05

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Another upstanding member of the Cologne community checks in - anonymously, this time via a mysterious label somehow linked with Mouse on Mars' Jan St. Werner. No credits are included - who is it that is so unwilling to assume responsibility/credit for this genuinely worthwhile album? Could it be Vinicio Brunori, the musician behind Master's Cosmic Music's "Let The Star Shine In", Gefriem's last wonderful release (1994, split with Schlammpeitziger)? Crunchy electroacoustics dominate "05"'s tonefields, much of it submersed - as on the uplifting "Cosmokoz" - below a fine snow of static. But there's also some wild analogue bubble-bathetics of the most crudely endearing kind and enough purring musical circuitry to comfort any hissy electronicat. The tracks gurgle contentedly, almost incidentally, but sure hand keeps the music purposeful and prevents the Geiger counter clicks and vacuum-chamber hum of "Fur Die Herbstsonnenfrau" from scattering in too many directions. Definitely a direct evolutionary step forward from the funky-juice doodles of Mouse on Mars toward the mannered composition of Wabi Sabi. Very carefuly executed - never overwrought; particularly effective is "buchenhuell 42," vintage Moebius/Roedelius (circa "Cluster II") scalp-massage buzz woven through with skyward-streaking bands of morning's first light. A contemporary 'ballet statique' headswimmer in the finest tradition of Conrad Schnitzler.