- Look over at Juno Download and you'll see that two of the tracks on Sascha Rydell's new EP apparently clock in at 160+ BPM. Fachwerk gone gabber? Nah. As intriguing as that might be, we get something just as fascinating: More ambient-tinged and experimental tunes from the Berlin techno bastion. It's a welcome further opening of the (genre) doors for a crew that had come to be perceived as functional techno purveyors. (Mike Dehnert revealed some of his first forays into the experimental side of things on the previous Fachwerk release too.)
The opener, "Matin," might even properly earn the term "dreamy." It's hard to think of any other way to put it for a track that would fit neatly onto Kompakt's Pop Ambient 2002. "Alchimie Du Verbe" starts out like it's going to go back to the basement of Tresor, but then starts to introduce lovely washes of dub that gradually overtake the track—just in time for the breakdown of course. "L'Eclair" is a tense miniature worthy of Demdike Stare, while "Mauvais Sang" gets (I-shit-you-not) almost tropical with its main riff. "Jadis" brings us back to the basement, though—it's classic Rydell: tough techno with just enough quirkiness to keep you on your toes.
Tracklist A1 Matin
A2 Alchimie Du Verbe
B1 L Eclair
B2 Mauvais Sang
B3 Jadis