Brockmann Bargmann - Licht - Bureau B - Out Now
Those familiar with artful noise rock from Germany will recognise the names Timm Brockmann and Franz Bargmann as founder-members of the visercal Camera. Here the pair team up for a rather more languid electronic experience on the instrumental Licht, employing just one other musician, Automat's drummer Achim Farber who lends his tribal tendencies to the rumbling epic Schatten.
Elsewhere though, Brockmann and Bargmann employ mainly synthesizers and modulators to produce a less experimental and more cohesive album than some of the most recent Bureau B releases. Reminiscent of the more ambient side of work by The Field, Fuck Buttons, Pyrolator, Automat, Steve Hillage and Jon Hopkins, Licht is a melange of fidgety robotic rhythms, sprawling drones, icy melodies and a few compositional references to the celebrated Sky label of the '70s and '80s.
Although improvisation lies at the very heart of this album, there is also structure. Spektrum glistens beautifully, Deepmind pulsates with purpose and Softarps is Brockmann and Bargmann's very own rainbow dome music. By the time things get settled, we retrun to brute-force electronics on the last pairing of Puls and Hyper, the latter track being divided into two unsettling parts some fifteen minutes apart. One of Bureau B's best releases for some time and well worth picking up. 8/10
Elsewhere though, Brockmann and Bargmann employ mainly synthesizers and modulators to produce a less experimental and more cohesive album than some of the most recent Bureau B releases. Reminiscent of the more ambient side of work by The Field, Fuck Buttons, Pyrolator, Automat, Steve Hillage and Jon Hopkins, Licht is a melange of fidgety robotic rhythms, sprawling drones, icy melodies and a few compositional references to the celebrated Sky label of the '70s and '80s.
Although improvisation lies at the very heart of this album, there is also structure. Spektrum glistens beautifully, Deepmind pulsates with purpose and Softarps is Brockmann and Bargmann's very own rainbow dome music. By the time things get settled, we retrun to brute-force electronics on the last pairing of Puls and Hyper, the latter track being divided into two unsettling parts some fifteen minutes apart. One of Bureau B's best releases for some time and well worth picking up. 8/10