“Great and loud EDM Back to Future II is a good fusion between the Berlin School of the Brainwork way and the inciting rhythms of Element 4”
1 Green Lake 15:02 2 Rollout to Future 15:01 3 Polymorphin 13:52 4 Berlin Bass 14:44 Cue-Records
(CD 59:52) ) (V.F.) (EDM, Berlin School)
Brainwork had broken a long silence of 6 years in 2003 with the release of Back to Future. Uwe Saher mixed remarkably his contagious and deafening rhythms of his alter ego Element 4 to movements of rhythms and to vibes stolen to the roots of Berlin School. BACK TO FUTURE II continues in this vein, going even farther with long musical acts where the kind of Trance'n'Dance wears out prematurely our floors while making the neighbors rage. Chronicle of an album which inevitably will please to those who appreciate, without sparing their ears, the kind of Electronica served a la Jean Michel Jarre sauce.
We are fast taken by surprise by the very ambiospherical and chthonian approach of Green Lake. Pushes of wind that make shout dust reveals its first seconds. Somber sinuous synth lines hide hoarse breaths of which the reverberations spread a vampiric bass line. The symbiosis between these two elements creates the perfect illusion that we are in the cave of one dark forest where resound bells of a not too welcoming church. Luciferian choirs amplify this impression when techno beatings knock down the vapor. A delicate melody reveals its magnetizing loops when the rhythm explodes even more with boom-boom and tchak-tchak which resound madly, and in our ears and under our feet. Very hammering, the structure of Green Lake remains not less delicious with good synth solos and cosmic effects. Avoiding impressively the traps of repetition and a possible effect of tiredness, Brainwork reworks his structure for a livelier, kind of furious electronic gallop, while maintaining the charms of the Berlin School with this short line of melody which returns haunting us ceaselessly and the agile fingers on a synth which forge beautiful allegorical pirouettes. This is a very good Berlin School melted in a Dance Music on a Rave party! Effects of desolation and Mephistophelian vibes crisscrossed in cosmic effects are the source of inspiration of the opening of Rollout to Future. A splendid and catchy line of sequences pierces this intriguing fog a few seconds after the point of 3 minutes. The movement spreads beautiful twists which coil up in the oblivion. Quirky effects and a bass line on the point to bite bring this skeleton of rhythm towards the ceaseless hammering of the percussions. Far from being common, it was the first impression that came to mind in front of this Düsseldorf structure, Rollout to Future is a little mine of charms with its subtle nuances in the hammering of the rhythm and especially these angelic choirs which are the beginnings of very nice fluty melody. And always these soloes of synth that Uwe Saher throws with a fascinating melodious approach. I hook to it after one or two listening and I finally liked it. My sweet angel Lise found that noisy but very lively, energetic. The boom-boom and the tchak-tchak are livelier, noisier and more accelerated in Polymorphin whose main charms are the kicking of sequences as so furious as Chris Franke liked to create and these effects of orchestrations which filled the structures of Dance Music in the 70-80 years. After an introduction poured into an apocalyptic world, Berlin Bass distances itself from deafening rhythms of BACK TO FUTURE II with a nice fusion between Berlin School and Drums'n'Bass, like in Back to Future in 2003. The sequences ring like keys of xylophone which are hide in a dense sound fauna where we can hear an effect of organic and starved bass. The solos of synth are clearly more complex, less harmonious, bringing the evanescent melodies of Berlin Bass on the paths of a free jazz.
Great and loud EDM and especially very creative at the level of the movements of sequences and solos to the forms so contrary to the continuous hammering of the boom-boom and the tchak-tchak, BACK TO FUTURE II is a good fusion between the Berlin School of the Brainwork way and the inciting rhythms of Element 4. And this fusion possesses all the elements to please the fans of both styles, which are sometimes very opposite, and to those who like when Electronica invites itself in a noisy and contagious way in the sometimes too peaceful universe of the Berlin School. And I insist on saying that the solos of synth are wonderful with their sometimes very melodious approaches.
Sylvain Lupari (May 19th, 2017) ***½**
Available at Brainwork's webshop