Baïkonour - For The Lonely Hearts Of The Cosmos (2005)

Baikonour wygląda na jednorazowy projekt francuza zamieszkałego w Wielkiej Brytanii - Jean-Emmanuela Kriegera. Troszkę szkoda, bo zapowiadało się bardzo ciekawie. Mówiąc najogólniej to połączenie ambientu z psychedelią i krautrockiem. Miejmy nadzieję, że jednak kompozytor nie porzuci tej ścieżki i wyda kolejną płytę firmowaną Baikonour.

Lick Lokoum

Versailles-born, Brighton resident Jean-Emmanuel Krieger AKA Baikonour is typical of Melodic's artists in that he charts a very idiosyncratic course in pursuit of a singular vision. In his case, as you might expect from the title and sleeve of the record (featuring rockets, stars and an astronaut cat), and from the name Baikonour (it was the launch base in Khazakstan for the Soviet space programme) it is a very cosmic vision. This instrumental album takes relentless, hypnotic krautrock, particularly the chug of early Neu! as its primary inspiration, but adds twinkles, sparkles, chimes, multi-ethnic instrumentation and gurgling radiophonic vintage synth action to the constantly-circling melodies to create a kind of organic space music in a genre all its own. There are two basic modes on the album. First, as with intro track Lick Lokoum, is pure space-out without beats, just the tinkling of bells and synths ebbing and flowing, creating uncannily well the feeling of lying under a clear night sky looking up at the infinity of space. The other style is generally led by simple bass guitar melodies and a simple drum beat (either from kit or drum machine), constantly repeating one or two chord patterns, allowing the complexity of the track to be built up by the steady addition of organs, guitar lines, harps and other more indefinable instruments. This technique never becomes monotonous, though; as with the best electronic dance music, the constant addition and morphing of the various elements mean that no matter how repetitive the underlying structure and how simple the individual rhythms and melody lines may be, something new is always happening; there is always something fresh to engage the ear. Also, Krieger's sense of structure is quite superb; the most delicate individual parts combine one-onto-another to create something complex, huge and unstoppable. The tinkling of temple bells will combine with a churning guitar sound in a way that should just sound incongruous but thanks to the crisp production and sheer musicality of it all works perfectly and through the contrast brings out the strengths of each sound. This is an album that will work equally well in various circumstances - it is superb travelling music, for watching the world go by; there is an energy here that more adventurous DJs will find works fantastically on a dancefloor; but most of all this is a great record for armchair space travellers (Joe Muggs)

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