Expo 70 — Mother Universe Has Birthed Her Last Cosmos
The first thing one notices is that the packaging is rather lovely, comprising of the original artwork beautifully rendered as if it were a mini gatefold vinyl sleeve, with beautifully illustrated inner sleeves to enhance the package. Designed by Wright himself the sleeve is a work of cosmic artistry of the most psychedelic kind, and worthy of discussion on its own merits.
Moving onto the music, the first disc comprises two tracks, each exceeding twenty minutes in length. The first, the title track, is a long hypnotic spacey jam with a distinct Ash Ra Tempel influence. The whole first disc is recording using only guitar, bass and an analog drum machine. By the time you get halfway through it’s locked into a groove and you simply can’t help but nod along. Beautiful, ambient. Psychedelic soundscapes filter out of the speakers, engulfing the listener in a wave of euphoria. A perfect way to open any album. Second track Ostara is far more drone orientated. Slowly building up layers as the track progresses, climaxing with layers or guitar riffs and finally a gentle fade out. There is a constant pulsing in the background that sets the mesmeric tone for the piece, however, the lack of a drumbeat gives the track a really spacey feel, allowing it to meander and go wherever it feels like.
Disc two consists of four long tracks all coming in at around fifteen minutes each. All of the music on this disc comes courtesy of Justin Wright who plays guitar, moog and voices. The opener Tropical Trip Through Acid Clouds begins as a guitar led piece, however it slows, eventually dropping right off into droney atmospheric territory. Wright has always been capable of hypnotising his audience with a very simple set up, and again he shows his skills here. Whilst very little happens during huge swathes of the track it never outstays its welcome and never becomes boring. Hexed by A Devil in the Cemetery, is a spooky ambient drone that owes as much to 1970s horror movie scores as it does to kosmische. Wright’s distorted vocals add an extra level of creepiness. You and Your Dreamcatcher Should Take A Hike is built around a fairly intense sounding central drone that spans the entire track length, while Wright’s guitar creates shapes that gently ebb and flow throughout. This results in a slightly more intense sounding meditational piece. The final track is Neither Here nor There (A Study). This is another guitar based slab of psychedelic kosmische, that builds into something quite beautiful by the time it reaches its conclusion.
This is another excellent release from Zoharum restoring these two great albums to us for our terpsichorean pleasure. Overall this is a beautiful atmospheric collection of ambient kosmische that more than hints at Wright’s love of 1970s German space rock. For fans of Ash Ra Tempel, Can, Neu and Amon Düül II this is a must have and proves that even in the 21st century there are still those who know how to make a great record that goes beyond the basic realms of pop music.