Tratosphere - Tea Time

Jan

2010

Articles | Reviews

Written by Gad K.

The Tratosphere guys are back with a new gem - "Tea Time". With this album the Swiss trio is diving deeper into the unknown and mysterious realms of psychedelic dreamy music weaving.
This album was produced, performed and recorded in a way that captures the natural raw beauty of a live performance but it still contains the smoothness and quality of Tratosphere's two previous studio productions.

"Tea Time" offers a colorful mix of rich hazy space grooves, deep and echoing organic and synthetic Dub flavours, warm and quirky psychedelic textures, atmospheric Ambient touches, Rock influences, Funky ambience and more... played by three talented musicians - Peter Stierli ( Keyboards ), Thomas Tavano ( Bass ) and Julian Dillier ( Drums ). This is a journey that reveals otherworldly activities on our planet in a super groovy way.

Energetic and sassy, and sometimes mellow and chilled, always enough for keeping you awake and grooving along but also great for a cozy dive while listening at home laying on your bed.
This is not the usual psychill dish. This is something special that sometimes reminds the beautiful Space Rock magic of Ozric Tentacles. Now don't get me wrong, the Tratosphere guys have a very individual sound and style which they developed over the years but sometimes you can hear from where they draw some of their inspirations, but they always manage to take a certain influence and translate it into something fresh and original of their own. "Tea Time" is almost like a live spacey jam session played through your own personal speakers. Like all the Tratosphere recordings, only listening to it over and over will reveal all the depths and beauty of this album, though it captures the listener already from the first time he or she listens to it and right there the listener knows that this album will get a lot of spins in the CD player.

Tracklist
1. Climber 5:20
2. Tea Time 9:01
3. Bitu Man 7:46
4. np1 6:57
5. np2 7:29
6. Wooden Rain 9:00
7. Abendglory 9:10
8. Ponyteil 4:59
9. Mord im Bootshaus 9:16

This album was designed in a sophisticated way but with no empty virtuosic technique displays. Instead, each one of the band members uses his talent and technique to do those little things that when you hear them you say - "damn, that's great", or - " what was that ?", those are the little things that thinking outside of the box creates and there are a lot of them here. In fact, "Tea Time" in it's entirety is an outcome of thinking outside of the box.

There are two guests musicians participating on three compositions of "Tea Time", laying down some dreamy guitar parts on "Abendglory" and "Ponyteil" ( by Dan Halden ) and strange beautiful vocals on "Wooden Rain" ( by Veronika Stalder ). So, if sometimes you like your musical dish a bit spicy, packed with rich psychedelic fibers, widely spread reverbs and a lot of groove, "Tea Time" would be a wonderful choice to chill out with at home and can also be a great soundtrack while having a nice barbecue on a sunny Saturday with your friends.

This is a very colorful and dynamic album, and the samples give only a short taste that reveals just a tiny bit of this album's magic.

Links
Purchase
► http://www.tratosphere.ch/
Samples and Full track "Wooden Rain"
► http://www.myspace.com/tratosphere
"Climber" Full track and album info
► http://www.chillbase.org/releases-hotspot/219-tratosphere-tea-time.html

Digital Purchase

http://tratosphere.bandcamp.com/

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As you can see, this album is now also available for digital purchase.
I always prefer the CD and if you are too but still not sure if you want to buy it or not, you can use the digital purchase page for listening to the full album and then decide.

I strongly recommend on getting "Tea Time".
Excellent album !

cheers !

Gad.K , January 30, 2010