artist: Galaxy country of origin: Germany style(s): Ambient trance/electro/techno, psychedelia essential releases: Science Of Ecstasy (2004, Chillcode)

Many artists from the global psy-trance scene compose downtempo as well as dance music, as Spiritzone Records stellar compilation series Global Psychedelic Chill Out shows. That's good news because the best talents on the scene often show a natural instinct for imaginative, emotional, transportive sounds that clearly extends beyond the dancefloor.

The spellbinding Science Of Ecstasy comes from German producer Boris Blenn, better known to some as the storming psy-trance outfit Electric Universe. This all-instrumental opus was Blenn's third and final album under his Galaxy pseudonym and is nothing less than one of the best electronic albums of its kind released since the late 1960's. It's a pure form of 21st century spacemusic, a psychedelic strand of electronica that can be traced to late-60's Pink Floyd and the following decade's Krautrock pioneers. The sound has developed and morphed over the years, most recently absorbing some of the sounds of modern dance music.

Science of Ecstasy is well named. It's a rapturous, richly-textured melodic excursion where classic ambient landscapes are enriched with the sounds of trance, techno and electro. Think of it a kind a slow-mo space pop for armchair traveling. The opening "Castle In The Blue Sky" sets the tone for pretty much the whole album. It teases with a long ambient intro, adding layers of sound with delay and reverb and building a slowly spinning melody, finally cascading over into a tight mid-tempo groove and electro bassline.

It's to Blenn's enormous credit that the sheer prettiness of this album never becomes saccharine. Perhaps its the bittersweet moments that balance it out. "Disidentifcation" marries its sad, lovely melody with a kind of bleak, futurist longing that wouldn't be out of place on a classic Detroit techno record...except that most Detroit techno producers would claim they don't "do" psychedelia. The album closes with the beatless "Sunrise At Aguas Blancas", a drone-based piece of impressionism where short melodic phrases break the pristine surface like sunrays on dew. It's awe-inspiring, and the gentlest possible ending to a journey that's worth taking many times over.

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