Rock On! Wednesday, 24 December 2025 – Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, Ashra, Popol Vuh, Klaus Schulze & Brainticket

Psychedelic, heavy, prog and more innovating sounds spanning the late 60s and the early 70s – Dan’s pick of the week: Tangerine Dream (Rubycon), Edgar Froese (Aqua), Ashra (New Age of Earth), Popol Vuh (Seligpreisung), Klaus Schulze (Irrlicht) & Brainticket (Cottonwoodhill).

Tangerine Dream is een Berlijnse elektronische muziekgroep, opgericht door Edgar Froese in 1967. De band is een van de pioniers in het elektronische genre. Aanvankelijk speelden zij avant-garde-rock, maar vanaf 1972 keerden zij de conventionele instrumenten de rug toe en speelden ze uitsluitend met elektronische instrumenten. Dit nieuwe genre wordt ook de Berlijnse School genoemd.

Sputnik Music review: “Rubycon is the sixth studio album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 1975. The line up on the album is Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann. Tangerine Dream is one of the most influential progressive electronic groups of all time. Despite their clear psychedelic influences, they were never really a true psychedelic outfit. They became more a natural partner of their countrymen band Kraftwerk, in spite of the natural musical differences of both bands. Tangerine Dream was the founder of the Progressive Electronic sub-genre and Kraftwerk was the founder of Tecno Music. The music of Tangerine Dream has made an enormous impact on ambient, new age, techno, trance, prog rock, as well as modern film score composition. They’re responsible for the release of almost a hundred studio albums and more than fifty live albums. (…)

Conclusion: “Rubycon” is like “Phaedra”, an impressive work from the experimental early phase and the sequencer heavy time in the middle of the 70’s, but oriented a little further towards the later. The Moog synth is used more often than on its predecessor, which makes the soundscapes appear more structured overall. Of course, the impression of uniformity also comes from the fact that there are only two pieces with the same theme. The free form parts that are still available, appear more mature and sophisticated than their predecessors. “Rubycon” is a standard work of the Berlin School. If you are interested in electronic music you should check it, and its predecessor “Phaedra”. People who want to find out whether they like such “futuristic music” must check it too. It’s one of the best Tangerine Dream’s albums.”

Wednesday, 12 November 2025 12:00 noon CET Brussels – 11 a.m. GMT London. Repeated: 16:00 & 20:00 hrs CET Brussels, 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. GMT London
Ends: 12 midnight CET Brussels, 11 p.m. GMT London.