Atom™: iMix miniLP
Laboratory Instinct

“When I come home, I rest!” Atom™ moans, though that hardly seems to be the case: Could there be another electronic artist as prolific as Uwe Schmidt? Yet in spite of his remarkably vast discography, iMix miniLP is his first solo outing under the Atom™ guise since 1996, not to mention his first album for the Berlin-based Laboratory Instinct imprint (though he did contribute “He1 10” to the label's premiere release, the comp Advanced Public Listening). In seven sample-heavy dance-club tracks, Schmidt distills stylistic traces of his various aliases—Señor Coconut's spicy rumbas, Flanger's mutant space jazz, and Geeez'n'Gosh's spindly click-hop—into lush and sexy acid mayhem.

The title track opens the album with jittery, pinprick electro-funk, Atom™ indulging in characteristic DJ braggadocio accompanied by a sycophantic fan. He injects the percolating Kraftwerk-meets-Santana mix of “Hallo, wie geht es dir?” (“Hello, how are you?” a cover version of Tito Puente's “Oye Como Va”) with Coconut flavour, even finding room for a manic organ solo before dropping his best Barry White impression into “When I come home.” The album turns steamy with the sexy march “iLove (Easy Love)” and acid-house “Sexuality” where Atom™'s protestations of sexual indifference are belied by orgasmic moans that suggest otherwise. In its latter moments, the album moves out of the bedroom and on to the dance floor with skanky machine grooves (“Party Shuffle”) and skittish electro-funk (“Sorry I'm not the DJ, baby!”). Fans of Prince and The Soft Pink Truth will find iMix miniLP a brief but infectious ride.

March 2005