Pure Gamma – Pure Gamma
Catalog Number: DR004
Release Year: 1994
Pure Gamma is Baltimore’s Jeff Koepper. He has been creating electronic music since 1985, and has released music in the past with his now-defunct band, Immortal, on Social Skill Records. Jeff’s current efforts strive to incorporate and update the sounds of his early heroes, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulz; he also cites synth-pop pioneers like Simple Minds and Ultravox as pivotal in his outlook on music.
True to its roots, Pure Gamma uses a variety of analog sequencers to trigger its vintage synthesizers, and much of the music is mixed live, with no pre-established structure to its songs. In fine Defective Records fashion, this music defies categorization – sometimes aggressive, sometimes melodic, sometimes both. Pure Gamma melts the boundaries.
Fractured Mirror Magazine, U.K., 2/12/95
“This is by far my favourite…It starts with the odd, tinny sound of ‘Zygote’. It’s not too fast and has quite a nice distorted feel to it. Then we progress to ‘Disciple Of Awareness’, a beautifully crafted sound scape full of birds tweeting and gentle, washing sounds. Sumptuous and relaxing. Then we get ‘Liquid Sky’ with sounds that pulse down from frequencies beyond human ears, mixed with a gentle, moody melody. It builds up gradually with the percussion into quite a different piece than it started out as being. Finally, we have ‘Circles Are Enclosures’, a gentle tinkling melody but with more ‘raw’ backing and more in the way of drums. This is probably the track I like best on here, but not by much, as they are all close to being masterpieces! More, more, more…..”
– Gareth Lancaster
Frontpage Magazine, Germany, 10/94
“Pure Gamma ist Jeff Koepper aus Baltimore, der hiermitt seinen idolen Tangerine Dream und Klaus Schulze nacheifert. Dementsprechend sind alle stucke bis auf ‘Zygote’ ein raviges housestuck mit gabba bassdrum, trancig in genau diesem sinne. Es scheint in Baltimore eine Nachfrage nach europaischen trance zu geben, wo sich bei uns das ende abzuzeichnen scheint.” (4 1/2 stars)
[Google translation]
“Pure Gamma is Jeff Koepper from Baltimore, who emulates his idols Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. Accordingly, all pieces except for ‘Zygote’ are a ravish house piece with a gabba bass drum, trance in exactly this sense. There seems to be a demand for european trance in Baltimore, where the end seems to be looming for us”
– Riley Rheinhold
