Review:
Last year's debut full length album on Agoria's Infine imprint has rather made a name of Aufgang. Comprised of a trio of classically trained musicians, their music is clearly electronically influenced but manages to avoid becoming neither acoustic techno nor electronic classical music. Instead it lies somewhere in between amid a position of itself, carved for themselves out of their beautiful self-titled debut. Here, French label Discograph pluck one of the standout tracks from the album and give it its own release alongside a treble serving of delicious remixes.
The album version of "Barock" is baroque music with mighty keys, haunting melodies, intricate composition, pads, swirling synths and a deep, steady beat. A delicate but big piece of music, the track is refined and beautiful. Next up is Underground Resistance man Robert Hood who delivers a jacking tech rework of the original. Keeping the overlaying haunting piano motif, Hood adds a 4/4 beat and some 808 style percussion to a track that maintains the spirit of the album version but injects it with a techno sentiment. Mondkopf does a wonderful job on his rework, turning the track into a slo-mo electronica version. The French experimentalist uses shifting drums in addition to twisted and distorted bass parts to achieve this all encompassing sound. Finally, Hamburg trio Wareika spoil us with a twelve minute meandering, spacious and deep workout of the track. Far more subtle than any of the preceding remixes, this flows with a gentle ease whilst staying close to the ethos of Aufgang's track.
This is a superb package that first showcases a tender and beautiful track and then goes on to adapt the fragile track in question to some opposing sentiments whilst keeping the flavour and feel the same. A wonderful job is done by all here, making the whole EP a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience.