Cosmic Winnetou is again a label I've never heard of before but is already on its 60th release. The man behind the label is Günter Schlienz, so it's no miracle his name turns up on the roster several times. Other names on here are Oberlin, Pulse Emitter, and Mathias Grassow, to name but a few. But in the recent batch that lies before me, a Günter Schlienz release (to be reviewed next week) is accompanied by Celer and Modelbau. So yeah, I was asked to shine a light of wisdom and write some words on them.
Modelbau's "Night Route" counts eight nameless tracks, which were 'mostly recorded at night', probably why Frans chose this title. But having said that: The cover of a highway with an open lens is misleading because the tracks may not have been written while driving (the 'Route'-part). If so, I want to have a chauffeur just like that! But without kidding: I don't know where these tracks were made. I only know they have more or less than Modelbau-feel I learned to appreciate over time. The first side of the cassette has three tracks around the 10-minute mark with long stretched ambience parts, all in the Modelbau style. (1) has a throbbing pulse in the back, (2) has the feel of an organic emptiness with a melody, and the use of the effects in (3) makes it sound raw and alienated.
The other side of this cassette is a story apart. Five tracks, of which three are under 5 minutes, two above that. Without listening, I'm already intrigued because drones and ambient, for me, personally work best when the tracks are a bit longer, giving the listener a chance to 'get into' the sonic painting of the artist's pictures. But within the perspective of the 'Route' part, short trips also get you from A to B, so if done properly, that picture should be paintable too. And yes, even though the stories told are more concrete - read: more variation is put into a smaller amount of time - they still work. The shorter tracks are a bit more hectic: A quick drive to the all-night gas station to get a beer (we're in the Netherlands, okay; at least in the old days before this was banned).
The longer tracks remain my personal favourites from Modelbau, but this is a proper release with a story to find out all by yourself. So I've told you mine. Oh, and to confuse you a bit more and make you listen: My favourite track is not even the longest!
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