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Chris Ianuzzi Planeteria Review by Gary Hill Chris Ianuzzi's music is not progressive rock in any kind of strict definition. He produces a form of freeform artsy electronic music, though. That's tied to a lot of the electronic stuff of the 1970s, which generally does get included with progressive rock - so here we are. I actually reviewed a previous EP from Ianuzzi a few issues ago, and those three songs are all on this new full album. For the sake of consistency, my track reviews for those three have been brought in from the other review. If you like strange, but compelling, electronic music, give this artist a try. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2020 Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.

Track by Track Review

Planeteria While not the longest cut here, the title track opener is close to nine minutes long. It starts ambient with trippy spacey elements rising up gradually. There are definite hints of early Pink Floyd spaceyness on this. Weird computer-like elements are heard further down the road. As the electronic texture grows this eventually gets more percussive for a while.

Summer Star This number also starts ambient. It's perhaps even trippier than the opener was. This never rises to the same intensity levels as that piece, did. Instead, it remains more ambient and feels quite freeform. There is a real "machine music" kind of vibe to it.

Olga in a Black Hole At nine-minutes-and-eighteen-seconds long, this is the epic of the set. Trippy, spacey ambience opens this cut. The track gradually begins to build upward from there. It doesn't rise up to anything particular cohesive or rocking though. Instead rhythmic elements are merge with weird pulses and bit of synthetic keyboards to create a trippy, artsy, spacey sort of jam. That eventually peaks and drops away as the cut approaches the half-way point of its nine-minute-plus run. It starts to develop from more atmospheric weirdness from there in quite spacey and science fiction based ways. It eventually rises up in terms of volume and intensity, but never coalesces beyond the level of spacey strangeness.

Transit Bleeps, blips and other electronic weirdness bring this into being. It gradually rises upward gradually. There is a faster paced, but no less weird element later. Some hints of lush keyboard melodies over the top remind of Gary Numan for some reason.

Flower and Flame There is a weird sampled voice heard in the mix on this one. Trippy electronics and other elements make up the concept here. There is a bit noisier computer sound that enters later.

Fork This has a noisier presence for a lot of its duration. Weird electronics are the basis for this piece, like the rest. This feels a bit more driving than the other two cuts. It's definitely more percussive. It's no less strange, but the intensity level is definitely ramped up quite a bit.

Park in The Dark Computer sounds are at the heart of this as it gets going. It remains largely ambient, but does work out to a percussive section further down the musical road.

Hello At just four minutes long, this is the shortest piece of the disc. Computerized sounds brings this into being. It grows outward with bleeps, pops and other robotic elements merged with percussive textures. Some keyboard notes come in at times. This really feels a lot like the kind of music robots might groove to it. There is a synthetic "hello" heard here and there. Later in the track some chants are heard in an almost ritualistic way.

Eta Corvi There is a darker angle to this piece. It remains largely ambient and trippy.

Wilder There are some hints of nature in the mix here. I suppose you'd expect that from the title. That said, this is decidedly artificial and electronic. It's fairly ambient and very weird.

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