Christian Burkhardt At Juno Download

Review: Christian Burkhardt is perceived as belonging to the new wave of European house producers, but this release on Sven Vath's label shows that he isn't content to copy well-worn narratives. "Heart & Mind" is the most conventional track, but even here the beats are stomping and the accompanying vocal, 'once you open your heart, you forget everything', provides an unusual mixture of the grainy and the ethereal. On the subject of weirdness, the aptly named "Waffles" fuses heavy, steely drums with stoner vocal samples, but it can't compare to "22nd Century Drama". There, a time-stretched garage bass and fractured drums provide the backdrop for detuned synths and what could be a Chaka Khan sample lurking in the background.