Heavy Elements – Urschaum (2025) – Album Review
Album: Heavy Elements
Artist: Urschaum
Release Date: December 21, 2025
Jason Goodrich’s ambient/field recording alter ego, Urschaum, isn’t a departure from his IDM/Bass persona, Badrich, but more of an origin story. Some of his first solo compositions were based around environmental sounds and manipulation of their digital or tape form, one way or another. Revisiting the approach for Recombinant Retrospective, these efforts laid the foundation for his temple of massive sound.
The origin of the name comes from the German word for primordial froth or initial essence. In a brief interview with Jason, while at a listening party in the early 2000s, he was listening to Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Sirius,” where a singer was bellowing the word urschaum during the recorded performance. The word and its use caught Jason’s attention so much that he asked a friend who was fluent in German to translate it. This definition really hit a special nerve for Jason, as he felt he could conjure and capture this essence in audio form.
Initial feeling: Space, fucking elements in space. I know that seems crude and simple to say, but it’s true. If you ever listen to the sounds of space, then you’ll understand why I would make that comparison. It is a tricky thing to avoid being just a “drone maker,” i.e., a lazy artist who uses sine waves and tons of reverb. Urschaum joins the elite circle of artists such as Lustmord, who manage to pull this off with deft skill.
Astral Mechanics – When you get to hear some endless micro delays that hold chords hostage for an exciting 16 minutes, it’s a rare treat. A lot of drone or ambient music can feel like common background music; occasionally, something will leap out at you. There is a lot of cavernous exploration and some hints at vocal exploration, while a low dunking of galactic milk and cookies gives you some extra sonic texture to enjoy. You’ll get a warm wash of plated reverb toward the end as the howls trail off.
Gargantuan Megastructure – This is probably the most “traditional” or “musical” piece for this EP, as the theme explores the possibility of creations that are so massive that they defy human logic and comprehension. Not the kind of fear of the unknown, but the shock of our current understanding and the universe’s capabilities. Lumber thuds and grinding metals covered in layer after layer of planetary crust, muting the more mechanical movements. You can imagine what a mass driver must feel like when hurling an asteroid toward its target, indomitable and unstoppable.
Cryostasis Eternity – Ever wonder what stars sound like when they talk to each other about how their fission is going? Distant microtones and blips resonate and bounce off each other, then fade into nothingness. As suddenly as they disappeared, you’ll hear those tones surging back to your cranial receiver. An ebb and flow of celestial call-outs delights and then comes to a cinematic end.
This release is available from Component Recordings, a longtime home of the strange and experimental side of electronic music. It’s a worthwhile release for stargazing.
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