Kosmische Psychédélique’, released on Two-Piers, takes you on a journey through the hypnotic world of Kosmische Musik — from the pioneering motorik beats, electronic experimentation and psychedelic sounds of early 1970s Deutschland to the contemporary artists continuing to explore its astral, ambient and avant-garde possibilities today.
Stretching from the early 1970s to the present day, this is a journey through motorik rhythms, electronic experimentation, psychedelic drift and avant-garde ambience that traces a line from the pioneering sounds of Germany's Kosmische underground to a new generation of artists still exploring the possibilities of repetition, texture and space.
The journey begins with La Düsseldorf's “Silver Cloud”, immediately establishing the album's sense of forward motion and weightless euphoria, before NEU!'s “Neuschnee” and Harmonia's “Deluxe (Immer Weider)” remind us just how radical simplicity could sound. The hypnotic propulsion of the motorik beat is never treated as an end in itself; rather, it becomes a vehicle for exploring increasingly strange and spacious territory.
Cluster's “Caramel” drifts beautifully into Brainticket's darker, more hallucinatory “Black Sand”, while Klaus Schulze's “Georg Trakl” and Popol Vuh's “Morgengruß” demonstrate the extraordinary breadth of the early Kosmische imagination. Elsewhere, Agitation Free's “Ala Tul”, Faust's wonderfully warped “It's A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl” and Guru Guru's “Stone In” (**) capture the freewheeling, experimental spirit that made this music so difficult to categorise in the first place.
The cosmic journey continues through Tangerine Dream's “Ultima Thule Pt.1”, Cosmic Jokers' “Kinder Des Alls I” and the molecular, exploratory electronics of Annexus Quam's “Osmose II”. Yet ‘Kosmische Psychédélique’ isn't interested in treating the 1970s as some kind of museum piece. Komischer Läufer, Boards of Canada, Turzi, Tortoise and Beak> (**) demonstrate how those original ideas have continued to mutate, with repetition, analogue electronics, minimalism and psychedelic atmosphere finding new contexts. The closing stretch is particularly revealing. Pale Blue Eyes' instrumental “How Long Is Now” and The Early Years' “All Ones And Zeros” connect the dots between vintage Kosmische, post-rock, shoegaze and electronica, demonstrating how the vocabulary established in Germany over five decades ago continued to resonate with a new generation of psychedelic and experimental artists, and still does today.
As with all the other albums in the Psychédélique series, this isn’t intended to be a ‘crate diggers’ album or a compilation of obscure, hard-to-find tracks designed to outdo your mates. It is, quite simply, a celebration of Kosmische Musik - a chance to revel in its brilliance, immerse yourself in its strange and wonderful sounds, and indulge in some serious horizontal listening pleasure. This is music for late-night drives, headphones, hazy afternoons and imaginary journeys through landscapes that don't quite exist.
Put simply, ‘Kosmische Psychédélique’ is a trip - and one well worth taking.
