- Twisted techno and electro through DVS1's label.
- In February, Anthony Rother released Closing The 3rd Eye / Synthesizer Music Vol. II, a collection of ambient, soundtrack and synth music that he dedicated to his late friend Pete Namlook. Last year, he put out a similar collection, The Abyss / Synthesizer Music Vol.1, in addition to a Kraftwerk-indebted LP called 3L3C7RO COMMANDO. Take this level of activity, map it over the last 20-plus years, and you have a rough outline of the German artist's career. An obvious question, though: is all of this music, much of which Rother self-releases, connecting with people? It's difficult to say, of course, but this new pair of 12-inches, released through DVS1's Mistress Recordings, is a decent opportunity to connect with an artist whose sprawling (or possibly overwhelming) discography is peppered with electro classics.
One of Rother's favoured formulas, which gave us bangers like "Father" and "When The Sun Goes Down," is used on "Back Home," released originally on his own Datapunk in 2003. This is fast, sleazy, pop-leaning electro laced with Rother's signature effects-heavy vocals. (You wouldn't exactly call Rother a songwriter but his delivery has always had a robotic sort of Germanic charm.) "Back Home" appears on Mistress 12.5, along with new versions of the track that have been renamed "The World Needs You." Rother's new version and the two DVS1 edits all bring to mind the music Levon Vincent was putting out a few years back, a stomping brand of ethereal club music at the border between house and techno. They're all strong and worth considering, but DVS1's "No Bassline Edit" features a particularly effective moment when the buzzing bassline finally arrives.
"Heaven To Heaven (Cut B)," from Mistress 12, pushes similar buttons. It'd be equally worthy of a recommendation if it weren't for a misjudged two-note synth part that, with too much reverb, sits awkwardly in the mix. Which leads us to "AbAbAb," a track that I still can't decide is inspired or bad. Rother slowly combines a bubbling arpeggio and a metallic synth chord in a way that sounds like a badly key-clashed DJ mix—but is there some twisted pleasure in the discord?
"Research A" and "Technic Electric" are easier to assess. Both are rock-solid electro cuts whose tension builds and falls away. Between the slightly slower original mix of "Heaven To Heaven," an accapella version of "The World Needs You" and the two DVS1 edits, this project feels a little bloated, but it's something you might be inclined to forgive when listening to "Metro Tech006." It's a atmospheric slice of witching-hour techno that it's easy to imagine DSV1 dropping with characteristic oomph.
Tracklist12
A1 Heaven To Heaven (Cut B)
A2 Research A
B1 AbAbAb
B2 Technic Electric
Digital: Heaven To Heaven
Digital: Metro Tech006
12.5
A1 The World Needs You
A2 The World Needs You (Vocals)
B1 The World Needs You (DVS1 No Bassline Edit)
B2 Back Home (Datapunk 2003)