Tosca
Suzuki

That evening was all about winning over a woman.

It was summer, the evening was warm, and the lake just steps away was the last of our thoughts. Our group was throwing stones into the dark water, smoking, drinking beer, and making noise. We, in the car, were seeking intimacy but needed to break through that thin veil of awkwardness. On many occasions, music had already come to my rescue. I didn't have the endless choice of today's digital support, but a bunch of burned CDs well stored in the plasticky CD case bought at who knows what market. We needed a twilight album tending towards the nocturnal that would be appreciated at first listen, ambient music that would take up space from silence, enveloping and relaxing. Honestly, even the stupid country crickets would have sufficed, but with Suzuki (published in 2000) in hand, I could have beaten a royal flush of aces full poker hand.

A few piano touches, some female whispers, and off into the rhythmic flow of the Austrian duo’s down-tempo trademark. Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber were discreet presences in an uninterrupted hour of dub variations, synthetic emotional loops, ethereal keyboards, and deep basses, of neuronal more than articulatory movements. More than our legs, it was our tongues that followed and kept the rhythm, our hands giving sweet and warm beats at the right moment. Tosca continued to leave moans in mid-air, which we promptly collected, eager for the next step.

The Maestro Suzuki was leading us to Zen (no jokes about the neighborhood in Palermo, please), time and place had become obsolete concepts, the hints of guitar freed the mind from all concrete forms, my Golf was a suspended bubble full of eroticism. Everything faded like in a dream, I don’t remember how the evening ended but I clearly recall where we are today: in bed before we fall asleep and always in that bed when we wake up.

I often listen again to Tosca’s masterpiece, always with the same immense enjoyment. I still seek that musical ecstasy, that electronic hypnosis ready to transport me anywhere. Today, there’s no longer any woman to win over, the predator is peacefully at rest, aware that his mass involvement weapon is always a click away.

Try it, it could cause more chaos than a simple little blue pill. Enjoy everyone...