In the current electronic music scene in Europe, numerous new bands have been dazzling audiences with their energetic extensions of the synthetic genre. Perhaps one of the most thrilling of these bands is Kubusschnitt.
Kubusschnitt is Andy Bloyce, Tom Coppens, Ruud Heij, and Jens Peschke.
KUBUSSCHNITT: The Case (CDR on Neu Harmony)
On this 73 minute CDR from 1999, the band offers a selection of instrumental electronic music with deep space moods and refined modern sensibilities. Starting with Berlin School of synthesizers as a foundation tinged with strong Philip Glass overtones, Kubusschnitt has forged the next stage of electronic evolution, setting their sights far beyond the heart of our sun.
Immediately, the rhythms are persistent. Generated by layered sequencer textures and keyboard rolls, tempos of lush and deep sounds rush through the mix with their emphatic declarations. Peripheral electronics define their presence with authoritative subtlty, filling every apparent sonic niche.
Buried among these duelling synthesizer riffs, soft E-perc lend a subliminal backbeat, but generally the "percussives" are rendered through the rapid interplay of keyboard pulsations.
The participation of guitar is unavoidably conspicuous. Dense strains of fiery space guitar wail with furious cosmic intent, adding emotional magnitude to each tune. These deep tones carry a vibrant majesty that transcends normal guitarwork, triggering psychological responses which traditional rock guitar could never touch.
The charismatic fusion of these lively electronics and dynamic guitar elevates Kubusschnitt's tuneage beyond most other electronic music.
The music is rich with melody. These compositions attain high degrees of appeal, commanding the listener's attention with little forceful coersion. Their catchy nature is suitably augmented by the band's dramatic flair.
KUBUSSCHNITT: The Cube (CD on Neu Harmony)
On this 72 minute release from 2000, the band produces some startling electronic music of a particularly ominous nature.
Within seconds of its commencement, this music has plunged you far beyond your world. Deep into space, past Pluto and into mysterious interstellar realms. Here, the melodies tease the quantum particles with their surging sequences, agitating the molecules into dark motion.
This tuneage is seething with numerous pulsations and bass tonalities. The harmonics may be keyboard-driven, but they swarm in a nebula of beyond-ambient electronics that are not unlike the gestation of a proto-star. Chords and cycles are drawn into the central melody to orbit with increasing pace. This action produces riffs of a dynamic quality, paying homage to the more deadly elements of the void.
Intimating the promise of an alien threat from outside your world, Kubusschnitt generates electronic music that excites the listener's thrill factor. Whether plunging into a "Wormhole" or blotting out the sky with a "Hypercube", these compositions appeal to the audience's rhythmic sensibilities as well as the listener's dark side.
This music acts like a subspace wake-up call for the psyche, tickling the brain with its insistent pace and smoldering density.
KUBUSSCHNITT: The Singularity (CD on Neu Harmony)
With this 74 minute release from 2001, the band's already-crisp sound grows even more exciting as Kubusschnitt continues its galactic sonic voyage.
From its shrill and drifting opening, this music soars far beyond earthly tides to explore realms of sound foreign to mankind. The electronics contribute to elongated riffs, enhancing the melodies with piercing results. Guided by keyboards, the riffs engage in a frenzy of harmonious vigor, delivering more than the average share of plateau-moments. The patterns swell to momentous proportions, swarming around the tuneage's central theme like a school of luminous fish. These variations spiral together, forming ever more complex and even more enticing melodies.
Blending with this perfection, the strains of space guitar wail with passion, flavoring the music with passages of vibrant organic substance. These thrilling chords expand, rising to peaks of epic crescendo.
Percussive elements swim immersed in this busy structure, generally sounding their rhythms through rapid cycles of synthesized sounds. There are some almost-traditional E-perc tempos too, but these beats are restrained from propelling the music, reduced to a strength no more dominant than the gyrating electronics. All these aspects coexist in balance, with no single drowning out its sonic compatriots (with the pleasant exception of some fiery guitar solos).
Among the profusion of bands pursuing this enthusiastic electronic sound, Kubusschnitt's excellence shines like a siren beacon, audible for light years and undaunted by the laws of quantum physics.
wEirD: A Different Kind of Normal (CD on Neu Harmony)
wEirD is actually two members from Kubusschnitt: Jens Peschke and Andy Bloyce.
Rhythmic synthesizers share the sonic stage with space guitar during this 72 minute journey into alternate normality. The electronics are heavily sequenced and rich with sinuous E-perc, producing catchy astral tuneage that pierces dimensional barriers and spills the listener into strange alien realms.
The track "Klaus to the Edge" pays tribute to Klaus Schulze's dynamic synthesizer wizardry, with driving synthetic rhythms forming an entertaining Berlin School foundation for the sky-blaze guitar.
Meanwhile, "Manuel Gearchange" is an enjoyable homage to Ash Ra Tempel/Ash Ra's guitarist, Manuel Gottsching. wEirD's use of Gottschingesque guitar in this piece is endearing and all too brief.
It is in this CD's 26 minute title track, however, that wEirD's own style attempts to mature beyond these influences. Centralized around more traditional space guitar, the melody immerses itself in aerial electronics and pulsing background tones. What begins with a modicum of energy slowly erodes into dreamy passages—only to re-emerge with gentle power and non-percussive tempos. Ping-ponging electronics carry the listener back aloft to view the stately weirdness of new riffs. Traversing several individual compositions, this epic touches upon a series of strange moods in its duration, each section drifting into the next with deceptive ease.
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Beyond Me (CD on Neu Harmony)
With the emphasis on sequencer-heavy dynamic melodies, few electronic collections pack as much satisfaction as this 72 minute CD from 2001.
This release features all-new tracks by such electronic music luminaries as: Paul Ellis (from Dweller at the Threshold), Nemesis, Free System Projekt, Robert Carty, Rudy Adrian, Kubusschnitt, Dave Fulton (from Dweller at the Threshold), Synthetic Block, Paul Nagle, Arcane, John Christian (from Airsculpture), and Ramp.
There's no ambience going on here. This music is set on attack mode, and crammed with an inordinate ratio of energetic rhythms and ecstatic riffs.
Worthwhile and essential, this collection may never leave your CD player once you hear it.
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