Malin 1 by RIKAAR

A warm and welcoming listening experience amidst a cavernous and meditative backdrop. May you find transcendental bliss amidst its boundless warped halls as the first instalment of the RIKAAR
outfit on Triplicate Records, the sublime 'Malin 1' takes you on a cosmic trip of boundless possibilities. That means it's a good EP and it'll make you feel stuff. You should get it.

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INTERVIEW
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George Ernst: Can you tell a little about the inspiration and origin of the RIKAAR project?

RIKAAR: The foundation for the musical interest was laid in both of us at an early age. We graduated from music school and each of us played an instrument. Ringo plays trumpet and keyboard to this day, and Kas switched from saxophone to Technics SL1210 and Akai samplers and synths in teenage years. At some point over the years we came up with the idea of making music together. RIKAAR was born! We are always very melodic on the road. We love harmony and the solidity in our tracks. There we have found for us, the golden ratio...! Wonderful.

GE: Jawbreakers or Candy Cigarettes?

RIKAAR: In terms of our music, I would tend more to Candy Cigarettes ;) Personally also times Jawbreaker :D in the extreme emergency (I hope I have interpreted it correctly!)

GE: Do you feel more inspired by movie music or music for home use? I couldn't help but think of series like The Terror or movies like Sunshine when I heard this beautiful EP.

RIKAAR: There are certainly super many influences that go into our music. Partly! Movie music/soundtracks inspires us just as much as regular albums. The really nice thing with us is that we basically listen to different musicstyles from the basics. He plays in cover bands as a keyboard player and in the local music society and I let my electronic influences flow in. Maybe it's this combination that makes this project unique. We are not trying to copy or imitate anyone. Although there are many great artists that would be worth imitating, we go our own way. But influences are always there and that's a good thing! We love to create music. By the way The Terror was really great and Sunshine too <3 There is so much good stuff, we don't have enough time to enjoy it all! In the peace lies the power.

GE: What sparked your interest in space? You can tell from the titles here.

It started in early childhood. We had a lot from the Lego Space collection in the '80s, then He-Man came along from the alien planet Eternia. At some point, the toys became, series like Star Trek, ST The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica 1980, or movies like Alien, Total Recal, or Sunshine or Interstellar. We also read books on the subject and realized for the first time how slow or fast light is in reality! Fascinated us the almost unimaginable spread, the vastness, the hope germinating in it, of course the freedom but also the loneliness, warmth, beauty, free space, the infinite. When you realize how big it is, you suddenly realize how small you are! When we are aware of this, we can live in peace. We are all stardust.

GE: If you could go anywhere in the cosmos (say you had a spacesuit that could withstand any environment, terrestrial or cosmic), where would you go first?

Kas:: I might beam down to the end of the previously known dimension, to HUDF YD3. The most distant Galaxy we were allowed to discover so far. 13.2 billion light years away. (A light ray needs 1 second to cover a distance of approx. 300,000 km. We look into the past. Doc Brown everywhere) There briefly hello say, perhaps a tape of RIKAAR there leave and no more come back! Can I keep the suit? :D

Ringo: I would also go into a black hole to find out if it could be a wormhole. Maybe they are gates to other universes! To other Final Frontiers. Maybe there are infinite universes!

GE: What comes next?

Rikaar: Fate guides us through time and space. What comes, comes! One should not make too many plans, but simply live and let live. We live in the now, we are not Doc Brown. But we continue to produce beautiful music for the future and try to bring it to a wider audience now and forever and look forward to working with Triplicate Records <3 Who knows, maybe one day our music will run on a spaceship from some gigantic database

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REVIEW
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The first RIKAAR release on Triplicate Records, a generously sized EP by the name of Malin 1 is as warm and welcoming as it is spacious. It doesn't take the listener long to happen upon purest transcendental bliss amidst its warped sonic halls. Great care and attention is seemingly given to every second of the record, eschewing pretence and mystery in favour of something that sounds like you're being called home.

Nowhere is this more apparent than the exceedingly well-titled 'Raining Space Mellow'. A title which manifests in the listeners mind's eye before you even check the letters in your little music playing software window. Gorgeous treated piano melodies rain down on you like cosmic hail infused with the essence of pure chill. Skittering rumbles of rudimentary percussive substance burble away sporadically and with serene grace.

Hypermorph Swingstellar reaches for loftier heights, not content with engendering mellowness, sharper stabs of octaves high up in the rafters are the stars of this musical passage, serving up copious ear-candy that stirs and stimulates, where the opener lulled and massaged. Similarly invigorating is the slightly edgier, yet undeniably blissed-out beauty of the EP's centremost track 'Chill Serum'. Here, the artist's Tangerine Dream-esque mastery of weaving an intricate musical story with alternating drumless patterns is laid bare, and the listener can do naught but marvel as the mood is transposed expertly in between calming waves of arpeggios and knife-point pricks of disquiet, challenging what you thought the word 'Chill' entailed.

The shortest tune on the EP, 'Future Hope to Past Light-years' (remember Brock's gym, light years measures distance) is also the most uncertain. Not in execution mind, the competence of the RIKAAR project is beyond question at this point. (have you HEARD the last few tunes?) No, it's the mood that's foggy. Ships lost in the haze, adrift in uncharted waters, or, given the EP's theming, astral cars perhaps. This exquisite standout track is peppered with unease, but it's charmingly executed like everything else here.

'Neutronical Sun Cluster' is the closer. A more beautiful track this year you're unlikely to hear. (Unless you're a Triplicate Records subscriber in which case you can add this to your beautiful tracks playlist). In all seriousness though, this is a near eight-minute epic journey in out and in-between the gravitational pull of heavenly bodies. Effortless sonic gliding, interspersed with irresistible sci-fi extravagance and shoots for pure loveliness in the choice of textures, and the captivating tales told in the melodies themselves. Truly a gorgeous conclusion to a brief yet thoroughly loveable excursion.

George Ernst - Triplicate Records

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