“As he did with Inspirations, Tastenklang succeeds to charm with a very accessible EM which this time is more sophisticated and still very enjoyable to hear”
1 Prologue 5:14 2 Blue Dot 5:23 3 Electricity 4:51 4 Déjà-Vu 3:24 5 Metamorphosis 4:36 6 Euphoria 3:40 7 Euphoria Part Two 3:48 8 Phenomenon 3:22 9 Lights 6:07 10 Reflects 4:45 11 Vega 5:10 12 Ocean Liner 5:57 13 Rush Hour 5:45 14 Memories 2:58
(DDL/CD-r 66:06) (V.F.) (EDM, Melodic & New Berlin School)
When we say that time does its work! The very first album of Tastenklang had thrown a breath of fresh air in the universe of EM's beatboxes built around digital synths and sequencers. It was 4 years ago, and the album was entitled Inspirations. An album that I always recommend by the way. The thing is, I had forgotten it! I forgot this sensation of surprise and especially this small guilty pleasure of savoring a quite simple but terribly effective music. And 4 years later, the guilty pleasure gives way to the discovery of a more mature and a more elegant album which goes in transit between swirling rhythms of steel (there aren't that many), solid e-rock, nice melodious approaches and especially moments of creativity which find refuge in ambient spherical and sonic phases. Brief, an album of lively EM weaved in a surprising universe of percussions where the rhythms and the melodies dust out marvellously some moments of intimist ambiences (yes, yes) and also destroy any attempt to want to snub the 14 titles and the some 65 minutes of POLYPHONY. And here is why…
Daniel Gessert doesn't waste time! Prologue lands between our loudspeakers with a very fluid movement of a sequencer in mode harmonic. Long melodious spirals get couple and their almost crystalline tones glitter under the reflections of nasal layers. A palpitation of the beatbox gives more mordant to a hybrid structure where rhythm and melody go hand in hand in good electronic arrangements. Lively and melodious, Prologue stumbles in a splendid trap of percussions between the 3rd and 4th minute. That makes our ears jump of pleasure. I am still under charm when Blue Dot evaporates its very ethereal introduction to plunge into an infernal one EDM fed of wild percussions and on very good percussive effects. When Element 4 meets Moonbooter on a background of Jean-Michel Jarre's 2017 North American tour! Electricity is more in mode Dance and Trance with nice effects and with seducing stroboscopic lines as much overexcited than the beat. After a Déjà vu, which proposes me a mirage of purely ambient phase where hot breaths and oscillating sequences harmonize serenity and nebulosity with nice layers of voices, Metamorphosis also blooms of an introduction thought in silk to mutate slowly into another good e-rock. The ingredients of Psy-Dance (elytron of metal, allegorical layers and organic stroboscopic effects), decorate this upward approach which gets a hold onto a keen repetitive movement of the syncopated pulsations. That gives a well temperate circular dizziness. Euphoria is a very Dance track set on a powerful bass which shines in its spheroidal turbulences. Dusts of stars are flowing with a harmonious momentum on a music thought for heavy and lively percussions. Euphoria Part Two is THE ballad here. A Moonbooter kind of ballad which is going to give you shivers. Guaranteed! Phenomenon is not outdone with its tones so crystalline which are like drops of waters being transformed into balls of glass when they bounce on a steel tarmac. Layers, as celestial as sibylline, and notes of piano follow this slow harmonious hatching which seems to congeal my vegetate state. That gives me the taste to listen to Eddie Jobson's Theme of Secret.
Ambient, seraphic and meditative. Lights awakens us slowly in order to lead us back to these phases of Electronic Dance Music. Heavy and lively, the rhythm leaves on the other hand some space to very ethereal layers which sound a lot like some good old Tangerine Dream. To date, I didn't find dead moments or simply unbearable in this very good album of Tastenklang. On the contrary, I navigate from surprise to surprise! Like with this Reflects which is a good title of supernatural ambiences where the impression to hear the organ of an Orc flirts with reality. Vega hangs on to these atmospheres with a little Machiavellian impulse and, especially, a little vintage perfume. I'm still submerged in a state of astral nebulosity with this ball of pulsations pounding on the harmonies of a sequencer. A sequencer loaded of glass tones which unloads superb assaults crumbling like the pearls of a broken melodic necklace, creating an avalanche of sequences which is going to delight those who think with nostalgia of Chris Franke. And always, Daniel Gessert injects small fluids of melodies through the structures which go down easily, but which are also well enough thought. I leave the contemplative spheres of this last Tastenklang album with Ocean Liner and its approach as creative than mesmerizing. The rhythm is delicate and is similar to the electronic ballad style, that is to say a mid-tempo, with all the usual fuss, among which synth layers and intriguing reverberations. Here the knocks of motorik percussions are coupled to fascinating voice effects, giving a splendid effect. And always these small harmonious strands add a depth difficult to explain to these polyphase rhythms and especially to the polyphonic effects of tones and melodies. I'm heading for the dance floors this time with Rush Hour, while Memories concludes this other great album of Tastenklang with a very good morphic melody hiding in a wide bank of astral nebulosity.
I have adored my discovery of POLYPHONY. I found of everything and everything is good in this album which disconnected me from the complex structures of progressive EM without taking me away from it that much.
Sylvain Lupari (December 16th, 2017) *****
Available on SynGate Bandcamp