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Kosmischstrasse
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Edge City Collective
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Kosmischstrasse
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Woz keyboards Bart Miltenberger trumpet Paul Downie percussion Hugh Wattles alto sax, flute Dennis Hertzog violin Michael Taylor bass Jon Madof guitars Ranji Kumar accordion Jon Thompson tenor and soprano saxes Scott Schaffer guitars, mandolin Special guest Jack Wright soprano sax |
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Kosmischstrasse Reviews
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"Cutting a dream-like montage of membranous sounds... a
chain-linked stream of tone poems, the program is at once
absorbing and confounding and offers a consistent sense of
surprise. Pieces of genuine lyric beauty, such as the
folk-tinged "Rencontre" contend with more abstract,
rambunctious entries like the playfully transitory "Sonderbar"
in a manner that keeps things fresh and vital."
- Cadence (July 2002)
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"Out of Philadelphia’s musical
underground comes Edge City Collective... On Edge City’s second release,
the 10-piece unit shifts arrangements, pairings and instruments to create
a creepy, ambient esoteric mix of styles and traditions fusing classical,
European folk and jazz... The band has doubled in size since its first
recording and so has its potential, merging the album’s 24 tracks into a
seamless path of exploration, capturing the band in great form."
- Daniel Piotrowsky, Signal to Noise
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| [Kosmischstrasse is] raging
creativity and normalcy-be-damned inventiveness... "Jezihohana" is like being in the darkness behind the tent of a possibly malevolent circus while lovely "Rencontre" is much warmer with rootsy jangles and violin strands. Crowded and discordant "Katzenmusik" sounds like several random street minstrels, Italian restaurant musicians and a jazz combo or two converged into one small room to simultaneously play their own song. Traces of assorted ethnicities surge through entrancing reel-along, "Beledara," followed by dimly-lit avant-jazz. If you enjoy the sounds of normal instruments being transcendentally abused into surreal performances, you'll hear almost 69 minutes of animalistic squawking, plinky strings, cartoony effects, inexplicable outbursts and even some relatively traditional sounds too." - David Opdyke, Ambientrance
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"As part two in a trilogy
of improvisational music, Kosmischstrasse has the musicians
in Edge City Collective exploring an even more far-out world than in part
one... ECC is definitely comfortable with taking chances, and the
creation that emerges seems to take on a life of its own. The
improvisation here is surely alive, breathing, speaking and crying out in
a fashion that is sorely absent in the mainstream."
- Mish Mash Indie Music Reviews
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| "Kosmischstrasse is
a challenging and diverse album that gives no quarter to casual or
inattentive listeners... Those who enjoy vigorous musical
experimentation and inventive style-melding are in for a treat."
- Matthew Pollesel, Splendid E-Zine
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| "[Kosmischstrasse
is] highly varied, with quiet introspective acoustic tracks, as well
as ones that are on the border of complete freakout... "Rencontre"
mixes some light tribal percussion in with beautiful violin and
acoustic guitar for a soothing and captivating track... "Phasengranze"
sounds like a drunken street-corner band heard layered through
reeling effects... The group is at its best [on] tracks like the
excellent "Beledara"... there are definitely shining
moments in some of the experimental tracks as well."
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| "Kosmischstrasse... brings the
Collective from six players to 11, significantly broadening not only the
possibilities but the results"... "Solarena"...
would keep Wim Wenders and David Lynch good company... "Beledara,"
[is] cast in mythical Eastern shadow... "Rimbombare"...
gets embellished... to excellent effect."
- Liz Spikol, Philadelphia Weekly
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"Through an amalgam of
styles and recording techniques, the fearless musicians of Edge City take
the intrepid listener on an awe-inspiring ride through musical
consciousness. Not for the complacent."
- Tropia.com
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