- Talismann is the techno alias of the Dutch house producer Makam. Since 2012 he's been dropping shadowy 12-inches on his eponymous label while playing tantalisingly rare club dates, which included Berghain in 2014, Dekmantel and a handful of other venues. He's not in it for the prestige, so Talismann's online presence is minimal. He's not building a brand here. The project is about the music—doomy techno with a mystical allure—and its latest record, which lands almost two years after the last, was worth the wait.
"Gran Abuelo" stomps ominously through an atmosphere choked with evil spirits. A guttural, tribalistic chant is your spirit guide on this dark and tunnelling trip. "Desert Rose" is tense, claustrophobic and demented. What sounds like rave stabs are transmogrified into a pressurised roar in the background. Melodramatic cinema-style drum rolls build suspense while freaky sax squalls and a haunted melody adds a delirious narrative.
"Methuselah" projects Talismann's otherworldliness back onto the floor. The mood is unsettling—is that a wolf's howl, human or something else back there?—but the shuffling beat keeps your body locked into the dance, even when your mind is spirited off elsewhere. The best bit about "General Sherman" is that big crashing sound—what is that?—looping ad infinitum. Sinister details like this make Talismann's techno so enticing.
TracklistA1 Gran Abuelo
A2 Desert Rose
B1 Methuselah
B2 General Sherman