by Darin Eriksen
Producer/DJ duo Visit Venus claim that their respective fathers were German-American &sound scientists& recruited by NASA in the '70s. Their mission: Create mood-enhancing music for entertaining space passengers on an imaginary voyage to the second planet from the sun. Though this &Sky Tourist Programm& was soon abandoned, the fruits of the two scientists' labor lived on -- Music for Space Tourism, Vol. 1 is (supposedly) the result of the sons sampling the original tapes that their seniors had tucked away. Who's to say it didn't really happen? If the elaborate liner notes explaining the &project& don't sell you on it, the head-nodding, space-age bachelor pad grooves might be evidence enough. Visit Venus is at its best when operating at a midtempo pace, as on &Brooklyn Sky Port (Departure),& &Shaft in Space,& and &Home.& The laid-back grooves do get a bit too slow and repetitive at times, as on &One Step Beyond,& making the music more boring than blissful. Overall, however, the album serves its purpose of providing a spacy, relaxing, yet deeply funky sonic atmosphere.