- The Frankfurt label celebrates ten years with a record of cerebral IDM and bass-heavy contortions.
- Over the past ten years, Oliver Hafenbauer's Die Orakel label has carved out a distinct sound. While Hafenbauer started out releasing weirdo house, the outlet slowly shifted into something more amorphous. It's still dance floor music, but where bottom-heavy funk turns contemplative and wistful. If you want to get a feel for this strange type of beauty, label favorite O-Wells' contribution to the ten-year compilation, Braindance, hits the nail on the head. Chunky breakbeats and chest-rattling bass sit beneath a melody that sounds like it was recorded inside of an icicle. It's beautiful but cold, held at arm's length.
The rest of Braindance collects tracks that trade in both funk and an aloof sort of elegance. Tapping label favourites like Edward and upsammy alongside newcomers like Dana Kuehr and Rali Pibs, the double-LP is an impressive mixture of '90s IDM and contemporary electro, techno and bass music. Braindance works because it isn't just nostalgic navel gazing filled with Aphex Twin-derivative synth noodling. Label fixture Gacha Bakradze's "Inhumanity" sounds like Ben UFO warming up for Drug Church, its cascading drum lines collapsing into one another before the track crescendos into a wall of reverb-drenched power chords. Katatonic Silentio and Rali Pibs meld deconstructed bass with IDM-like introspection. The synths on the latter's "Hooked & Strungout" let off bursts of steam over chuggy drum programming, while the rhythms continually break down on "Grain Of Consumption."
The tracks here are pretty but heavy, like post-apocalyptic lullabies. Things are a bit lighter when the contributors borrow from electro (a genre the label does particularly well). Reptant and Koloah let loose some acid work across skittering 808s, while Benjamin Milz and Poly Chain tap into the more ethereal and wanderlust strands of Detroit. Since this is an IDM record, there are also plenty of breakbeats, tapping into the more chilled-out side of the AI continuum, from Pépe's halftime "Cloudbusters" and Dana Kuehr's downtempo panacea to upsammy's ambient musings.
In channeling the more clubby strand of IDM, Braindance reminded me of a 2016 article by Joe Muggs tracing one of the genre's many revivals. "[The] key thing to note about braindance is the 'dance' part of the equation," he wrote. "The key reference points aside from Aphex Twin are acid house (the gurgle of 303s abound here), body-rocking electro (in particular the electro sound of Detroit, and the mythical duo Drexciya), and the hyperactive rolling breakbeats of UK hardcore rave and jungle." As cringe as braindance may be as a term, Hafenbauer's collection underscores that the genre doesn't have to be just for aging dads wearing obscure record label hats (although they—myself included—will find something to like here, too).
Tracklist01 upsammy – Wumb (Ambient Version)
02 n9oc – Hyphae
03 Pépe – Cloudbusters
04 Gacha Bakradze – Inhumanity
05 Rali Pibs – Hooked & Strungout
06 Teatre – Daze
07 O-Wells – Deep Concentration
08 Oma Totem – Sobre Caderas feat. Juns
09 Dana Kuehr – Biota
10 Benjamin Milz – Cmos
11 Poly Chain – Turbulent
12 Katatonic Silentio – Grain Of Consumption
13 Koloah – The Highway
14 Reptant – Protectors Of The Moss
15 Edward – Blurry Trees And Peanuts