PROCESSION OF THE SUN

My knowledge of the progressive electronic genre is pretty much limited to Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, and a little bit of Tangerine Dream, so I really wasn't sure what to expect from this. I'm sure there are those out there with a far greater knowledge and appreciation of the genre who could review this far more effectively than myself; however, even for the uninitiated this is an interesting listen and so I'll give it a go.

On the whole I would say that Kösmonaut is rather hard to classify. I will confess that when I saw the rather space-oriented titles of many of the songs I was expecting something resembling ambient music; that's not what this is. Nor does it fall into the wildly experimental, avant-garde category of early Tangerine Dream. And finally, it certainly is not the techno-pop of latter day Kraftwerk. It does, however, combine some elements from all of these (that I hear at least) and so it ends up being a very compelling, if at times a bit disjointed, listen.

"Psychic Mystic Vistas" begins with a sort of distorted synth drone that eventually develops into a slow, spacey progression that fits very well with the sort of cosmic theme that the album sets up. After about two minutes a more rhythmic electronic beat comes in, with the same sort of static-laden, distorted synth playing over it. Eventually, however, this fades out, to be replaced by an uptempo, energetic piano part over which a variety of synths play, sweeping and swirling like cosmic bodies flying past the window of a spacecraft. This last section is definitely my favorite part of the track, with an energy that I feel was a bit lacking in the first bit.

"Swallowing Sun Disk From The Kosmos" follows this up on a somewhat mysterious note, with synth drones that seem to me to recall endless expanses of emptiness. The sound eventually transitions, however, from one of mystery and unknown to one of almost danger, with the piece taking on a rather ominous air before switching suddenly (almost jarringly) into a more rhythmic type of electronic music that's closer to modern techno then to the pseudo-ambient soundscapes of Klaus Schulze. This in turn gives way to another motif, a low-pitched, moaning drone juxtaposed with a high pitched, shimmering texture. This continues for quite a while before another more rhythmic section closes out the track, with the actual ending of the piece coming quite suddenly.

"The Nectar of Thousand-Year Dwarf Stars" starts on a more Klaus Schulze-y note, with some very pleasant ambient textures and some interesting pitch-bending sounds as well. After about 3 and a half minutes the ambient feel begins to disappear as some Kraftwerk- esque sequencing begins to take over the track. This disappears very suddenly and the cosmic, swirling, spacey synths return, going on for a bit before another loop kicks in that's a bit reminiscent of old 8-bit tones. A wobbling synth tone eventually joins in on top of this, creating an interesting juxtaposition of sounds before the track begins to strip down, concluding with a minute long outtro of rumbling and shimmering synth textures.

The next track takes a bit more of an experimental route, with "Amplification of Luminous Being" beginning with some very high pitched ringing juxtaposed with more of those rhythmic, Kraftwerk-esque electronic beats. This is interspersed, however, with other loops that don't really mesh harmonically, and as such the track comes off feeling much more avant-garde than ambient. Midway through the track, however, the conflicted and noisy arrangement falls away, leaving only some low sweeping sounds and a single, pulsating monotone. Eventually this is replaced by more rhythmic sequencing and that same high, shimmering tone that's appeared all over this album. The track concludes with a final rhythmic section that I think could almost be danceable, though the dancers would have to have a decidedly avant-garde mindset.

"Unitive Knowledge of the Divine Ground" begins much more minimally, with some low sweeps the only sound in the track before some rather disjointed percussion and rhythmic sequencing enters. Most of the track continues in this vein, coming off like a strange combination of Kraftwerk's latter day pop efforts and their Krautrock beginnings. "Unitive Knowledge?" finishes with a single, high-pitched tone that fades away to silence.

"Daughters of the Sun" is the final track on the album, as well as the shortest. Some faintly melodic, distorted synth begins the piece before the track moves into an ambient, cinematic mode. While it's much simpler than some of the electronic chaos that made up many of the earlier tracks, "Daughters of the Sun" provides a very satisfying air of finality to the album and is a nice final chance to catch your breath as the album ends.

This music isn't for everyone. To be honest, I'm not even sure if it's for me. This is drastically different than the kind of stuff I usually listen to, and even after multiple listens I'm still not totally sure of how I feel about it. There is no doubt, though, that this music is well arranged and composed, and it's certainly grown on me since the first listen. I would suspect that those with a greater affinity than myself for pure electronic music will find this very enjoyable, and even those without much knowledge of the genre (myself included!) should find it very interesting.

3/5

Free phone call to the sun

This is some real trippy stuff! Not that I would recommend it to anyone out there, because the fact of the matter is, that inside the world of prog electronic, the only crowds available around here have a somewhat boring inclination for Tangerine Dream's more melodic output. I actually love that too, but try getting folks to sample something outside of the perimeter, and I'll show you a butch unshaven Peter Pan in a pair of leather trousers.

Kösmonaut is anything but your melodic Berlin School electronics. It weaves around frantically somewhere between the noisiness of Maurichio Bianchi and the introvert nature of French pioneer Heldon, - although here we aren't facing noise, avant-garde or industrial screeches, but great big ponds of still musical membranes suddenly touched and forever vibrating and shimmering like a regular mirage of sound.

Through a series of synth modulations and organ frenzied horror cabinet backdrafts, Kösmonaut delivers an esoteric and abstract musical voyage, that takes you out under the starry skies on these structure- less scoops of electronic sound. The very moment you get hit by something tangible on this release, is when you hear the compact bundled and somewhat breakdancing nature of the second track, which all of a suddenly transforms into something I would never ever have guessed. For about 30 seconds, it becomes a hardcore 90s dance track, only to propel itself into oblivion on melting psychedelic remnants of the synthesizer that by now is singing an entirely different tune.

To people outside of the prog electronic sphere, this could be the thing that opened up a world of altogether alternative musical pleasures, and you would do yourself good in trying out this album on for size. It's free, so why don't you?

Procession of the Sun as it is aptly named - does make you think upwards. Like most electronic ventures, we are reminded of that most camp of genres, whenever we encounter the sounds of the synthesizer: science fiction with all what that entails of spaceships, green men and laser beams. This one is no different, and just to be perfectly foreseeable, I'd like to cement this album's status as a journey to space: First of all, look at the great cover art. Then listen to the bird picking synthesizer tweeks, the criss crossing beams of sound that run amok over the stillness of the stagnant yet highly swirling musical tapestries lurking stoically in the back like a resting Buddha of stone bubbles.

This could actually be the very definition of an album worthy of the Collectors/fans only rating - that is 2 stars, but this reviewer is hoping for some adventurous souls out there in the jungles of internet, who will sacrifice an hour of their cracker-jack lives merely to throw themselves into this electrified musical pond. Beware of the splashes people!