COSMIC GROUND

Dirk Jan Müller (ELECTRIC ORANGE) is back with his ninth studio album release as the solo Kosmische Musik artist "Cosmic Ground."

Line-up / Musicians: - Dirk Jan Müller / analog modular synthesizers and sequencers, vocoder, rhodes, farfisa organs, mellotron, syntorchestra, solina, farfisa professional piano, guitar, bass, samples, field recording, revox

1. "Space Seed" (9:41) entropic space clouds seem to organize and form--as expressed through a driving sequencer rhythm track in the second through eighth minute. The song then closes with more swirling, churning space matter. (17.5/20)

2. "Phasing 76" (9:22) nice, gentle, hypnotic old-school Berlin School sequencer music. Perfect as a defining example for the "mesmeric" term. Unfortunately, there are no high or low points--no action or variation--just straightforward mesmerizing music. (17.5/20)

3. "Substance" (4:17) kind of boring despite its fast-pace underlying rhythm track--totally lacking any engaging melody. (8.66667/10)

4. "The Cage" (6:58) When one stands at the edge of the jungles of The Congo one can feel and sometimes hear the deep thrum of the sub-sonic waves and pulses of elephant talk. DJ has here replicated that listening position with low end sequencer and a plethora of upper canopy animal, bird, and insect noises as generated from his synthesizers. Pretty amazing! (13.5/15)

5. "Q2408" (6:19) It sounds like someone playing an industrial size game of Pong: the slapped bass guitar chords jumping around over the simple little midrange sequencer track are the key points of interest here. (8.75/10)

6. "Randomize User 0" (10:22) barely morphous synth sounds and notes darting and floating around before a sequencer arrives to pick us up and take us on a tour of celestial phenomenon. The chromatic synth notes that seem to randomly arrive and disperse are wonderful as the rhythm pattern of the sequencer grows in strength and volume in the seventh, eighth, and ninth minutes. Then it all reverses as DJ takes two minutes to resolve the passing skytrain with a kind of and doppler effect. Pretty cool. (18/20)

7. "Equilibrium" (6:53) more chaotic space sounds that remind me a lot of much of Stefano Musso's less melodic work. (13.25/15)

8. "Entropy" (18:42) an eery of purely atonal/nonmusical space sounds (not unlike some of the sounds TANGERINE DREAM used in their 1970s explorations). Could easily fill some of the "disturbing silence of space" scenes in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like TD, DJ has chosen to let a hard-driving sequencer theme enter in the eighth minute, eventually rising to the fore and taking over as the dominant sound force despite the continued irregular waves of space sound. Actually, the integration achieved between the sequencer and space waves is quite brilliantly actuated: as if the forces of space are chasing and repeatedly washing over the object-in-motion. In the sixteenth minute the sequencer fades into the background and out of the picture as space noises also decay into a vacuum state despite the life-attempts of a kind of heartbeat sound. Interesting and cinematic. (35.25/40)

Total Time: 72:34

Clearly DJ Müller has become more enchanted with the Kosmische possibilities of "music"-- experimenting with non- musical sounds in an effort to create his imagined extraterrestrial soundscapes (this despite the fact that sound will not/cannot occur where there is no atomic/molecular density, i.e. where there is no atmosphere to carry the sound waves). He does, however, like to anchor much of his soundscaping in modern variations of Berlin School sequencer programs: the rhythms aren't always present but they do seem to appear in the middle of these mesmerics as if to ground them in human (or robotic) perspectives.

B+/four stars; an excellent addition of experimental Kosmische Musik to any prog lover's music collection. I love DJ Müller's experimentation with old school Berlin School forms and formats while adding his modern synthesizer sound discoveries.

I used to listen to and review DJ's Cosmic Ground releases as if they were candy. Looks like I need to play some catch up with all of the releases I've missed over the past ten years.

I haven't listened to electronics for a while so this was a treat. COSMIC GROUND is the one man project of Dirk Jan Muller from Germany and he is also the leader and keyboardist for spacerockers ELECTRIC ORANGE. COSMIC GROUND has been his vehicle for delivering electronics to the world since 2014 and includes eight studio albums so far. This is his fifth from 2019 and besides sequencers and synths we get some bass, mellotron, string ensemble and farfisa organ. I always say give me some organic sounds when it comes to electronics and this record delivers that. The cover front and back and picture inside are all dark with a green hue, they have a sense of mystery about them.

