Antonelli Electr. – Love and Other Solutions 6.5

There’s an unfortunate effect for a lot of electronic music: it ages. What might have seemed hip and cool once it first came out doesn’t anymore. Instead you’re left with something someone labored over that might now be quite stale. Here Stefan Schwander’s album is one such example.

                Now it doesn’t completely fail. Songs like “Augustine” still sound surprisingly good 8 years on. Others like “Waiting for You” are partly ruined by those violin plucks, a feature never really lovely. Violin plucks ruin the melody, making it much cuter than it needed to be. Had some similar elements been excised from the album it might be sweeter. My request would be for the clicks to have been removed, as they reek of the time (remember cuts and clicks on Mille Plateaux? Yeah, I didn’t think so.)

                Overall though, this isn’t terrible. Had Antonelli focused more on the bass side of things (which is admittedly a big draw of the music) it could have aged better. Nonetheless it is still a fairly likable album, even with its flaws.      

Jan Jelinek - Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records 9.3

Rarely does an album combine a concept and listen-ability with such ease. Loop-Finding-Jazz Records is just one of those records. What could have come off as just another “clicks n’ cuts” generic nonsense comes off sounding so positively lush. 

Even with zero previous experience to the whole “clicks n’ cuts”, glitch movement, this is instantly enjoyable. Mixing jazz records with more modern mixing techniques, he creates a warm atmosphere. At no point are you subjected to any loudness, each sound has been edited to perfectly blend in with the environment.  I’m a bit of a sucker for this kind of sound, but it is also very rare for an electronic musician to incorporate multiple music-making aspects. Generally speaking, the kind of promotion he does of both the old and new, in the very ultra-high tech glitch field was treason when this came out in 2001. Back then, that wasn’t so much a thing, and even now, it rarely is done with the class or style that Jan uses here. 

Along with SND, Jan Jelinek made one of those few glitch albums that get better each time I hear it. Obviously the introduction tracks works well, sounding like some Red Norvo track completely blurred into near oblivion. “They, Them” is probably my favorite on here. Building up on the suspense it lets loose and creates probably one of the smoothest moments in German techno (and that’s really saying something). Looking for a favorite on here is pretty hopeless; they all have a certain quiet groove that bridges the gap between dance and lounge. 

I’ve been fortunate enough to see him live once, at Tonic (still my favorite now-closed music venue). Wearing a black and white striped shirt, he looked like a nihilistic Charlie Brown. His dance movements as he hovered over his equipment could only be described as “heavily autistic” and how he handled his liquor was terrible. A very attractive blonde woman had to finally escort him to a waiting Taxi, since he appeared too incoherent to figure out how to walk down a straight hall. Nonetheless, he put on a great show, considering the lackluster nature of live electronic acts. 

Please find this however you can. I highly recommend such a well thought out album, completely perfect and so smooth.