GAS

NAH UND FERN (BOX SET)

By DAVID DAY

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GENRE | AMBIENT HOUSE

VERDICT | DEFINITIVELY ESSENTIAL

RELEASE | 6.10.08

LABEL | KOMPAKT GERMANY

KOMPAKT-NET.COM

We'll cool it with the ambient recommendations after this, because this, a box set of Wolfgang Voigt's masterful Gas project, is the end-all be-all. Voigt, admittedly one of my idols in life, takes a 4/4 pulse and buries it under a stratum of breathing, living classical samples with enough depth to get lost for days on end. Voigt's inspiration comes from Roxy Music's "Life's a Gas," but his immense musical knowledge is featured in spades—everything from Wagner to German folk tales are folded into one another. Ultimately, it's a sonic interpretation of the beautiful Kölner Dom, the church in the center of Voigt's hometown that was spared our bombs. When I ride the T now, most everyone is glazed over, earbud cords hanging languidly from their unmoving frame. If that's going to be the case until 2012, there is only one thing they should be listening to: Gas.