Friday, July 18, 2008

The critics weigh in on Alex Moulton’s “Exodus”

"[Exodus] sounds like a synth-driven, Moroder-inspired disco album Daft Punk could have used to bridge Homework and Discovery." - URB

"Moulton’s saturated productions (their influences mixing Vangelis and Moroder, equal parts Body & Soul and the Rex Club) seem best suited for the Paradise Garage dancefloor, as opening themes for Pink Floyd live at Pompeii, or the bumper music for infomercials selling seats to Fhloston Paradise." - XLR8R

"Like Blade Runner rescored by Daft Punk, this retrofuture house masterwork has electric sheep fluffed out with the dustiest vintage synths and a cold replicant core aping the live drums on the dance records in Moulton’s late-’70s/early ’80s childhood."

- Paper Thin Walls

"Absolutely stunning. A surprise favorite from an artist I had never heard of before. I can't stop listening." - Earplug

Alex Moulton’s debut artist album Exodus has people talking. At first glance, it’s hard to know what to make of a CD with Boris Vallejo/Julie Bell’s over-the-top sci-fi / romance novel themed cover art. Hell, journalists at one reputable publication even refused to open Exodus because of the cover art! However, most who actually gave this CD a chance are taken by what could be the biggest musical surprise of 2008

Stylistically, Exodus is an epic sci-fi/fantasy concept album that falls between the classic synthesizer palette of Vangelis and the future disco of Daft Punk. Trained as a filmmaker, Moulton created a full-realized storyline—an epic sci-fi adventure, or a space-opera, if you will—that builds in a climactic arc with all the plot twists and turns. The songs are presented continuously like a DJ set, but they're also like key scenes for a film. Think of this in the same vein as playing Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon while watching The Wizard Of OZ.

Although conceived by Moulton, Exodus also features collaborations from a number of talented musicians. The CD was mixed by two-time Grammy-winning engineer Marc Urselli and was mastered by Nilesh Patel of Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers fame. Daniel Correa (from the New York-based Colombian fusion band Samurindo) bangs the drums, Groove Collective's Jonathan Maron adds envelope-soaked wah bass, José Luis Pardo (aka DJ Afro of Los Amigos Invisibles) drops some slinky guitar riffage and Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. - known for his stints with Beck and Air – fires away on keys.

In addition to creating Exodus, Alex Moulton is the guiding force behind Expansion Team and its label, Expansion Team Records. In the four years of crafting his debut release, Exodus, Moulton scored a film (“Descent” starring Rosario Dawson), executive-produced seven albums, supervised the music production of over 300 commercials and network themes (for a client list that includes Nike, Motorola, American Express, Microsoft, Pepsi, jetBlue, Adidas, VH1 and Comedy Central), directed several music videos (Tiga, Funkstörung, Mocean Worker), released a handful of remixes, DJ’ed in New York, Tokyo and Cancun and became the first to DJ at La Fenice, the Venice Opera House.

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