This album was originally released as a CD-R by Recommended Records in 2002 and if it is now getting a full digipack reissue by the Belgian Carbon 7 label.
This is a totally solo album by Franck BALESTRACCI, who originally trained as a drummer so at least the drums that are on the album are real as opposed to programmed.
But this is keyboard based music by those who want something different. Although it does contain smoother passafges, there are sections which are very jazz-like and the whole album is actually rather challenging to listen to as many times it doesn't appear to be making much musical sense.
It is not one that a listener could sit down and play for pleasure as the music takes itself far more earnestly and seriously to be entertainment.
For me this isn't something to which I will readily be returning.

UK - FEEDBACK - Kev ROWLAND

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

This music is dedicated to all wandering and forgotten souls, to all anonymous people, past, present and future, to all invisibles existences, now evaporated in space, to all nomad bodies, now disappeared; with humility, an echo, a vibration. - Franck BALESTRACCI.

This dedication by the artist is a very helpful introduction to this recording from multi-instrumentalist and predominantly percussionist Franck BALESTRACCI. Here with Existences Invisibles this craftsman presents a complex album done with great care and I have to wonder how much time he had worked on this?

This album is a dense description of many feelings and I think many words cannot describe this properly even if I were to try. There is a famous ART BEARS album "The world as it is Today" which, while it has nothing to do with Existences Invisibles shares the same keywords: world - today - image - reality.

In this way, and for this reason - you will discover some terrific moments while playing this album because you smell every noise, melody, accord or whatever it can be in that moment.
At times I must confess that I found myself becoming bored from the very same parts I just liked 2 minutes ago... In this sense it is similar to watching a street or a field... and then something happens that distracts you and when you pay attention again that feeling is gone and now different.
Ok, this is not a joke, but I get the feeling that if you like to do a good self-analysis - this is the kind of music that can accompany such a process. It is filled with elements of paradox, weird split and deconstructed voices are present which scared me a little and filled me with a sense of immense fragility in front of a daily non-global- chaos.

This music is not for simple listening - it is for feeling, experiencing, for deep penetration, abstraction and contemplation. I have not heard anyhing like this album though it drawns in influences from zehul, electronic prog and RIO essenses into it's whole.
The deconstructed voice generates the feeling of a thriller - like the death of communication itself. Additionally, you can can hear both guitar and bass grooves but in fact they are not really present - only mimmiced in the keyboards. While it will not get a lot of air time from me - it is an artistic expression of depth which I most certainly appreciate.

Only a daring label whose appreciation for music as art, such as Carbon 7 could have made this possible. From BALESTRACCI's website we learn:

For us, it is certainly a new musical path, a translation of today's world into sounds. Sounds which suggest images, like a screenplay which tells a story of which you are at times the writer and at others the audience. Not a video-clip but a feature-length film.
Your own film which depicts your questions, your doubts, your fears, but also your aspirations and your pleasures. A universe which opens onto vast horizons where there are still mysterious things waiting to be discovered. An audio-visual world where the visual part is yours.
I could not have described this any better than that.

Italy - PROG GNOSIS - Valerio REINA

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

The music of BALESTRACCI is eminently visual, here the stylistic barriers are very diffuse, almost invisible; there is a mixture of RIO, electronic (and some other things), all with a strong and dense pulse.
There is another aspect, but I still do not know if it is real or a mere illusion of mine, but it is that many minutes of the music of BALESTRACCI are jazz-fusion, but played with an experimental language of contemporary avant-garde and even a little of expressionism; it is something really strange, it is fusion without being it, by the way, speaking about illusions, I hear electric guitars and basses but here are neither guitars nor basses... BALESTRACCI is multi instrumentalist, but above all he is a percussionist, and this is the most noticeable element in his music, percussive richness, abundant and multiple but avoiding complexity.

And what is the music about? "Existences Invisibles" is about images of todays world, so it can be chaotic, busy and frenetic; a representation (deconstructed, slowed and experimentally alterated) of cosmopolitan impersonality, normally introspective (often even isolated), others more extraverted; which sometimes result even obscure and oppressive, becoming a music that introduces alarm, fear, doubt, insecurity and a lot of questions in our lives, but BALESTRACCI does not see all negative, and he looks also for more atmospheric sonorities, even a little exotic, fleeing the hubbub of worldly life, in an inner search of a peace... blue...

