February 19-25, 2004

musicpicks

The Ministry of Inside Things

Rock/pop

Get past The Ministry of Inside Things' Sagan-talk of cosmos and chaos, and what you have is a decade's worth of Berlin-inspired space music that's uniquely and intricately American. With leaps into dub and unending improvisation, Chuck van Zyl (synths) and Art Cohen (guitar) create a constant ellipsis of movement, intimate and warm yet coolly isolated, like to your favorite chillout mixtape. Van Zyl, a vet of the ambient electronic scene, is known for his "Star's End" radio program (WXPN), his Gathering showcases along St. Mary's Walk at Penn and a spacy ethos that includes stints as Regeneration Mode and The Sound Museum. From the sound of their first recorded effort, the two-CD Everlasting Moment (Synk), it seems that a greater sense of rhythmic synthesis is at work -- the glissando-twinkling highs and dark roomy lows exist within the same pure-space pulse. It's Ash Ra Tempel, The Orb and Augustus Pablo all in one frothy, slow-moving place. Moment is like any MoIT concert: daringly diverse in its lengths and quiet hooks and unafraid of improvisations that you can hum.

Fri., Feb. 20, 8 p.m., free, with Gate To Moon Base Alpha at The Rotunda, 4012 Walnut St., 215-573-3234.

—A.D. Amorosi

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