This is a long one at over 75 minutes over eight tracks and this recording has a uniform sound to it and I like it. The short opener "Sludge" is awesome and a top three as we get atmosphere galore as my speakers vibrate along with some banging sounds. "Misery" is another top three and one I liked right from the first spin. A ton of atmosphere that hovers and after 3 minutes the mellotron is pretty great. "Delusion" is the other top three and I just noticed these three are the three shortest on the album and it's unusual for me to pick the short ones as favourites.

"Delusion" is an incredible soundscape of synths as Jan amps it up then settles it back over the 7 1/2 minutes. I did find that there's a lot of repetitive music on here especially with those longer pieces like the longest of all "Operation:Echo" at over 18 minutes. Three tracks are fairly heavy on the sequencers but this is truly soundscape music for the most part that is on the darker side.

A solid 4 stars for this stormy nighttime release.

Dirk Jan Müller, as his solo alter-ego project name Cosmic Ground, has been constantly honing and refining his atmospheric progressive-electronic works, moving far beyond the vintage Seventies `hero worship' imitation of his earliest releases. Whereas the previous disc `IV' showed the artist incorporating a ton of murkier and earthy Krautrock touches (something Müller's `day-job' band Electric Orange currently does so sublimely), 2019's `5' is a deep dive back into purer vintage Berlin School electronic compositions. With a perfect balance of rhythmic and sparse pieces, touches of trance, drone and dark ambient also creep in around the gloomier Seventies moods, and effortless tempo changes slyly infiltrate before you're even aware they've taken over.

Brief intro `Sludge' is a cavernous and foreboding drone that gives way to `Girls from Outer Space's trickles of bouncing and incessantly ticking sequencer patterns, where the lightest of punchier bursts bring a potent urgency around its backdrop of shimmering synth caresses. `Misery's spectral drone is constantly bathed in light to reveal hints of new life, and, after a blissful and cinematic soundtrack-like introduction, `Azimuth/Drowning' purrs with a slinking array of ever-evolving programming and bass pulses that create a highly lulling and hypnotic aura.

The hovering organ quivers of `Compact/Space' blends the early periods of both Klaus Schulze and Pink Floyd, and there's a stark unease to `Delusion's white-noise drones. But the best of the disc comes in the final thirty minutes, with `Operation: Echo's teeming sequencer ringings sinking deep into the background between near-subliminal reverberations, and there's a lurking and maddening repetitiveness to the subdued programming and darkly enveloping air of `Burn in Hell'.

Despite being a bit of a step away from the dustier Krautrock textures of `IV', this latest disc is full of a range of darker progressive-electronic styles in both vintage and modern trappings, and the variety, subtlety and confidence that Dirk displays throughout `5' makes it the definitive Cosmic Ground work to date.

Four and a half stars.

Cosmic Ground is the project of keyboardist Dirk Jan Muller from Germany who started this project in 2014. The music he creates from this moniker has a strong inspiration from cosmic (Kosmische) music in that it is all created from synthesizers and has a definate otherworldly aspect to it. The project's 5th album 'Cosmic Ground 5' was released in October of 2019 and has 8 tracks with a total run time of 75 minutes.

The album starts off with 'Sludge' (1:46), a short track that is dark and atmospheric, reflecting the title. 'Girls from Outer Space' (12:17) is a much brighter sound, and it commences almost instantly with a looped sequence (with a percussive element hidden in the stacatto notes) that acts as the foundation for the track, it's constant level and tone almost acting like a drone of sorts while echoing and expansive layers flow around it all. Later in the track, the looped foundation becomes more variable in dynamic and feel. The track is easy to get lost in as the music is not harsh, but it isn't necessarily new age-ish either. The color green is prevelant on the album cover, and is the case with pretty much all of the project's covers, and the sound definitely brings to mind the lively color. The foundation fades at 11 minutes, diving into itself and becoming linear drone.

'Misery' (4:25) continues the drone from the previous track and then, like a rising sun, sustained tones form a chordal drone giving a sense of expansion. The low drones remain more constant as the higher sustained notes ebb and flow. The sound is smooth and seamless. 'Azimuth/Drowning' (11:28) utilizes dynamic drones that fade in and out slowly. The tones are a bit darker here, and somewhat subdued. Percussive notes fade in later making pitter-pat sounds as the drones continue to flow in and out of existence. The looping notes change in texture as the track continues, some becoming more prevalent than others, very much like the Tangerine Dream sound with heavy synth staccato. More percussion is added, giving it a ticking and plunking texture. Intensity builds around 8 minutes in, and then backs off again.

