REDSHIFT

Really, REDSHIFT have recreated the 1974-77 TANGERINE DREAM experience so faithfully their music is often indistinguishable from the real thing. I don't mean to sound disparaging here: REDSHIFT produce the most gorgeous soundscapes, but it's just impossible to think of anything else but 'Phaedra' when listening to the title track of this, their debut album. Does a slowly morphing sequencer pulse overlain by synth washes, choral synth sounds and flute tunes sound familiar to you? The instruments are the same, the compositional shapes are the same, even the bpm is the same.

If you love TANGERINE DREAM, you'll have one of two reactions to this. You'll either hate the virtual plagiarism here, or you'll adore the chance to revisit that fabulous period in electronic history. My reaction is the latter. I can't help myself: six minutes into the first track, when the sequenced pulses arrive, it's all I can do to keep still. Beautiful, majestic, stunning. Many will take points off for lack of originality, though.

Not me. I don't care how many times it's been done before. If it moves me it wins, simple as that.

There are four tracks on the album. The first and last are enormous canvases, spreading galaxy-sized sounds across the listener's senses. The middle two are small moons orbiting the gas giants. Though it is 33 minutes long, 'Blueshift' isn't quite the triumph 'Redshift is, and is much more ambient without communicating that same sense of power and wonder. Even the most patient listener will be waiting for that heartbeat to stop ...

REDSHIFT will go on to produce studio albums sufficiently different from this to please the discerning electronica lover. They'll also issue live albums with that retro TD sound. So, both bases covered. An important addition to the genres of spacemusic and progressive electronica.

Redshift's debut, self-titled album has all of the electronic grandeur as Tangerine Dream's classic era and the epic progression of Klaus Schulze's classic era, but with slightly improved production quality. To be honest, Redshift does kind of sound like a long lost Tangerine Dream album that's been remastered, but that doesn't dampen the value of this album at all.

Much like Tangerine Dream and Schulze's music, all of Redshift follows their standard of epic track length Berlin school synth exploration put to a propelling beat that drives each track towards its finish line. What makes this album different are the breaks during some of the tracks that make way for very deep, empty, and galactic sounding voids that display a kind of malicious beauty. It may not sound like much, but it works well in contrast with the powerful kraut beats that break off right before. The progressions and developments in each track have a much more immediate or urgent than found in Redshift's earlier German inspirations, and some portions of these tracks take an imperial turn and become nearly symphonic. Beyond this, I'd say Redshift is very nocturnal, sounding rather dark but in a glimmering moonlight kind of way.

Fans of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze's classic eras, and even fans of Kraftwerk's more progressive works, should find Redshift very enjoyable. Not essential, but could prove to be a refreshing quencher for people who already have all of Tangerine Dream's best albums.