Search results: Frank bretschneider

Review: Keplar releases a vinyl reissue of 2001's Curve, the second album released by Frank Bretschneider on Mille Plateaux under his real name. Curve saw Bretschneider pick up on the underlying concept of 1999's Rand, but gave his explorations of the sonic and stylistic range of electronic music notably more space and time to unfold. Merging compositional minimalism with sonic complexity, the eight tracks display an affinity for the production techniques of dub music, which had already been a major reference point for Bretschneider's work before. Its subtle grooves, especially in the rhythmically charged pieces towards the end of the album, also nod at the dance music-inspired work of contemporaries such as SND or Vladislav Delay. Produced during a prolific time for Bretschneider, who had previously co-run the Rastermusic label and was at that time still active under his Komet moniker, he considers Curve to be a crucial album in his discography.

Review: Up until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it was notoriously difficult to run a record label in the German Democratic Republic, better known in the West as East Germany. New wave and experimental electronic enthusiast Frank Bretschneider got round this by restricting the releases of his Klangfarbe imprint to a handful of extremely limited cassettes. Here, he gathers the best of those releases together for the first time on vinyl, with each side of wax showcasing the work of a particular artist. It's impressively out-there and entertaining stuff, with tracks drawing influence from British and American minimal wave, Stockhausen style tape experimentation, post-punk noise, industrial funk, and Radiophonic Workshop style electronic experimentation.

Review: What the deuce? !K7 return with yet another essential DJ Kicks mix. Hot on the heels of Matthew Dear and Michael Meyer comes ace-serving selector DJ Tennis. Famed for his deep drawing style and ability to whip up atmospheres like some type of DJ sorcerer, his debut mix album was always going to be special. Perhaps not this special, though. Two CDs ranging from the most startling and serene contemporary ambient (Bauri - "Twinkle Stars"), to fluid body-shifting machine funk techno (Robert Hood - "Escapes") via warm house laced with subtle layers of sleaze (Oval - "Textuell") and crackling theatrical breaks (Jon Hopkins - "Vessel"), Tennis has taken his club chops and presented them in a much more timeless and flexible context. Just as all the best DJ Kicks mixes do. Love.