ORANGE COMMUTATION

A companion CD to their double self titled debut album, Electric Orange's `Orange Commutation' is a collection of new tracks, remixes and reinterpretations of previous works by the modern Krautrock band. Masterminded by main-man Dirk Jan Muller, with contributions from several guests, their style has always been mixing rough noisy Kraut rhythms, spacey and psychedelic progressive rock with modern dance influences, bridging the the gap perfectly between all eras in a vibrant and exciting fashion. Reference points might be Brainticket, early Pink Floyd and the Ozric Tentacles, while their use of the Mellotron is similar in parts to 70's electronic and Tangerine Dream albums. Although full of analogue and vintage equipment, the music never sounds like retro-prog or merely imitating what's come before.

`Electripity Chapter 99' is a very groovy track with lots of head-nodding beats! It's hazy atmosphere is highlighted by eerie sitar and shimmering keys at the start, before stomping programmed beats and thick organ kick in. Murmuring slinky bass all the way, and some nice bouzouki, a plucked string instrument that adds to the middle-eastern hypnotic sounds of the piece.

`Journey...' is full of funky wah-wah guitar riffs, clubby beats, swirling treated other-wordly voices, chunky Leslie organ and relentless bass, all backed to a veil of Mellotron clouds. Listen out for the mumbling and wasted female vocal in the second half, which sounds like parts of the `Psychonaught' and `Celestial Ocean' albums by Brainticket!

A beautiful trip-hop beat loops through `The Return Of Eugene...', a reimagining of the classic Floyd track, more along the lines of the live version from their album `Ummagumma' and endless bootlegs, but with Electric Orange's own ideas and additions. Filled with lovely Farfisa and stoned rising-and-falling electronics, I also love the haunting wolf cries, but the `scream' in the middle is badly implemented and quite obtrusive, along with the murky and noisy live-drum assault with wailing guitar freakout solo. Once that section drops out, we're back to the programmed beat now with ghostly Mellotron behind it and a lonely weeping guitar. These final few minutes drift into blissful infinity.

`Back Is Strange Worlds (Forbidden Mix)' is packed with different types of programmed and club beats, with glistening psychedelic synths, electronic bass and Gilmour-like guitar phasing in and out in the background. If the beats weren't so heavy this might sound more like Tangerine Dream. A very modern sounding track with one foot firmly in the doorway of the ambient floating moodscapes of the 70's too.

Overloaded with heavy Hammond and Rhodes, distorted urging female voices and evocative dancing flute, `Reflections...' has a nice plodding beat and a grubby guitar solo at the end. Plenty of great flow and build throughout this piece, with loose psychedelic and spacy sounds colouring the track. Admittedly this remix is very similar to the version found on the debut album, so it probably would have benefitted from a little more reworking to make it stand on it's own.

Another quality Delerium release, `Orange Commutation' is a hardly a very important album, but the wonderful music is full of energy, colour and originality. The front cover is quite cool, too! The remixes mostly all stand as unique ideas on their own, and I even think the dance/programmed elements would attract the ear of listeners who usually wouldn't be interested in progressive-related genres.

Three stars!