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GAS | Narkopop 1

#it's been a while since i've hit that point where people's faces start to look weird #gas #narkopop #narkopop 1

Plant (5277) Print, 2021 60x40cm

#elmar_vestner #gas #Königsforst #narkopop #wald #berlinartist #casino versus japan #foundworkart

Narkopop (2017) Rausch (2018), Gas

Narkopop was another very elegant, very atmospheric Gas album dominated by swells of natural movement and cinematic drama. An accomplishment of a different kind to its predecessors: it was not the work of a plucky interpreter of orchestral minimalism but of Voigt as an accomplished artist reviving his most celebrated style.

The professional naturality of Narkopop is thoroughly impressive and perhaps its most notable feature. So far as modern ambient records go, it is professional and competent, if not as stunning as its predecessors. It is eventually in comparison, however, rather than content, that one finds Narkopop faltering. It is simply not a record of the stature of any of the Zauberberg, Konigsforst and Pop trilogy. Maybe it’s the lack of techno, the larger sound or the polished production but it’s less rough, less eerie, less textured. Unlike those records, it is more soundtrack-esque, feeling like it should accompany a visual element - though that isn’t inherently bad, its three predecessors never felt like they required any extra stimulus other than the pieces themselves.

Rausch, Narkopop’s sister record, succeeds more satisfyingly on its own terms. More active and slightly more dramatic but still of the same polished production, I find myself drawn more to Rausch, as an angrier, more enveloping and beat-driven work. It towers over its listener, not in the manner of the undulating textures of Gas’ earlier trilogy but as rather vast and cavernous – and entertaining all the same.

In summation, Narkopop is an impressive and skilful work from an icon but is far from as significant or groundbreaking as his previous, most renowned pieces. Rausch, while also not as compelling as those canonised works, is more interesting, a spectacle in a different manner.

Pick: ‘Narkopop 5’