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The Frogressive Rock Sampler is Christian's compilation featuring the best Progressive Rock and Psychedelic tracks taken from his first four Poegs albums. This album, or any Poeg offering for that matter, is not for lovers of lo-fi avant-improvisation, a very clean digital sound is all pervasive throughout the ordered song structures. Christian has developed his own trademark sound of piano melodies flowing over digital church organs, littered with electric guitar. His electronic percussion feels as though it is trying to capture the essence of Pink Floyd's Nick Mason. This works at its peak on the more bombastic, upbeat tracks such as Spiral Nebula and Meteor. Some of the slower tracks capture an ambience similar to Ash Ra's Ocean of Tenderness.
The New Frogressive Age Sampler compiles New Age, Easy Listening and Mood Music tracks from Poegs previous output, as you can imagine it is an even more mellow, offering with Christian's neo classical leanings way to the fore. A reprise of Through The Luminous Galaxy is perhaps the nearest to prog rock on this recording, titles such as Sail Away, The Blue Divide, Windward and Adagio speak for themselves. The initial simplicity of Christian's melodies don't betray the complex arrangements that flow underneath. Continuous Flow contains some genuinely uplifting moments reminiscent of mid seventies Genesis and Yes. Lots of piano, airy synths and sunny ambient textures help create an album that fans of New Age, light classical music and Tangerine Dream's more MOR output will lap up with great delight.
In Somnius is a more cohesive offering than the New Frogressive. Similar in nature, there's less of the classical and a little bit more of Tangerine Dream (On The Eagles Wing is a good example), Kitaro and Mike Oldfield influences. Another generally relaxed selection, piano and melody lines are sophisticated without loosing their elegance.
Nigel Pennington - KRAUTROCKNET.COM
Most musicians would find it offensive if their listening audience went to sleep on them, but Poegs achieves his artistic goal with masterful craftsmanship. In Somnius, is a well orchestrated nightcap of meditative, New Age and ambient dreamscapes. Piano, guitar and fully orchestrated melodies intertwine peacefully in slow motion with piano, synthesizer drones, and shifting ambiences. The overall composition, although appearing rather simplistic, is a highly sophisticated, extremely delicate, intricate, and intimately detailed. Poegs isn’t looking to put you to sleep. Instead, his artistry heightens your perception. He embodies In Sominus with the kind of morphing detail and movement that encourages active listening. Like Tangerine Dream, Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd, Poegs decelerates life, not to soothe with New Age ministrations, but to bring you to a state of even higher consciousness.
Carla Archuletta - INDIEPERFORMER.COM
I'm not sure what the hell "Frogressive" is, but it sure sounds good to me. This new age style of music utilizes the beauty of the piano with ambient soundscapes to create a world of unimaginable peace and relaxation. The musicianship on this album is absolutely amazing. I was taken away with the power and the aura that this music delivers. The music is simplistic in it's design, but very complex as a whole. In other words, it is something that will capture your imagination because of it's ease to understand, but will leave you in awe with it's originality and breathtaking movements. This is probably one of the best CD's of this sort of genre that I've heard in a long time. I can't imagine anyone not being blown away by it's beauty.
Michael Allison - MUSIC DISH
Poegs was created in 1999 as a German rock band featured by only one talented musician called Christian Zumdick. All the tasks, from composing to performing, are made by himself. I'd met his songs seeking for songs under "Pink Floyd's influence", and he is one of the many artists influenced by the legendary British band. But Poegs has many other backgrounds to make his sound so original and amazing. He had influenced by the great New Age, Electronic and Progressive Rock bands beside Pink Floyd, such as Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, Camel, Kitaro, Jethro Tull and so on, which result is a very happy marriage between those different genres. Beside this, I wonder he has also a very good classical music background. Some tracks sound me as modern Chopin's sonatas and others sound like baroque pieces or romantic chamber music... By the way, he had recorded two adaptations from classical masterpieces that are "Adagio" composed by T. Albinoni and "The Moldau" by B. Smetana, both of them really beautiful and original interpretations. Poegs performs his music pieces playing e-guitars, piano, keyboards and also synthesiser (with or without drums) in a very unique harmony and appearance succession along each composition, always light and softly. You will never hear any heavy sound from his songs, even in the most psychedelic or powerful one. To a distracted listener his compositions may sound sometimes very simple and maybe even monotonous, but actually they are very carefully detailed and featured. An important detail: he is a rare artist that has published almost all his compositions on the Web, so you can listen to his songs all available to be downloaded from his many homepages. Last year he was awarded as one of Top 10 Artists in the "Electronic" category by "mPulse.com" and released three albums. "The Frogressive Rock Sampler" is one of them. Highlight to "Unbearable Emptiness", "Landscape", "Through a Luminous Galaxy"... But also listen to other albums! The last album is "In Somnius", composed of 12 tracks of dream-making new age songs, and the another is "The New Frogressive Age Sampler" that contains a collection of the new age alike songs released since 99. Poegs' songs deserve to be carefully listened by all progressive rock and new age/world music fans and also even by all classical music fans...
