“Cosmic Ground 3 has a clearly more incisive approach at the level of sequences and, by ricochet, the structures of rhythm which are wilder”
1 Ground Control 16:05 2 Crumbling Darkness 16:41 3 Keep us in Space 18:46 4 Monochrome Ritual 19:26 Cosmic Ground Music
(CD/DDL 70:56) (V.F.) (Classical Berlin School)
If EM of the vintage Berlin School style created in the warmth of the analog is exercising on you an inexplicable attraction, the music of Cosmic Ground is a must! Hummm! You still don't know Cosmic Ground? Unforgivable! And here is why... But before, tie your ears solidly because they are going to run away!
After the dissipation of a veil of chthonian voices, a line of bass sequences makes beat 2 measures which throne on a filet of more discreet sequences and of which the movement becomes that of a train which wants to roll at a brisk pace through the clouds of dark voices which he meets. What strikes immediately the sense of hearing is the sound of the sequences. Even at a brisk pace and in their clothes of one-legged monks, they wind with a so different, a so warm tone, as their jingles get entangle like a thin line of rubber balls which jump up as a starving play of percussions. Fiery, the first 6 minutes of Ground Control offer a simply infernal structure of rhythm which leaves no chance to a few steps of dance to follow the fury of hundreds of sequences which jump, roll and tumble down through those many clouds of mists. If the movement gets quieter, it remains all the same rather lively with this meshing of sequences and percussions which sets in fire the 2nd part with sequences which overflow now by the lobes of our ears. Without nuances, set apart for the tones, and frankly, Ground Control presents a powerful pouring of sequences which wears out just a bit after having clocking the 12 minutes point, entailing the title towards one finale which refuses to let leave its hyper convulsive structure of rhythm. The dense ambiospherical effects will finally have reason of the crazy rhythm about of Ground Control near the 15th minute. This is a very sharp opening of Dirk Jan Müller! And if the very lively and abrupt movement of sequences have seduced you, wait to hear the one in Crumbling Darkness. But it will not be before a good 6 minutes of an introduction densely ambiospherical where intersidereal gongs crumble their rumblings in a sound paradise tinted of wet voices and afterward in the violence of the winds which sing with their particles of sandy dusts. Crumbling Darkness gets away of this cocoon of atmospheres in order to offer a stunning movement of rhythm well sat on the spasmodic jolts of many sequences. Riffs and synth chords, which sound like those of the Green Desert years, wrap this structure of rhythm of which the main attraction is a series of dislocated and out of tune jumps which spring from a skeleton of a big snake which gets back its bones after each spasm. Imagine the image; it's a movement of rhythm without stops which quietly crumbles its last knockings in a thick wall of mists and luciferian voices. The combination of atmospheres and rhythms is perfect for the fans of the genre. You want more?
After noises, rumblings and cosmic winds, Keep us in Space gets rid of its short passage of ambiences to offer a structure of rhythm as edgy as the one in Ground Control. If the movement is less fluid, it remains just as much violent with a line of bass sequences which undulates under the oscillatory snips of scissors movement of the main rhythm. Still here the structure of rhythm, as well as the percussions, brings us back to the Green Desert era. It's a furious rhythm which will run wild beneath a flight of sequences and electronic percussions for a big 16 minutes. The analog Modular overheats! After this fiesta of sequences and wild rhythms, Monochrome Ritual calms down the moods with a beautiful ambient rhythm, like those which have fed the beautiful analog years, with a Dirk Jan Müller in great shape who abandons a little bit the Modular in order to draw beautiful effects and elements of charms and atmospheres which were in the heart of the golden years of the psychedelic cosmic rock. The fans of Phaedra are going to ask for more of it! And that's why it's essential to discover the universe of Cosmic Ground!
COSMIC GROUND 3 is in the lineage of the 2 first ones, but with a clearly more incisive approach at the level of sequences and, by ricochet, the structures of rhythm. I'm telling you straightaway, a repetitive listening risks to make you deaf, so much the power of the sequences attacks our indefatigable hunger for the analog rhythms of the 70's. Is it too much? Would need to ask your neighbors. I would say not at all, but I like that! The slow introduction of Crumbling Darkness moderates a little the violence of the rhythmic acts. And when we reach Monochrome Ritual, we are like these crazy dogs who need to rest after having hunt 2 trains which rolled in parallel. It's a wonderful album for the fans of sequences and of hard and pure electronic rhythms, although the moments of atmospheres are not anemic.
Sylvain Lupari (September 26th, 2016) ****½*
Available at Cosmic Ground Bandcamp
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