ARTICLES
Benoît Pioulard's Précis
Label: Dynamophone
Label: Hidden Shoal

ALBUMS
Aemae
A Lily
Arc Lab
Blotnik Brothers
Gui Boratto
Cagesan
Jeremy Caulfield
Loren Dent
Do Make Say Think
Eats Tapes
Enduser
Domink Eulberg
Explosions in the Sky
Michael Fahres
The Field
Frivolous
Maximilian Hecker
Hug
Hush Arbors
Jan-M. Iversen
Espen Jørgensen
Kattoo
O.Lamm
Bruce Levingston
Tobias Lilja
Lusine
Marcia Blaine School
The Missing Ensemble
Nebulo
Ölvis
Charlemagne Palestine
Palomar
Pornopop
The Postmarks
Propergol Y Colargol
The Retail Sectors
R/R Coseboom
Sankt Otten
Scratch Massive
Slow Dancing Society
Stars of the Lid
subtractiveLAD
Sunosis
Aoki Takamasa
Amon Tobin
Tokyo Mask
Kate Wax
Wes Willenbring
Windmill

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
Chaos.Lovers
Cryosphere
Hub: 2004-2005
Rufs
Satoshi Tomiie

3" /7" /10"/12"/EPs
Agnes
AM/PM
Arctic Sunrise
Audion
Characterize 1
Dartriix
Death is Nothing To Fear
Don't Be A Stranger
Einóma
Fusiphorm
Heartthrob
Human Nature
Infant Cycle / Antmanuv
Lilienweiss
Luci
Mauve
Paco Osuna
Ben Parris
Carola Pisaturo
Portable
Sutekh
System
Aoki Takamasa
Cortney Tidwell
Andy Vaz

Blotnik Brothers: Mizuage
Satamile

There's a fine line separating ‘derivation' and ‘imitation,' a line The Blotnik Brothers (Swedish electro producers Martin Rasberg, Roberto Mensa, and Patrick Casey) sometimes cross on Mizuage: though there's nothing wrong with wearing influences on one's sleeve, the group's premiere full-length occasionally sounds a bit too much like Kraftwerk for its own good. The Düsseldorf legends' catalogue is plundered, for example, in “Schlag Prallt Auf Rmx”: after a promising electro-swing intro, a Radioactivity-styled voice emerges, followed by ascending Computerworld patterns and a brooding synth line much like the epic theme in “Trans Europe Express”; in addition, the closing seconds of “Don't Worry You Won't Dissolve” directly quotes the ‘train' rhythm in “Trans Europe Express,” and a Kraftwerk-styled melody streams over charging electro breaks in “Works Original.”

Thankfully, The Blotnik Brothers' act includes more than just impersonations. The group impresses on “In Technology We TRUST” and “Starforce Exodus” when it breaks away from its forebears and gives its electro sound a harder industrial edge that pushes it towards breakcore. Mizuage also features forays into electro-acid (“Meta Data”), a silken setting so smooth it verges on trance (“Fututure Visions”), and a somewhat less-enthralling Gothic outro (“LoVE Song”). Though such moments aren't completely satisfying, they suggest that The Blotnik Brothers' time and energy might be better spent on perfecting its own sound rather than paying homage to its more famous brethren.

April 2007

This review also appears in Grooves.