It's not often I take time away from demoing gear to talk about music releases, as Gearwire is not really that type of publication. However, once in a while something comes along that fuses our love of all things gear with the world of musical composition. Recently, I ran into Amin Bhatia at the Moog Music booth, and he slipped me a copy of his recent CD.

Although much of his time is spent composing for television and film, Amin Bhatia occasionally gets some well-earned time off to work on his own personal projects, such as Bolero Electronica. As part of the album Virtuality, Bolero Electronica is a journey through the history of electronic music.

A prologue begins the track, with sounds emanating from a Moog Modular, ARP 2600, EMS Synthi 100, and Buchla 100 Modular. After announcing the beginning of Ravel's Bolero, the composition moves through the early electronic instruments. The Ondes Martenot, Theremin, and Mellotron are all representative.

The composition itself is divided by time period, although many of the categories leap back and forth as the composition demands. As the track moves from more analog keyboards into FM synthesis, there is a notable change, but this is all handled with extreme care. It is obvious that Bhatia understands the character of tone of each of the instruments and knows where to use each most effectively.

Upon nearing the end of the piece the instrumentation becomes a hybrid of analog, digital, and virtual analog gear. The backing drums are supplied by kits from Ableton live, but the Alesis Andromeda and minimoog still provide harmony and fx.

The chart, available at Amin Bhatia's website, gives a quick rundown of each included instruments and helps the listener follow along while listening.

Bolero Electronica is an overall inspirational listening experience. As Ravel predicted the new direction of music in the 20th century, this interpretation of the work brings Ravel's vision full circle. For anyone looking to audibly understand the development of electronic music over the last 100 years, this is a great place to start.