Rubycon is extraterrestrial music, there's no doubt about it. Endless chrome corridors, chilling cold, being lost and helpless. This album is so transfixing, so moving and so demanding of the listener's attention, you wouldn't hear anyone scream in your own goddamn house. I always loved the spacier side of rock music, whether it's Ozric Tentacles, Gong, Hawkwind, or countless others, but rock music has generally always been unable to channel the vibe of our solar system as it truly is. The likelihood of setting off on a star trek and having the entire trip be a blast and a boogie is entertaining and all, but what about those of us who want our music to communicate the undeniable horrific nature of space? I have a similar issue with ocean-themed music, with its upbeat sea shanties failing to recognize the vast expanse of uncharted mystery that lies untapped by man.
If the ocean will consume you, then outer space will consume the idea of consumption. We are ***ing
tiny. Unimportant blips in a ***ed up universe. Tangerine Dream capture this no better than on
Rubycon. True visionaries and pioneers of electronic music, Tangerine Dream were not bogged down by rock 'n roll trappings whatsoever, and this minimalism resulted in limitless musical freedom. No vocals, no blues-tinged guitar solos, no lyrics - nothing but hypnotic layers of keys and synths. Such is the nature of Tangerine Dream that the album sounds larger than life, not in the sense of a Boston record, but more in that the group has put to record the most convincing snapshot of outer space in cultural history, short of an actual photograph of the final frontier. Huge synths consume the listener and demand he turn off the lights and sit the *** down. Take shrooms and immerse yourself, you won't regret it.
