Dopplereffekt Calabi Yau Space Zippo
Review: The somewhat mysterious Dopplereffekt project founded by Drexciya's Gerald Donald ends their six year production hiatus with this Tetrahymena EP for Berlin label Leisure System. Established by Donald in the mid '90s, Dopplereffekt remain one of techno's most enigmatic propositions with their brand of cold, stark electro complemented by a bold, Cold War-indebted aesthetic and a general disregard for performing live or giving interviews. Though Donald has remained active production wise, developing the NRSB-11 project with DJ Stingray which recently saw the release of the politically loaded Commodified album, the Tetrahymena EP is a welcome return for Dopplereffekt and undoubtedly the most high profile release yet from Leisure System. Review:.REPRESS. Another album from the amazing mind of Heinrich Mueller (aka Gerald Donald). Originally released on DJ Hell's Gigolo label and apparently only licensed after Gerald crashed Hell's BMW and had to come up with a means of paying him back.
All the tracks first appeared on the very obscure Dataphysix imprint from Detroit, with some releases only reaching the 500 copy mark. Now brought back to life for 2007, 'Gesamtkunstwerk' could be one of the best electro albums ever made. Yes that's right, I said it.the best ever! This is almost as important for the techno generation as Kraftwerk's 'Computerworld' and 'Autobahn' were for many in the 80s. The tracks are all pretty simple, made up of only two or three analogue instruments each, but they seem to hold these timeless melodies that you can never tire of. Other moments are eerie, menacing and downright strange, but still pure genius.
You know how a lot of the time when you buy a new record it becomes your favourite for a while, and then it starts to lose a little life? (Of course it's still good, but just not as fresh as the first couple of weeks when you listened to it on repeat). Well guess what? That doesn't happen with this record. I must have listened to some of the tracks on here over a 1000 times and they still send shivers down my spine. It's one of those special albums that just don't seem to age.
Review: Dopplereffekt are one of the more mysterious units of the contemporary electronic music scene. There are no interviews and hardly any live appearances. The composers hide behind strange German pseudonyms whereas the song titles and lyrics are in English and make up a strange mixture of scientific, sexually explicit and political allusions. Dopplereffekt's music is also highly eclectic and unusual. Critics claim their style of electro resembles that of Drexcita and that they were indeed early members of that now legendary outfit.
Musically 'Calabi Yau Space' follows a more ambient/soundscape/experimental/electronic course akin to Der Zyklus' 'Biometry' project or even Rephlex's 'Quantum Transposition'. The album features exclusive artwork under licence from CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory. Review: Dopplereffekt are one of the more mysterious units of the contemporary electronic music scene. There are no interviews and hardly any live appearances. The composers hide behind strange German pseudonyms whereas the song titles and lyrics are in English and make up a strange mixture of scientific, sexually explicit and political allusions.
Dopplereffekt's music is also highly eclectic and unusual. Critics claim their style of electro resembles that of Drexcita and that they were indeed early members of that now legendary outfit.
Musically 'Calabi Yau Space' follows a more ambient/soundscape/experimental/electronic course akin to Der Zyklus' 'Biometry' project or even Rephlex's 'Quantum Transposition'. The album features exclusive artwork under licence from CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory. Review:.REPRESS. Another album from the amazing mind of Heinrich Mueller (aka Gerald Donald). Originally released on DJ Hell's Gigolo label and apparently only licensed after Gerald crashed Hell's BMW and had to come up with a means of paying him back. All the tracks first appeared on the very obscure Dataphysix imprint from Detroit, with some releases only reaching the 500 copy mark.
Calabi Yau Category
Now brought back to life for 2007, 'Gesamtkunstwerk' could be one of the best electro albums ever made. Yes that's right, I said it.the best ever!
