Clubland August

For over fifteen years Moritz von Oswald has been rewriting the book on modern dub music, feeding stripped back German techno and house through vintage valve compressions and creating a legion of fans with his Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound projects with Mark Ernestus. Save for a couple of remixes we haven't heard from von Oswald since the last Rhythm & Sound release though his Recomposed album with Carl Craig last year was a dramatic shift away from his affiliation with dub techno and saw the veteran producer delving in to modern classical fused with electronics. Following on from that project we here witness the formation of the Moritz von Oswald Trio, a supergroup of sorts featuring Vladislav Delay and Max Loderbauer from Sun Electric.

A series of four patterns, the album is largely percussion driven, with only the fourth pattern displaying an obvious connection to von Oswald's penchant for dub-based music.

Pattern 1 readies the listener for take off. There is a Detroit influence evident here, bleeding through the blistering tremolo pads while percussion traces filaments of grooves.

Pattern 2 is then the feeling of zero gravity, the endless whisper of space in all its secret glory. An eerie vibe permeates; incidental strings indicate the wonder of discovery but are mixed with a slackened, heart rate thud of bass and a most unnerving array of percussive arrangements.

There is an excitement about the third pattern that is perhaps brought about by the most conventional sense of groove and rhythm used on the album. The percussion work can largely be attributed to Sasu Ripatti of Vladislav Delay, his tablas sounding like a more buoyant variation on something that Shackleton might employ.

Pattern 4 marks a slight return to the dub soaked bass of von Oswald's work with Mark Ernestus but is also heavy on the percussive elements that proliferate the rest of the album.

Vertical Ascent is a challenging album and perhaps not one for those who are looking for further works from the Rhythm & Sound camp. That said the presence of delay and spatial textures are ever present, though most of the time buried deep within the mix. Vertical Ascent shows a producer still pushing at the edges, exploring the outer limits of his abilities.

Onur Özer's Kasmir album was released some two years back so it's odd that the second batch or remixes from it are only surfacing now.

Isolée changes the direction of “Innervoice” away from the suspense-filled, incidental Turkish orchestral hits that proliferate it towards a grooving minimal funk epic. Sounding like he's utilizing each part of the original, Isolée clips most of the sounds into fragments of what they used to be, repackaging them around an acoustic double bass sound that drives the remix with an astonishingly effective, yet simple groove. Some of those Turkish horns turn up but are not filled with the same ethnic identity as when used in the original, here instead drawing attention to the electronic and organic contrasts of this outstanding remix.

On first contact Baby Ford's remix of “Aida” comes across as an unyielding, impenetrable beige fortress but studied inspection of those hessian hued walls brings them crumbling down to reveal an inventive, finely nuanced piece of minimalism. Ford infects his hi-hats and other higher frequency percussion with such a strong sense of swing that it feels like its breathing rhythmically throughout the track. Where the original played out with more melodic structure, it is this kinetic feeling that helps to carry the otherwise fairly barren remix as it highlights the slight use of other sounds, giving them even more onus. Whilst Baby Ford's remix doesn't have the same instant appeal as the original, its subtle turns and overall feel provide an excellent alternative.

Moritz von Oswald Trio – Vertical Ascent

*****

Inter-stellar concept album finds dub techno chemist out of the echo chamber and in to the orchestra chamber.

Onur Özer – Kasmir Remixes 02

****

Killer minimalism by two of the masters as they overhaul Turkish techno wunderkind's past material.