PRICE:
$15.50
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Kobol
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
AREAL 005CD AREAL 005CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
9/27/2005

As quickly as electronic music changes, at least the thread of quality from one strand to the next is constant. Labels like Kompakt, Traum and Trapez have long carried the banner of funky minimalism, and as can be expected a new riser is here: Areal. After releasing the stunning Blondie CD from Ada, Areal returns with its second full-length. It so happens it is from the head of the label, Michael Schwanen. And Michael is Metope, and Metope is the new techno captain. It only makes sense Metope comes from the Greek architectural definition meaning "between the openings" because that is where Schwanen works his magic. Metope has mastered the distance between beats, drawing in tweaks, warm pads and jilting statics. As in "Superimbat," which conducts techno much in the way Isolée conducts house: as a shifting, gathering electronic zephyr. And yet there are softer sounds like "Alm Realm," which could be seen easily on a Morr Music compilation. Metope out-pitches Superpitcher with "I'm So Ready," a 6+ minute stonker that is covered in hi-hat tinsel and shifts currents like El Niño. And who can overlook "Tilt," the 10-minute opus (and CD-only bonus track). Appropriately named: as it totters, it grinds out fuzzy/gilded harmonic dreams. The evolution of electronic music is as inevitable as sunset. Metope is simply the latest to confront the cutting edge and peer over. What is next who can say, but live with Metope while you are here, and, at night, stare at the space between the stars.