Sonic Curiosity (USA)

Foreign Spaces is Georg Reiter and Christian Feher. Recording in Germany, this duo produce an energetic electronic sound. No drifting ambience here, these tunes rock with pounding E-perc and urgent keyboard riffs.

The music on this 42 minute CD from 1995 is broken into nine short pieces, each tune a tight space jaunt bringing the listener closer and closer to Earth. Although the song titles mostly deal with UFO visitations, the music drives the listener far beyond our atmosphere into unknown regions of space.

Nimble-fingered keyboards deliver complex patterns and chords with high-energy content. E-perc rhythms propel the tuneage into rock territory with rollicking tempos that bestow a joyful benevolence to these extraterrestrial visitations. The sparseness of this music conveys an urgency that only enhances its danceable effect.

Matt Howarth, 11th August 2002 
taken from www.soniccuriosity.com 

New Horizons (UK)

My introduction to Foreign Spaces came with what is currently the group's most recent studio album 'Phaeton' (2000).  From there I journeyed back to the very early days with 'Imagination - Pictures - Music', released this year but featuring material from the late eighties, before coming - by a very roundabout route - to the band's first album 'UFO Breakfast'.

This album was recorded between January and May '95 when, rather than being the three piece outfit they are today, Foreign Spaces had just two synthesiser players: Christian Feher and George Reiter; with drum parts also being provided by George.

I commented in my review of 'Phaeton' that science fiction often tends to be a key source of inspiration for this type of electronic music, a fact highlighted by the comment on the back cover saying "We've come from the stars and we'll go back there".  It was also noted in that same review that the band's albums tend to have an underlying story which links the tracks together.  'UFO Breakfast' is no exception, and an interview on the band's web site tells us that this album deals with "a space voyage which begins at 'Starrise' with breakfast onboard an 'Easy Flyer' which takes us to 'Foreign Places'."

The majority of the tracks on the album are fairly short, with a playing time well under the five minute mark, but even the longest tracks do not exceed eight minutes.  The style of the music tends to be very laid back and easy going and, although sometimes it proves to be a little too smooth for my tastes, there nevertheless aspects of the music which really shine and lift this album beyond the more mundane examples of the genre.

The album starts with the title track, 'UFO Breakfast', a vibrant piece with shimmering, rolling keyboard work which makes for a very strong opening.  The use of repeating patterns with the slowly developing foreground themes is curiously reminiscent of some of Mike Oldfield's earlier material, and it works very well indeed.

There is a much more restrained feel to 'Starrise'.  This is a much slower track, with a very relaxed, almost subdued mood, which again makes good use of strong foreground themes set against sweeping synth backdrops.  These are constantly building up, only to melt away again.

'Easy Flyer' is a track I felt less enthusiastic about.  While it is pleasant enough to listen to, it somehow failed to really grab my attention even after listening to the album a number of times.  The structure is fairly simplistic and although I would concede that the latter part does start to pick up, the very short playing time does not allow sufficient scope for development.

Any misgivings I might have been harbouring begin to fade away with 'Floating Pyramids'.  This has an almost ethereal edge and the haunting main theme is supported by wind blown synth effects while the almost-church-organ-like keyboard sounds towards the end is a nice, if short lived touch which left me wanting more!

'Metropolis' has a mesmerizing effect and the unstoppable marching rhythms at work in the earlier stages of the piece summon up images of the automaton-like workers in the Fritz Lang film of the same name.  Mixed with this somewhat depressing vision however are stirring melodies which weave around the rhythmic devices, creating a sense of wonderment and this combination really makes this track stand out.

From here we move to the light airy charms of 'Magic Park', which has a much softer feel.  There is something very comforting about the slow twisting patterns set in the music, and the combination of piano and flute sounds are particularly soothing.

'Meeting Escher' by contrast is a far more dynamic piece, which with its driving themes and complex counter rhythms proves to be one of the most satisfying tracks featured on the album.

Taking the pace right down again we arrive at 'Foreign Places' which has more of a dreamy, spaced out quality.  This is very relaxing and exudes a sense of peace and calm; but as with 'Easy Flyer', it somehow it does not quite measure up to some of the preceding tracks.

Finally we are brought back down to earth with 'The UFO Has Landed'.  The use of echoing voices floating through the music in this track creates some interesting effects and brings the album to a close in the same confident style with which it began.

Whatever shortcomings I may have found in this album essentially stem from the fact that I have been working backwards from the band's most recent and mature work.  Irrespective of that fact however, 'UFO Breakfast' still makes a fine introduction to synth based electronic music and is well worth a listen.

Simon, 7th October 2001 
taken from www.elrose.demon.co.uk

Sequences No 24 (UK)

Synth Music Direct (UK)

Georg Reiter and Christian Feher crank up their twin Roland JD800s and a Jupiter 6 to produce this album which proclaims "We’ve come from the stars and we’ll go back there!". The title track opens and suddenly I think I’ve put the wrong disc in. Surely this is a new Paul Ward album? It starts like ‘Flying South’ and then goes into a ‘Scream in Darkness’ style solo. Throw in a throbbing sequenced backdrop and it’s adds up to a fine track. Now hold on. John Dyson has now suddenly joined the lineup for track 3, ‘Easy Flyer’. Well it certainly sounds like one of his characteristic lead lines. The next couple of tracks take a more bullish stance, then things change again as light melodics take the fore in ‘Magic Park’. ‘Foreign Places’ combines more Dysonesque leads with pulsing sequences to produce another excellent outing, and the final track ‘The Ufo Has Landed’ is another impressive uptempo piece. This is a well produced album with plenty of quality EM on show. At times the music does sound very derivative of the UK scene, and perhaps because of this I think most UK EM fans would feel very comfortable with this CD slotted into their collection. (GG)

Graham Getty, 1995
taken from www.synthmusicdirect.com