Procession review by Thandrus : http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1155672 There you go. If you'd like to search for the sheer beauty in Berlin School style, here it is. Bernard Xolotl has always been very obscure and unique figure in the electronic music field - only half of his many albums are available to listen (even including bootlegs!); his music, while sometimes hugely atmospheric, always presented melodic / harmonic motives of sheer beauty. Kosmische Musik has always had its relations with painters (Sergius Golowin, Walter Wegmuller, Adelbert Von Deyen); Xolotl is also a painter (or should I say, also a musician?) and his painting emotions stand very close to his musical ones.On "Procession", his lush electronic sound is augmented by Daniel Kobialka's virtuoso violin play, which gives the album its apocalyptic grandness. Sure, electronics / violin combination has done a couple of times before, but here it is not a mere embellishment - violin drives the dynamics very often.Anyways, this incredible release is one of the lost gems of 80's progressive electronic music. Go for it, and let it be your entrance to the beautiful sonic world of Bernard Xolotl.

Procession review by admireArt : http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2024#reviewsUnexplicably, "Procession" 1983, a collaboration between Bernard Xolotl & Daniel Kobialka, is not only quietly unknown but undervalued in absurd comparisons with its contemporary Prog/Electronic counterparts.Why? First things first. Xolotl's musical language may not be that "popular", but it is unique. It is one of the few acts, that could stand aside Schulze's or TD's best moments, (which ironically, declined in the 80s) and still be distinguishable among them. Yes! Of course there are "atmospherics" but that is an inherent part of Prog/Electronics and as far as I know nobody but the 1927 pioneers could claim to own this "style". (Of course they did not!)Now, to where it matters. An extraordinary musical experience which has the rare quality of having perfectly blended Xolotl's synths with Kobialka's electro/acoustic violin. Never getting close to no one's musical language but its own. To put it simply, no "fusion" or "jazz" or "pseudo-classical" music approximations. Neither the compulsive obsession to make a big fuzz about this unusual combination in this kind of electronic music project. So to speak, both musicians are too involved in the evolution of the project, as to be worried about being the main character each 8 seconds. On the contrary the parallel work is sublime, in the primary use of the word.Bold and subtle the same way, symphonic yet completely electronic and best of all the song writing is uncomparable and close to flawless, even its more "simplistic" moments. Meaning great sense of composition, as to minimize the structural differences of both ways of expression into a single idiom, which by itself highlights what needs to be highlighted and makes no room for useless or protagonist impositions.An extremely intense trip in a world full of surprises.

I recently picked up the CD reissue of "Procession", an album I previously owned on vinyl. This was the record that introduced me to Bernard Xolotl's work and it's probably still my favorite of all his albums. The CD has allowed me to rediscover just how beautiful and absolutely entrancing this music is. Daniel Kobialka's violin work adds a sense of longing and sorrow to Xolotl's inticately crafted, at times Berlin-school influenced electronics. The only other album I can think of that so beautifully blends violin and electronic music is Jacaszek's "Treny", an album that came out a full 25 years after "Procession." For fans of both electronic and ambient music I can't recommend this album highly enough. -Caitlyn Martin