A very valid document of today's (invisible?) existence...

French Franck BALESTRACCI composed and arranged all music, and also played all instruments (keyboards, piano, drums, percussions, sound effect and deconstructed voices).
Originality/own style: even in spite of the quality of all the tracks, some influences of the big monsters of jazz-fusion are maybe excessive (although with every track in this record BALESTRACCI looks for a more personal sound; more based on experimentation and less in fusion).

SPAIN - SHE DIVINE - Héctor Noble FERNANDEZ

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

Released on the Carbon 7 label, which is known for it's avant garde catalogue, Existences Invisibles is the result of one-man band Franck BALESTRACCI's experimentations with keyboards, piano, drums, percussions, sound effects, and deconstructed voices.

This disc is filled with electronic explorations and disembodied vocals which probe deep into the psyche. The tracks weave through a myriad of moods carrying the listener on a sonic odyssey. Mr BALESTRACCI makes excellent use of both electronic and analog instruments to create an aural pot-pourri which elevates his music slightly above the typical ambient fare presented in this type of project.
Actual musical lines and notes are played here as opposed to the droning, at times predictable, chord progressions so common to this genre. A mixed bag of styles are presented here ranging from typical New Age fluff, avant-prog, Eastern Transcendentalism, and discordant rythmic passages which could have been produced by the minds of the boys from "Stomp"coming down off a PCP trip.

This type of formula does not equate to commercial success and musical longevity. I don't think MTV is gonna surprise any gawky 13 year old by turning him into Franck BALESTRACCI for a day.
This type of disc tends to come across as a self-indulgent journey made by one man into his own soul and therefore, does not really appeal but to a few select and adventuresome listeners.

USA - SEA OF TRANQUILITY - Yves DUBE

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

1. Prolusion. "Existences Invisibles" ("Invisible Existences", of course) is the debut by the French multi-instrumentalist Franck BALESTRACCI .
Synopsis. The entire contents of this album show that Franck's main creative passion is the search for new musical forms in the land of Electronic Progressive.
However, there are only four tracks here, the music on which represents a progressive electronic music. These are the four pieces located at the core of the album: "Obscure Part", "Les Desespoirs de Christa", "Baird's Memory", and "Prélude Polaire" (6 to 9).
Even though all of them are quieter and less complex than any of the other compositions here and, for the most part, consist of electronic structures, an amazing mysterious atmosphere, typical for the album as a whole, is present on them as well.
Apart from the novelty of sound, the music on all of the other compositions here features a wide variety of definitely progressive ingredients: such as the continuous change of a musical direction, the use of complex time signatures, etc.
Another important aspect of any of the best ten of these invisible, yet, very imaginative musical entities, concerns arrangements. Here, they are completely unpredictable and are mostly in the state of constant development.
As for styles covering most of the CD's playing space, here is a brief definition of them. A highly original, lushly orchestrated Electronic Progressive with elements of Symphonic Art-Rock and Classical Academic Music is presented on the first five compositions on the album: "Screenplay of a Movie", "Adrift in a City", "Le Veilleur Sous la Lune", "Our Inner Theater", and "Chaos Anterieur".
Apart from the sections of a complete set of Rock instruments, all of them feature also those of varied string and wind instruments that, while being synthetic, sound quite realistic. Performed mostly without the use of strings and chamber instruments-related samples and sounds, all five of the last tracks on the album are about a blend of Electronic Progressive, Art-Rock, and Avant-garde and are probably the most innovative here.
2. Conclusion. Simply speaking, "Existences Invisibles" is the most diverse, complex, and interesting, and also the most progressive Electronic Rock album I've ever heard.
In fact however, most of the contents of it exceed the bounds of this style, to say the least.
In other words, Franck BALESTRACCI 's debut can be recommended not to all of the lovers of electronic music, and only to the most profound of them. While the greater part of audience of the album will consist of those whose horizons aren't limited by some particular framework.

