Neuronium

Neuronium
Origin	Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Genres	New Age music Electronic music
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Neuronium Records
Members
Michel Huygen
Past members
Carlos Guirao Albert Giménez

Neuronium is a Spanish electronic music group created by Michel Huygen in 1976. The official biography claims Quasar 2C361 (1977) to be the first cosmic music album recorded in Spain. Over 30 albums have been released under the Neuronium label.

For a brief time after its founding, Neuronium was a quintet, composed of a percussionist, bassist, guitarist and two synthetists. The guitarist (Albert Giménez) and both synthetists (Michel Huygen and Carlos Guirao, who also play guitars) recorded Quasar 2C361, in 1978, under the label EMI-Harvest. In 1978 Neuronium's second album Vuelo Químico inspired by the lyrics of Edgar Allan Poe was released, with the participation of singer Nico famous for her work with The Velvet Underground, followed by the departure of Albert Giménez.

In 1980 Neuronium released "Digital Dream" under their own label, Neuronium Records, with the collaboration of guitarist Santi Picó. Musician and producer Klaus Schulze made remix of the album free of charge, but Neuronium choose to release album in their own mix because of the legal clauses.

"The Visitor" (1981) and "Chromium Echoes" (1982) were released next, the former being the last album with the participation of Carlos Guirao. Thereafter, Michel Huygen was the only member of the band, with occasional collaborations of guitarist Santi Picó.

Also, at the same time those two albums were released, solo albums by Michel Huygen ("Absence of Reality") and Carlos Guirao ("Revelation") were published.

Neuronium collaborated with Vangelis in 1981. Records of their performances on the Spanish television programme "Musical Express" was released under the titles In London in 1992, Separate Affair in 1996, and In London (Platinum Edition) in 2002.

In May 1986 Michel Huygen was inaugurated by Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain as the person in charge of the department of electronic music of the Center of Art Queen Sofía of Madrid.

Such albums as "Sybaris" (1991), "Psykya" (1996), "Hydro" (2001), "Azizi" (2002), "Sensorial" (2004) were the milestones of later Neuronium/Huygen production.

Album "Hydro" (2001) became the best-seller of Huygen's music. More than 150,000 copies were sold worldwide. By 2001 a million copies of Michel Huygen's various records had been sold.

Neuronium Records was created in 2002 as the personal label of Michel Huygen on which the works from other artists like Suzanne Ciani, Constance Demby, Pascal Languirand or The Lab were released, among others.

In some sources, including CD booklets, Neuronium's music is referred to as psychotronic, which purpose is to reach a state of harmony between the body and soul. From a more formal perspective, music by Neuronium covers several electronic music styles, including New Age, ambient and space music.

Discography

• album 01: (1977): Quasar 2C361 (Neuronium)
• album 02: (1978): Vuelo Quimico (Neuronium)
• album 03: (1980): Digital Dream (Neuronium) remastered as "The New Digital Dream", with new cover
• album 04: (1981): The Visitor (Neuronium) remastered as "The New Visitor", with new cover
• album 05: (1982): Chromium Echoes (Neuronium)
• album 06: (1982): Absence of Reality (Huygen)
• album 07: (1983): Invisible Views (Neuronium)
• album 08: (1984): Heritage (Neuronium)
• album 09: (1984): Capturing holograms (Huygen)
• album 10: (1986): Barcelona 1992 (Huygen)
• album 11: (1987): Supranatural (Neuronium)
• album 12: (1988): From Madrid to Heaven (live) (Neuronium)
• album 13: (1989): Elixir (Huygen)
• album 14: (1990): Olim (Neuronium)
• album 15: (1990): Numerica (Neuronium)
• album 16: (1990): Intimo (Huygen)
• album 17: (1991): Extrissimo (Neuronium, including tracks from Huygen's solo works)
• album 18: (1991): Sybaris (Neuronium)
• album 19: (1992): En busca del misterio (Huygen)
• album 20: (1993): Oniria (Neuronium)
• album 21: (1994): Infinito (Huygen)
• album 22: (1995): Música para la buena mesa (Huygen)
• album 23: (1995): Sonar (live) (Neuronium)
• album 24: (1995): Astralia (Huygen)
• album 25: (1997): Psykya (Neuronium)
• album 26: (1999): Ultracosmos (Huygen)
• album 27: (1999): Alienikon (Neuronium)
• album 28: (2000): Directo al Corazón (Huygen)
• album 29: (2001): Hydro (Neuronium)
• album 30: (2002): Placebo (Huygen)
• album 31: (2002): Azizi ( Neuronium)
• album 32: (2005): Mystykatea (Neuronium)
• album 33: (2006): Synapsia (Neuronium)
• album 34: (2006): Angkor - Extreme Meditation. Vol.1 (Huygen)
• album 35: (2007): Irawadi - Extreme Meditation. Vol.2 (Huygen)
• album 36: (2008): Nihilophobia (Neuronium)
• album 37: (2010): Etykagnostyka (Neuronium)
• album 38: (2010): Hydro 2. The Deep End (Neuronium)
• album 39: (2010): Krung Thep - Extreme Meditation Vol.3 (Huygen)

