"Flanger - Live At Moon Dust," read the advert. I was a fan ever since Templates, so I decided to make the trip from my homestead to New Tranquility. It's overrun now by shopping domes but it still has the distinction of being based in a large lunar crater. Of course the band has started already when I arrive. The simulacra are really good; dead ringers of Burnt Freidman and Atom Heart. They're in the middle of "It Ain't Rocket Science," which is on their latest album, Outer Space/Inner Space. Flanger isnt the first group that comes to my mind where the great blackness is concerned, but I think they have carved a niche for themselves. Their music complements the freeform lunacy motif of the lounge, too.

Anyway, I need a drink. Something with gin seems appropriate. I walk over to the bar where there are a series of ghosts kept in jars, spinning in time to the polyrhythms. Full house tonight; more and more people are getting into electronic jazz, or fusion or whatever theyre calling it these days. Now Flanger are playing "Inner Spacesuit," which is a groovy blend of old and new. Someone shouts a Senor Coconut track name and then someone else mentions Lisa Carbon Trio. The Friedman and Hart doubles just laugh and launch into "Le Denier Combat" which is fine because almost everything from this album sounds great when they're combining different musical styles into a unique blend while still acknowledging past greats.

I look out the window at the earth rising like a dusted blue bowling ball and wonder what they're listening to down there.

Reviewer: Mike Baspaly, CKUW Radio, Winnipeg, MB

(Originally printed in Stylus, CKUW's program guide and music magazine.)

By Mike Baspaly
Apr 2, 2002