Evaluation: Tangerine Dream @ Engine Rooms, Southampton 22/3/22

Tangerine Dream is a band that I haveactually been desiring to see live giventhat the start of the pandemic. For those uninformed, Tangerine Dream, a pioneering electronic music group from Berlin that were born out of the verysame post-war motion as bands like Kraftwerk, have a discography that covers over 100 albums and movie ratings and are credited with affecting the advancement of lotsof designs of electronic music in the 20th Century. I was veryfirst presented to their music as part of a synthesis and tasting system in my music tech course in the Sixth Form, and I’ve been a fan of their music ever because. Although, on my method to the location tonight I started to concern whether a band that has none of its starting members in its contemporary lineup, with the last staying member and creator Edgar Froese passing away in 2015, would infact live up to the albums that I had listened so consistently to throughout the last 2 years and prevent sounding like simply a homage act.

Before the program began, I was eager to have a snoop around the setup on phase and to believe about how the band may infact be carryingout their product. With a mix of analogue synthesisers of the likes the initial band would haveactually utilized (for example, big modular synths covered in cabletelevisions, numerous action sequencers and drum makers, an genuine Moog bass) and some contemporary devices, (a Korg D1 digital keyboard, at least one laptopcomputer running Ableton Live and an electrical violin) this setup interacted to me that the set that followed would be one that accepted the old, however likewise accepted the modern-day musicality of the 3 brand-new members of the band: Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick.

After an hour-long wait after the doors atfirst opened, the set opened withconfidence with ‘Stratosfear’ and ‘Dolphin Dance’, 2 huge fan-favourites. It was at this point that I chose to rearrange myself towards the back of the space to prevent the excruciating, stomach-churning sub-bass that was growing out of the Engine Room subs. I can just presume that the mix was improved in the bass department to shot and ‘fill’ the area that is typically a club, nevertheless in my viewpoint this did not constantly mesh well with Tangerine Dream’s design of 80s electronic music. I will confess that the balance appeared to enhance as the night went on. A coupleof morerecent products in the Tangerine Dream brochure appeared lateron in the set, consistingof tracks off their mostcurrent album Raum such as the very appealing ‘Continuum’, as well as ‘Los Santos City Map’, an plan of one of the band’s initial structures for the GTA V soundtrack.

The accompanying visuals, explained as a emphasize on the marketing material, came in the type of a mix of strobe lighting and accompanying video displayscreen behind the entertainers, including abstract patterns and shapes togetherwith some stock video videofootage and even some live movement capture, and enhanced the environment developed by the music. Generally, this was really efficient and periodically remarkable in the production group’s usage of visuals togetherwith noise.

I return back to my problem with the live mix; this is something that has continued to bug me even while composing this evaluation now. To overload the detailed arpeggiated synth parts and skyrocketing leads with obnoxious sub drones would imply to do the band oppression, it is just the incorrect category for it. That being stated, some products near the end of the program really were improved somewhat by contemporary production aspects. For example ‘Phaedra’, one of my lower preferred tracks by the band, was offered a brand-new lease of life with a punchier, however regulated bass, and energetic hi-hat part that was practically reminiscent of drum bass or other contemporary EDM categories. In reality, I felt that all the percussion parts were appropriately punchy and tight, and did really advantage significantly from the Engine Room’s meaty speakers. ‘Choronzon’, my preferred of Tangerine Dream’s retro brochure, was in its greatest performance with brand-new sub-bass parts that are not in the initial recording.

My favourite minute of the night, nevertheless, came in the kind of the 20-minute totallyfree structure as an repetition. Opening with simply Yamane on violin provided the set some much-needed self-questioning and it implied that at last, the sub-bass was put on hold for a complete 5 minutes! Hooray! In those 20 minutes, it felt like the brand-new band were able to break away entirely from the boundaries of replaying the exactsame collection that they themselves did not compose and rather checkout, interact and experiment with a fresh soundscape. I particularly takenpleasurein the innovative sample adjustment, that of a spoken sample and likewise some really carefully entwined up samples developing a popping, percussive feel towards the end of the efficiency.

My take-aways from this efficiency are really blended. On one hand, I completely delightedin the option of program, the musicianship on displayscreen and most elements of the total production quality. My issues going in about suppressing the tradition of the band were tested to be ungrounded, there was neverever a point in the program where I felt they were simply an replica or evenworse, sounded ‘old made’. I concern nevertheless whether the Engine Rooms was the finest option of location at all for the band; after all, a little bar appears to stick out a bit when compared to some of the other UK dates such as the Royal Northern College of Music Auditorium and Coventry Cathedral. After listening to some recordings from these reveals on YouTube I might not hear any obvious permeating bass, nevertheless, a coupleof commenters haveactually shared my ideas on an unequal mix. I discovered it rather tough to aesthetically judge the response from the audience, the huge bulk of whom were notsurprisingly at least 20 years older than myself. I insomecases felt a bit uncomfortable standing in a bar, listening to music that is not best matched for raving however hasactually been blended with that in mind anyhow, and yet every individual in the space is stood still as a statue. That being stated, I am delighted I was able to tick Tangerine Dream off my live show pail list and am able to appearance past these glaring concerns and keepinmind a night where I completely takenpleasurein the music that was on deal. Perhaps in the future, I might choose to see them onceagain, albeit in an option location.

Tangerine Dream will be continuing their UK leg of their world trip in Brighton on the 23rd March 2022, as well as lateron dates in Europe upuntil 19th August2022 You can book tickets here.

Tangerine Dream’s brand-new album Raum, is likewise out now. You can listen to its single ‘Continuum’, listedbelow: