GAS
Narkopop

Sinopsis

In 2008, Kompakt published Nah Und Fern, a beautiful box set that brought together the four marvellous albums by GAS released between 1996 and 2000 on the important, but now defunct, Mille Plateaux label. This act of musical publishing seemed to indicate that, besides bringing this important set of records back to the racks and display cases of record shops, GAS’ work could be summed up in just these four albums. Just when the matter already appeared to have been officially archived in the compendia of Electronic Music, seventeen years later, to the surprise of many of us, Wolfgang Voigt reactivated his project with Narkopop, continuing to find his inspiration in his childhood memories, in his strolls through the forests of the suburbs of Cologne and in the oblique journeys that LSD provided him with at the time.

Following the same line of dramaturgy, Narkopop distanced itself from its successors through its capacity to transmit high-definition images of these abstract stories of his, as if the memories were livelier and more sparkling, arriving among us in an almost realistic fashion, surrounded by the nature that flows through the whorls of GAS. Narkopop recounts the story of a return to this recognisable forest, but, simultaneously, it shows us the discovery of new and unexpected short cuts, of epic dimensions and an elegant orchestral brilliance; and, as always, with our heartbeat clearly audible.

In those pages of the compendium, GAS remained for the future as an unmistakable benchmark in the history of environmental electronic music; Narkopop has risen up to show us the true importance of that distinction. In 2017, it is not just GAS’ music that is back: we are also faced with the possibility of being able to make our own way, in a unique moment of augmented reality, alongside Wolfgang Voigt at a concert where (real and fictitious) images acquire an importance that is equal to that of the music. Like a film.

Narkopop doesn’t precisely pick up where things left off (…), but it does add another chapter to the story, with a deeper, richer, and more luxurious sound that feels appropriate, given GAS’ place in the ambient firmament.

in Pitchfork

Sinopsis