Amazon.co.uk Review
Outer Space/Inner Space is the third album from Flanger, a project consisting of Teutonic duo Burnt Friedman and Uwe Schmidt (aka Atomheart), two respected and impressively prolific producers in their own right. Individually they each have a reputation for creating sonically adventurous and deliciously irreverent music: their joint excursions are truly no exception. In contrast to their debut LP ("Templates", an intricate patchwork of fragmented sound sources designed to avoid loop-based structures)
Inner Space... seems to represent some kind of continuation of the space-age jazz ethos started (but sadly not maintained) by 1970s fusion dons such as Herbie Hancock and George Duke. Their playful and intriguing production techniques (stuttering beats, grainy pulses, random throbs) are added to by a host of live instrumentation--bongos, drums, analogue keyboards, vibes, sax--that throws up futuristic feel-good jazz-funk grooves. There's a range of flavours, from the thoughtful, meandering jam "Galak" and forthright funk of the title track to the wayward, frenetic electronic grooves of "The Man Who Fell From Earth" and the improbable time signatures of "Le Dernier Combat". Intricate, innovative, unruly and unpredictable, this is another essential instalment of the Flanger saga that will appeal to beat-headz, jazz-freakz and goatee-strokers alike. --
Paul Sullivan
CD Description
Third album for German electronic experimentalists Burnt Friedman and Uwe Schmidt aka Atom Heart. Their music has been described as "virtual jazz". This recording was created through heavy processing and computer editing of improvisations recorded with South American jazz musicians.