LE BERCEAU DE CRISTAL (OST)

One of the best Ash Ra Tempel albums by my reckoning, Le Berceau de Cristal is a collection of synthesiser-dominated atmospheres and mood pieces for a film soundtrack. The material holds up well with the best of Ash Ra Tempel's earlier works, and shows the influence at points of early Tangerine Dream (of around the period of Alpha Centauri, with perhaps a pinch of Zeit - Largo In Four Movements to sweeten the deal). Recorded with a stripped-down two member lineup, Le Berceau de Cristal is a nice capstone to the first period of Ash Ra Tempel - after this they would metamorphose into Ashra, but this album points the way to that new style nicely.