chava

The first record in Thomas Brinkmanns 'female' series and maybe the most radical minimalistic of them, before the term became a trend. The four tracks consists of not more than record surface noise, a dry thud of a bassdrum and atmospheric background noises. Only "beate 2" has some sort of a melodic riff.

This was initially received as too dry and 'academic', and got lumped in within the glitchy, arty field of click and cuts music at the time. Although there are some referencs to the musique concrete school of sound art, this record should be judged within the framework of techno and house music, though (and was supposedly planned to be released on Wolfgang Voigt's groundbreaking, but anti-"intelligent techno", techno label Profan Records). The deliberate scratches on the record are clearly visible making this a truely "audiovisual" piece of art (and a legitimate reason to avoid experiencing this in a purely digital format).

And remember: Scratches on this record only makes it better! Solid techno/house release. All four tracks have character and panache, but maybe mostly "Frozencity" with its slightly melancholic feel and stubborn beat.

Recommended! Very understated and nuanced album by Andreas Fragel, who sadly do not release much. This album is apparently in the hypnotic 'minimal techno' tradition, but soon achieve a life of its own.

Through some kind of antiquated or rarely heard synths, the overall sound keeps balancing some odd place between 'superficiality' and 'depth'. If you're getting tired of what usually are marketed as "deep" or "subtle" in the market of disposable tech-house 12-inches, you might want to check this out instead. Calm and hypnotic (very) minimal techno, comes highly recommended.

Apparently produced by Andreas Fragel, which seems plausible as the overall sound resembles his releases on his own label Mit Ohne Sound. I believe this release was somewhat ignored at its initial release date, when Cheap Records was at their peak releasing skewed, but still club-compatible form of minimal Detroit inspired techno. 'Florida Optical', maybe Gerhard Potuznik best work, instead expressed a more rich and gloomy sound without the percussive tricks and key-stabs so popular at the time.

Creating a mental state of disorientation and maybe a faint hope, this is definately one of those (few) techno records, which first and foremost speaks to your heart. For reference, one might say that this bear some resemblance to some of italian originator Leo Anibaldi's best work.