David I think you have done a great job incorporating things the way you have especially the Jazz big band groove thing you have got going in one of your songs. That is great.
In my second year I had to write a big band arrangement and they taught us for a year as to how to do it. I agonised for a year over the score and finally the parts. I can't believe people like Duke Ellington whipped this stuff out on the back of scrap paper in 5 minutes! I locked myself away and listened to everything Duke Ellington had recorded. I became a decent big band arranger very fast. That is how you do it. Any way I played drums in my own arrangement. I nearly fell off my stool when they blasted into it. I could not believe how loud they were! It was pretty awesome hearing what I had written over a year in 5 minutes!
But you could integrate something like that over a hip hop groove and even go into something like Tangerine Dream. Drift into the Tangerine Dream sound with synths using Jazz harmony. It is all about experimentation.
Craig I certainly don't know all of their albums. (Tangerine Dream of course) In fact I am a bit perplexed to the fact they have done over 135 and I am not sure if I am ever going to hear all of them.. I am reasonably knowledgeable over a long time and yes I agree they have changed. But I am excited to say though that right now they are something else,. I felt two styles in both gigs as well. The first big gig had a definite feel to it musically. Stunning actually. Very busy, full on and different to previous things. They did not do anything older music, all new material.
The second gig though in the theatre was a bit different. The movie soundtrack got into some very very cool drum feels and beats and things. Slower too. My son is a very serious Jazz drummer and very purist. He is hanging with the best Jazz players here in Australia. His gigs are something else too. I took him to the second Tangerine Dream gig. I was a little concerned as to what he was going to think of it all. He had never heard the music before. He loved the grooves and said they were very cool and very well orchestrated. It was hard to believe they were doing it all live.
They took longer to get into things, you heard much less for way longer. The Japanese girl was very close and I could see how she was using TR8's and Novation Push to control stuff. She had all the grooves programmed. She was dropping stuff in and out in the grooves as well. She dances against odd subdivisions while she does it too. (meaning she liked to drop stuff in against odd sub divisions as well) What was interesting was you often heard TR808 sounds but in a very unusual way rhythmically. So they did not sound like TR808 sounds at all. Their playing against all this rhythm was incredible and very interesting to watch. Edgar had many roles. Taking melodies, sequenced riffs and pads as well. The synths were fat!
No matter what synths they were using, the sounds all had a Tangerine Dream quality to them. Edgar overpowers the synth with his own programming. I could hear it all the time in the patches.