Ash Ra Tempel
Join Inn

As already evident in their masterpiece "Schwingungen", the true creative apex of the band, Ash Ra Tempel (belonging to the varied galaxy of German Kosmic-Music) possess a soul equally split between "earthly" journeys led by an Acid-rock vein where Gottsching's guitar reigns supreme at its (lysergic) pleasure and "cosmic" journeys where electronics act as a magical pied piper taking us into unknown territories.

These two sides of the same coin can also be found in “Join inn”, an album composed of two long tracks, each of which freely expresses the band's stylistic dichotomy.

“Freak’n’roll” is a jam where a tremendous rhythm section supports the sometimes galloping, sometimes subdued, wanderings of an electric guitar straight out of a psychedelic rock manual, while electronic flashes here and there add a space tint to the piece that seems like a ripe orange from which you can savor the free and wild juice of rock.

“Jenseits” (“beyond”) represents one of the purest diamonds of electronic music, not only German, of the time (in this piece Klaus Schulze's "hand," the true guardian deity of Kosmic-music who contributed to the creation of the record, is more than evident). It expands and contracts, painting a fresco reminiscent of the ebb and flow of waves gently breaking on a deserted beach. These waves are rendered metallic as they are illuminated by the moon's light, and on the beach one can glimpse a woman (or rather her ghost?) barefoot, who with a calm voice, but marked by a fatal accent, tells the story of her solitude.

It's as if the aquatic movements mingle with the aura emanated by the female apparition, making it difficult to say where the former end and the latter begin (and vice versa). From the middle of the piece, through the esoteric meshes celebrated so far, delicate guitar arpeggios emerge, loading the atmosphere with phatos that floats until the end with a scent of nostalgic inevitability.

In my opinion, “Join inn” is a record that remains a step below “Schwingungen”, but it still holds great charm and is one of the brightest stars in the whole of German Kosmic-music.