Customer Reviews

Las Vegas

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

 

 

I don't know why I haven't discovered this before, a superb collaboration between two Germans who know a thing a two about making good music. To be honest though, my expectations were moderate after hearing one of their tracks, Do the Strand, on a compilation. I didn't think it reflected the musical calibre of its makers. This record, however, reflects their calibre and then some. Alter alias Wolfgang Voigt is already a bit of a hero of mine through his Gas series, which is top-notch electronic music; a genre which, a few British tearaways aside, German artists seem to dominate with ease.
Two tracks really stand out for me, Milk and Honey which is really lives up to its title. Delicate synth stabs and an insistent bass pulse puttering away beneath. Quite danceable (probably) but even better to sit back and enjoy. The Jealous Guy from Memphis is also lactic sweetener with a sublime low-key groove and some achingly beautiful keyboard work. This is as good as the best of Aphex Twin, and has the sonic sophistication of Vladislav Delay, Pole and Autechre. Experimental forays, then, firmly chained to click/house grooves. Wonder what it would sound like the other way round?

I think this is excellent music for having on as background, but I believe it also has other merits. If you don't like repetitive or trance-inducing music, this may not be your cup of tea... but if you like rhythms and patterns, you can immerse yourself in this CD. Certain aspects of the instrumentation mutate/change througout each cut, and the changes are subtle enough that they may not noticed without careful listening. In some of the cuts, a drumbeat will change slightly over a keyboard pattern that doesn't change, then one keyboard motif will gradually fade as another takes over. The music creeps gradually, but it's also stuff to which you can tap your toe.

This might be dangerous music for some people to listen to while driving because if you get involved with it you might forget what you're doing. For me, it makes great soundtrack music for night driving in the city, as well as driving across vast, open spaces such as the desert.

In an attempt to capture their vision of the future of the genre, this Deutsch duo embarked on a very trancey trip that honors the name of the genre for its ability to almost hipnotize you with their pulsed beats and loops. Without becoming repetitive they sit somewhere comfortably between a downbeat trance and and upbeat ambient. Listening to it six years after it first came out, it doesn't sound dated, which says a lot, considering how easily some works in the electronica domain fall out of synch with the times.

This is the stuff of your dreams if your in to subtle minimal house/techno stuff and you travel along the chainreaction train (or trance) of thought. This disk will take you places with its subtle basslines, smooth keyboards, and its slow sometimes bearly perceptable build ups. Highly recomended. Burger is also suppost to have some new stuff that is suppost to be really cool.

Mike Ink and Joerg Burger collaborated on this release. The results are minimal, affected trance-house. It's nice but not anything overly special. More worthwhile is the Gas project from Wolfgang Voigt (Mike Ink).

working on my mac with 'las vegas' on in the background is a JOY. as a matter of fact, i'm doing it right now...