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‘Space And Time’ is the third album for this American duo; it’s an album that thankfully fully retains their unique brand of Electronic Pop with their semi-spoken and sung vocal delivery. The album itself features ten tracks with the additional touch of a female backing vocalist in Juliana Breithaupt who adds some fine backing vocals on a number of tracks where they are especially effective on the ballad ‘The Way I Feel’. The album also features a bonus disc which includes seven remixes of tracks from ‘Space And Time’ along with another new track and their highly impressive cover of the O.M.D classic ‘Messages’ plus a CD Rom section with lyrics, a video and a PC game not to mention that the album is also nicely packaged in a neatly designed, sleek and stylist sleeve. What more do you want :-)
REVIEW
DISC 01
From the opening vocoder vocals of the excellent and mid-paced ‘Frequency 1000’ we are immediately on familiar musical ground as we our treated to ten tracks of pure analogue Synth Pop that continues nicely from their previous releases while some will comment that the production here is sharper and clearer than those releases, but its not an issue with me. ‘Space And Time’ easily mirrors their previous two albums in both its style and the selection of excellent tracks that are on offer from the excellent and pacey ‘Daylight’ with its flowing synth riffs it’s easily a track that would have made a perfect single and one not too dissimilar to ‘Neon Rain’. Also excellent is the more mid-paced ’One Last Try’ which features more excellent synth work and a nice touch of female vocals in a track that builds well to a strong chorus while there is the equally impressive ‘Missing’, its another superb and strong track that builds well to its chorus while being another strong contender for release as a single while there is equally similar but more up-tempo ‘Maybe Forever’, its another strong and impressive track with a nice touch of female vocals that add to the track itself. Another outstanding track is the harder sounding ‘Distance’, again a strong mid-paced track with a big chorus and another to be considered for release as a single, the track itself perfectly leads into the superb instrumental title track, another to be awash with those flowing synth riffs while also excellent is the rigid and chunky feel of the more mid-paced ‘Hong Kong’ and the more solid sound of the mid-paced ‘Eternal’ leaving the album itself to finish with the excellent ballad ‘The Way I Feel’ where the backing female vocalist adds an excellent but different touch to the chorus, simple but effective to complete a very impressive album.
DISC 02
It’s with some reservation that I listened to the ‘Bonus Disc’, I’ve no complaint with the additional disc and the tracks featured, apart from the fact that they are mainly remixes, but the inclusion of those remixed tracks from ‘Space And Time’ with the album itself makes its all the more difficult to both listen to and judge the remixes. It takes time to fully listen to and appreciate any new album, but the addition of another disc featuring remixed versions is another story.
‘Departure’ …before we descend into those seven remixes we begin with the superb instrumental ‘Departure’, a bright-n-bouncy track filled with flowing synth riffs, perfect …10
‘Fr/Action Mix’…as expected this remix is in the same musical style of the ‘Crimes Of The Future’ album, hard edged Synth Pop that fits in perfectly with this track while featuring a solid mid-paced feel with plenty of neat synth work that builds to the strong chorus, simply excellent …10
‘Blow-Up Mix’…This remix largely features harsh and repetitive electronics that sound like guitars in a remix that sounds nothing like the original, yes, the original vocals and lyrics remain, but nothing else. This remix really does nothing for me and at the best of times its annoying and irritating …2
‘Nukleon Mix’ …As expected this is one of the better and more Synth Pop orientated remixes featured here while the remix itself doesn’t better the original, which isn’t a problem, but it does maintain a bright and even pace to the track itself while oddly featuring an Oriental touch in the later stages of the remix. It may lack the spark and flow of the original, but it’s still an excellent remix … 8
‘Drug Of Choice Mix’… This remix occasionally features harsh electronics combined with some excellent piercing early-Gary Numan style synths in an average remix that did little for me or for the original track. Excellent Numan style synths, but little else …4
‘Raindancer Mix’ …The increasingly familiar Dance / Trance style from Raindancer with their pounding rhythms and Trance riffs once again evident in this remix. It actually works well largely due to the excellent original track, but as their style of music means nothing to me I’ve no interest in this more Dance orientated style remix …8
‘Lost Gospels Mix’ …A messy barrage of acoustic led Indie music (as it is) that really didn’t appeal to me and in turn really does nothing for one of the best tracks on the album itself. Gentle guitars and acoustic drums – I think not. For me it’s completely pointless and is clearly my least favourite of the remixes featured here …0
‘Axoe Mix’… a simple and light remix in comparison to the original, but over all remaining very close to the original itself while featuring some dark and moody synths with some nice female vocals that are almost hidden in the background leaving a remix that creates a perfect balance between the original and this excellent version …9
‘Messages’ … the final track is their cover of the early-O.M.D single which first appeared on the O.M.D tribute compilation ‘Messages’. This is an excellent version that fully retains the original while adding their own take on the track itself with the lead vocals done on a vocoder. A perfect cover version …10
In addition to these extra tracks there is a video for the ‘Daylight’ track which first appeared on the ‘Living On Video’ DVD compilation and finally there is the PC game Eternal which features the music from the track itself on the album as the soundtrack.
With the release of ‘Space And Time’ it easily leaves Ganymede in the position of now being one of Americas leading Synth Pop bands with the album retaining that pure analogue Synth Pop sound and style when so much of the present Electronic scene is predictably leaning more towards Future Pop & Electroclash. Thankfully Ganymede have turn their back on these trends and with ‘Space And Time’ they once again fail to disappoint as they have delivered another superb Synth Pop album that will easily be among one of the best Synth Pop albums you will hear this year.
RATING: 10
Artist Link: http://www.cohaagen.com
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