'Compact\Space' (9:43) has a warbly texture in the upper notes while a low drone moves dynamically underneath. There is a more melodic quality to the sound, but it moves along slowly while soft bursts of string effects swirl in and out. The warble takes the place of the percussive sounds of the previous tracks giving the texture more smooth, but pulsating at the same time. The feeling of the track becomes more expansive as it goes on, thus following the pattern hinted at in the title and the warbly texture is lost partway through giving way to a sense of levelness. 'Delusion' (7:28) has a more icy, cold texture to it, again with a level of expansiveness, but this time feeling more metallic, dark and frigid, with a harsh wind underlying it all. Interestingly enough, the wind texture goes away after a while, but without that, the feeling is one of lonliness and more sparse-ness, as if the wind was your only companion.

'Operation:Echo' (18:12) fades in on a rolling, low-frequency tonal percussion loop. Changes in textures come along slowly and almost indiscernible, but there are changes in dynamic in some of the layers making certain tones ebb and flow and different times. The overall effect is quite mesmerizing with the subtle changes in texture slowly moving over the course of the track. 'Burn in Hell' (9:59) is a soft, yet dark and almost indiscernible track that just boils under the surface. It slowly increases in intensity and then decrescendos until the end.

The soundscapes on this album vary in texture and style and are quite distinct from each other. The first half of the album is more bright with movement, leaning more towards the Krautrock style, while the 2nd half is more subdued and dark, with subtler changes and with little regard to movement, more along the lines of ambience. However, the entire album is quite immersive, easy to just lose yourself in the soundscapes, and just as easy to use as background music. I tend to enjoy the first half the most, as the last two tracks tend to be a bit overlong and unchanging, but I think that is the point. Anyway, the production is excellent, the flow is smooth and the feel is relaxing. And, overall, green is the color.

The latest Berlin-School-styled space music from Electric Orange's keyboard maestro, Dirk Jan Müller--this time with more "shorter" songs and only one long epic.

1. "Possessed" (7:38) like a soundtrack to a creepy movie scene around railroad station, tracks, and sounds. The first of Dirk's interesting sound studies--this one an industrial mélange. The entrance and stay of a horn-like organ in for the final two and a half minutes is a bit incongruous. (8/10)

2. "Stained" (11:30) a slow sequence with octave-spanning bass-line establishes itself from the opening and proceeds to slowly rise and morph over the first four minutes. At 4:30 the sequences shifts into a higher octave while the rhythm and bass line remain constant. In the seventh minute, new sounds and tension dynamics enter making this more interesting. Very Tangerine Dream-like! The more sustained notes of the arpeggiated chords in the thick of the ninth minute are very cool, but then everything quiets down as Dirk begins the process of unravelling his Berlin School weave. (8.75/10)

3. "Obscured" (7:25) pure TANGERINE DREAM! Even sounds like part of its tracks come from a 1970s TD classic (while the rolling bass line sounds like bass and rhythm guitar tracks on PINK FLOYD's "Run Like Hell" from The Wall). (8.5/10)

4. "Greasy" (12:29) opens with spacey strings synth and deep bass note to match--almost church organ-like-- changing chords every 20 seconds or so. In the fourth minute the "space organ" disappears and a cool percussive computer synth sequence establishes itself--seeming to continually "rise" for over a minute before slowly reversing, seeming to "decompose." By the end of the eighth minute we are left with just the quiet bones of the sequence. (8.5/10)

5. "Progeny" (20:21) nicely echoed and flanged groovin' sequence over and under which synth and organ washes rise and fall. Very smooth, calming, and hypnotic. (9/10)

6. "Plains" (9:02) opens with on long-held full board synth chord that slowly builds as internal components seem to rise and fall. (Or do they?) This single chord is sustained for over three minutes while very subtle elements get slight rises or falls (e.g., a single pounding piano chord in the background). When singular elements "disappear" it is amazing to suddenly hear a component that you had not picked up before. This is like an aural test! Name those sounds, instruments, and chords contribution to this melange. Fascinating! I find myself liking this super simple song/étude more and more the longer it plays. (9.5/10)

7. "Deep End" (9:57) distorted and misshapen echoes of percussive sounds. Again, a fascinating study in sound manipulations. (8.25/10)

Let's face it, folks: Herr Müller is a master at this stuff. If you're looking for a collection of masterful, pleasing Berlin School songs with excellent sound mastering and really interesting experimentations with sound, you need look no further than this album.

Four stars; a very nice addition to prog world--especially interesting for fans of Berlin School music and especially the experimentations of Tangerine Dream.

With three studio discs, remix/previously digital only/unreleased pieces compilations and even a live album all popping up in a relatively short span of years, keyboardist Dirk Jan Müller of modern krautrockers Electric Orange keeps up the momentum of his solo career and its alias Cosmic Ground to deliver 2018's `IV'. With his army of analogue gear and creaky Mellotron once again in tow, while Dirk may still have one foot in the door of the defining vintage electronic masters of old, here he expands his Berlin School-modelled atmospheres in all sorts of further directions, infusing them this time with murkier Krautrock textures, cinematic soundtrack-like elegance, dark ambient drifts, gloomy drones, dreamy chill-outs and even sparingly implemented vocoder touches, making for the most varied and unpredictable Cosmic Ground work to date.

The pulsing hisses and stark droning machine-driven suffocation of opener `Possessed' is not `industrial' as such, but it's absolutely oppressive and monolithic in its level of intimidation and Cluster-like enveloping fear. The expertly unfurling Berlin-School drama of `Stained' fuses alien tribal percussion with a sequencer-pattered slink, the bouncing `Obscured's evocative vocoder recitations call to mind Robert Schroeder and plenty of vintage electronic artists (not to mention Pink Floyd, with the piece sounding like the love-child of `One of These Days' and `Sheep'!), and `Greasy' dances with unceasing Ashra/Manuel Göttsching-like ringing trickles that lift into chiming fluffy heavens.

The twenty-minute `Progeny is a multi-part suite that seamlessly moves through strident unfolding synth drones, ever-circling sequencer jangles and drifting come-downs, all rising and retreating with carefully controlled grace and an impeccable unhurried touch. Both `Plains' and `Deep End' are final hypnotic drones, the first ebbing and eerie, the latter adding a bubbling and hazy `Phaedra'-era Tangerine Dream fuzziness and seeping unease.

(And if a seventy-eight minute album isn't enough for you, download copies come with an additional thirty-eight minute piece `Soil', a longform drone of reverberating organ and drowsy ethereal guitar wisps, with the final minutes revealing a cavernous stalking pounding before succumbing to a calming Mellotron climax. It's a beautiful standalone work all its own, and hopefully it doesn't languish as a mere download only and receives its own CD or LP release in the future - hint, hint, Dirk?!).

Dirk Jan Müller keeps refining his approach and implementing new sounds with each successive Cosmic Ground release, and this latest one shows his greatest restraint and natural subtlety more effectively than ever, with long stretches of measured space-music that never become static or uneventful. `IV' can easily sit alongside Thorsten Quaeschning's `Cargo' soundtrack and Steve Roach's `Molecules of Motion' as one of the standout prog-electronic works of the year, and is Müller's defining solo work to date...likely only until his next one comes along and tops it!

Four and a half stars.

COSMIC GROUND marks a progressive electronic studio and solo project actually. And so for one or two it may be a big surprise to notice, that on both occasions, from where this live recordings are taken, Dirk Jan Müller moreover will be accompanied by Horst Porkert on synths, who is also known for driving the German Sunhair label. Everything sounds harmonic, so much for the start. You should notice, I never had a considerable relation to pure electronic live concerts. There is a die hard fan base given of course, regarding The Netherlands too. So they once participated at E-Live Festival in Oirschot, a venue with reputation. At least the first song can be clearly associated to this gig.

Five improvisations are available in total, where Anomaly seems to be a bonus, solely when it comes to the digital download option. The rest is ideally designed for a double vinyl release. Adansonia Records have taken this task again. Dark Enck and Unground I (hey, ridiculous, I'm always reading 'Underground') are similiar in execution. The very start goes to the melancholic mellotron. Though this is sooner or later evolving into an extended partition of somewhat rhythmic sequencer loops. A very hypnotic affair in both cases. Sounding like accompanied by tribal percussion Cairo Grind in principle continues on this path.

With Unground II it's all changing to a more key driven sound. It feels like I'm underway in deeper and darker realms now, like undertaking a deep-sea expedition and being faced with odd creatures hereby. You may really sense the water pressure in some way. Man! What an atmosphere! Have you ever been to an oceanographic museum? Perfectly matching background music, especially when arriving at the darkest and deepest ground. This album mirrors a well made, mostly relaxed and laid back performance, spiked with common references to Klaus Schulze respectively Tangerine Dream. Not an everyday case of course ... when you're in the mood to release yourself for some time, and this ideally supported by headphones, a wonderful experience is guaranteed. As Dirk turns out to be a master of building suspense levels.

