New Age Of Earth

Description

After an initial European release in 1976 on the Isadora label, Age Of Earth was reissued by Virgin Records in the summer of 1977 and quickly became a benchmark in electronic music and what would later be known as ambient. Some even cite its title as having contributed to the introduction of "new age" music. This reissue faithfully reproduces the original 1977 version on Virgin Records and is pressed on heavy 180 g vinyl. Guitarist and synthesist Manuel Gottsching formed Ashra after dissolving Ash Ra Tempel, the band he had led since 1971. Moving away from the space rock of his former group, Ashra was a much more electronics-focused project. Recorded in Berlin between March and June 1976, the four pieces on the album represent the best of what would become Kosmische: repetitive, dreamlike tracks that gaze at the stars while keeping their feet on the ground. New Age Of Earth is an album full of contrasts: the track "Sunrain," throbbing and a precursor to techno, opens the album; with its sound effects of waves and crickets, "Ocean Of Tenderness" pulses gently like a space-age Fleetwood Mac; "Deep Distance" brings elements of surf music to icy electronica. Clocking in at 21 minutes, "Nightdust" occupies the entire second side of the album, a contemplative piece that unfolds slowly and, after its crescendo, gives way to Gottsching's impressive celestial electric guitar solo.