Electric Universe - Stardiver

Stardiver is the second album from Electric Universe (Boris Blenn), one of the old masters of German Goa trance. This release continues in the vein of Electric Universe’s 1995 debut, One Love. Cosmic trance melodies, smooth analog rhythms, and the regular use of breakbeat loops typify the Electric Universe style of this time period. Most of these arrangements are quite simple and repetitive, but this approach works when the composition is sufficiently interesting. Stardiver was originally released in Germany on Spirit Zone Recordings but was soon picked up for re-release in France and Israel by Substance and Phonokol. Due to its widespread distribution and accessible character, Stardiver became a “gateway” album for many new listeners. This CD is lightly mixed, much to the chagrin of DJs everywhere.

The album opens on a high note with Alien Encounter (Part 2), a gorgeous piece of cosmic Goa trance. Light breakbeat rhythms, bubbling acid melodies, and hypnotic leitmotifs dominate the song and set the tone for the entire album. The journey continues with From The Heart, a collaboration with DJ Sangeet. This is a little more epic than the opener but not quite as convincing. Radio S.P.A.C.E. features the strongest integration of breakbeats yet. Blissful cosmic melodies make this one stand out from the rest. The Rising Sun sounds plain in comparison—it simply doesn’t stand out.

Although Michael Dressler left the group shortly before the release of Stardiver, his work can still be heard on the three tracks taken from the Sunglider vinyl single, originally released in 1996. The first of these is perhaps the biggest hit of the album: Online Information. There really isn’t much to it—bubbling acid lines and a raspy breakbeat loop cycle and flow above a standard trance rhythm for the duration. Although groundbreaking in its day, this track doesn’t sound all that special to my ears.

Luna Overdrive raises the energy level of the album with hard-hitting breakbeat-laden rhythms and soaring acid lines. It sounds a lot like the rest but the beefier production value gives it an edge. This solid tune was later re-released in remastered form on Retrodelic Vibes 2 in 2005.

At this stage the album begins to falter. Technologic is an uninteresting exercise in monotony. The two edits that follow—Astral Voyage and Sunset Skyline—aren’t particularly memorable. The full-length originals might be good but these clipped versions are simply too short to get into. Matters begin to improve with the title track Stardiver, another collaboration with DJ Sangeet. Here we return to the deeper tempo of the opener and the cosmic qualities of One Love.

Alien Encounters (Part 1) rounds out the album with an excellent piece of downtempo trance—the best track yet! It sounds quite a bit like Visiting Venus from the previous Electric Universe album, One Love. As with his later work as Galaxy, Blenn deploys electro-breaks, warm analog bass, and smooth flowing melodies to create a genuinely hypnotic musical experience.

Stardiver is an average Goa trance album that enjoyed a surprising amount of commercial success, possibly due to its overall accessibility. It is regarded as a classic of the genre by some—perhaps for nostalgic reasons—but I don’t see anything special in it. I would argue that Boris Blenn has written much better material. The problem with this album is that it has, as one TRiP reviewer wrote in 1998, “little sense of adventure.” In spite of the fact that Stardiver is widely credited for popularizing breakbeat usage in psytrance in 1997, there isn’t anything very challenging about it. There are no twists and turns, no surprises. Ultimately, Stardiver is a decent album—one that old school fans will probably want to check out at some point—but not in any way essential.

More Information

TRiP // Vintage review (1995 to 2003).
Discogs // Detailed release data.
Psynews // User-based review forum.

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