E-MUSIKGRUPPE LUX OHR: Live at Roadburn (2016)

“Live at Roadburn 2014 is the equivalent of a Greatest Hits of an EM suitable to go with the new Krautrock movement from Finland”

1 Die Suche nach dem Horizont 12:30 2 Durch den kosmischen Dunst 11:42 3 Hypnogenesis III 15:26 4 Traumraum 6:03 5 Spiralo IV 4:00 6 Spiralo V 7:11 7 Spiralo VI 4:50 8 Jenseits der Mauer des Schlafes 20:12 SVART Records

(LP/DDL 81:54) (V.F.) (Mix of Berlin School and Krautrock)

E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr is rather prolific these days. One E.P., Jenseits der Mauer des Schlafes, went out at the end of 2015 and now the group of neo-Krautrock of Finland tosses us 2 albums in concert which are available in vinyl (2LP) and in digital format on the page Bandcamp of the group. LIVE at ROADBURN 2014 stars a concert given in the Netherlands within the framework of the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg on April 2014. The double album proposes very good extracts of Kometenbahn, with the delicious Durch den kosmischen Dunst, and of Spiralo. For the rest, Pertti Grönholm, Kimi Kärki, Jaakko Penttinen and Ismo Virta offer us some solid original music where the perfumes of Pink Floyd go alongside Tangerine Dream's movements of sequences and layers of mystic Mellotron.

Die Suche nach dem Horizont begins the charm operation with noises of constellations which are gobbled up by waves of cosmic sounds. Wooden jingles which sound like anaemic cowbells twinkle among two repetitive mumblings of the bass, while the guitar throws cosmic sighs which fade out on a keyboard and the color of its tones which resuscitates the period of Ray Manzarek. A line of sequences makes its keys waddle in a structure of vintage electronic rhythm which rises up and comes down in a minimalist pattern ideal for a duel between a very airy guitar, even if its riffs and its furious solos are delicately aggressive. And little by little, Die Suche nach dem Horizont gets out of breath to faint in the wonderful chant of the Mellotron which opens the seraphic march of the superb Durch den kosmischen Dunst. The interpretation, here as on the Side C of the album which includes 3 titles from Spiralo, and on Side D, which includes a little longer version of Jenseits der Mauer des Schlafes, is delicious with a light difference in tones and nuances at the level of the Mellotron and the synths. This is real live stuff here and we can hear it, but at no moment the nature of the music gets lost in illogical suites Durch den kosmischen Dunst concludes the Side A of this double vinyl.

Side B presents totally unreleased music. Twists of wiishh and wooshh seize our ears as well as lines of reverberations which waltz heavily in this storm of synth winds. There is a kind mixture of musical poles which intertwine here. I'm thinking of Led Zeppelin (Friends), Tangerine Dream (the chthonian choirs) and Pink Floyd (for the line of bass simply catchy). They unite their disparities in an opening of which the outcome we guess as the bass gets more aggressive, a little as in One of these Days and Echoes from Pink Floyd's Meddle. Hypnogenesis III, the 2 first parts belong to the album Live at Sibelius Museum in 2010, takes off with this bass and a line of oscillating sequences which sculpt the hypnotic beauties of the vintage electronic rhythms. The Mellotron spreads its mists and the guitar is tear in two by spitting solos and riffs in a furious envelope deserving of the 77 tour of the Dream, but with a psychedelic approach which precedes a little this era. The Mellotron moderates a little the fury of Hypnogenesis III with beautiful fluty airs, but the envelope persists in maintaining its heaviness until its finale which serves as bridge between Hypnogenesis III and the most esoteric Traumraum which is no more and no less like these slow floating waltzes of the hallucinogens years with tears of E-Bow, chirpings and electronic effects which float and bicker on a soft rhythm which is as much anesthetizing than a mass for those who hallucinate of an interstellar world.

I don't know the universe of Krautrock, but if there are groups like E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr, I am willing to stuff my face of it. It seems to me that the music of the Floyd, the before Dark Side of the Moon, and of Tangerine Dream, before Exit, give themselves a rendezvous in this universe where the basic instruments of rock go marvellously with those of the EM of the analog period. And it's exactly the source of the music of this Finland band which amazes and soaks me with sound happiness from album to album. From track to track! And this LIVE at ROADBURN 2014 is the equivalent of a Best Of an EM which is simply worth to hear. A very beautiful album!

Sylvain Lupari (April 30th, 2016) *****

SynthSequences.com

Availaible at E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr Bandcamp