Recorded over two dates in October and November 2016 and taken from performances in both Cairo and the Netherlands, `Live' sees Electric Orange keyboardist Dirk Jan Müller presenting a series of immersive Berlin School-modelled prog-electronic instrumentals in a concert setting, joined on additional synths by Horst Porkert of Sunhair Records. Like the last two Cosmic Ground studio albums, `Live' is comprised of four side-long pieces that slowly unfold and delicately reveal their intricacies, and while the early Seventies works of Tangerine Dream are the starting point as always, Dirk and company move beyond that as lengthy unhurried atmospheres and welcome surprises emerge throughout the set and take the pieces in fresh directions, with many stretches fusing both modern and vintage sounds effortlessly.

Opening with quietly mournful and groaning Mellotron mystery, `Dark Enck' evolves into a heavy and dense pure Berlin School drift that rumbles with jangling machine-driven tension and echoing cavernous vibrations. `Cairo Grind' quickly builds in tempo to thrum with rapid skittering sequencer trickles and pattering beats that almost take on a relentless trance-like urgency.

At its core, `Unground I' is a slowly unfolding drone with a constant sustaining hum to its backing behind placid synth caresses, but there's emerging traces of unease flitting around throughout, and it ultimately dissolves into more dangerous sequencer-laced tension in the second half. `Unground II' comes the closest to a purely ambient piece with serene lulling synth washes and fuzzy unfurling electronic trickles teeming with life, and it makes for a more soothing, hypnotic and embracing finale.

`Live' maintains the same high standard of the three (to date) Cosmic Ground studio albums, and it captures beautifully the energy and momentum that the live environment offers. Some may find nothing particularly new here, but take the time to look past the surface similarities to Tangerine Dream, give it plenty of repeated plays and dig a little deeper, and you'll discover a hugely rewarding live document from an intelligent modern progressive-electronic artist in Müller.

Four stars.

Cosmic Ground is the alias employed by keyboard player Dirk Jan Müller of modern German Krautrockers Electric Orange, a solo project in the progressive-electronic/kozmiche musik style completely composed on the same analogue equipment of the original era. While the vintage Berlin School influences are still present as on the previous two Cosmic Ground releases, Dirk has given his lengthy compositions here a broader approach that allows them more space to breathe and to carefully unfold, making `III' his most natural and subtle artistic expression with this project yet.

Again made up of four vinyl length side-long pieces, opener `Ground Control' might be comprised of slow to reveal longer ambient streams and briefly rising electronic washes, but a constant variety of frequently up-tempo dramatic sequencer trickles quickly gain unceasing momentum throughout with an ever-expanding serene Mellotron pool slowly seeping out. `Crumbling Darkness' is an elegant cinematic drone that holds a tender mystery, with gentle sweeping winds behind ambient landscapes of electric piano ripples, shimmering electronic levitations and hypnotic looping steady sequencer beats that hover in the air.

A ticking bounce quickly overwhelms the monolithic metallic hum of `Keep Us in Space' with an unflinching trance-like rhythm, and `Monochrome Ritual' is a groaning drone expanse, initially not unlike the self-titled opening track off Tangerine Dream's `Green Desert'. It morphs into an ethereal glistening caress lapping around the most submerged rumbling traces of sequencers trying to take flight before a final crystalline deep-space mediation.

Unhurried yet also seductively busy with the most minute of variations and intricate details that assure the airy flowing atmospheres never vanish into still nothingness, `III' is intelligent and restrained with a frequent aching beauty, and is easily the strongest effort from Mr Müller under the Cosmic Ground moniker to date.

Four stars (and Dirk, how about some live recordings soon?!)

Dirk Jan Müller is back from his third side trip to the Cosmic Ground by now, and he brings along some new goodies within the baggage. Technically seen this implies four extended elaborations, equipped with a proper Tangerine Dream retro reference again, just for a rough orientation, but definitely not reduced to that. Prepared as a double vinyl album offer this is dedicated to relax and to release basically. It's really amazing to experience how Dirk is able to materialize the imagination of gliding across the cosmos, with having a break here and there, at least for three times.

70 minutes, 70 days, 70 years? ... distance and time do not play a significant role anymore, are rather meaningless, when accompanying him on his recorded trips. And that's for sure, one will not suffer from boredom due to enough variation. There's a carefully pulsating flow given, respresented by the initial track Ground Control for example. And many many thanks for that wonderfully melancholic entree into Crumbling Darkness! Later on he's adding some hypnotic beat tendency, leaning towards rhythmic motion. Some impressions where you can divine his relation to Electric Orange in my opinion.

'Cosmic Ground III' is a new delicacy for designated progressive electronics fans by all means. However, I' don't have the ability to say if this is better than his prior albums or not, actually. Well, it doesn't matter in the end. Although Dirk is acting with a frequency of one album per year, which is rather ambitious when also taking his other projects into account, this is really well made, not something self-regarding at all. Recommended!