COZMIC CORRIDORS

[This is a revision of an earlier review of this lost gem in light of realisation of said gem's true provenance, July 2016. Enjoy. - Ed.]

So it's the '90's, and krautrock appreciation has evolved from post-punk influence and Nurse With Wound approval to an all out love fest for dozens of the greatest and most unique albums of all time. Julian Cope's "Krautrocksampler", while admittedly a little biased and at times reliant on hearsay, is a great resource and helps keep the hype train choo-chooing along, as is proper for these bands. So what's a few unscrupulous yet very enterprising fellows to do but resurrect the '60's era trend of faux psychedelic bands for personal gain? The hoax is fairly obvious: listening to this record, it's clear as day that the production is way too clear as day to have been recorded circa 1972, and no one has ever found a "Pyramid" "first issue" of any of these releases. But, like Hell Preachers Inc. before them, the musicians who otherwise did by-the-numbers rock jams to fill out their "Pyramid" catalogue managed to make magic, suddenly focusing on keys, electronics, Stereolab influence (a wonderful recursion that also further proves that this is a hoax), and emptiness and creating an inspired and spine-tingling meisterstuck.

Built on useage of one-two combos of organ notes that jump off of the aforementioned Stereolab, the band wring forth keyboard and electronic tones and melodies that would've been revolutionary if recorded in the '70's. On "The Summit" alone, the band gives us a pretty use of minimoog, then towards the middle gives a strange and disquieting key and guitar combo that could even be considered quasi-industrial, before going into a cathedral filling organ section. Percussion wonderfully rounds out the keys. On top this, "Niemand Verstent" allows guitar to really shine, and the closer, "Daruber", has a multitrack of the male vocalist chanting. Also notable is the openness and silence surrounding the music, uncanny yet perfect, '90's era production and theme going into a rewarding overdrive.

Both beautiful and gloomy in equal measure and at the same time, this ultimately stands toe-to-toe with the real classics of krautrock as an unlikely, brilliant, and skillfully performed masterpiece.

A shame this prog gem is buried in oblivion!

German quartet Cozmic Corridors only self titled 1974 release, is the kind of effort which portrays effectively the fine borders of Krautrock's "let's be playful but not clowns", and the "artsy" part of prog/electronics, closer in mood to Conrad Schnitzler's improvisations than Tangerine Dream's flowing environments, just to explain the prevailing air breathed in this 5 songs project, not as a comparison.

Their minimalistic exercises are intelligent composition wise, yet in their irreverent approach, they do climb great heights in matter of seconds, all due my friends to their genial songwriting, which once inside, it won't let go!

The mixture of deep spaced electronics, organ church like progressions, as vintage organ mystery movie ambients, menacing as attractive string works, serious and mysterious yet subtly humurous and measured performances, some religious like chanting voice in one track, some sexy female crooning in other, the pre-Lustmord like obscure environments, being almost entirely instrumental and a set of non-stop creative musical ideas and goals, do make for a flawless effort.

An unquestionable must, far beyond the somewhat repetitive Krautrock scene, as a must for any prog/electronic audiophile looking for something in the mid 70´s which offered a fresh route and not the TD or Schulze like material everyone started to copy, as a spacy clear and dark unorthodox entirely psychedelic trip for those who favour that sub-genre´s unearthly qualities.

*****5 ¨Flawless¨ PA stars.

This is one of a clutch of Krautrock albums which emerged in the mid-1990s on the Psi-Fi label which purported to be ultra-rare 1970s productions from a defunct label (Pyramid) - Epitaph For Venus by Galactic Explorers was another - but which have been widely accused of being fakes. Cozmic Corridors' particular style lends itself to long droning meditations which make the album resemble a collection of Ash Ra Tempel off-cuts. If it's a hoax, it's a convincing one, but in terms of Krautrock material it's a bit dull and lifeless - interesting to listen to for a bit, but the lack of atmosphere and texture gets to you after a bit.

One of six so-called archival releases released by the Psi-Fi label in the mid nineties. All these were supposedly released in a very limited run and sold in museums, at concerts etc. in the early seventies. Problem is not one of these original records have ever showed up. Not one. While this album and the GOLEM one sound pretty authentic the rest don't sound quite so early 70's. Psi-Fi says these were all released originally on the defunct Pyramid label but again no proof. While this one sounds like the real thing I just don't find it to be that good. Dark soundscape music for the most part with some vocal expressions helping out. ASHRA TEMPEL is a good reference but again a pale imitation. Just a flat sounding album in my opinion. Maybe it was the last of the six they did and they got lazy I don't know.

"The Summit" is like a slow dirge with organ and electronics. Spacey and experimental at times. "Mountainside" has some cello and spacey sounds along with electronics and haunting vocals. "Dark Path" is sombre with keyboards and atmosphere. "Nicmand Verstent" features more organ, vocals and spacey sounds. The closer "Daruber" has some rare drums in it along with organ before it changes after 3 minutes to a spacey soundscape which I like better. Another change after 6 minutes as it sounds more nervous and ominous and the organ floats in late.

There are many who think this is an incredible 5 star release but I find it to be just a pretty good record overall.