• Review: Gas - Nah und Fern (Box Set)

Gas is the most abstract of Wofgang Voigt's projects with each album comprising several similar long tracks of dense, hypnotic, atmospheric sound. Usually there is a repetitive bass drum pulse underneath the multiple layers of music but occasionally a song will just drift on its own ambience. Voigt has commented that he builds his tracks using samples, which are manipulated beyond recognition to create what can better be described as textural environments than songs. Indeed, most of the time there is no clear horizontal trajectory in a Gas track as Voigt seems to be more interested in exploring depth of the stereo field, utilizing subtle shifts in sound. Because Gas music lacks any trace of melody or chord change, many would not describe it as musical. However, Voigt does not purely use samples of noises; the sources of the samples often seem to be of musical origin, such as orchestral strings, and therefore lend the tracks some sense of musicality.

Wolfgang Voigt and Kompakt will revisit the Gas catalog with the reissue of the out-of-print Gas, Zauberberg, Königforst, and Pop in a single four-CD collection. Originally released on Frankfurt label Mille Plateaux, these records come restored and remastered for Kompakt's reissue.

Gas fantasiert über einen Klangkörper zwischen Schönberg und Kraftwerk, zwischen Waldhorn und Bassdrum. Gas ist Glamrock als Wagner, ist Hänsel und Gretel auf Acid. (10/10)