BOWEN, GENE - BOURGEOIS MAGNETIC (MCD)

"Gene Bowen (a.k.a. Eugene Bowen) is a singer/songwriter based in California. He was working with Harold Budd, James Tenney, Daniel Lentz, Wolfgang Stoerchle and John Baldessari at California Institute of the Arts in the 70s. He plays guitar, keyboards, synthesizers and sings. He has contributed to Harold Budd's recordings in one of the landmark albums of the ambient style, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980 with Brian Eno), The Serpent (In Quicksilver) (1981), Abandoned Cities (1984) etc. Recently he collaborated with John Densmore, the drummer of The Doors, at Hen House Studios. "Bourgeois Magnetic", originally released under the name Eugene Bowen, was a 12-inch 45 rpm record, and the second release on Budd and Bowen's own label Cantil Records back in 1981. It's the only album that has never been reissued in albums Budd is involved. This album is influenced from composite art like Dada and Fluxus, including some references from movie, art culture and poetry. Budd's beautiful piano, filtered synth work and groovy song with Berimbau in one album. Although the music is firmly in the tradition of the early Ambient movement, its originality and freshness have not diminished over the years. A hidden gem." (label info)