Vertical Ascent cover

Vertical Ascent

Released

In the mid-2000s, Moritz Von Oswald, one of the founders of the legendary dub techno label Basic Channel, formed a live group with Max Loderbauer of NSI and Sun Electric, and Sasu Ripatti, aka Vladislav Delay. The music they make together on this debut album isn’t explicitly dubby, nor is it particularly techno-fied; there are more elements pulled from Indian music and late ’60s jazz fusion than from even ambient electronic music. It’s repetitive and pattern-oriented, soaked in echo and reverb, but the actual tones — keyboards that just sound like buzzing electronics, rattling percussion, bass like your own heartbeat pulsing in your skull — encourage mental drifting and a certain blissful placidity.

Phil Freeman

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