Welcome to the EvO:R Independent CD Reviews Section.
I would like to take a few minutes to introduce ourselves to everyone. The EvO:R review section features reviews from various independent musicians that submit material for our consideration.

I wanted to let you know a little about our review teams collective thoughts on music. It's important to let the people we review know what we think of their music and how we listened to their creations.

We hold nothing back! The team has been instructed to be honest and respectful of all CD's reviewed.
The EvO:R CD Review Team

Artist: LITHOBREA
Album: Edifice
Genre: Electronic Art
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
Strenth: Composition, Depth of field
i-Tunes: Download Album
Reviewed by: Charles Harrelson
Edited by: Charles Harrelson
Review Comments: next2zero@yahoo.com

Typically, I do not review Electronic music or Hip/Hop but with the growing population of electronic artist's popping up all over the place I thought I might dive in and see what I could find. A number of artist's submitted electronic music to me but they all suffered a similar fate. The music simply bored me to death and I ultimately ended up with listener fatigue before the CD concluded. I found the Lithobrea story to be most interesting as the artist says the following:

"As a visual artist I found I could only paint half the image I saw in my mind. As a musical artist today, I construct a master work of images and feelings the audience can see and feel with the mind's eye. This is the way I see this music, as audible works of fine art. My dream state and the emotional atmosphere it evokes inspires the musical landscape I paint with sounds. LITHOBREA was a word I saw and heard in one important dream I had. The word meant a solid state of consciousness flowing. The word described what I was creating audibly. Vivid images in the mind in motion."

After reading this I thought the CD might be worthy of critical listening. I was also excited to hear comparisons to the Yes album "Tails from Topographic Oceans" as well as influence of German techno artist Kraftwerk.

Tales from Topographic Oceans is the sixth studio album from the English progressive rock band Yes, released in 1973 on Atlantic Records. Presented as a double album with one track on each side, its concept is based the interpretation of four Shastric scriptures from a footnote in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.

With this in mind I fired up the Martin Logan's and prepared myself for a musical adventure. What I got was just as I expected. Rich colors, huge dynamic passages and very little of the repetition which has infected the electronic genre. The album begins with the title track "Edifice." The only thing missing was Steve Howe's masterful guitar work and Jon Anderson's unmistakable vocals. To my surprise, the percussions where interesting and added texture to the rich musical soundscape.

The best track was track 3 "Underworld" evoking pictures of astronauts spelunking the subterranean wonderlands of alien locales. Each movement is singular from its successors and antecedents without seeming out of place, and the dizzying variety of melody lines and percussion motifs has much more in common with classical music than it does with modern techno.

The artist behind the LITHOBREA name understands classical music and the concept of theme and variation. Songs often stray from the opening idea and without warning taking the listener into many new, exciting, and imaginary musical ideas. The music is much like being in a dream state as it weaves the listener in and out of consciousness. Even with all the movements the songs remain very structured in nature, very interesting and cerebral.

Charlie Harrelson is founder of EVOR and award winning guitarist TL2. Since 1998 Charlie has recorded 5 CD's and has been featured on countless albums and compilation releases. He records under the name TL2 and many of his current works can be heard from his section on EVOR.

Since opening the website, EVOR has been highly respected by the Independent Music Community. The Musicians Tips Section has become a reference library for up and coming musicians. In 2005 EVOR opened the worlds first Virtual CD Kiosk and has been responsible for selling in excess of 11,000 independent CD's.

Charlie Harrelson
EvO:R Reviewer
855 Markham Wood Rd
Longwood, Fl.
32779