Tangerine Dream Gives Us New Loops

Title: Recurring Dreams

Label: Kscope

It’s a group without any original members. A combination of living memorial and pension scheme for the estate of founder, Edgar Froese.

As such, I would normally look upon such a set up with a measure of disdain and derision. 

However.

The members of the current Tangerine Dream group include major electronica talents: Thorsten Quaeschning, Ulrich Schnauss and Hoshiko Yamane. 

All were hand picked by Froese as musical collaborators. He worked with them all, coached them all and bequeathed a suite of electronic elements and textures, a sort of toolkit if you will. In effect, he said to this trio, “Here, here is a bunch of musical pieces, turn that lot into music.” Apparently, there’s enough material there to keep them busy for years.

If ever a band was programmed to survive into a new generation, then it is Tangerine Dream. I don’t think there is another musical equivalent resident in the world, right now. It’s a poignant but also a calculated set up.

This double album reinterprets classic TG fare: Stratosfear, Tangram, Phaedra and Tangram. Of course, you’re going to get the classic repetitive, looped synth rhythms with underlying washes and weaving melodies here but there’s enough tweaks to keep the fan interested. And while this release is aimed squarely at the fan, a way of connecting the old with the new and then moving from there to the light of the future, this LP also serves to introduce the concept of Tangerine Dream to new listeners. 

For mastering? I would say that there’s been a touch of compression added to the final mix here, adding slight emphasis but nothing nasty or harsh. Just enough to highlight certain frequencies. The end result is still admirable, though.

The reliable synth loops offer a sort of comfort in an increasingly unreliable world.

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