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Ltd 180gm Black Vinyl with Bonus CD of the 2016 studio album by a member of the legendary '71-'77 line-up of Electronic Music band TANGERINE DREAM!
From 1971 to 1977 Peter Baumann was a member of the legendary German band TANGERINE DREAM, the inventors of the electronic music genre Berlin School. He produced many seminal records in his Paragon studio (e.g. Conrad Schnitzler, Cluster, Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and released several successful solo albums.
“In October 2014 an idea suddenly came to mind. Although I had spent much of my life performing, recording and producing music, my attention over the immediately preceding years had been focused on the philosophy and psychology of human nature. It was a rewarding exploration, but I missed being more creative – suddenly I felt the urge to play music again. I built a recording studio in my basement and began writing material for the first time in a long while. In November I called Edgar Froese and we met in early January 2015 in Austria. It was an extraordinary encounter and it seemed like it would lead to a renewed collaboration after several decades. As many of you now know Edgar passed away on January 20th 2015, I miss him dearly. ‘Machines Of Desire’ is filled with many influences, not least of them, my time with TANGERINE DREAM. Recording this album has been a very rich experience that fulfilled my creative desires, with more to come. I’m delighted that German record label Bureau B will release the recording in May/June of this year. The title, ‘Machines Of Desire’, reflects my belief that as human beings we’re driven relentlessly by our deepest desires: the desire to experience life and love, to be heard and seen, to connect with others, to be safe, to find meaning and purpose… and countless more.
We find ourselves in the drama of everyday life with uncertainty at every step, with fear of loss and existential loneliness, and only occasionally interrupted by the fundamental joy of being alive.”
We are more than aware that all our TANGERINE DREAM fans out there are desperate to hear Peter Baumann’s first studio album in decades, and now that we have our hands on a finished copy of ‘Machines Of Desire’ we are now in a position to tell you all exactly what it’s like….
The first thing to say is that Baumann has not made a TD replica style album – definitely not - instead producing a work that is dark, atmospheric and very much rooted in early 70’s Electro Kraut, but with an air of “now” about it that makes it quite fresh and uniquely original.
‘Blue Dream’ is a great starter… Opening to the sound of sombre, scary synth effects in a dark cavernous atmosphere with only a drum machine for company. Deep choral Mellotron-like chanting voices appear from around every corner weaving between strong deep pounding beats of percussion. Then at just past the two-minute mark there’s a lull in the chanting and the track goes into a burst of almost baroque style classical melody from a 70’s organ sound, before the Mellotron choral voices march in once more in regimental style. A synth melody bursts in amid more haunting choral sounds and vamped Mellotron strings and effects. All this time the pounding drums continue to chart a rhythmic path in regimented manner until they disappear in a wave of strings at the end.
For those who know the music of ARTHUR BROWN’S KINGDOM COME ‘Journey’ album, there were parts of this track (especially the Mellotron sounds) that very much reminded me of that 70’s Psych/Synth classic!
‘Searching In Vain’ also has a dark foreboding atmospheric opening until a simple keyboard melody provides a beam of light when it comes in amid some kind of familiar backdrop sounds (PINK FLOYD’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ I think?) creating a perfect mix of eerie melody and stark surrounds. At the two and a half minute mark a sequencer emerges in the background, but its almost running ahead of the slow, haunting melody line. High-register synth effects stream in at a matching pace to the sequencer sounds, but the central lead melody stays true and constant from start to finish, then closing in a heartbeat!
After a dreamy opening sequence and touches of a vocoded voice sound, deep pounding drum rhythms and synth bass are again the driving force for: ‘Valley Of The Gods’ with surrounding choral effects providing a soft misty bed of haunting sound for some, at times frantic, high-reg synth soloing on top, but it’s the rhythm of the drums that is the main focal point here.
