Jan Jelinek — Kosmischer Pitch

As with so many artists that feature on Musique Machine, Jan Jelinek is a bit of a polymath - an artist, a film-maker (of sorts), a book contributor but it’s fair to say that his main (pre)occupation is sonic exploration. Music that draws heavily on deep house, minimal techno, bass and glitch. But that’s not all there is to the German’s prolific back catalogue. The re-release of 2005’s Kosmischer Pitch, previously only available as a download but now reissued on its twentieth anniversary, reveals a krautrock gene that runs deep and which taps heavily into the soundscaping and multi-layered experimentation for which the kosmische genre is so adored. 

Having studied both law and sociology, Jelinek made his first forays into the music world in 2000 collaborating on a piece for Hannover’s EXPO2000 and issuing his first solo album under the Gramm alias. Personal Rock is a deep-house, glitch-driven work and proved to be the perfect jumping off point for a career that was to include musical output released both under his own name, Kosmicher Pitch and breakthrough Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records for example, and various aliases including Farben and Ursula Bogner. Collaboratively, he worked with (among many many others) Andrew Pelker and Hanno Leichtmann as part of the trio Groupshow and in  addition to providing audio for radio, film and installation projects across Europe, he found time to set up record label, Faitiche.   

Kosmicher Pitch carries the recognisable tropes of Jelinek’s music - complex, deep and multi-layered, underscored by the chime of percussiveness, but falling more in the ambient-kosmische category. Opening with the gentle hi-hat of ‘Universal Band Silhouette’, a delicious blend of warped electronics, backward looping and drone notation sit alongside wah-wah infused guitar which persist until the beat kicks in. This is wonky and delicious and while threatening to build, it never really does, instead slowly petering out to a close. ‘Lemminge Und Lurchen Inc’ then talks a hold with its pacy bass and repetitive synth line that undulates throughout. ‘Im Diskodickicht’ is the voice of the robots and therefore, unsurprisingly, possibly the most purely electronic track here. A looping 1-2-3-4 rhythm is underscored by a swing tempo and minimalist beats that build and retreat and build again before the more subtle and haunting ‘Vibraphonspulen’ where squeaks, lilting drones and vaporous vibraphone collide (an extended version appears on the digital version too).

‘Lithiummelodie 1’ plays with electronic drone underscored by muted bass and sweeping percussion as the guitar lays simple notes atop a background of glitch. The layering becomes ever more intricate before the rave-esque bird call and we enter the realm of 50s sci-fi.  This is in contrast to the looping americana guitar of “Planeten In Halbtrauer” accompanied by picking, layered electronica and jazz percussion. Very much a throwback to late 60s krautrock - psych in essence replete with wah-wah guitar. As we reach the final two tracks, subtlety is prevalent with the wonky and discordant jazz lines of ‘Western Mimikry’ before rounding off with the ambient guitar of ‘Morphing Leadgitarre Ruckwarts.’ Kosmicher Pitch is an album that can be savoured on many levels – for the ambient trip or by delving deeper..