HOME

REVIEWS

SoundsXP Presents

Next show:

BAD FRIDAY!
Peluché,
Dead Coast,
Les Sueques,
Calva Louise,
Flights of Helios,
Videocean,
Dirty Blondes
+ SoundsXP DJs

The Windmill, Brixton
Good Friday, 14th April 2017
3pm till late

Buy tickets here

On Our iPod

Latest Forum Posts

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Album Review

Automat
Plusminus Bureau B

Article written by Ged M - Jun 25, 2015

Last April we reviewed their debut album and were impressed by this German dance music that drew on different styles like post-punk, industrial, techno and dub, with various guest singers. This follow up focuses on the latter styles to make 8 tracks of dubby and trancey space-pop with minimal vocals. For electronica, there’s much to admire, though mostly you’ll be admiring it though a haze of semi-consciousness, such is the hypnotic spell this music carries. ‘Plusminus’ is a powerful techno-tune with a mesmerising motorik rhythm while 'Achtung' is bass-heavy dub with whooshing synths that would sound agreeably fizzy on a hot day. Meanwhile ‘DMX15-80S’ is a glitschy space-age tune and ‘EMT140’ is long (7 minutes) of meditative space-shifting synth pop. Note how many of the tunes have musical meaning; ‘EMT140’ is a two metre long reverb plate while ‘H910’ is the model of harmoniser used on Bowie’s Low, here attached to a chilled and rhythmic Grace Jones-style dub.

It’s dense and machined like the first record but here the odd splice of techno and dub sounds addictively hypnotic. They still impress.

Links:
http://www.automatmusik.de/
http://www.bureau-b.com/automat.php
https://www.facebook.com/automatberlin