Ashra - New Age of Earth

New Age Of Earth is a record full of contrasts: the throbbing, techno- predicting "Sunrain" opens the album; with its waves and crickets sound effects, "Ocean Of Tenderness" pulses gently like a space- age early Fleetwood Mac; "Deep Distance" brings elements of surf music into glacial electronica. At 21 minutes long, "Nightdust" occupies all of the album's second side, a ruminative, slowly unfolding piece that, after its crescendo, gives way to Gottsching's impressively celestial electric guitar solo.

Guitarist and synthesiser player Manuel Gottsching formed Ashra after disbanding Ash Ra Tempel, the outfit he had led since 1971. Moving away from the space rock of his previous group, Ashra was a far more electronics-based project. Recorded in Berlin, between March and June 1976, the four pieces on the album represent the very best of what became known as Kosmiche: dreamily repetitive, glancing to the stars while keeping feet firmly on the ground.