- More techno that's aerodynamic, dubby, with just-the-right-amount-of-melody from Berghain's new wave.
- There's a formula behind the appealing sound of Berghain's newest golden boy, Fadi Mohem. His style of techno—sleek, bouncy, with just the right amount of reverb and deal—comforts those of us old enough to remember the golden era of the Berghain sound, but moves fast and tough enough to satisfy younger heads. His beats are almost absurdly functional, and rarely made from more than a few elements at once. They move with an excited gallop that avoids the stiff pose of ultra-serious techno and resists the snarling irony of post-modern takes on the genre. In a word, it's something close to perfection.
The second release on his no-frills MOHEM label (another storied Berghain resident tradition) offers two more sterling examples of this approach. Both tracks are over eight-minutes long and don't accomplish much other than looping their dubby chord progressions over a booming kick drum in fine Basic Channel style. "Thrust" doesn't need to do anything else. The way that the panned synth lead skips from the left channel to the right every bar is the kind of thing you could listen to for 80 minutes, not just eight, buffeted by chintzy organ that adds a little Robert Hood flair. With its jogging hi-hats, "Redox" is even more addictive, with a dub techno alchemy usually reserved for '90s white labels. He's an expert at updating timeless techno sounds without making it seem like he's doing anything at all, which is a sleight of hand that only gifted producers can pull off.