Name: Cosmic Diversity
Brand: Richard von der Schulenberg

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

BB397

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2022-04-29

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Shellshock

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

4015698365733

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

BB397LP

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Black

4015698233919

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Richard von der Schulenberg

Genre GB

Electronic

Label GB

Bureau B

Bureau B is an independent record label, music publisher, and booking agency based in Hamburg, Germany. Founded in 2005 by Gunther Buskies as a sister label to Tapete Records, Bureau B specializes in releasing a diverse range of electronic and avant-garde music. With a focus on reissues and new productions, the label has built an extensive catalogue that includes iconic albums from the Krautrock genre of the 1970s and early 1980s. They also release recordings by influential artists such as Die Wilde Jagd, Kreidler, Toulouse Low Trax, and more.

Known for their commitment to preserving classic electronic music, Bureau B has been rereleasing albums from renowned artists like Cluster, Faust, Moebius, Roedelius, Plank, Schickert Schnitzler Tietchens Tyndall. In addition to these reissues, they also release works by similar artists including Blenner Heldon Pinhas Rev or NDW Plan Pyrolator.

With their impressive catalogue and dedication to promoting innovative music across various genres within the electronic spectrum - from pop to avant-garde - Bureau B continues to be a prominent force in the global music industry. Their contributions have solidified them as an authoritative figure in the world of independent labels.

Hamburg synthesist Richard von der Schulenburg returns to Bureau B with the follow up to last year’s Moods &amp; Dances 2021, harnessing hardware crunch, cryptic found sounds and field recordings on a mission for Cosmic Diversity. Taking inspiration from the haunting electronica of BoC and Plaid, refracted here through the half-life of a Zeiss lens, RVDS navigates the musical multiverse, simultaneously straddling electro, IDM, kosmische and dub across eight exploratory compositions. Created during lockdown as an escape from the insular, this LP looks outward but reaches inwards with emotive melodies at every turn. Opening in adagio, “Schoolyard Sweets” sets the scene in mournful monochrome, its dislocated vocal samples cascading over a snaking bassline while a gloomy waveform detunes through to the final resolution. “Darkest Planet” latches on to a faltering radio broadcast before falling foul of a Möbius loop, the repeated vocal mutating endlessly within a maze of brittle percussion. A needling sequence suggests we’re destined for the event horizon, where the synth wavers between a sigh and a scream.

There’s a brief glimpse of daylight via “Daily Circles”, though its birdsong slowly melts into bat calls as sombre organ and back masked vocals soundtrack a black mass. Schulenburg takes us to the midpoint with stately synthscape “Future Night”, a tone poem which perfectly paves the way for the titular “Cosmic Diversity”. Blasting the pastoral vision of MHTRTC into orbit, this celestial bossa looks back on Planet Earth with some necessary perspective, its crystalline lead capturing the beauty and fragility of our planet perfectly. “Reset My Brain” sees RVDS push the pace, pairing a snapping electro breakbeat with the low end rumble of a Sheffield bassline, tunnelling into the heart of the dance floor before those golden tones begin to bloom. Shades of industrial dancehall and Detroit’s originators colour “Dance Of The Plutos”, an intergalactic raga-cum-ragga snarler which shows just enough restraint not to melt the wax. Schulenburg signs off with the pastoral beauty of “Rain In Romance”, a transcendental blend of wordless chanting, detuned bells, gentle rainfall and Berlin school electronics which brings Cosmic Diversity’s stylistic journey full circle.

Cosmic Diversity

Music GB