“Second opus From DASK, Messages is a wild sequencer-based style EM album filled by vintage, as contemporary, moods”
1 A Message 12:52 2 M13 Cluster 8:26 3 Gliese 581 12:02 4 Fermi Paradox 6:15 5 Cosmic Call One 14:24 6 Cosmic Call Two 12:52 7 Contact Made 3:23 SynGate DASK02
(CD-r/DDL 70:16) (V.F.) (Sequencer-based Berlin School)
In 1974, an interstellar message containing information on the Earth and its inhabitants was sent by the observatory of Arecibo in Puerto Rico towards a heap of stars named M13 which was at 25,000 light years from our planet. Frank Drake had then invented the format of dialogue of the message with the assistance of Carl Sagan. A Message onsets MESSAGES with the tones of this message. After a first album which contained all the elements to capture the interest the aficionados of a classic Berlin School style a la Tangerine Dream, DASK returns with a second opus resolutely cosmic which fills our ears with a clear evolution in its sound vocabulary.
After a good ambiospherical 5 minutes weaved by cosmic elements, the drift of A Message accosts a rhythmic station. The boarding is made from the tips of hesitating sequences which swirl into a soft circular escalation. Cabalistic effects add a touch of intensity while a bass pulsation invites itself and restructures the passive rhythm into a more fluid one. Other pulsations get in and force the flow of rhythm towards one which is more dynamic and where the shadow of Redshift watches over a splendid polyphase waving movement with two sequencers which spit their contrasts in a good electronic rock finale worthy of the vintage years. M13 Cluster takes a short ambiospheric bend before weighing down its presence with a heavy sequencer which makes a line of rhythm oscillates with effects of radiations in the loops which are closer to our ears. Another movement of the sequencer makes its keys skip of which the delicious stumbles correct the rhythm's effect of neutrality. It's a heavy static movement which seduces our ears when it goes from a loudspeaker to the other one in a puddle of cracklings which gives it a depth of a cosmic neo-psychedelic genre. In 2008, a powerful digital signal was sent by the telescope RT-70 which should reach the planet Gliese 581en 2029. A hopping structure of rhythm emerges from the abstruse depths of Gliese 581. This oscillatory and stroboscopic movement will amplify its presence with aerobatic maneuvers which roll in loops after the point of 3 minutes. Minimalist, with some nuances in the tone and in the interstellar cavorts, Gliese 581 sounds like a relay station by redirecting these circular kicks towards their transmitter. DASK manages to maintain the interest with beautiful insertions of more harmonious sequences throughout these timeless loops, making of Gliese 581 something nice to hear. Fermi Paradox is a good title of meditative vibes with a beautiful sampling of celestial voices and an astral poetry which dominate this cosmic corridor. Inspired by a signal transmitted by the same telescope towards a door to stars in 1999, Cosmic Call One extirpates its figure of spasmodic rhythm from a singing of a synth which irradiated the first moments of vibes from the title. A little as in Electron Utopia, the sequencer dominates the territory of MESSAGES while the synths are rather more in mode decorators and painters of atmospheres while toying with the rhythmic curves by a brighter presence and loops of melodies which fit just well into the Motorik rhythms, or the spasmodic ones like here, of this 2nd opus of the musician who like to experiment lines of rhythms and seeks to stay anonymous behind the acronym DASK. Before the short floating and quite dark finale of Contact Made, Cosmic Call Two, for a second contact which should reaches Cassiopeia in 2036, proposes a dynamic pattern of heavy and lively rhythm which leans on a base of boom-boom- tchak-tchak techno. Impossible to stay the feet neutral here!
Offered as much in CD-r as in downloadable format on SynGate Bandcamp site, MESSAGE has more punch and rhythmic offensive than in Electron Utopia while keeping a dosage of atmosphere elements, which is rather creative at some points, in view of the unexplained mysteries in these messages and of the consequences of those. Furthermore, the artwork is rather significant … In spite of this cosmic vision, this MESSAGE from DASK is the ideal album for those who eat sequences over sequences freed by furious sequencers.
Sylvain Lupari (October 12th, 2017) ***¾**
Available at DASK Bandcamp