signal - robotron

on the turntable:

signal
robotron
r-n069



raster-noton's flagship signal - olaf bender, frank bretschneider and carsten nicolai - is something like the reference group of one of the pivotal labels of new minimal electronic music. but although only having released one cd so far, their sessions and concerts have been very influential until today. some of those tracks of the past years now result in a compilation that joins the work of the three masterminds of raster-noton, but not like a simple aggregation of egos, much rather like a conversation in which every discourse modulates the other and in the end it is not possible anymore to distinguish between each individual contribution. in this sense, signal would be a superego that serves a process in which the rule, coincidence and interaction play equal parts. this blends into an open and democratic music that has some of kraftwerk’s melancholy in it. thus, signal are their spiritual heirs. (© raster-noton)

buy: raster-noton

website: raster-noton

frank bretschneider - rhythm

on the turntable:

frank bretschneider
rhythm
rn082



„rhythm“ is neither pop nor avant-garde, but deals simply with the basic principles of any modern music: rhythm.

frank bretschneider takes his, never simple, but all the more heartfelt relationship to rhythm and it’s complexity, to an intense inventory and, this time, works less out of suspenseful abstract sounds, than out of grooves. the terseness and precision of previous works remains, as well as a preference for high-voltage sounds halfway between noise and tone. new is the assemblage of the material. a combination of programming, composition and construction, which draws a clear distinction to his preferred loop-based work on foregone albums, is connected with bretschneider's very idiosyncratic aesthetic of digital sound: controlled and objective. the whole follows simple mechanical states: on/off, forward/backward, up/down, slow/fast, loud/quiet, dull/brilliant, soft/hard and is characterized by the absence of any romanticism. still this return to the elementary, the fundamental, does not diminish the music to dance-floor functionality, instead bretschneider always stays emphatically musical and manages to generate sophisticated and complex rhythm-structures, which respectively induce minimal deviations in frequency and timing relationships to generate a surplus of funk.

In all, „rhythm“ is probably bretschneider’s most direct, clear and concentrated work yet. (© raster-noton)


buy / download:raster-noton website: frank bretschneider

seefeel - quique (redux edition)

on my turntable.

seefeel
quique (redux edition)
pure194cdd


Reissue of one of my favourite albums. When I realized that this disc was originally released 15 years ago it was a bit of a shock. More than just your common-everyday-type of reissue the Quique Redux Edition includes an amazingly good bonus disc of versions, remixes and edits. one2zero



listen filter dub

"An exquisite example of the kind of fusion it's possible to create when using electronics, guitars and an overall Dub aesthetic. Quique brings together the drifting ambient sounds of shoegaze with deep, dubby electronics to create a seamless, lush and beautiful sound. From the majestic, soaring chords and hypnotic rhythms of the opening track right through to the end it's a simply spellbinding collection. And, at long last, it gets a reissue... and not just any old reissue either as this features a second disc with the redux version included. Basically a series of versions, remixes and edits, some of which were released in a limited fashion, but most of which are unreleased, essentially providing us with a whole new Seefeel album... and that's something to be really thankful for. Their later work on Rephlex and Warp was stupendous as well, but for sheer timeless brilliance this is absolutely the one. If you don't have it and like labels such as Kranky, Limit Switch or virtually any electronic label from the last 10 years, you simply *must* get this album." (© Smallfish)

artist site: myspace
mp3 download: bleep
label: too pure
buy it : smallfish / boomkat