“Machines of Desire”, by Peter Baumann.

Thirty-three years of almost absolute recording silence mean that Machines of Desire, the return of Peter Baumann, must be considered, to say the least, with an interest bordering on the eventful. Baumann was co-founder of Tangerine Dream, a band par excellence of the so-called “glider music”, integrated (later) into krautrock. Music for experimental space travel, then, and music for inner journeys now, created by a colossus of electronica. Of a non-squeaky electronica it should be added, although not exempt of ambient darkness, of cinematographic texture and rhythm: in some pieces, such as Searching in Vain, one can even see similarities with an essential reference, such as the Kraftwerk of Trans Europe Express (1977), and something, also, of the circular energy of Philip Glass. It is comforting that Baumann has not wanted to place himself suddenly and suddenly in the present and that he has not fallen into the nets of the old new age either.