Score

Description

Paul Haslinger was a member of Tangerine Dream in the mid-1980s, but while that German synth band cranks along like an alien Edsel that doesn't realize its time has gone, Haslinger has been building a catalog of cutting-edge music that will take us into the next millennium. Following on the heels of his 1997 ethno-techno blowout, World Without Rules, Haslinger steps into a space-age bachelor pad for Score. Although Haslinger is a classically trained keyboardist, he doesn't let that get in the way of his sample-and-paste aesthetic. On "Accidental Measures of Cool" he mixes live performances from singer-songwriter Julianna Raye's moaning voice and Bumi Fian's muted trumpet with a snarling electronic groove and dub bass line to create a techno-noir landscape. Then he uses Indian chanting, not for the ethnicity of it all, but just for the pure sonic joy as the chant calls out across what sounds like a klezmer band on acid. Juliana Raye returns on "When Worlds Collide," coolly intoning her surreal lyric cut-ups in this electronic ballad. Taiko drummers, talking tabla players, snakey jazz rhythms, and electronic abstractions swirl in a giddy head dance on Score. "Fantastic Voyage" reaches almost symphonic dimensions, in a loungey sort of way. Only once does Haslinger succumb to ethno-kitsch, that's on "Magheda" with what sounds like a Native American chant sampled over an electronica groove à la Deep Forest. Paul Haslinger not only challenges his space-music origins, but ups the ante for electronica with music you might hear in a cyber-lounge someday around 2010. --John Diliberto