Clara Y. Yamamoto - Progressive Rock and Progressive Metall E-zine
Der dreißigjährige Christian Zumdick alias "Poegs" verbindet in seinen Sounds Ambient- und New-Age-Klänge mit knackigen Progressive-Rock-Melodien à la Pink Floyd und Genesis. Bis dato nahm der Multi-Instrumentalist die vier Alben "Transmigration", "Black Hole", "Galaxy" und "Landscape" auf, die allesamt sowohl mit relaxten Melodien als auch härteren Klängen begeistern. Wer sich aus der waghalsigen aber dennoch geglückten Symbiose aus beruhigenden und rockigen Rhythmen ein Bild machen will, der sollte zumindest zwei kostenlosen Downloads eine Chance geben: Das sphärische "Timeless" und die Progessive-Rock-Nummer "Earthchild" zeigen das breit gefächerte Spektrum von "Poegs".
Callasong.de
Es gibt Momente, da fragt man sich, ist das wirklich möglich. So z.Bspl. bei Christian Zumdick aus Osnabrück. Mit 27 Jahren bekommt er ein Musikinstrument namens Gitarre geschenkt. Zu Beginn spielt er einfach einige Songs nach, was ihm aber schlichtweg zu langweilig wird. ... Christian Zumdick sieht seine Musik am ehesten zwischen Tangerine Dream, Eloy, King Crimson oder Jethro Tull, was man sicherlich ohne weiteres so stehen lassen kann. ...
Nicht gerade einfach ist es, die neun instrumentalen Tracks zu umschreiben. Jeder der Songs steht für sich, "Meteor" ist z.Bspl. ein eher spaciger Song, ausgestattet mit einer netten Melodie, die recht schnell im Ohr hängenbleibt. Etwas monoton und beklemmend wirkt "Unbearable Emptyness", "Milky Way" hingegen kommt recht locker, fast poppig rüber. "Cassiopeia" ist mir ein wenig zu elektronisch, und bewegt sich immer im selber Tempo. Dafür ist "Spiral Nebula" ganz beachtlich, fast schon ein wenig abgefahren, ohne aber irgendwie aufdringlich zu wirken. "Final Achievement" ist ein ganz sanftes Teil mit computergesteuertem Keys-und Pianotönen, einfach eine Nummer zum zurücklehnen. Das es Christian an Kreativität nicht mangelt, beweist er mit "Sunlight", eine harmonische Melodie verkuppelt er mit etwas schrillen Tönen, ist zwar nicht ganz so mein Fall, und auch nicht unbedingt progressive, aber immerhin, das muss man erst mal bringen. Recht finster beginnt "Future Mobility", wird aber in der Folge immer rhytmischer. Der letzte und längste Song auf "Through A Luminous Galaxy" beginnt regelrecht phychedelisch und erinnert mich sofort an Pink Floyd, für mich die interessanteste Nummer auf dem Album.
Werner Wachtarczyk - The Progressive Corner
Landscape ist mittlerweile schon das vierte Werk vom Osnabrücker Musiker Christian Zumdick, alias "Pögs". Wie schon bei seinen drei ersten Alben hat Christian Zumdick auf Mitmusiker verzichtet und alle Instrumente selber eingespielt. Anders als bei den Vorgängern ist "Landscape" nicht ganz so elektronisch, Christian hat vermehrt normale Instrumente wie Hammond, Kirchenorgel und Klavier eingesetzt. "Landscape" ist ein instrumentales Konzeptalbum, welches musikalische Bilder von Landschaften, Jahreszeiten und Naturelementen darstellt.
So z.Bspl. das traurige, beschwörende "Adiago", bei dem vor allen Dingen Synthezier und Orgel im Vordergrund steht, und eine melancholische Stimmung in die gute Stube bringt. Ganz anders ist "Earthchild", ein rhytmischer Track mit viel E-Gitarre und schönen Melodiebögen. Etwas vertrackt, mit vielen Rhytmuswechseln ist Song 3 ausgestattet, etwas schräg sind auf "A Youngish Place" die Gitarrenparts ausgefallen, ansonsten ein ganz nettes Teil, für das man sich etwas länger Zeit nehmen sollte. "The Blue Divide" stellt eine phychedelische Reise ins Ungewisse dar, und so wirkt der spacige, leicht abgedrehte Song tatsächlich. Danach kehrt ein bisschen Ruhe ein, "Windward" ist eine verträumte melodische Nummer mit Klavierakkorden, die zum zurücklehnen animieren. "Sail Away" ist ähnlich wie der vorherige Song, nicht ganz so ruhig und mit etwas mehr Melodie ausgestattet als "Windward". Melancholie pur erlebt man bei "Continuous Flow"... Der abschliessende Track "Landscape" ist auch gleichzeitig der längste Song, bei dem vor allen Dingen die satten Gitarrenakkorde voll gut kommen und so ganz nebenbei über herrliche Melodiebögen verfügt.