Ouzbekistan - PROGRESSOR - Rock Pages - Vitaly MENSHIKOV

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

I enthused about Franck's approach to music in Acid Dragon #34 and reviewed the original version of "Existences invisibles" then.
The reason I return to it now is because this is a reconstructed version released not privately, but on Belgian label Carbon 7 records. The differences are in the greatly improved packaging (Nice work, Guy and all at Carbon 7!) a reordering of some tracks and the addition of some new ones.
The first of these " Le veilleur sous la lune " is a welcome addition and fits perfectly into the "concept" with all the defining characteristics of Franck's music present disembodied sampled voices (deconstructed voices), thudding bass at the inception of the track, startling percussive work (Franck has studied this), piano, some jazz stylizations, very filmic, extremely atmospheric, a lot of synth work with heavy usage of korg triton.
The fourth track "Our inner theater" is another addition with a lot of the hallmarks of modern 20 th century classical music. I am no expert - try Michael hall's excellent history "Leaving home" for some recommendations. "Prelude polaire" is the third track, a rather soporific creation thanks in part to the languid drumming and the dreamy oriental synth- it segues wel into "Telle est la raison" with its sampled stings and guitar, a strikingly dramatic, almost sinister piece, quixotic as ever in its construction horror movie producers take note "Electric day" remains one of my "Favourites" (if is possible to pick out such!) driven by a "killer" bass riff and some convulsive piano and a wash of string synth. It peters out into another new piece "La dance des sons", electric and acoustic piano trading lines, a giddy-paced, tremulous, thrilling composition. The final two pieces "Plan sequence" and "Parcours de mémoire" are also new, the former starts like a piece of music concrete then the slap bass comes in again, some drum roll, there is so much to listen to and dissect here, beautiful strings, eerie voices and melancholy whistles and night sounds then into the 6 minutes "Parcours de mémoire" backwards effects, an abstract first 30 seconds or so again then a heavy synth riff, some almost funky drumming (Oh no!), synth bass.

Less than two minutes in there is a contrast of course, a temporary reflective section, some guitar "bending" building again towards a more explicitly rock rhythm, a marvelous way to end the album.
So, 6 new tracks are added, 5 are taken away. I was impressed by the original album. I am even more impressed by this . If you like a cinematographic approach, as the website says "sounds which suggest images, like a screenplay which tells a story of which you are at times the writer and at others the audience" "Existences invisibles" will be an Essential listening experience. Accessible yet revealing great depths on repeated hearings BALESTRACCI's music stands astride contemporary and modern classical influences.

UK - ACID DRAGON - Phil JACKSON

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

This new release on the belgian label Carbon 7 Records presents the fascinating work of a multi-instrumentist, primary drummer, who invites us here in a long kind of musical "road movie" where our imagination sets the frames. Very well recorded and produced.

Denmark - MUSIC BY MAIL - Pierre TASSONE

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

Before advancing I should clarify that my comment on this disk is imperfect or, rather, it is more imperfect of that than inherent and inevitably it is any comment referred to an artistic work.
The reason of my excess of " imperfection " is very simple: I have not had access to the complete work but, only, to a Demo conformed by three tracks of the same one.

After almost listening those 17 minutes that add "Le veilleur sous la lune" / Our inner theater" / Chaos anterieur", my first thought was: I WANT to LISTEN MORE. If the rest of the tracks is at the same level that those presented in this Demo, "Existences Invisible" is, definitively, a EXCELLENT disk.

The French musician Franck BALESTRACCI had carried out this absolutely alone work, interpreting all the instruments that is: keyboards, drums, percussion and effects of noise. I have to admit that before putting the CD in my reproducer it had feeling found regarding the disk.
On one hand it knew comments very auspiciosos of the same one. For the other one, with the time I have generated a stupid prejudice regarding the works soloists in that an only musician this position of all the instruments, headed by the keyboards.
After listening the first notes of "Existences Invisible" I checked both things: that him mine was a prejudice and that, indeed, it was stupid. The sound in this CD this to years light of being an abuse of a monotonous keyboard.

