ENCODED

A new album from Germany's neo krautrock flagship ELECTRIC ORANGE. Relatively short, but yet again rather essential. At first glance all remains stable in 2020. I'm talking about the line up, as well as the basic stylistical trademarks in the same way. In an inimitable manner they are operating in loops, are blending mysterious soundscapes, soaring psychedelic explorations, and unusual hypnotic beats into their very own sonic cosmos. According to that the quartet is serving a matchless atmosphere as usual. Though yet variations are given anyhow, that's for sure. For example vocals respectively voices clearly are having a bigger role this time, served by both the Dirk's in one way or another. Just take the enigmatic and masterful opener Partial Encode which comes with swinging groove and a vocoder modified extraterrestrial conversation.

Low delivers a spheric and ambient synthesizer roundtrip. That's Dirk Jan Müller's playground and origin, also highly praised for his electronic project Cosmic Ground. But, if necessary, he can also operate the more traditional Hammond organ sound. Ekoshock and the following Ghost In The Bag prove this, where the vocals are deriving from a weird exotic location somehow. Woahhhhh! Solely the track Pawn falls back a little, appearing to my ears more like a filler, maybe a leftover from the previous 'EOXXV' recordings. Hey, okay, the band has a really huge discography available, hence occasionally there will be intersections of course. 'Encoded' may not necessarily be their best album ever, but this is definitely solid, unique and entertaining stuff for your experimental pleasure.