Werner Wachtarczyk - The Progressive Corner
I've been listening to these 2 albums for a few weeks and they are good, I could even say great. 100%, both major albums of 2000 & 2001.
European Progressive Rock Reviews
Unbeliveably uplifting and mind expanding New Age with touches of Pink Floyd. BRILLIANT!!!
Floydesque epic.Powerful guitar shines throughout this atmospheric journey.
Take a musical journey through the galaxy...very dreamy and really cool...
Another excellent group from Germany...In that tasty electronic style that we expect from the land where much of this music was born...
So similar to Kevin Braheny's CD "Galaxies", on which Kevin explores the use of high-end synths to create the sonic atmosphere far outside and away from our own stratosphere. Poegs take their time in presenting an awe-inspiring aural trancescape that will unfold beautifully before you with no tension, no fluctuation in heart rate. It flows through your capillaries with complete control. Not too demanding in the e-bow guitar, but eloquently phrased. Interesting what alchemy these people create.
A classy instrumental piece. Grand without being pompous, this song is a beautifuly structured testament to modern prog/new age music.
Christian Zumdick, better known as "Poegs" invites us to a journey in this incredible music piece... One of Germany's prodigal sons...
This is a special kind of ambient guitar music ... great space rock tunes from Osnabrück (Germany)
David Gilmour would be PROUD to play with these guys!...So would I!
Rating: 17/20. Very remiscent of some of Oldfields earlier work with some wonderful guitaring and synth combinations. Easy flowing music which relaxes the mind and is pleasurable to listen to.
A very cool Pink Floyd-Tangerine Dream song. Sit back and let this tune carry you away.
This track is slow, melodic and has some guitar melodies quite remeniscent of Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn. The pieces composed by this artist are a little 'off the beaten track' which is a very fresh concept amongst so much generalized, tired style music these days.
This'll take you places that you've always wanted to go......but didn't know how to get there!
This song is like "Red Bull". It gives you wings.
Excellent composition and arrangement...This song requires head phones and a black light!
Shimmering ambience and a delicate melody...it's snowing and icing outside, and this song is a perfect soundtrack...
A warm track from the heart. Simplicity expresses itself directly to comunicate to the listener: extremly peaceful energy.
Beautifully played solo guitar and well arranged synth pads.
One of my favorite by Poegs.....check out their whole site....there's LOTS of great stuff.
Peaceful and serene dream music.
New at No.09 is "Final Achievement" by the Poegs. Written, Performed and Produced by Christian Zumdick this track is really allows the listener to escape and relax in the world of dreams.
A nice easy and relaxing song with strings and piano parts. Very soothing!
Great New Age sound to it. Nice and melodic. Take a listen and Enjoy!
A great "builder". Sounds a little like the theme to a 60s cult TV series.
Competent one-man prog composition. Instrumental. Germany.
New Age inspired ProgRock in a Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream style!
You want to hear some killer melodies. Check out this band with such musical influences as Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Mike Oldfield, Jethro Tull.
Another thematic, or topic oriented piece, gratis the Poegs. A buzzing synth arpeggio announces the spiraling efforts of the meteor, so it's path is well known to the listener by the time the brushed drums and riffy backbone come rolling in. Much like more palatable Univers Zero, or Daniel Denis, with a Hawkwind bend thrown in for flavor crystals. These attach to the meteor, causing it's ferocity in its approach to the final destination to increase, slowly at first, then faster and faster as the track continues. Very mind oriented, visual chatter from Poegs. Get it while it makes sense.
A very unique and interesting tune from poegs.....what cool changes!
You won't believe your ears when you hear this musican's soft-rock version of Tomaso Albinoni classical piece--truly amazing!
Classic melody by Tomaso Albinoni and shredded quite nicely by Yngwie, Poegs does it more to the original score. Cool!
All wise and all knowing, as this tune leads you into the way of a new realm.
The beginning piano part is very interesting. I like how the artist switched different keys to make a very unique melody. It's really creative. The song almost sounds as if its telling a story, like a battle of some kind. You have the piano in the beginning which sounds like the soldiers marching, then u have the strings in the middle which sounds like battle, then the drums in the end kind of sound like victory. It's a really neat song. I also like how near the end the artist adds in a saxophone to give it a really nice sound.
This is a great melancholy piece with a really nice "feel" to it, inspired by Autumn.
Excellent ProgRock!
Gimme a one and two and and you know the rest great tune by the Poegs.