V/A – Elektrik cowboys

2 reviews for V/A – Elektrik cowboys

1. 

   Matt Howarth / Sonic Curiosity – 2022-11-22

   This release from 2009 offers 63 minutes of awesome electronic tuneage recorded live at the Ricochet Gathering in Montana in August 2007.
   What you get here are two tracks by Rainbow Serpent (Gerd Wienekamp and Frank Specht), and a nice long piece by Thomas Fanger & Mario Schnwlder.

   The first Rainbow Serpent track launches from railroad tracks into a guitarsy intro that eventually leads to a stretch of twinkling bell-like keys playing over a sunset-seasoned layer of moody atmospherics. Blooping e-perc slides into play, engaging in languid rhythms that evoke expansive qualities. The electronics swell into place to communicate dreamy melodies of a sinuous nature. Everything goes somber for a sedate finale.
   The next Rainbow Serpent piece starts in orbit, luxuriating in astral spaciness before diving into a pastiche of surging rhythmic pulsations. Horizontal motion is conveyed as the electronic cycles plunge across prairielands at high acceleration. The astral texturals persist overhead, providing a tasty contrast for the traveling tuneage. This spry transit continues for a while with increasing urgency, finally vaporizing as things achieve escape velocity and return to the stratospheric void.
   The Fanger & Schnwlder piece picks up from that vertiginous altitude and indulges in some cosmic meandering before the harmonics settle down to earth and engage in an enchanted voyage through majestic mountains. The dreamy electronics excellently capture these snow-capped heights, then switch into a bouncy motif of choppy keyboard riffs accompanied by snappy e-perc saturated by sweeping textural flows that rapidly achieve a heavenly demeanor. Suddenly everything undergoes an escalation. The rhythms become eccentric with vibrating variants.
   The texturals sway to and fro as a backdrop. The choppy keys evolve into celestial riffs. Deeper-voiced electronics enter the mix, enhancing the upward progression with their stately timbre. Theres a long passage during which these element play off each other, reaching a state of delightfully blissful divinity.
   Eventually, a deceleration occurs as the electronics enter a heavenly stage and things settle down into a calming excursion across a peaceful night sky. The keyboards change their sound, adopting soothing tones in tandem with a rise of moody lateral motion. The piece culminates in a celestial fade into the distance.

   These compositions (which are technically live improvs) illustrate the influence of Western America on these German musicians. These impressions flavor the electronic performances with an open majesty tinged with arid characteristics.

   2009. Matt Howarth / Sonic Curiosity

2. 

   Andreas Pawlowski / Schallwende – 2022-11-22

   Dieses ist das erste Album aus der Ricochet Dream-Serie, welches ich besitze. Kaufgrund waren einfach die vertretenen Knstler: Rainbow Serpent, von denen ich bislang kaum etwas an Musik zu Hause habe, und Fanger & Schnwlder, die bei mir schon eher zu finden sind. Die drei Titel gehen alle ineinander ber und bilden fast eine Einheit. Zwischen Rainbow Serpent und Fanger & Schnwlder besteht natrlich ein groer Unterschied, aber es passt alles prima zusammen. Die Musik von Rainbow Serpent lsst ganz stark an Klaus Schulze denken.

   In den ersten Minuten kommen Erinnerungen an Schulzes Spielglocken auf. Das verliert sich aber