat with light shades sporadically perforating the darker shades to create sound dynamics that spin, burst and ebb along a sheet of esplanades. The sound effects create momentum and impulses, which evoke an emotion in the listener similarly to the musical compositions for the stage performances of The Blue Man Group and David Copperfield. There is an underlying sense of magic in Lanes’ song structures.

The single “Hydra Missing” has a futuristic feel with swooping velocity and sequences of notes that create fluid streaks and swizzles crossing each other. Andrei keeps the speed of his pieces at a smooth, even flow creating a comfortable pace for the listener. The symphonic melody of “Forms” is a more intricate number with greater movement, dynamics, and harmonies going on along the musical passage. There is a thickness in this medley due to more sounds interacting and playing with each other. Like a chemistry experiment, Lanes mixes and matches sounds to create a flow that is complementary and thematic to the overall feel of the number.

Andrei’s blend of Ambient, New Age, and Electronic-Dance music offers possibilities, combinations and sound dimensions that have yet to be explored. His electronic songs are not drone like or mechanical moving, but creative and spontaneous. These songs show him to be a pioneer when combining sound motifs and stringing them along a drum loop. His influences according to his website have been Moby and DJ’s like Underworld and Orbital. Harmony and spontaneity are elements that Andrei uses to his advantage in his songs and components that keep his songs pleasantly melodic.

KUCR received this album about 4 months ago. It was sent from electronic composer Andrei Terskikh aka 'Lanes' from New York City. Immediately upon opening, I was very impressed with the album art work, font and layout. A subway car racing by in a blur, streaking blues and blacks with a stark picture inside of the artist in an introspective pause during an interrogation. Sounds of dark electro night beat, an instrumental journey through a city metropolis subterranean retreat,.... Some trax have a futuristic 80's feel, a percussive soundtrack for Blade Runner 2 ... In a way just like the way that original movie had a meditative effect on the viewer, when listening to Lanes Smoke And Mirrors, it causes one to pause and listen to the intricacies while sleeking down the geometric strip, hells yes. Mid to fast tempo bpm's, 115-135. Slick rhythms and hard dance drumming. Bouncing abstract ambient techno dance trax, ..... What draws me into these soundtreks again and again is Lanes' pouring of his emotions into the symphonic melodies that tells less of a specific story and more of a cinematic experience.

Lanes music definitely seems to be of an electronic, sequence based nature, but in an email he told me that he played everything live on the album, and limited his utilization of MIDI quantization, which enables a composer to correct aspects of a performance on a keyboard or other MIDI instrument. MIDI affords control of note placement, velocity, and can lock selected notes to a time signature grid in a process called quantization. On his site he acknowledges other electronic / dance music artists who are creating more human and organic electronic and dance music with practiced skills manipulating actual instruments and playing all the parts straight to a multi-track audio recorder in real-time. These accomplished and talented producers stray away from sampling (other artists trax), and the use of stock drum loops & samples. Other aspects of the recording process such as creating special effects, editing, arranging, and mixing is commonly done on a computer / digital audio workstation. Lanes, Smoke And Mirrors is definitely in my top 10 of 2005.