Tangerine Dream
Atem

The Kosmische Musik was, in some ways, a predictable phenomenon. Within the realm of transcendent spaces, Klaus Schulze crafted Irrlicht in 1972, one of the first clear examples of cosmic ensemble for a fictitious orchestra, music for swooning and electrovorous delirium; through the sequencer, the German pioneer synthesized the ultrasound, surpassing the objective limitations of the acoustic system. It's the hyperuranic space where electronic music finds its mold: echoes and reverberations are adorned with the extended modulation that only the "concrete" orchestra can provide. The German school of Schulze and Froese, coated in quicksilver within the legendary Kraut-Rock movement of the early '70s, veers, contrary to their compatriots Can and Faust (with their perverse affection for psychedelia), and the commune Amon Düül (progressive orgies for long jam sessions), towards more expanded spaces, quiet lands without rest, non-places where "cosmic" is primarily the modus cogitandi, not necessarily the context nor the content. Not coincidentally, manifestos of the Kosmische like Phaedra, Picture Music, and X speak of cosmic places without talking about supernovae, unlike the still unmatched masterpieces Alpha Centauri and Zeit, handed down to history by the visionary minds of Tangerine Dream.

It is precisely the Berlin group that laid the foundations of cosmic music de facto, counting among the members of Electronic Meditation of 1970 the three major pioneers of the Kosmische: Klaus Schulze, skillful in going solo a few months later to give rise to one of the most violently subconscious interpretations of electronic music, Conrad Schnitzler, who together with Moebius and Roedelius would soon create the booming sound of Kluster, Edgar Froese, undisputed leader of the present and future years of the collective, constantly supported by the loyal percussionist Christopher Franke.

After the chaotic progressive pastiche of Electronic Meditation in 1970, the clean-up by Froese and Franke results in, consistently with the replacement of several group members, the identification of the peculiar musical path of Tangerine: the syncopated electro-rock of the beginnings is replaced by a sound expanded in space and time through the liquid and ecstatic Alpha Centauri (1971), among the first true masterpieces of the Kosmische tout court. Through Alpha and the subsequent Zeit (1972), Froese and company insist on the more static aspect of cosmic music through the sequencer, shaping cosmic radiation and expanded rustlings, distant but not too much (consider the booming screech of strings at the start of "Birth Of Liquid Plejades" in Zeit), from the majestic outbursts with a disorienting effect (the organ of "Ebene" in Irrlicht) of Klaus Schulze. The substantial change, or rather, the evolution of "Birth Of Liquid Plejades" occurs in the new Atem of '73, an epic work and transition bridge from the sequencer to the mellotron, a new reference instrument for the years to come and for a musical production, that of Tangerine, which will now turn to a more popular and "danceable" kind of music.

Through Atem, something extraordinary is witnessed. The onset of the title track, six minutes of majestic electronic delirium, are those that define the entire album, the mirror page of the Birth of the Pleiades, where the acoustic string quartet has now been replaced by the electronic orchestra synthesized by the mellotron, a theory of prerecorded sequences on magnetic tape with a dramatic and anguishing slant, a true ordinary nightmare of the end of the millennium, Seneca's Thyestes, Luciferian sabbath, Macbeth by and with Orson Welles, psycho-cosmic downfall. The six ecstatic minutes then glide toward the more familiar shores of the Kosmische, in the liquid sonic magma to which Tangerine, in Alpha Centauri and Zeit had accustomed loyal followers. The innovation of the mellotron thus continues in "Fauni Gena", essentially a corollary to the primordial hallucination of "Atem", along the lines of the drowsy journey undertaken by Froese after the legendary onset of the title track. The setup on synthesized flute and violin alludes to the magnificent expressive qualities of electronic instrumentation, while the noise of voices and nature seems a little more forced here, less immediate. "Circulation Of Events" slyly breaks the spell, briefly introducing what will be the last call to the ecstasy of Atem: the chaotic sabbath à la Amon Düül of "Wang", somewhere between filler and experimental.

In short, Tangerine Dream would make the mellotron the leading instrument of their entire production, effectively starting with the subsequent Phaedra the new era of keyboard music, progressively abandoning the love for cosmic background radiation, filler noise, the musical frame. With Atem, electronics bursts forth as an anguished projection of the self, for the first time donning the role of emotional drama on par with a classical symphony, transcends, within the realm of the Kosmische, the accessory meaning of music.

Atem inaugurates the emotional season of electronic music.

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