CHIP-MEDITATION PART I

It's four years since a SOFTWARE review here, so I'll throw in a quick one. It's a German duo of Michael Weisser & Peter Mergener, one of the main acts in the Innovative Communication label. Their branch of electronic music is rather 80's, but not in a horrible way. They can be compared to the likes of Conrad Schnitzler (and perhaps to Jean Michel Jarre, to a lesser degree): their music is plainly electronic in sound, not attempting to be anything else. Not soft soundsapes à la Vangelis. And their themes are quite non-narrative, either dealing with outer space or somehow clinically scientific such as the world of computers etc. And perhaps that feature is one of the reasons for that 80's feel, the same way out-of-date or worn-out as the original film TRON (I wonder if the new Tron film is any good...). Technologically, they were very strongly on the crest of the development of computer-made sounds. But the world has come a long way since those days...

This album is one of their earlier ones, probably not among their finest efforts. Well, the title is very poignant. Chip-Meditation. Many of the tracks are quite long, I'd say overstaying their welcome quite often. There are no tracks that would feel very different or fresh among the other ones. But still, not a bad album at all if you are into this sort of music. 2,5 stars.