Description
- Surround Sound Passion [4:14]
- Roots and Rocks [5:29]
- Mythosiaka [4:49]
- Heart of the Action [4:48]
- Jinba Ittai [7:16]
- Perpetuum Mythos [5:23]
- Filter Sequence Wah Flute [8:30]
- Free Panda! (Part-1) Caged [3:17]
- Free Panda! (Part-2) The Liberation [6:50]
- Mytho Space [8:47]
- Das Zeitgeheimnis Part-3 (Bonus Track) [5:33]
- Fukushima Sea (Live) (Bonus Track) [8:20]
Menno von Brucken Fock / iO Pages –
Stephan Kaske, de oude rot als het gaatom symfonische, maar vooral elektronischemuziek (EM ), gelooft heilig in detoekomst van surround sound. Zijn vorigealbum Surround Sound Offensive washiertoe al een aanzet en op SurroundSound Evolution gaat Kaske daar nogeens ruim overheen. De tijd tussen dezetwee albums heeft hij vooral gebuikt omoud werk uitgebracht te krijgen en omte toeren in het kader van de Planetariatoernee.Maar liefst tien composities entwee bonustracks zijn goed voor ruim 78minuten EM van hoog niveau.
Mythosheeft duidelijk een eigen stijl ontwikkeldwaarin de combinatie van een zekeresongmatige aanpak, sequences en ritmischepassages vrijwel steeds te horenzijn. Daarnaast zijn er geregeld melodielijnenvan fluitsamples of van de vanKaske bekende dwarsfluit. Juist dit soortmuziek die bol staat van de effecten engeluiden uit verschillende keyboards, leentzich uitstekend voor surround. De klankenvliegen je letterlijk aan alle kanten om deoren en luisteren krijgt opeens een heelandere betekenis. Toch klinkt deze muziekook in gewoon stereo nog altijd puik. Ineen nummer als FilterSequenceWahFluteis enige invloed van grootmeester KlausSchulze zeker te herkennen, terwijl hetritmische en melodieuze niet alleen trekjesheeft van Jarre, maar ook van TangerineDream uit de beste periode van eindjaren zeventig tot eind jaren tachtig.Free Panda, en zeker part 1, vertoont watoosterse invloeden.
Natuurlijk is met dekomst van computersoftware het levenvan een EM -muzikant veel gemakkelijkergeworden, maar desondanks verdient devasthoudendheid waarmee Kaske aan deweg blijft timmeren, grote waardering. Demuziek is compositorisch, zeker voor liefhebbersvan melodieuz e EM , ook nog eensbijzonder aantrekkelijk te noemen met eensensationele geluidskwaliteit.
2015. Menno von Brucken Fock / iO Pages
Morpheusmusic –
STYLE
Melodic synth music and spacey electronica.Building upon the foundation of Surround Sound Offensive released in 2008, Surround Sound Evolution does as it says in the title. Mythos main man Stephan Kaske can draw upon musical origins dating back to the synthesiser hay-days of the nineteen seventies and although the evolution here is focussed primarily upon development of this current series of albums, the depth of experience underpinning the music is almost unfathomable. Arcing across the sequencer and dream pads of early Berlin school to the ambient expanses and sonic subtleties of more recent times the listener gradually finds a pleasing sense of timelessness welling up within. Mythos displays a very broad palette of synthetic tone and electronic effects wherein energetic themes again stride – yet there is a more finely developed gentleness and delicacy as this evolution progresses, not least among the interplay of arpeggios and programmed electro-beats. Heavily processed flutes and the odd celetial whale float among lush washes and chimes; filter sequences mechanically drift by; oriental atmospheres jangle and keen; galactic sci-fi vistas endlessly open and surround us.
ARTWORK
Surround Sound Evolution is a digipack release of two panels with a generous twelve-page booklet held in a slot on the left section. A lustrous galactic theme sees the package brimming with twinkling starscapes, colourful nebulae and planetary orbs. The front cover has the Mythos logo and album title back-lit by beaming celestial bodies whilst the back presents a timed track list against a relatively dark star-specked void. Inside, distracting text is minimal (only the label logo lurking behind the disc itself) allowing the vastness of space to extend across the full panorama. Information is not lacking though: within the booklet is an extensive description of the project, a wealth of performance and studio photography as well as details of other recent Mythos releases.
OVERALL
German synth-rock legend Stephan Kaske returns to his Surround Sound project after a period of live performance and polishing up some classic material for re-release from the archives. It has been four years since Surround Sound Offensive was released back in 2008 and thanks to some intensive studio time during recent tour breaks Surround Sound Evolution now continues the intended series. A total of twelve tracks ranging from three and a half to nearly nine minutes provides a listening experience of seventy-eight plus minutes. Promotional material describes the reception of Offensive: due to its optimal matching to the Dolby Pro Logic 5.1 Standard … [a number of] international HiFi-Shops and electronic-chains ordered copies for their shops in order to show their clients the ability of their equipment.”
2012. Morpheusmusic“
Sylvain Lupari / gutsofdarkness.com & synth&sequences.com –
4 years have passed by between the last note of the boiling Surround Sound Offensive and this 2nd part of a series of opus to be conceived in the sound dynamism of the Surround Sound Dolby Pro Logic 8. During that time, Mythos wasn’t at not doing anything. On the contrary! The one that we can easily compare to a German Jean Michel Jarre gave a series of shows in diverse planetariums and festivals onto a period of 18 months. This visibility has awakened a lot of curiosity among local medias besides charming and conquering a legion of new fans. In this stride came 2 albums in concert with unreleased music on each; Gallery Concerts in 2009 and Unabsteigbar! In 2010 as well as an excellent reedition of Quasar (a cult Krautrock album) and an album in concert that Mythos had given during its Krautrock era; Superkraut Live on 1976. It’s in January 2012 that Stephan Kaske attacked Surround Sound Offensive’s suite. And nearly 10 months later emerges a powerful album. Conceived in the same mould of the diversified rhythms that were flooded in an extremely rich sound envelope Surround Sound Evolution explodes even more with 12 original titles, among which 2 bonus tracks, which are the witnesses of a wonderful musical tale which exceeds the most daring sound adventures.
Surround Sound Passion” crosses our orbits with a powerful crystalline line of which the violent oscillations crisscross on heavy robotics hammerings. The rhythm is heavy and powerful. Static it’s fed by pulsations which resound among chatters of a vocoder of which the twisted word lines espouse the intertwined tangents of a title that we can hardly labelled so much it is violent and robotic. More musical and more melodious