‘Echoes In The Cave’ is more atmospheric with some extremely simplistic percussive effects pre-empting the arrival of an undulating high register synth melody line. Halfway through the feel changes a bit with the staggered rhythmic effects keeping things in check. Eerie choral voices come in and out of the mix but the synth line remains in focus throughout.
‘Ordinary Wonder’ opens with a stark Mellotron like sounds and an echoed bass keyboard sound that is very much like a cross between that used in PINK FLOYD’s ‘Echoes’ track and that famous theme for the US cult TV series: ‘Twin Peaks’. Another very simple, yet evocative melody line intertwines through the track over a wash of structured drum machine rhythms and sparse sequencer runs. This is another quite understated track that still manages to make its mark.
More cavernous echoed, almost aquatic sound effects introduce: ‘Crossing The Abyss’, and it’s here I started to think of atmospheric early TANGERINE DREAM, but not for long because in roars a set piece rhythm with melodic alien-like choral sounds followed by and undulating synth melody that changes course slightly after a couple on minutes. With the synth lead developing and expanding around the sequenced rhythmic flow, short bursts of weird voice effects come in and out of the track, as do Mellotron-like effects and disturbing sample sounds.
A far cry from the Springsteen track of the same name, ‘Dancing In The Dark’ opens with a rhythm made up of drum machine patches and the return of the 70’s FLOYD-like echoed keyboard riff which kind of plods its way through the near five minute duration of this atmospheric, yet strangely melodic track with all manner of background effects coming and going.
‘Dust To Dust‘ comes in on a dark landscape where a slowly pulsating drum sound and a kind of “picking” percussive effect keeps time over a dark chorus on ice-cold space-winds and deep electronic male voice choirs. Then a classic 70’s Mellotron sound wells up to amazing effect to create an even more chilling, foreboding atmosphere with tinkling background synths providing light at the end of the tunnel. Light starts emerge through the gloom when a gently pounding synth rhythm building up slowly and combines with an electric guitar like synth melody that hovers like a vulture overhead, amid odd squalls of electronic effects then returns to the dark, surreal voices before drifting away to the sound of the “picking” percussive effect once more.
This track seems to presents a vision of something like a prisoner colony in a rather scary “other worldly” part of some dark distant planet.
So, there we go… the long awaited return of Peter Baumann is very much a dark, understated, yet simply structured work that concentrates heavily of time signature rhythms and atmospheres, but with a fair slice of melody scattered here and there. Percussion plays a huge part in the overall construction of the album, but this element is uncomplicated, often mechanical and quite regimented. ‘Machines Of Desire’ is a real “electronic” album that is certainly minimal in many respects, but not without its powerful and dynamic moments as well. It is gloomy, stark and at times surreal, featuring many classic keyboard sounds and textures, plus some adventurous new ones too.
It’s not a long album by today’s standards, but at forty-two minutes it does just about everything it has to in the confines of that timescale.
‘Machines Of Desire’ is also available as a CD Digi-Pak – Stock # 1851414
‘Machines Of Desire’ is also available as an Ultra-Limited Signed White 180gm Vinyl LP – Stock # 1856659
‘Machines Of Desire’ was released on 20th May 2016.
PETER BAUMANN: MACHINES OF DESIRE Black Vinyl LP+CD Track List:
LP – Side A:
01. Blue Dream (5:53)
02. Searching In Vain (5:37)
03. Valley Of The Gods (4:13)
04. Echoes In The Cave (3:55)
LP – Side B:
01. Ordinary Wonder (6:00)
02. Crossing The Abyss (5:58)
03. Dancing In The Dark (4:57)
04. Dust To Dust (6:24)
TPT – 42:57
CD:
01. Blue Dream (5:53)
02. Searching In Vain (5:37)
03. Valley Of The Gods (4:13)
04. Echoes In The Cave (3:55)
05. Ordinary Wonder (6:00)
06. Crossing The Abyss (5:58)
07. Dancing In The Dark (4:57)
08. Dust To Dust (6:24)
TPT – 42:57