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

Dominik Eulberg: Heimische Gefilde
Traum

Rare for a ‘techno' album, Dominik Eulberg's Heimische Gefilde (translation: ‘Native Habitat') is a concept album which pairs ten spoken word introductions with eleven full-fledged musical pieces. Taking off from the ‘wild-life techno' style of his Flora & Fauna debut, Eulberg's latest release reveals the huge impact nature sounds have had upon his music-making. In the interludes, Eulberg takes the listener on an ‘acoustic walk' through his personal woodland and its assortment of birds (Spotted Woodpecker, Eagle Owl, Great Northern Diver, Nightingale, Tawny Owl) and insects (Red Wood Ant, Field Cricket, Spruce Bark Beetle). The interludes set the stage for the tracks that follow, such that a description of the Yellow-Bellied Toad segues into the rollicking swizzle and guttural croak of “Die Rotbauchunken vom Tegernsee” (“The Fire-Bellied Toad from the Tegernsee”). Still, though the introductory settings are informative, non-German-speaking listeners may find that, once past the initial run-through, they start to resemble intrusive commercials that arrest an otherwise splendid program's flow. They hardly negate the album, however, as without them, the eleven cuts still total almost seventy minutes.

The musical tracks are uniformly strong and coolly propulsive, all of them meticulously constructed and refined exemplars of contemporary techno artistry, and varied too, with Eulberg individuating them with an occasional voice sample (“I think you're afraid of letting go / And this is starting to excite me” in “Afraid of Seeing Stars?”), drum solo spotlight (“Die Rotbauchunken vom Tegernsee”), and acid devilry (“Gasthof “Zum satten Bass””). “Der Hecht im Karpfenteich” (“The Pike in the Carp Pond”) even pairs Theremin warble with a singing synth figure one might have heard in “Autobahn” while “Die Alpenstrandläufer von Spiekeroog,” with its sprightly melodies, romping bass, and snappy strut, sounds especially sweet. There's also bouncy microhouse (“Adler”), an incandescent raver (“Der Buchdrucker”), and a churning banger graced with a chiming firefly melody and percussive flourishes (“Björn Borkenkäfer”). Album closer “Stelldichein des Westerwälder Vogelchores” (“Tryst of the Westerwälder Bird Choir”) pushes the concept to its logical extreme with Eulberg assembling the ‘acoustic' techno track's bass drum, hi-hats, snare, and percussion entirely from bird sounds (Great Bittern, Chiffchaff, Rook, Black Woodpecker, etc.). 'Ornithological techno,' anyone?

April 2007