Sun Electric, the Berlin-based electronic music duo of Tom Thiel and Max Loderbauer, were
among the pioneers of “live” electronica presentation in the early 1990s, when options for realtime reproduction of one’s sound were a fraction of what we enjoy today. Perhaps a spiritual
successor to earlier forms of “kosmische” music, which saw the exploration of outer and inner
space as being equally worthwhile undertakings, Sun Electric’s music was expansive, epic, and
involving in a way that prioritized the communion between sounds and listeners over the public
exposition of the musicians’ personalities. Space was, of course, utilized as an instrument unto
itself: a fact that is evident in this new release of a notable 1996 set in which Sun Electric
performed at the neo-Gothic Votivkirche in Vienna. Over 75 minutes of performance time, the
duo took full advantage of the 20-second reverb decay time offered by the space.
The real star here remains the way in which the interdependent musical objects move through
open space and mutually evolve with it, and the percussive impacts are part of a “sonic
democracy”, standing on an equal footing with the glistening effects and the lapping waves of
sequenced melody. It’s the consistent application of these strengths which allows the music of
Sun Electric not to be a “nostalgic trip” to a simpler time, but very much a part of the musical
dialogue of the present.