Two tracks of around 30 minutes can be found on “Tundra” by Cosmic Dream Club. It’s a project I have read about but never actually did some dedicated listening. They’ve been mentioned three times before in Vital Weekly and were all reviewed by Frans. Those reviews show Cosmic Dream Club is a Nijmegen-based one-man army of techno-meeting ambient music. The three earlier reviews (Vital Weekly 1381, 1411 and 1458) covered his triptych on space exploration, and their comparisons with Pete Namlook and The Orb were mentioned. The three reviews ended with Frans saying, ‘I wonder what Cosmic Dream Club will do next. Will the route go all ambient or all techno, or will he find another hybrid form?’ And with “Tundra”, we have the answer to that question.
The two tracks of “Tundra” go deep into the ambient territory, or soundscapes if you prefer and if you’re still someone who uses the term ambient for slow beat based techno. There are a few moments where the composition has rhythmical structures, but it’s never more than a bit of growth on the vast, endless tundra. Yes, you’ve read it right. The soundscapes perfectly describe the sonic equivalent of what a tundra is. A big space of nothingness with mostly low growth, sparse bushes, no trees, hard and solid ground… Only the sky above where sometimes happens more than on the surface: A beautiful atmosphere is created in the latter part of the first track with aeroplane sounds.
Vocal samples are used also and it’s as if a few people are exploring the area or doing dedicated research. It’s like a never-ending intro of a track by Clock Dva from the Buried Dreams album. And in the second part ultra minimal melody lines with scattered 3 or 4 notes only emphasize the emptiness. Up to the point where you come across a few houses depicted by ‘typical’ synthetic sounds. This must mean people, a village, a few structures. Because when you live there, well, you have to eat too. You can’t do everything by yourself and need some kind of social structure, too. Otherwise, humanity wouldn’t even be able to write music like this.
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