On the contrary, the sound variety that is able to generate BALESTRACCI is remarkable, appearing in the mixture emulations of first floor and violins, among other sones (I have to accept that if the own BALESTRACCI has not made sure that what is heard in some fragments is a keyboard, has sworn that it was a true electric violin).

Another characteristic to highlight is the handling of the percussion that, in my opinion, it is of making notice. BALESTRACCI demonstrates that it is not only a keyboardist that executes something of percussion like a mere accompaniment of its work, but rather the development percussive is so important in the structure of its compositions like the keyboards, integrating some quasi-ethnic airs fantastically, to define them somehow.
If they asked me to who could come closer the music of BALESTRACCI stylistically, I would respond in my immense ignorance that I am not happened any reference to give. If they insisted with the inquisition and they forced me to give a positive answer, perhaps I would answer that to Klaus Schulze in their more dynamic moments and percussives... although, I repeat, only if they forced me forcibly to look for some reference to guide the reader.

CONCLUSION: "Existences Invisible" this included in the category New Music of Carbon 7 Records. Me, in the personal thing, I have arrived to a point in that no longer you as categorizing the musical works wisely, is so I find very difficult to classify this work in a style, I can only affirm that it is EXCELLENT MUSIC (but there of which is their classification) and that I recommend it thoroughly, in particular, to the lovers of the Cosmic Music and, in general, to all those that they like of the good instrumental music.

PD: I have wanted to add these final lines since this week I consented to the complete version of "Invisible Existences". after traveling their 64:33 minutes of music I could confirm that, indeed, the three topics of the Demo are not a singularity in this work, but rather the high quality of the compositions, the sound variety (considering that a single man executes all the instruments) and, fundamentally, the capacity of BALESTRACCI in the department percussive extends homogeneously to the whole disk.
It is so I want to reaffirm all that expressed in my comment only based on the Demo: Excellent music. The only exception to that written previously would be referred to the association with the style of Schulze... the music of "Invisible Existences" is similar to any other one that I know and alone I find him a tangential contact with Klaus Schulze's work.

Argentina - NUCLEUS - Paul PULESTON

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

At times I am full of admiration for the musical realisation on this CD, at others frustrated by the artist's obdurate determination to stop some pieces or sequences dead in their tracks just as the listener is being drawn in !
I felt this frustration particularly on the opening track "Screenplay Of A Movie" and on "Electric Day" where I thought of a robotic street performer I had recently seen who might have been persuaded to give his KRAFTWERK a rest and try some BALESTRACCI instead if it were not for the restless invention of these two pieces described by the artist himself on his informative web site as "Itinerant music" defined as "always in gradual change, in constant motion".
There are many defining characteristics of this music. For example, disembodied sampled voices appear on most tracks. And it is no surprise to discover that Franck is a trained drummer/percussionist and teacher witness the marvellous snare work on the opening track.
Piano, jazz stylisations and thuding bass also make appearances later on and TANGERINE DREAM styled sound scapes also appear. (Franck relies heavily on his Korg Triton) Orchestral treatments can be heard on "Wild Ballerina" (for Karol Armitage) and briefly on "Dénaturer Le Réel" where I thought I could detect the spirit of Stravinsky.
The most overt influence though is surely Zappa on "Message Crypté" a marvellous piece heavily redolent of the seminal album "Uncle Meat".
Listen to "Existences Invisibles" had an extraordinary effect on me and opened up new possibilities both as a listener and a player.
BALESTRACCI has been writing music for many years now for TV, movies, even ballet and this is second self produced CD ("Reflections Futures" was released in 1999). Music for Franck is "a dialogue between the reality and the way to alter this reality".
Listen to this CD and you'll appreciate his expertise and perception as both creator and analyst.
Essential !

