“In all simplicity, The Pool Concert proposes a quiet minimalist structure of which the delicate beat will haunt your sense of Groove”
1 Berlin Zwei 35:54 Manikin | MRCD 8008
(EP/CD/DDL 35:54) (V.F.) (New Berlin School, Electronica)
Harmonious electronic chirpings sparkle in a tumult which arises from bass tones and from cosmic elements where the sounds change of forms and of colors. These sounds crumble the seconds of the Berlin Zwei introduction and are caught up by sleepy layers which float such as caresses of ether. Shadows of synth are zigzaging like spectral laments over this fauna of tones spiced of organic flavors, amplifying an ambient crescendo which dissipates when the first measures of rhythm of Berlin Zwei spread a minimalist pattern where a line of sequences lies down a mid-tempo which hiccups like an intergalactic cha-cha to which one would have removed some measures. Recorded in Stadtbad Steglitz in August 2008 in Berlin, THE POOL CONCERT is the 2nd part of Berlin, this long title of 50 minutes which nested on the Analog Overdose-The Road Movie DVD released in 2012. Here the rhythm is more nuanced and less edgy. A little less livened up I would say but always so harmoniously hypnotic.
The first 30 minutes which follow this introduction of cosmic atmospheres dive into a delicate rhythm of which the jumps in series is of use as basis to the addition of pretty good elements of percussions, as well as effects of percussions which adorn the tranquility of this rhythm which makes dance our neurons while leaving a full latitude to the beatitude. The synth frees good effects but also charming and very ethereal solos which roll in loops and sometimes take the forms of guitar tones, fooling an ear which wonders if Lutz Graf-Ulbrich is as present as his shade which glides over the harmonies of Berlin Zwei. There is not much to say about this mini album because nothing is really happening here. The music is always beautiful in its repetitive envelope. And Fanger & Schönwälder shows magic by injecting a mass of dissimilar tones and nuances to the level of the harmonies which adorn the 36 minutes of THE POOL CONCERT. And in the end, one wonders if it's really the end which strikes at the door or emptiness so much that Berlin Zwei flows with all the musical sweetness that the German duet accustomed to us since the first Analog Overdose in 2001. This maybe not a major work but it joins faithfully the register of Fanger & Schönwälder.
Sylvain Lupari (June 6th, 2016) *****
Available at Manikin's Bandcamp