Labels: kompakt
Review by: Chris Bress
Markus Guentner first impressed me on some Kompakt compilation. It was lush ambient with enough song structure to not only listen to when your zonked out. Suprisingly enough the main tune on here is a straight up glammy techno number like Rex the Dog et al. It thumps along in a playful manner and is quite fun in a camp “carry on” kind of way.
The b-side loses the glitch / glam edge of the a-side, it deconstructs it until its a solitary synth wavering around you. Much like a lot of the material on their “pop ambient” compilations, this is highly effective. The cracks and pops behind the walls of ambience brought Christian Fennesz into play as well as some Biosphere’s work. Although both Fennesz and Biosphere were recalled whilst listening to Markus Guentner’s ambient works the material is less processed. Its easier going, and certainly moves away from the hardcore ambience of someone like William Basinski and ends up sounding like the solo chord work on that ambient Boards of Canada track on their last 12″ EP.