SVEN SCHIENHAMMER - Altostratus Translucidus

No question about it: this is the year of techno, in every possible flavor. The square-edged kind from Surgeon, the plasticky one from Black Dog, the more house-oriented strain from Omar S, the nocturnal dub of Deepchord, on stratospheric form across the EPs and the live set under the cv313 name; not to mention the tightrope-walking of Morphosis, Planetary Assault System or Martyn, without forgetting Maceo Plex. In short, great things, both from newcomers and veterans.

Sven Schienhammer is none other than an aka of mr. Quantec. Which is a bit like being a wild animal and staking out a territory. Quantec rhymes with dub-techno, that's his turf. And his alias confirms the coordinates. But this isn't that dry, straight-up 4/4 dub, it's muffled and softer. Sven's cut aims for a lunar nocturne. The sounds come out limpid, lit up in the night.

The pneumatic void ("Monosubstituted") throws open the doors to desolate visions, of frozen lands with zero forms of life. "Back Into Here & Now" takes the shape of a scene out of the most cryptic and sinister Lynch. And while "Future Life" genuinely opens the way to the melting of the ice, in a movement not far removed from the Vladislav Delay of "Anima", the icebreaker that goes by the name of "Sound Signals For Other Planets" runs into the first ripples, the first isolated docks offshore.

The beat then starts to push through, slow but steady. The hallucinatory trip of "Night Over Mojave Desert" sublimates everything around it: a nocturnal intro, lunar warmth that gathers heat and lends sheen to the beat that tiptoes in and raises a gentle wall. The totality of the "night over the Mojave desert" warms itself in the sensual embrace of "Being Immersed In Another World", while the live excerpt "Shimmering Dreams" brings back an impalpable sound, one that slips from the touch, and tackles a sugar-coated beat.

At just the right moment, though, Sven pushes forward and shifts gear: "When Night Meets Day" marks the move to a more assertive, sun-drenched techno, with a drier 4/4 and a head-nodding pulse. Bringing the listen back to a more dub-nocturnal cut is the closing "The Helical Risings Of Aldebaran".

In short, Schienhammer has built an album made for compulsive late-night listening in the car. It's not an outstanding record – it has a few generally flat stretches – but it does its job remarkably well.

Ride the wave of great music

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06/11/2011