Supreme Infinite Essence

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Zero Ohms (real name, Richard J. Roberts) is a throwback to the 1970's, when the development of various electronic toys inspired a kind of proto-New Age music that went by various names, including "space music" or "cosmic music" ("kosmiche" in the German). Now, it's just generally called "e-music" ("e" for electronic) to differentiate it from techno. Not surprisingly, the best of this genre, in the early days, was German - from the early and experimental Tangerine Dream to Klaus Schultze, Popul Vuh, Eberhard Schoener and Peter Michael Hamel. At its best, their music was subtle, stark and sometimes a little bit scary. It spoke of alien landscapes and immense, unseen forces. It drew inspiration from Buddhist theology (the Tibetan Book of the Dead was sometimes cited as an influence) and dead civilizations (the group Popul Vuh took its name from a Mayan religious text).

This music has never really died (Steve Roach, Robert Rich and Michael Stern have kept it alive, along with a host of other artists in the ambient, trace and industrial genres), but it was gradually subsumed by the banal accessibility of melody-based New Age music. However, if there really is a sound of the spheres or a celestial harmony, it probably sounds a whole lot more like the expansive, ethereal sounds created by Roberts on this CD than like the sticky romantic confections of a Yanni, Kitaro or Adreas Vollenweider. Exhibiting a sense of humor as well as a feeling for the cosmos, Roberts gives his pieces titles such as "2% Timeless," "Nada Thing" and "Scientists Falling in Love." His main instrument is the wind-synth, supplemented by ethnic flutes, a soprano sax on one track and a Tibetan singing bowl on another. The wind-synth is not only infinitely programmable, but also acutely responsive to the player's breath. It is an ideal instrument for drones, opening up expressive possibilities and nuances unmatched by any synthesized keyboard. In short, a drone generated by a wind-synth sounds vaguely alive, and the source of the sound is intriguingly elusive and hard to place, which can only enhance the overall effect.

None of the twelve compositions on this CD are "tuneful" (undoubtedly a good thing, considering how easily tunefulness can lead to New Age clichés), but Roberts nonetheless manages to achieve a satisfying variety. The "Scientists Falling in Love" piece plays with a fanciful visual image of "monstrous mutant insects," and has a creepy, threatening undertone that brings to mind Rapoon or perhaps Nocturnal Emissions. Other pieces of a more benign nature, such as "Lichteburg Figures," are sonically reminiscent of Jon Hassell's moody Fourth World experiments with his electronically enhanced trumpet. Some pieces use sampled voices and other ambient sounds, and will serve for some listeners as soundtracks for various dream states. Some pieces are tonal, but others, such as "Terminal Velocity: Infinite" and "Luxon Aeterna" are quietly dissonant, and pay obvious homage to 20th century classical composers such as Ligeti. At its most austere, Zero Ohms' music also has much in common with the Tibetan Buddhist-inspired electronic drones of Eliane Radigue. All and all, a nice voyage through one visionary's version of the musical cosmos.