Biosphere – Microgravity

I listened to this when it came out, on CD, and I wasn't that super-thrilled, but my mate was, so, it was spinning quite constantly at the time, just when I was entering both Techno and electronic ambient. I later on when Substrata was released, and that one did blow my mind, and I returned to this and liked a little bit more, and my mates thought I was crazy for not loving this just as much.
Now, I'm not the biggest fan of stretching records to contain just 10 mins per side and release double and triple records that could be managed on a single LP, specially if it isn't DJ material anyway - most of the time it isn't that much of an upgrade, but here??! The music on this vinyl is filling up my living room like I'm up north in Tromsö! The bass frequencies are literally out of this world - no way that old CD sounded like this?! I don't mind changing sides because I'm so happily captivated by this time and space machine to be bothered. I wish there was at least some pic of the original space baby cover somewhere, but, no, it's the cold simple Apollo cover. Never seen this artwork before, I only knew the baby cover and think it suits the music better. This album is really, really something else, and I'm glad that I invested in a copy, it gives a whole new dimension to the term Ambient music. Not beatless fluff that soothes your soul on a summer's day or night, but a harsh and somewhat sinister backdrop ready to grab you by it's ethereal tentacles. And it isn't trying to be cool, evil, dark or overtly decipherable. The Truth is truly out There.

Bought this mail order from Ultima Thule in 1991 on the strength of their listing, which simply said ‘ambient house’. Must’ve played it very day for a year.

Picked this up in the 2022 (I think?) repress - sound is clear and after ripping the vinyl is it identical to the digital copy, only better because its vinyl - A++++ job

Biosphere is Geir Jenssen from Tromsø, one of the driving forces behind Bel Canto, and later as a house musician under the name Bleep. Microgravity was his first release under the name Biosphere and marketed a new direction in his musical development. Here, spherical sounds and ambient soundscapes are mixed with hefty house rhythms and sampling technology. Biosphere achieved excellent reviews both at home and abroad, and Microgravity is today seen as a classic in ambient house.

The CD starts with the title track, a calm, relaxing and soaring melody. Cut no. 2 Baby Satellite has from the very beginning the distinctive Biosphere sound which contains a strict order of all the technological elements. Tranquilizer has a more calm and balanced rhythm, the originality is unique, and the song has undoubtedly become a classic. The Fairy Tale, by the way Origo's only vinyl release (12 "), has a hard-hitting rhythm ala early house, and the melody has the arctic sound that Bel Canto also represents. Cloudwalker II is more adventurous and narrative, with its appropriate title about a cloud walker. Chromosphere introduces Jenssen an intense rhythm, it is extremely danceable and mechanical, and at the same time minimalist.Baby Interphase is a kind of version of cut no. Finally: The song Biosphere is darker and more dramatic than its predecessors, busy signals on the phone give the listener a "nasty" feeling.The melody is cinematic, scary and interesting, and is clearly a pointer to what should come on the sequel CD Patashnik three years later.

Geir Jenssen could hardly have had a better debut than Microgravity. From day 1, he was seen as the godfather of all Norwegian electronic music, perhaps alongside Erik Wøllo and Arne Nordheim. 13 years after his debut, Biosphere continues to release records, even though he has left Origo. His latest release came out this summer (2004).

-Jon Aanensen

This is the sort of soft, trancy industrialism that gives me direction at my Amazon warehouse job. Soft blips, whirs, and synthetic almost organic pulses puts a purpose to my mission and stride in my step. Microgravity is an absolute triumph, soft and introductory. Baby satellites is sort of directionless, in a spacey, all-encoming sense.

We then enter Tranquilizer, taking us farther back into the recesses of space and our own consciousness, revealing as a memory from childhood and thought-provoking in simplicity. Whispers surround us.
I can see how signalwave and the more dark ambient electronic albums garnered major inspiration from this work.

From here the album begins a psychedelic venture of twists and turns into broken signal and trancy club bounces through “The Fairy Tale”, and docks into the peaceful and almost mournful isolated space platform of “Cloudwalker II” (there is no Cloudwalker I on this album) where soft whisps and flutes caress our skin like the cleansing mist.

It feels now as though we have made it somewhere reserved only for the invited, rarely seen by other eyes. By this point the album is incredibly ambient and relaxing. And now we enter the Chromosphere. Sonic twinkles are magnified and spun into a glimmering and shining soundtrack, each rattle and tremor multiplied and shot around like cosmic mirrors.

Now, finally, we arrive at Cygnus-A. The icy moans of a mining planet long abandoned to the frost chant and whirl. The interphase nears, and we make it to the core, to a softly shimmering, brightly pulsing and uniquely organic Utopian Biopsphere. Or…. What could have been. It seems lost, hollow, as though it is a recording of that which was lost long ago. Like no other album. Intensely ambient in the coolest and spaciest sense. Thrilling and yet relaxing. Perfectly balanced.

10/10

🪐🛸👁‍🗨

This is a classic "Melt Head" album.
Smokes, Drinks, Trips.
This album does & and is...Briliant.

no sratches / scuffs or any visual problem on my C/D sides, but there is another issue. The A/B are technically perfect, the noisefloor is super low, the C/D disc is not that good, no drama, but iits "floor" is louder, plus my copies had a white spot (NH3 on stamper?) that gave 4 loud pops, luckily i was able to remove it with IPA.

the E/F disc is a real treat..

Always thought this should of been included in Warp's Artificial Intelligence Series, a moody brilliant gem.

Dark, cold vintage sounds and ruthless, deep bass is what makes this album appealing. Original simplicity. Whereas ambient techno albums later of that decade serves warm, organic sounds, Microgravity is cold, ominous even. It's as much about hypnotic bass riffs as rich, spooky soundscapes. Ultimately trance inducing music.

Can you top a Majestic Classic as this one. Is there is an album that defined my musical taste more than this one. No! Period! And when Geir Jennssen gives it a vinyl rerun and fills it with non-released gems from the same period, you know you have Instant Classic. The bonus album pushed me right back to the start of the nineties. A must have!!!