Alien Community (Pete Namlook and Jonah Sharp): Alien Community 2

Pete Namlook's incredibly prolific career in electronic music of diverse stylings through his FAX (well, FAX +49-69/450464, to be exact) label includes some fantastic excursions into a universe (space being an obsession for Peter Kuhlmann) of sound that continue to be a fascination for this blogger.  That started with the Outland and Psychonavigation series of recordings carried out with Bill Laswell, but has expanded, when discs can be had at a somewhat reasonable price, to other releases.

Jonah Sharp, who also collaborated with Laswell, hails from Scotland and has long resided in San Francisco and was a jazz drummer before embarking on his electronic endeavors, notably through his Spacetime Continuum moniker.  As Alien Community, Namlook and Sharp, on this second release produced at the latter's San Francisco studio, launched "A Long and Perilous Voyage," which, though it is technically divided into a dozen five-minute sections, is an hour-long trip, on various levels.

Ambient techno is probably the most common term used for music like this, it was 1994 and that time was certainly replete with recordings of this general impress, and it's hard to know who makes what contributions, though one reviewer, EMCritic, refers to Namlook's synthesizer pads and manipulation of transistors along with Sharp's electronic rhythms and "spaced-out acid tweaks."  An AllMusic review of the pairing of the two AC recordings calls the music "transcendental" and refers to the second as "clearly a showcase for Sharp" calling it "driving music for flying cars" as well as something of an homage to Brian Eno.

For this listener, there is less concern about the devices used and who contributed what elements than about the enjoyment of being transported on this electronic musical journey, though what the peril is would perhaps be good to know.  There is, in the evolution of the piece and extremely quiet as it is for the opening moments, enough variety in the sounds, including percussive components, to easily hold the attention.  As observers have noted, it ca be somewhat challenging to find FAX recordings at prices that aren't too jarring, but it does take some patience.  In this case, it was well worth it.  

Pete Namlook/Klaus Schulze/Bill Laswell: The Dark Side of the Moog VII

This fascinating series of excursions deep into the realm of ambient electronic music comprising eleven volumes from 1993 to 2008 from FAX Records impresario Pete Namlook (Peter Kuhlmann), Klaus Schulze (briefly in Tangerine Dream), and, on four of the albums, the ubiquitous bassist and producer Bill Laswell, is not only given an excellent punning title, but the word play continues with individual tracks further playing off the output of Pink Floyd.  In this case the 50-minute piece in this seventh volume released in 1998 is called "Obscured by Klaus" in reference to that band's seventh album, Obscured by Clouds.  Namlook noted, though, that there was no connection or homage to the British group, other than having fun with puns.

There is plenty of diversity in the sound elements when listening to this recording, either at high volume (as in the car) or, even better, with headphones.  Washes of sound, varied textures, often strong rhythms, found voices and other components work well over the course of the six parts, which are well organized and programmed.  There is often a beguiling beauty in the more ambient sections, but the variety with more percussive sections and a range of electronics with the Moog as the backbone make this an excellent entry in the series.