Unnumbered titles

• (1987): Alma (Neuronium) (remixes)
• (1993): In London (Neuronium); (recorded in 1981 with Vangelis); remastered as "A Separate Affair" (1996) and "In London (Platinum Edition)" (2002), with new covers
• (1998): Oniria Neuromance; (CDR) (compilation album)
• (1998): Todos Sus Grabaciones Para Discos EMI/Harvest (1977–1978) (Neuronium) (compilation double album; includes albums "Quasar 2C361" and "Vuelo Quimico")
• (1999): Droit Au Coeur (Huygen) (compilation album)
• (2000): Caldea Music (this is an album not mentioned on official site; but sure is a recording of Huygen; later parts of the album were remixed, rerecorded and released as "Hydro" in 2001)
• (2003): Soplo Vital (Huygen) for ANOREXBU, a psychotherapeutic Association of Anorexia, Bulimia and Light addictions;
• (2003): LSD (Cybernium) (collaboration work with Pascal Languirand of Trans-X)
• (2004): Sensorial (Huygen) (includes re-worked version of "Ultracosmos" track under the title "Percepción Cósmica" ("Senso") with guitar playing by Santi Picó)
• (2005): Chilled drive (Huygen) (compilation album)
• (2007): Neuroworld (DVD)
• (2007): Magic Samui (Huygen)
• (2010): Hypnotika (CD ROM with visuals)
• (2010): Zen Driving (Huygen)

Other

• (1990): Dalí: the endless enigma; one track: The Great masturbator.
• (2002): Pascal Languirand. Renaissance; Huygen wrote the music for the track: Vivre/Sólo Pensando En Tí (the same song performed in French and Spanish version).
• (2003): Trans-X. The Drag-Matic Album; producer, executive producer.
• (2003): E-Live 1999-2002. Compilation live album. Contains one untitled live track (2002) recorded by Neuronium with Pascal Languirand.

Online releases

• (2006): Mentalia (Huygen) (includes the only track "Senso" from "Sensorial" album)

Remastered, remixed and partly re-recorded versions:

• (2010): Quasar 2C361/Ultimate Edition(Neuronium)
• (2010): Chromium Echoes/Ultimate Edition(Neuronium)
• (2010): Vuelo Quimico/Ultimate Edition(Neuronium)
• (2010): Digital Dream/Ultimate Edition(Neuronium)
• (2010): Oniria (Neuronium)
• (2011): From Madrid to Heaven (Neuronium)
• (2011): The Visitor/Ultimate Edition(Neuronium)

Upcoming works

As the official website claims, the following albums are to be released in the period 2012-2013:

• Exosomnia (Neuronium)
• Suvarnabhumi (Huygen)
• Untitled project with Kitaro

See also

• Neuronium Records

External links

• Official Neuronium Web Site
• Official Neuronium Myspace page
• Official site by Cybernium - collaboration project by Pascal Languirand and Michel Huygen
• Official site of Extreme Meditation series by Michel Huygen
• Neuronium Entry at Discogs.com
• Neuronium Entry at EEM
• Article about Neuronium history
• Article about collaboration work by Vangelis and Neuronium
• Neuronium and Vangelis at Youtube