Craig Padilla is an electronic music artist who has been around the music world for 25 years or longer. He has recorded many electronic music albums with various labels around the world and self-released music on Bandcamp. He caught our attention years ago with both his ambient and sequencer/berlin-school releases. His releases over the years with guitarist Marvin Allen veered into Pink Floyd territory and some of the guitar based recordings of Edgar Froese.

Nothing goes over dreamy atmospheres and pulsating sequences like some great guitar work and maybe some drums! His “Solina” recording a year ago rocked Chuck’s world with its overall sound, depth and integrity and so Mike went after him for a release and the OS “ The Pulse of Life” was born. Consisting of 5 tracks of hand and ear played modular sequencer music performed on the Mattson Modular synthesizer, this is the sound of the past mixed with the shadows of the new, all wrapped in analog goodness.


"The field of Spacemusic offers nothing better than Craig Padilla at his best. Keeping the past in his heart as he strides toward the future THE PULSE OF LIFE (68:12) packs a cosmos of ideas into over one hour of listening pleasure. In a craving for vastness volatile voltages pass through the many mesmeric moments of this searching moonlight flight. Breathing in the midnight air Padilla's music exhales starlight. Drifting between synthesizer states in a darksome minor key billowing chords scale the heights atop building banks of sequencer runs. Discorded drones move below high harmonies in a vivid dimensionality - while the album's pattern pulsations provide a lively focus further in. As fleeting fragments of waveforms separate into dissonant splinters we feel spellbound across the five electronic conjurations - every tone colored and inflected with the mythic qualities of a natural synthesist. Most EM is meant merely to hold the attention. THE PULSE OF LIFE was expressly designed for our delight. The energy arcing through this work is an appeal to the imagination - where we may ponder that which is within and without. Moved by a sense of discovery Craig Padilla continues to re-imagine the potential of his music. Its light heightens our awareness of the dark, just as its ascendancy reveals a more illuminated realm - in its own order, its own unity, and declaration of hope."
- Chuck Van Zyl, Star's End; February 7, 2025

"For a while Mr. Padilla had the idea to put out an album to pay tribute to George Mattson and his contributions and inventions to the synthesizer community since the ‘70s.”. Therefore, Craig limited himself to using modular synths only that Mr. Mattson built to creating the Berlin School music for “The Pulse of Life”, mastered expertly by Robert Rich. This coincided with the OtherSide label reaching out to him to release an analogue sequencer-based album on their roster.

Intrinsic energy and powerful waves shine through the warm pads and sequences making up the five tracks, sometimes venturing in slightly psychedelic, hallucinogenic territory like in the opening piece. The fourth track is special to my ears due to its solid, deep sound design of broadening, smooth spiraling yet mesmerizing textural waves. What a feast to experience this with quality headphones.

The 21-minute title track rounds out the recording in a dynamic, sequencer-driven fashion, on and off reminding of Steve Roach’s sounds and Teutonic vibes on “Now” and “Traveller”.

All in all, this is a very nice piece of sequencer and modular synth art that will appeal to many. The physical version of “The Pulse of Life” is hand-numbered on the back and presented in a beautifully designed larger-sized collectible case."
Bert Strolenberg, Sonic Immersion

"Padilla is an electronic music artist who has released music over the years with guitarist Marvin Allen veering into Pink Floyd territory and some of the guitar-based recordings of Edgar Froese. Indeed, it is a certainty that fans of Tangerine Dream will get a huge amount of pleasure from the soundscapes created by Padilla.

There are five tracks of hand and ear played modular sequencer music performed on the Mattson Modular synthesizer, and three of them are epics, including one at uber-epic length, so plenty to get our teeth stuck into.

Riding the Cosmic Rails starts us off, with almost eighteen minutes of music. I have embedded this below for you, and I think that you will agree with me that from the off, it sounds lush, mesmerising in its electronic psych, and I close my eyes and imagine myself sailing across said cosmos, alone with merely my thoughts and the sounds the universe makes, some dreamy, others pulsing, at times recreating the navigational or communication systems reaching out certainly in the final third, and never anything less than fascinating and definitely best heard on quality headphones.

Stardust Harmonies is the shortest track at precisely eight minutes, so itself hardly a slouch in terms of duration. It is a dreamy journey through a nebula, the birthplace of stars, and I love the pretty note sequences which underpin the larger chords above. An interesting combination of cinematic soundscape and harmonies, the final minute seems to float following sone insistent sequencing.

Reflections is our second epic at just shy of the thirteen-minute mark. It begins in a quietly symphonic manner, to these ears taking influence from some of the classic Vangelis playbook, and it is moving in its understated manner. This piece is, I think, perfect for listening to when sitting up, late at night, peat-infused scotch whiskey in hand, not ready to face one’s dreams, but thinking upon the passage of time, total silence aside from the waves of chords and notes hitting you.

Particles in Radiance is the penultimate piece. I have embedded it below for you to enjoy. The delicate nature of the opening bars is instantly apparent, and there is a brightness wholly commensurate with the title of the song, a deep sound you can immerse yourself in channelling the atoms colliding and brightening the void.

The title track closes the album and is a massive epic over twenty-one minutes long. Immediately, the throbbing of the pulse enters your consciousness, “bom bom” in your head, the notes above it also beating before the state turns into a hypnotic trance, not a million miles away from the type of stuff you hear in the Dance Tent, or Village, in Glastonbury, albeit at a more relaxed pace than the likes of Orbital et al. As the track progresses, the layers are added, and it draws you into its world, extremely hypnotic, the sequencer whirling round and round in your head. The closing notes have a choral impact upon you before you are left with the pulse beckoning you to rest.

The Pulse of Life is a worthy addition to this interesting label’s canon, and you can, incidentally, buy a very reasonably priced CD in a 6-panel DVD-style digipack. "
- Lazland, March 2025

"American synthesizer artist Craig Padilla has been around for quite a few years and has been discussed several times in this section. The Pulse Of Life is a fresh release on Bandcamp via the label OtherSide on which the musician's two specialties are optimally presented. On the one hand, there is a sequencer-driven approach in the tradition of the Berliner Schule. In the long opening and closing tracks, the rhythm devices are given free rein. In both cases, the repetitive patterns are, to my ears, occasionally close to false and cacophonous. It is more pleasant and, in my opinion, more successful when Padilla lets his space music approach dominate. Sandwiched between the aforementioned two mastodons of tracks of 18 and 21 minutes respectively are the delicacies on this album. Stardust Harmonies offers exactly what the title promises: particularly fine and appropriate music to contemplate, lying in the grass and staring at the starry sky. The thirteen minutes of the track Reflections are also an optimal enjoyment of atmospheric symphonic sounds that you associate with the universe. Pure enjoyment for the lover of this ambient and mind-expanding music. In that sense, the new compositions of Craig Padilla are again very good. Finally, a big thumbs up for the packaging and artwork of the releases on this label. These are true works of art, just to look at, let alone listen to."
Robbert Schuller - iO Pages, March 2025