KOSMOS

I got this CD a few years back as a in-store play demo when I worked for a multi-media store, and have been impressed with it as a great throwback to the space-rock/krautrock sound of the 70s. It is quite an impressive retro-rock album which also touches on some world music influences from time to time. This is a mostly instrumental band, and when they play full fledged rock, it's in the vein of a psychedelic Deep Purple, you know, the early years.

The album starts and ends with the focus tracks which show off their keyboard/organ work with that instrument getting the spotlight, but there is a lot of aggressive guitar work in there also. The first track "Psycho" sounds similar to early Ozric Tentacles, while the last track "Messe Noire" has that Deep Purple/Hawkwind sound and these are both full-band psychedelic rockers. The music inbetween these bookends is quite varied, sometimes experimental, oftentimes very unique, and definitely space rock and reminiscent of the krautrock bands of the 70s which is their main influence. These musicians from Quebec wanted to show that Krautrock is not dead and can be very pertinent to modern music.

Other highlights here include "Grand Grizou" which is reminiscent of Can with it's psychedelic leanings, "Indu Kush" which has a India-flavor to it with a sitar-flavored sound and vocals, there is a garage sounding song called "Much Too Old" with actual lyrics in English that still manages to continue in that spacey vibe, and another with French lyrics both spoken and sung called "Amerique Innavouable" which sound similar to something that "Art Zoyd" would do. There are also some avant-garde, modern tracks which experiment with noise in a space rock vibe in tracks like "Yawa", "Mothership", and the title track. There is some electronic experimentation also in the track "Septial" which sounds similar to Kraftwerk.

Even with all this variety, the album manages to remain true to it's krautrock roots with enough oddness and spacey jams to keep the prog lover interested throughout. I don't think there is anything new here, but it is quite an impressive feat to have so much variety and still remain consistent to the genre. This is an interesting collection of music that will keep you interested throughout, it has it's few weaknesses, but really does impress for a first go round for this band. 4 stars. If you hunger for krautrock/space rock, then you should check this out.

"Kosmos" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by Canadian, Montreal based rock act Kosmos. The album was released through The End Records in September 2007. Kosmos was formed around 2005/2006 and features among others Voivod drummer Michel Langevin.

The music on the album is psychadelic/space rock with the occasional nod towards krautrock. Repetitive organic beats, swirling psychadelic tinged synths/keyboards, and bass, organ and guitars that rock along. The music is mostly instrumental but there are sporadic vocals on the album courtesy of some guest singers.

While the album opens with the jam packed, cool and groove laden psychadelic track "Psycho", it already changes sound on the second track "Dream" which is pure krautrock with electronic tinged nods towards Kraftwerk. The 12 track, 43:58 minutes long album goes through a couple of those surprising changes ("Much Too Old" even features a disco beat), but as there are many similarities between the genres that the band embrace, and nothing sticks out on the album because it doesn't fit, the album features a good flow. The whole thing is very retro 70s sounding, and the album also features a suiting organic sound production.

The band are well playing and while the quality of the material drops a slight bit a couple of times during the playing time, "Kosmos" is overall a quality release, that celebrates the classic virtues of psychadelic/space rock (and occasionally krautrock). It's not necessarily the most original or unique sounding release, but that's of less importance, when the music is delivered with conviction and passion as it is here. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.