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Billboard Magazine
RUBEN GARCIA
Room Full of Easels
PRODUCER: Ruben Garcia
Close Tolerance Music
Ruben Garcia is a disciple of Harold Budd and is
heavily indebted to the Budd/Brian Eno collaboration of the late
70's. In fact, Budd is even credited with
"treatments" on the track. Garcia lays out long,
slow-motion piano melodies, with sympathetic echoes, ambiences, and
ghost harmonies rising to fill the silences. With the help of
two other ambient artisans, Jeff Pearce and Scott Fraser, Garcia
creates a meditative space, but one with enough interest that the
attentive listener can explore. The passive listener can drift
away.
- John Diliberto |
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i/e Magazine
RUBEN GARCIA
Colors in Motion
Close Tolerance Music
From the opening piano motif that is the central
focus of the "The Dancing Dolls," the ever present image
of Harold Budd hovers fetchingly over Garcia's shoulder like some
malingering gremlin. The coincident is not as ironic as it
seems; Garcia recently collaborated with Budd and Daniel Lentz on Music
for 3 Pianos. And although Colors in Motion does
occasionally dip into the Budd-pool for the odd inspiration or two,
Garcia's adroit keyboard playing is far more lively and intoxicating
than Budd's similarly-styled excursions. For one thing, Garcia
never lets his music sink into the one dimensional aspects of
minimalism. For another, as on "Return to Vegas," he
explores enough vivid synthesizer sounds to make even Gottsching sit
up and take notice. (Gottsching sans guitar, mind you -
"Return to Vegas," re-enacts some of the livelihood of
Ashra's Correlations.) But don't get the wrong idea -
Garcia's utilization of electronics and acoustic percussives is
impressive (he gets downright ominous on the subtly dramatic
"Desert Calm") but he's more content with tickling the
ivories of his trusty grand than toying with microchips. And
it is to Garcia's credit that he comes up with as many inventive
piano licks as he does synthetic ones. That kind of skillful
balance keeps these Colors quite kaleidoscopic.
- Darren Bergsteun
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Backroads Music
RUBEN GARCIA
"Lakeland"
Close Tolerance Music
One of our favorite artists, Ruben Garcia, has a new CD, called "Lakeland," and it's his first real foray into the use of synthezisers to support his unparalleled piano musings. With an approach that is simple in structure, almost classisal in feel, Garcia manages to conjure up an old world of romantic soundscapes, where resonance and introspection are two key factors. This is a strong effort from Ruben, who now has five releases to his credit. Self taught and primarily playing by ear, Garcia is not a man to employ a lot of notes, and he is adept at finding the space between the notes, and using this silence to best effect. The opening track is one of Ruben Garcia's finest moments. A slow hypnotic piece gradually building in momentum and tension, a simple harpsichord-sounding piano, loops and electric piano in the backround, spoken word by German artist Ulrike Arnold. The music ebbs backwards and fowards, filled with a sense of resonance and romantic overtones, as it penetrates to the core of one's being. One piece "Somos Tres", has appeared previously on "Three Pianos" with Harold Budd and Daniel Lentz. With this recording Ruben Garcia has aligned himself with other great ambient explorers like Harold Budd or Tim Story, and one only wishes that more people will get to hear this beautiful recording.
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Backroads Music
RUBEN GARCIA
"I Can Feel The Heat Closing In"
Close Tolerance Music
Ruben Garcia softly touches the black and white keys of his pianos like a river into an ocean of stillness. Drifting melodies, single notes falling like raindrops off a branch after a storm and far away echoes, courtesy of Jeff Pearce and Steve Caton, bring the listener into an ever deepening realm of dream and being. Named after a title by Harold Budd, "I Can Feel The Heat Closing In," is a masterpiece of quiet and reflective music for within. Following in the footsteps of Budd, Garcia has become a master at bringing one into the present moment. Deeply calming, Ruben's music offers a bridge of exploration one can follow in any direction. Equally pleasurable for an inner journey, it also heightens apprecieation for the world around us, of which it sparingly borrows certain sounds: a touch of a storm, a lonely birdsong and a slow wave occassionally adorn a musical phrase. An artist of great sensibility, yet untamed, Garcia also gives us one wild and raunchy track, a refreshing practice he has maintained through all his albums. "The Men Are Fighting" evokes the edge one needs to have in order to preserve their softness. |
RUBEN GARCIA
"The Gatekeeper"
Close Tolerance Music
This disc serves to remind us how much interesting, original music is being performed and recorded today without the benefit of national promotion and distribution. Ruben Garcia, who has worked with Harold Budd and Daniel Lentz, is a deeply serious and talented composer who resides in the northlands and operates his own recording studio. The Gatekeeper is a most unusual CD. It consist of 11 improvised, acoustic piano solos expressly directed toward "a simpler life." This music is so uncomplicated and guileless that it creates a sonic Peaceable Kingdom. There is no war here, no hatred, no hunger, no turmoil. Sophisticates might say that there is, in fact, nothing going on at all. And indeed, there is a thin line between innocence and insipidity that sometimes comes close to being crossed. But for the most part Garcia avoids bathos. On the final track with a sudden addition of bass and synthezisers, he magically transfer's the listener to the styles of Tangerine Dream. Garcia's music comes straight from the heart and soul, without artifice or sentimentality. Like Keith Jarret, he risks everything in the here and now of his playing.
No wonder he dedicated "The Gatekeeper" to Satie and Debussy.
- Jacki Apple
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RUBEN GARCIA, HAROLD BUDD, DANIEL LENTZ:
"Music For Three Pianos"
Close Tolerance Music
Highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyable half-hour with three gifted and unpretentious musicians. There is no electronic manipulation of the improvised piano text, and no attempt to exploit the polyphonic possibilities of three keyboards. The result could easily be mistaken for the work of one person seated at the piano. The music is utterly simple, and guiless, direct. Imagine Eric Satie, Chopin and nursery rhymes and you will begin to get the picture.
- Flakk Magazine |