Review: Much like the works of contemporaries Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, Burt Friedman's work has been a pillar of the modern German electronic sound. Forever exploring the lines between outernational music and more rigid hardware structures, the artist has always remained true to his vision. First coming through with sparse, explorative rhythms back in the late 80s, he has racked up an incredible amount of releases by now, many of them through his own Nonplace imprint. This new anthology is the first official compilation of his most defining work, and comes as an absolute breath-taker given the vastness of the catalogue. Spanning the best of his works between 1980 and 2017, the comp gives us a vivid image of his steady progression as a sound engineer, constantly dipping and diving between tribal percussions, technoid ballads and dub-filtered downtempo. If you've come here looking for the truth, then this release should come before anything else. Unmissable and highly recommended.
Review: Burnt Friedman and Oke Goettlich's Nonplace is back with some tribal percussion workouts courtesy of Cologne based Drums Off Chaos that's comprised of Friedman's touring bassist Maf Retter, Manos Tsangaris, Olek Gelba and Reiner Linke. Jaki Liebezeit of the legendary Can was a member also, until his death in early 2017. The group collaborated with local musician Jes Uwe Beyer for an album on Barnt's Magazine imprint in 2011. There's been a strong scene for polyrhythmic music in the city of Cologne and fans of Stefan Schwander, The Durian Brothers or Harmonious Thelonious will certainly find the entrancing rhythms on offer here quite interesting.
Review: It's a brave producer - particularly one with such a long career behind him - who calls an album Cease To Matter. But then Burnt Friedman, active since the mid 1990s, isn't your average electronic musician. Happily, the album in question, his first with occasional collaborator Daniel Dodd Ellis, is one of his strongest in recent years. For the most part, it impressively fuses Dodd Ellis's Moodymann-ish spoken word vocals - some inspired by Aldous Huxley's LSD-inspired book Brave New World - to Friedman's unconventional, IDM-influenced dub rhythms and baked downtempo textures. The results are predictably spacious and otherworldly, with sublime piano motifs winding their way around dub basslines, sparse electronics and atmospheric vocals.
Review: Burnt Friedman comes through with another slice of delicious Nonplace goodness! Friedman's music is singular to say the least, where dub techno is broken up and re-soldered into a nutty, Afrobeat-tech pastiche. If that sounds crazy, then you're probably right because "Skies Okay Blue", for example, is simply indescribable. Glitchy, hazy beats, echoing melodies and a super-funky bassline are at the helm. "Cycles" is also rather insane thanks to its shuffling percussion and oddball synths, while "Silberne Libelle", although mystical and no less odd than its counterparts, is the tamest of the lot. Another winner from Mr Friedman!
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