Ministry of Inside Things

Artists: The Ministry of Inside Things
P: 2008
Ambient Elsewhere feels dark and isolated when compared to the two earlier releases by The Ministry of Inside Things. While Everlasting Moment explored the edges, dynamics and tension of space and atmosphere, and Contact Point embraced the more unified themes of cosmic, biospheric and macrocosmic interaction, Ambient Elsewhere moves through a strange new territory in-between and outside of traditional Spacemusic. Drawn from a range of chilling themes, this album sonifies wintertime, desolate landscapes and the soul's midnight. Moving through the timbral badlands of the empty quarter, Ambient Elsewhere offers up a courageous intimacy. Always bringing their own influences and innovation to the music process, MoIT produces a sound that is uniquely individual and personal.
The Ministry of Inside Things released their new double CD at their performance at The Gatherings Concert Series on 20 September 2008. The music from Ambient Elsewhere has been drawn from several recent tour performances and features definitive live versions of classic MoIT pieces like "Love Attack" and "Naylor's Run". The album contains two one hour long suites of spacemusic and easily flows through a variety of themes, energy levels and styles.

Artists: The Ministry of Inside Things
P: 2006
Contact Point is the second live release by MoIT, and feels warm and earthly compared to their debut double CD set Everlasting Moment. While their earlier album explored the edges, dynamics and tension of space and atmosphere, Contact Point presents the more unified themes of cosmic, biospheric and macrocosmic interaction. Through the use of environmental field recordings, drifting melodies and soft sonic textures set against submerged drones, billowing sequencer patterns and breezy guitar and synth lead lines, Contact Point depicts the mystery and beauty of telluric ideals. While their music touches on many of the hallmarks of Berlin-School Spacemusic, MoIT brings their own influences and innovation to the process. The result is a sound that is uniquely individual. Music from Contact Point has been drawn from several live performances and features definitive concert versions of classic MoIT pieces such as "Fortescue", "Serenity Cove" and "Nightscene". The disc plays for about one hour, easily flowing through a variety of themes, moods and styles of Spacemusic.
 The Ministry of Inside Things is the Philadelphia-based space music duo of Chuck van Zyl (synths) and Art Cohen (guitar). Individually, both Chuck and Art have been involved in the Philadelphia electronic/space music scene for well over 20 years. Chuck is best known for hosting the Philadelphia radio show Star's End. He has a number of solo releases (cassette and CD) as well as collaborations with Peter Gulch of the Nightcrawlers. Art has a number of solo releases as well. Chuck and Art formed The Ministry of Inside Things about 6 years ago and have released two CDs of live material, EVERLASTING MOMENT (2002) and CONTACT POINT. Their music is firmly rooted in the Berlin space music school of Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra, and Klaus Schulze. There are seven tracks on CONTACT POINT that take you from quiet ambience to energetic rhythms. The obvious comparisons are with Tangerine Dream (cyclical pulsating sequencer patterns), but I also detect the influence of Pink Floyd's "Echoes". On top of this are some artistic found sounds peppered throughout the CD (lapping water and chirping crickets). The duo of Chuck and Art, with their musical roots in two different genres (electronic and rock), work together to craft beautiful music that can stand the test of time. Highly recommended to all fans of space music.
Henry Schneider (Aug06)
Recorded live at the following venues:

· Third Floor from the Sun, Gloucester City, NJ - 31 January 2003.
· Novins Planetarium, Toms River, NJ - 5 March 2004.
· Beck's Decks, Bridgeton, NJ - 23 July 2004.
· Voices Beyond the Dome, Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh, PA - 25 June 2005.

Artists: The Ministry of Inside Things
P: 2003
The Ministry of Inside Things is Chuck van Zyl (synths / electronics) and Art Cohen (guitar). They are influenced by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel. TD are particularly evident in the sequencing department where as Manuel Gottsching comes to mind from time to time with the guitar playing. However, there is also much here that is individual and new. A single pitch bending tone is used as a rather spooky introduction to 'VM- 75 Prelude'. 'VM 75' itself however is a rhythmic number with extremely strong melody. It got my feet tapping and head nodding as I was taken over by the infectious groove. The guitar, gently melodic and not too in yer face, did seem particularly Ashra influenced here, note runs echoing into the distance in a dreamy sort of way.We drift into 'Tectonic Motion' on the back of a stripped down rhythm, little guitar touches floating over the top. This is delicate uncluttered stuff, mainly high hat and sparse guitar. Very effective it is too. We continue into 'Voyage for Guitar and Synth'. Initially we get a bouncy sequence then soaring space guitar featuring gently caressed strings rather than axe man stuff. The guitar does get a little more forceful in the fourth minute however but still not OTT. Mellotron replaces guitar in the sixth minute to come back in tandem with the tron a couple of minutes later. By now the guitar is really giving it some, creating quite an exciting lead over the bubbling pulsations. But that is as energetic as it gets on this first disc. 'Chromatix' calms things down. A little shuffling loop which initially provided structure fades away and we are left with a sparse canvas, gentle touches of guitar here and just the odd bit of synth colouring there. After the half way mark symphonic pads become the main feature with little space effects over the top. Nice atmospheric stuff. 'Induction Loop' has an excellent start with nice mellotron choir sounds setting a very tranquil scene. In the second minute we get a repeated vocal sample. It worked quite well at first but was maybe repeated a tad too often. A tinkling sequence starts up very low in the mix near the end and this continues through into 'Heatseeker'. A restrained rhythm is brought in alongside it accompanied by some appropriate little guitar touches. It becomes quite hypnotic and very relaxing, fading away to equally tranquil soft pads for the next two minutes then waves to finish. The second disc starts with 'Canopy and Constellations'. It's something of a short introductory piece appropriately bringing up nocturnal images where soft shimmering drones mix with insect noises. It has a nice warm comforting feeling which continues into the next track 'Neutron Flux'. An excellent sequence enters in the third minute on the back of much bigger, meaner drones and then mellotron. It becomes more strident, mutating frequently. A relaxed melody plays over the top. The whole thing reminding me very much of early Neuronium such as 'Chromium Echoes', even down to how changes in the sequence are handled. In the tenth minute the pulsations become even heavier and in comes soaring guitar. It works very well without getting too strident. 'Contour Adjustment' returns to abstract atmospherics; swamp noises with the sound of a modem over the top! We then depart this planet and go on a fantastic trip through the cosmos created by a sparse collage of superb echoing sounds. This really is an excellent track ideal for all you space cadets out there.
'Hibernation Dreams' takes us back to sequencer territory but it is such a delicate melodic one that the calm feeling isn't shattered in any way. It just provides structure instead of drift, very soft guitar tones floating in the middle of the mix. 'Dopamine Secret' begins with little water droplet type notes existing in an almost silent setting giving a rather subterranean feel to proceedings. In the second minute soft pads mix with louder disturbing sounds as if some sort of activity is taking place in the depths, echoing up to us through the rocks. A repeated run of bright notes gets 'Function Four' underway. It's as if we have returned to the light. A lovely deep sequence combines with tron pads then another sequence blasts us forward at quite a pace, the guitar giving even more energy.
If you know 'Eyeless Dreams' by Wolfgang Duren or even some turbocharged Rolf Trostel you might get some idea as to what it is like. It's tremendous! 'Grateful' features rather conventional guitar playing, all very pleasant and tuneful. It is rather different to the rest of the album. Soft pads float underneath but they provide just as melodic a backing as the guitar lead. It's a very enjoyable and relaxing track. This is a very good album with just the right balance between sequencer driven and atmospheric tracks. Those bells right at the end though guys - what's all that about then? (DL)

Here the last copy!

Artist: Robert Rich, Steve Roach,
The Ministry of Inside Things u.a.
P: 2002
Tracks 1-6 recorded live at The Gathering concert series, Houston Hall, Philadelphia, PA.

Here the last copy!

Artist: Budd, Serrie, Van Zyl, u.a.
P: 2004
Every day, host John Diliberto tunes in and chills out to an ambient world on Echoes, a soundscape of music, concerts and interviews on Public Radio International stations and on-line at echoes.org. Each year we produce a CD of tracks from our favorite recent Living Room Concerts, performances recorded just for Echoes in musicians' homes and studios or the Echoes Living Room.