These legends have been at it for 44 years. These guys are one of the first industrial bands, and I would say the genre owes more to them than Throbbing Gristle. The opening track is over ten minutes and the aggressive nature of what they do is dialed back, but it is not gone. Granted these guys are not young angsty punks anymore. If you are wondering why there is no more yelling on this album that is the reason. Though they have admittedly gone in another direction. The album's title refers to their fetish for live improvisation. This album captures that experimental endeavor, though the band's intent is to create pop music for aliens. These are intelligent men who know such beings are not from other planets but this music is for parallel universes, the interzones that lie in-between worlds. This makes perfect sense as they are crafting vibrational frequencies here.
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They show many sides on this album. The first song has a jamming groove that they play with for ten minutes, but it works. The second song is the lead single, and it's weird, but more of a fully functioning song from these guys, almost like a Negro spiritual. It's one of the songs that I have to listen to several times to fully absorb. Then there is "Pestalozzi' which feels like Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, never have I heard Germans sound so British. After that, they turn around and prove they are really Germans with "Es koente sein " which is a spaced-out neo-folk of sorts. This is where the album feels like they are more into sounds than songs, as this continues on "Before I Go" which is back in Syd Barrett's acid-laced zip-code.
"Isso Isso" has more groove to its somewhat more solemn mood. The album as a whole is more contemplative than confrontational. "Besser Isses" works off more of a groove that they jam out, not unlike the first song but more intentional. "Everything Will Be Fine" sounds more like what you might expect from these guys if you were expecting something more on their droning experimental side. "the Pit of Language" tries to be more of a song, but drones on one melody, for what they do this works. "Planet Umbra" finds them jamming for almost nine minutes. It flows and throbs like a mix of kraut rock and dub. "Tar and Feathers" is more ambient and does less for me.
"Aus Den Zeiten" is a gradual build that hypnotizes you. The vocals are mostly spoken. It's dynamic even amid its drone. The song after it works off a more ambient and minimalist noise vibe. They keep with the minimalism but move in a more folk direction for "Trilobiten" where the percussion is barely a meager patter underneath it. The last song finds them painting the sonic scope with a bleak atmosphere even thicker, though it does not have the dynamics of other songs on this album. This album shows the range they cover, it captures where they have arrived as a band well. I will give it an 8.5, as it leans more on the droning minimalist side, more than the organic grooving I appreciated earlier in the album. It still serves them well as a testimony to their length career.
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