This is almost as important for the techno generation as Kraftwerk's 'Computerworld' and 'Autobahn' were for many in the 80s. The tracks are all pretty simple, made up of only two or three analogue instruments each, but they seem to hold these timeless melodies that you can never tire of. Other moments are eerie, menacing and downright strange, but still pure genius. You know how a lot of the time when you buy a new record it becomes your favourite for a while, and then it starts to lose a little life? (Of course it's still good, but just not as fresh as the first couple of weeks when you listened to it on repeat). Well guess what? That doesn't happen with this record.
Calabi Yau Pronunciation
I must have listened to some of the tracks on here over a 1000 times and they still send shivers down my spine. It's one of those special albums that just don't seem to age. Review: Detroit electro legends Dopplereffekt return to Leisure System for their fourth release on the Berlin based imprint. Athanatos is named after the angel of the planet Mercury in ancient Greek mythology, but that isn't so much the theme. Here the duo again explore subjects related to genetic conditions and chromosomal influences that define mortality across the EP's five tracks. After the brooding sonic landscapes of the title track, it's classic Mitchell & Nhan all the way on the majestic electronic funk of 'Hayflick Limit' while devilishly enchanting slow burners like 'Telomere' or 'Mitosisin' lock you in with their hypnotic grasp. Raster-Noton founders Carsten Nicolai (who did the artwork) and Olaf Bender are said to have collaborated with the pair on this release.
Review: By now, Dopplereffekt has released so much music that we feel almost guilty in having to introduce it to you. But, perhaps it's a good thing to highlight just what this project is about, and what it has achieved throughout all these years. Founded by Gerald Donald of Drexciya, and now sidekicked with the help of the lesser known Michaela To-Nhan Bertal, Dopplereffekt has been the only real electro outfit to push the genre beyond the confines of its 80s inception. While many other electro projects repeat the same tried and tested formulas on a weekly basis, these two minds have produced some of the most singular and explorative deviations of the style. This new album, Cellular Automata, comes through for Berlin's Leisure System at a time when the scene is in real need of a fresh perspective, and by that we mean the electronic sphere as a whole. These nine tracks cannot be classed as 'ambient' music, there is too much movement and energy amid its pensive waves but, at the same time, it would be difficult to class it as a dance album.
There, right in at the core of it all, Dopplereffekt plant their energetic waves of electrifying bass into vast and desolate soundscapes that transport you into a strange and complex world. A planet we'd very much like to visit more often.
Review: In something of a dream pairing for Leisure System, this split disc spans the old guard of electro and those well versed in pushing it into new contortions. Dopplereffekt is of course one of the most lauded of all post-Drexciya projects, and new material comes few and far between. 'Delta Wave' is a lavish, sweeping wonder of celestial voices and sci-fi mystery that satisfies all your desires without sounding like a re-hash of old material. On the flipside Objekt has risen to the occasion and delivered one of his most outright electro-infused belters to date, keeping the beat rigid but funky, and working similar amounts of drawn out pads into the mix while keeping the crafty edits and playful sounds as limber as ever. Review: NTS mainstay Kasra V joins Kim Ann Foxman's Firehouse Records for the Akasa EP, where the Iranian-born/London-based producer showcases his broad musical taste and his ability to seamlessly blend genres. He collaborates with Detroit electro legends Dopplereffekt on the absolutely majestic 'Bloom', while the title track or the breaks-driven 'Otaku' explore old-school beats with a modern twist. Finally on the flip, we have a remix of 'Bloom' by American retroverts Mike Servito and Justin Cudmore - who inject more dancefloor dynamics into it with their Kv In Full Mix.
Review: Chilean artist Visiona is about to drop his debut album 'Impossible Romance'. There's no better place to get an idea of how it's going to sound than this impressive three track EP. The Dopplereffekt-featured 'Die Reisen' is the showcase piece; heavily anchored with muscular Black Strobe bass, it's raw weight and power can't be avoided. For softer, more melodic sensations, delve deeper for 'Antarctic Love' (seemingly simultaneously cinematic, whimsical and icy) and the forthcoming album title track 'Impossible Romance' (think classic Depeche Mode).