Ah hell, I'll jump into the ring. This is a review of Cosmic Baby's
_Stellar Supreme_, on MFS. I don't have a catalog number. This is off of
the CD.
Cosmic Baby -- Stellar Supreme
MFS
1 8:38 The Space Track
2 6:26 Stimme Der Energie
3 6:11 Stellar Supreme
4 6:10 Heaven's Tears
5 5:48 Planet Earth 1993 (Blue)
6 5:11 The Pianotrack (Yellow)
7 3:19 Sea Of Tranquility
8 1:02 Cosmikk Trigger 5.1
9 5:37 Sweet Dreams For Kaa - My Love
10 0:51 Studio or Spaceship
11 4:14 Galaxia
12 4:56 Cosmic Forces
13 6:24 Eurovoodoo
14 6:44 Liebe (Red)
15 5:33 The Universal Mind
Cosmic Baby is one of the German trance artists that have become so
prominent in European trance/techno these days. He's recorded on Tresor as
Cosmic Baby, Vein Melter and (with someone else) Futurhythm. He's also
appeared on Harthouse and MFS, as Futurhythm and Visions of Shiva. (Both
Vein Melter and Futurhythm are harder, faster techno with the, for lack of
a better word, Tresor sound.)
Cosmic Baby tracks tend towards melodic trance, using simple
basslines and repeated keyboards. This full-length, 77 minutes long, shows
him off in several styles.
The first five songs are excellent work. Driving bass well hidden
behind keyboard melodies, repeated in a fluid structure. The keyboard
lines are typically anywhere from 8-12 notes, long enough to prevent
boredom. Song length is not too extreme, unlike many repetitive trance
songs.
Songs 6-11 are not as good, with two being short CD filler. The
problem with repetitive keyboards is simple -- they work or they really
fail, as they do in "The Pianotrack". Song 9 (Sweet Dreams For Kaa, for
those at home) is a pretty song, but not too innovative. A friend called
this "new age techno", and this song lives up (down!) to the name. Nothing
in here, except "The Pianotrack", is really bad enough to seriously detract
from the album, and it all hooks together well enough to pull you through.
Song 12 (Cosmic Focus) is probably my favorite on the album. The
best way to describe this is melodic acid trance. Sort of like Hardfloor
if they used something in addition to their 303. This song pounds like
some of Cosmic's work as Futurhythm. "Eurovoodoo" and "Liebe (Red)" stay
in this vein, adding more melody and returning to the earlier style. Well
worth the wait.
Song 15 (The Universal Mind) is a definite disappointment, though.
Airy, soft, quiet, boring. This sounds too much like something on one of
those new age relaxation tapes.
Summary: If you like "Heaven's Tears", or "Space Track", you'll
probably like this. If you're allergic to repetition, avoid it. There's
77 minutes of music, and except for a couple of tracks, it's good stuff.
Style varies within some limits, and several songs are really excellent.
I'd recommend it to trance fans in general. Give it an 8/10.
Commments? Lemme hear 'em!
Jesse
(While we're on the subject, can anybody give a list of Futurhythm
tracks? I can come up with about five, but I have no access to import 12",
so there's probably more.)
--
"Weak wack watered down welfare deejays / Try to get what he plays."
-- Paris, "I Call Him Mad"
Jesse Stricker (jstrick@duckmail.uoregon.edu) -- I Think Very Deeply