Customer Reviews

Duplex

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Apparat is tops on my play list. Every song is filled with vivid emotion. I am in my late 20's, and I thought the days of feeling strong emotion from music were over. I have not had an album reach out and grab me emotionally like this since I was a teenager. It's like the way you felt the first few times listening to your first favorite album, before you knew it was. It will effect you weather you want it to or not. Like a good sound-scape to a movie scene. It may not be for everyone, but everyone should listen at least once. MUST HAVE FOR IDM/AMBIENT/TECHNO, AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC LOVERS. PLEASE TRUST ME.

This is excellent. The first track, "Granular Bastard", is very powerful and has one of the best examples of buildup and release I've ever heard. "Steinholz" is very cold and gives off a strange aura. I honestly don't want to go through every track, but every one is very innovative and great. I also like the singing in the album and the instruments. This is also better than "Multifunktionsebene" just because of the pure feeling and power behind it. Try it out.

how has no one reviewed this? i know im not the only one to adore this piece of electronic love. throw on this gem and get intimate with that loved one. for fans of cex, stars as eyes, ellen allien, telefon tel aviv, styrofoam, the notwist, postal service...etc etc

One could imagine that Sascha Ring, better known as Apparat, had in mind the organic and electronic when he named his album _Duplex_, because he certainly shares in both. Even though the opening track, "Granular Bastard," is all studio trickery and hissing, skittering percussion, "Contradiction" brings in a simple guitar around which the song builds, with the plaintive vocals coming in later. The winding and rewinding of "Wooden" add a certain melancholy to the track (the airy vocals help as well, of course). "Schallstrom" mixes harpsichord with some crispy rhythms, while "Cerro Largo" reprocesses guitars, sounding similar to Telefon Tel Aviv. The wild jazz saxophone of "Negro Modelo" adds a completely unexpected twist right at the end of the album. Once you move into the _Duplex_, you'll find it hard to leave.

If Seurat had chosen a path of sound instead of light, I imagine it would have yielded something like this. This is particulate art: The disintegration and reintegration of discrete melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements (that's granular synthesis to those close to the code-crunching musical artform).

This pointillistic music (the track "Wooden", in particular) shimmers and vibrates, curiously and hypnotic, ebbing and flowing in jagged, purposeful utterances.

Apparat's structures are dotted with vocals that are simple, distant, and present, but his focus is keenly instrumental. There is a sense of inescapability about this sound; like a machine that aims to break free--uselessly but beautifully--from its programming.

There is a kinship here with Arovane, Ulrich Schnauss, and later Autechre.