The Melodic label out of Manchester has been operating
on the fringes of fashionability for some time now.
It's been associated with spurious ideas of folktronica/indietronica,
with the 'punk funk revival' (especially since it reissued
ACR's Live In America 1985 album), with the
new wave of shoegazing, and so on and so forth. In reality,
Melodic is simply a haven for individualists, operating
with a typically Mancunian bloody-minded independence,
having an astonishingly varied roster for a label so
small, yet somehow keeping a coherence to its outlook
and identity.
Versailles-born, Brighton resident Jean-Emmanuel Krieger
AKA Baïkonour is typical of Melodic's artists in
that he charts a very idiosyncratic course in pursuit
of a singular vision. In his case, as you might expect
from the title and sleeve of the record (featuring rockets,
stars and an astronaut cat), and from the name Baïkonour
(it was the launch base in Khazakstan for the Soviet
space programme) it is a very cosmic vision. This instrumental
album takes relentless, hypnotic krautrock, particularly
the chug of early Neu! as its primary inspiration, but
adds twinkles, sparkles, chimes, multi-ethnic instrumentation
and gurgling radiophonic vintage synth action to the
constantly-circling melodies to create a kind of organic
space music in a genre all its own. There are two basic
modes on the album. First, as with intro track Lick
Lokoum, is pure space-out without beats, just the
tinkling of bells and synths ebbing and flowing, creating
uncannily well the feeling of lying under a clear night
sky looking up at the infinity of space. The other style
is generally led by simple bass guitar melodies and
a simple drum beat (either from kit or drum machine),
constantly repeating one or two chord patterns, allowing
the complexity of the track to be built up by the steady
addition of organs, guitar lines, harps and other more
indefinable instruments. This technique never becomes
monotonous, though; as with the best electronic dance
music, the constant addition and morphing of the various
elements mean that no matter how repetitive the underlying
structure and how simple the individual rhythms and
melody lines may be, something new is always happening;
there is always something fresh to engage the ear. Also,
Krieger's sense of structure is quite superb; the most
delicate individual parts combine one-onto-another to
create something complex, huge and unstoppable. The
tinkling of temple bells will combine with a churning
guitar sound in a way that should just sound incongruous
but thanks to the crisp production and sheer musicality
of it all works perfectly and through the contrast brings
out the strengths of each sound. This is an album that
will work equally well in various circumstances - it
is superb travelling music, for watching the world go
by; there is an energy here that more adventurous DJs
will find works fantastically on a dancefloor; but most
of all this is a great record for armchair space travellers.
Joe Muggs
4.5/5 |