UK - ACID DRAGON - Phil JACKSON

________________________________________________________________________

Franck BALESTRACCI - Existences Invisibles

Almost entirely on his own, the French keyboardist Franck BALESTRACCI composed, recorded, produced and distributed Existences Invisibles.
Each and all tracks are recorded exclusively with keyboards (including a very good guitar sound), drums and percussion.
A sort of third instrument is the sampling of voices, which easely could have been dull, but fortunately, BALESTRACCI makes an effort not to over-use this effect.
The atmospheric sound immediately brings the thoughts to ECM inspired jazz, but that is only on the surface.
Existences Invisibles is more exciting than that. BALESTRACCI moves elegantly between prog, electronica and modern jazz. The variations appear often enough not to bore us, but not so often as to confuse us.
Th CD consists of 15 tracks (all instrumental, of course) each with 3-5 minute playing time, something that works well.
BALESTRACCI does not linger long with each composition, thereby keeping the listener's interest throughout. Not everything is equally good, of course, and it may be something in my mind only, but BALESTRACCI appears to have gathered the least exciting pieced in the middle of the record.
Altogether, this is a wonderful record for fans of progressive jazz-rock and chill-out. Had I not been superstitious I would have wished BALESTRACCI good luck in achieving a recording contract. Instead I say: "Break a leg !".

Norway - TARKUS - Trond SAETRE

________________________________________________________________________

I've heard BALESTRACCI's second release, Existences Invisibles.
He is a solo artist, playing everything himself; keyboards, drums, percussion, voices and sound effects.
How to describe this music ? This is the sound of one hand clapping... this is the sound of a tree falling in the forest when nobody is there to hear it... this is the sound of Grand Central Station after eating too many pot brownies. In other words, this is the sound of something you never thought you would hear, but now you do.
Although this music bears some resemblences to the tribal percussion experimentation of ALQUIMIA or Peter GABRIEL, to the symphonic dreamscapes of VANGELIS or the visceral electronic textures of Michael STEARNS, it also has parts that break into BRUFORDdian fusion or Hermeto PASCOALlish jazz while also managing to maintain the vaguely spiritual air of CLEARLIGHT.
All this you should imagine being phased directly into your brain from a parallel dimension. Really. This is very cool stuff.
BALESTRACCI claims "no programations" which I assume means everything is played rather than sequenced.
I must admit my first listen to this CD didn't reveal its charms to me. It took a few listens before I started liking it, but now I think it's just amazing.
I highly recommend this one to fans of the spacey prog realms...

USA - GIBRALTAR - Encyclopedia Of Progressive Rock - Fred TRAFTON

________________________________________________________________________

This album is the follow up to the 1999 release, "Réflexions Futures", for the French instrumentalist Franck BALESTRACCI.
On first listening to it my first impression was one of indifference, the percussion and bass patterns seemed to irritate and overpower me. I guess I had come to it with some preconceived ideas after reading the artist's description, so I started afresh.
This was when I began to hear the depth of the thoughts and ideas that he was trying to convey. Most of these tracks have noises/voices simmering in the background that overspill to the surface giving this body of work an anxious edge.
The keys occasionally sound very like guitars wailing (Dénaturer Le Réel) while at other times, in the background they give an ambient flavour to the matter, i.e. on the tracks, "Entre le Ludique et le Cérébral", "Drift In A City" and possibly the splendid "Obscura Part".
Basically though, Franck seems to have an overriding driving force for dramatic percussion (not surprising considering he initially started as a drummer); thudding bass and equally upfront keys to emphasise critical moments and emotions.
Also with the aforementioned voice/noise backdrop these tracks rightly or wrongly give me images of chaotic city life. On a couple of tracks a jazz influence surfaces, i.e. "Message Crypté" and track 3, "Electric Day", where the piano appears for the first time.
Lastly, we find another direction, soundtrack type music for the quite extraordinary pieces, "Wild Ballerina (for Karole ARMITAGE)", "Chaos Antérieur" and the simmering but very dramatic "Screenplay On A Movie".
When the percussion becomes less obvious, i.e. on "Baird T.S. Memory" and the Mark ISHAM-like, "Les désespoirs de Christa (for NICO)" Franck displays a hidden depth that may be worth following up on future works.
So to wind up, Franck certainly has developed quite a unique style of portraying his thoughts, images and inner soul.
Once I got over the initial surprise and the added tension that this music gave me, this album became a rewarding new way of hearing and seeing images compared to other artists who sometimes choose more traditional routes.

UK - EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE ROCK REVIEWS -

________________________________________________________________________