HR134 - Context - Neumen, Product 50 - C60 — 1989
Side A:
A1-A4: Radio Special for UB Radio Network, KZSC Santa Cruz, May 1989 Side B: B1: Guest: Peter Schuster B2-B4: Untitled |
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REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Context is the alias used by German artist Stefan Schwab, who also ran the Tonspur Tapes label. This C60 immediately follows the first Context Harsh Reality release (HR133 – The Return Of Structures, Product 34). Whereas that cassette album consisted of a sequence of what struck me as interesting ideas, this tape features more fully fleshed out and far more interesting works.
Side A is a Context radio special broadcast on the UB Radio Network show on KZSC Santa Cruz in May 1989. UB Radio was hosted by Das of Big City Orchestra. The set begins with a rumbling drone that meanders menacingly across the cosmic landscape. As the piece progresses, we hear gurgling effects, haggard tones and howls, and the drone continues at what feels like a strained but ever rolling crawl. Schwab does an excellent job of gradually developing a minimal pattern and creating a subtle sense of peril. The second track is different, combining a bouncy, musical video game pattern with spacey wind and wispy effects, as if we were working our way through an intergalactic funhouse. But then it transitions to a threatening synth piece that’s a cross between Berlin school space electronica and B movie sci-fi soundtrack. Very cool!
Side B features four untitled studio tracks. The first includes guest Peter Schuster, who was with the German band PCR and ran the Prion Tapes label. The music starts off similar to Side A, but more purely floating space electronic and even lightly melodic. It proceeds at a slow but steady pace, partly with a symphonic soundtrack feel and similar to early Tangerine Dream. Effects are deftly woven in, out, hover, and glide, creating an image inducing dream sequence. The next track is different, sounding like a spacey, meditative brand of minimal synth-pop. Schwab then takes a dramatic turn to a chaotically freaky effects and soundscapes workout, which eventually descends into a lightly fluttering sequence until the end.
Context is the alias used by German artist Stefan Schwab, who also ran the Tonspur Tapes label. This C60 immediately follows the first Context Harsh Reality release (HR133 – The Return Of Structures, Product 34). Whereas that cassette album consisted of a sequence of what struck me as interesting ideas, this tape features more fully fleshed out and far more interesting works.
Side A is a Context radio special broadcast on the UB Radio Network show on KZSC Santa Cruz in May 1989. UB Radio was hosted by Das of Big City Orchestra. The set begins with a rumbling drone that meanders menacingly across the cosmic landscape. As the piece progresses, we hear gurgling effects, haggard tones and howls, and the drone continues at what feels like a strained but ever rolling crawl. Schwab does an excellent job of gradually developing a minimal pattern and creating a subtle sense of peril. The second track is different, combining a bouncy, musical video game pattern with spacey wind and wispy effects, as if we were working our way through an intergalactic funhouse. But then it transitions to a threatening synth piece that’s a cross between Berlin school space electronica and B movie sci-fi soundtrack. Very cool!
Side B features four untitled studio tracks. The first includes guest Peter Schuster, who was with the German band PCR and ran the Prion Tapes label. The music starts off similar to Side A, but more purely floating space electronic and even lightly melodic. It proceeds at a slow but steady pace, partly with a symphonic soundtrack feel and similar to early Tangerine Dream. Effects are deftly woven in, out, hover, and glide, creating an image inducing dream sequence. The next track is different, sounding like a spacey, meditative brand of minimal synth-pop. Schwab then takes a dramatic turn to a chaotically freaky effects and soundscapes workout, which eventually descends into a lightly fluttering sequence until the end.