The Borderland was a large music review website administered by British music journalist John M Peters and featuring music that was generally produced by underground artists and small independent labels. The site closed in 2018, and I guess that all of the reviews were then lost as I can't find any on the ephemeral internet. The Borderland reviewed many of my early albums in the 2000-2010 decade, and when I asked about these in 2018, John sent me copies of his reviews, so for reasons of information preservation I've decided reproduce them here verbatim for posterity, one post at a time.
My note: Of course, the link is dead, but I wanted to reproduce the review of this (now-deleted) album faithfully. The music was used as the core of my subsequent release The Twelve Seasons.
Sadly only a CD mini album or in the parlance of the old vinyl days, an EP. But what an EP! As before Mark has taken his programming and composing skills to create a set of four tracks of 'pop' electronic instrumentals. Of course, calling any album The Four Seasons of Dance is likely to make the listener cock an eye in askance and wonder where Vivaldi is, but Mark has avoided taking any of the classic Vivaldi pieces as his inspiration and this is all original music. Thankfully, there is also a lack of faux-baroque styling here too, this is pure electronic music with a smattering of dance beats to propel the music forward. I can't say that the music evokes the four seasons of nature for me, but the tunes are undeniably 'perky', energetic and with some cracking melody lines that should stick in the grey matter for some time to come. This is a case where Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn will lighten up your life. I'd like to see Mark tackle longer compositions, something a bit more multi-layered. He's ready.
For more information about this artist, album and availability visit: http://www.cornutopiamusic.com where you can discover this and a lot more, including galleries of his artwork and a library of software programs and games.
- John M Peters/The Borderland
