gullbuy music review

Apparat

title

Duplex

label

Shitkatapult

format
CD

Apparat CD coverApparat continue to mine the territory of broken and glitched electronics coupled with the organic and natural sounds of acoustic instruments on this full length album Duplex on the Shitkatapult label. Apparat, in fact is Sascha Ring, one of the men behind the Shitkatapult label, one of the greatest and most innovative labels in recent years which also houses artists such as Anders Ilar, Hakan Lidbo, Rechenzentrum, Kero and T. Raumschmiere. And while most of the artists on the label may over all be more consistent in their sound, Apparat is the one artist that goes out on a limb the most in his sound - at the same time that he attempts to appeal to a wider audience.

Apparat are that perfect mix of electronics and acoustic instruments and would fit right up there with other artists of this ilk like Múm. They would also fit right in with glitch artists like Autechre and Aphex Twin. Apparat are a happy middle ground between the two by combining the innovative techniques of the glitch artists and the personal nature of the personal electronic crowd.

Tracks like Granular Bastard, Steinholz, and Warm Signal are good examples of the way that Apparat combine natural sounding instruments like flute and saxophone with a powerful glitched rhythm. My favorite songs of this kind are Warm Signal, which has ambient piano plucking sounds with synth squabbles and could be right off an Eno ambient album; and Schallstrom which sounds like an electronic Laraaji with beats added to harp pluckings. Tracks like Negro Modello and Contradiction add vocals to the mix - sometimes just ambient background vocals (as in Negro Modello) or outright lead vocals (as in Contradiction) to fine effect and which adds a warmth to the entire album.

---Patrick, September 23, 2003