COSMIC GROUND

The German electronic scene was never the same again, after one Edgar Froese started fiddling about with the sequencer back in 1973 on Tangerine Dream's unicorn of an album 'Phaedra'. This enigmatic and strangely astral record somehow managed to pull people in from far and away - often folks who would never dream of purchasing a modern LP without drums and a certain whiff of the ol' rock energy. Phaedra then was the first of it's ilk to really connect with a larger audience. Through this newly won affection the ripples grew larger and larger - manifesting themselves in 100s upon 100s of copycat electrolytes out to set the controls for the heart of the sun, undertake space voyages and all those lyrical attributes that so often accompany this form of electronic music: The classic Berliner Schule.

Dirk Jan Müller, who normally sits behind the organs and synths of the neo Krautrock group Electric Orange, has here under the moniker of Cosmic Ground created a pendant to the early footsteps of the Berlin School. I'd even venture as far as to call this album an homage. With the following equipment extensively in use: Mu modular, 960seq. eurorack modular, fender rhodes, mellotron m4000d, moog sub phatty, philicorda, farfisa compact, farfisa professional duo, solina string ensemble, roland rs202, korg ms20, roland sh1000, hohner string melody II, elka rhapsody, nord wave, moog voyager, hohner clavinet, oberheim sem, korg mini-pops, leslie 760, hohner orgaphon - one could very easily be lead into thinking that this album indeed is a remnant of the analogue 70s. The print on the cd even goes out of it's way to underline the fact that NO midi tampering was employed during the recording.

To me this is both good and bad. I love how the synths sound, and they have that wobbly and authentic sheen to them that I often miss on modern electronic offerings. On here, and on most old analogue electronic albums, you're able to spot the small quivers of the human spirit forcing themselves through the robotics - what I'd call the flesh fingerprint. What it adds to the overall sound is a warmth and humanity - something to counterpoint the otherwise mechanical heartbeat of the sequencer. On the other hand, I can't escape the continuous stream of Tangerine Dream images my mind conjures up, whenever I pop this baby on the stereo. My eyes look at the alluring cover art of Cosmic Ground, but my ears keep hearing Rubycon revisited. Not a bad thing if you're out to project a certain TD era - at least it isn't Melrose or Tyger you're aiming for............but in my humble opinion the release as a whole suffers a tad from this lack of originality. Don't get me wrong, this is a very eloquently executed album that literally exudes warmth and something I'd like to call beep beep beauty - I can listen to this sort of music all day long - and all night for that matter, but for an album to really distinguish itself, especially in a style of music so well defined as this one, it has to have some umphh and personality on it's own - something that unequivocally screams uniqueness...and sadly that is the one thing that I'm missing here.

Even the beautiful wavering vapour-like presence of the backdraft has me thinking of Klaus Schulze and his unique brand of space ambient, no matter how much I adore it. It works wonders with the beeps and melodic synth spirals offering up a holy marriage of the intangibly floating and the more overt musical qualities, yet I still miss something that is entirely Dirk's creation. A red stork in my curry if you will.

The best thing about the album though is the level of immersion Dirk undertakes. His playing is deeply hypnotic and enchanting no matter what electronic device he is riding. Through interwoven surfaces of sound from ambient floating segments to almost stroboscopic light flickers of the sequencers, Dirk magically dreams up a vast satin black sky screen that pulsates and zooms - in and out - pulling you into the vortex of a dying star. For those of you who fancy Star Trek holidays and abstract albeit melodic electronic adventures, this album will be a real treat. For the mellotron and farfisa lovers alike - you too are going to salivate uncontrollably upon listening to this little rascal. For what Cosmic ground maybe lacks in originality, it (almost) trumps in sheer emotional delivery.

To the unenlightened who has never heard this kind of music, then imagine a liquid form of sound - a sonic oil dripping down Egyptian sand cathedrals - a lysergic soundtrack for astronauts and their unearthly home out beyond the infinite blueness of our skies. Out there among the stars and black matter, that's where this music really makes sense and takes on wings. 3,5 stars.

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