Westen


Tracklisting
a1: Westen
b1: Spanish Techno
b2: Westen
(HdR-Remix by AG Penthouse feat. C&P)



Westen animated (flash)
by metaforma werkstätte 2004
BUS   Westen

˜Scape 10
12" Vinyl - mar 02

After a sneak preview on staedtizism 2, the scape compilation assembling a wide range of well-known electronic artists touched by jazz harmonies and dub approaches, bus, a project by Daniel Meteo and Tom Thiel, has devised a unique formula to expand this medium. Like a chemical reaction they have synthesised a brand new alloy from pop and dub, leaving no obvious traces of the original input.

Given a fictitious audio microscope much would be unveiled about the astonishing variety of noises and rhythmic shifts hidden under the bonnet of a comfortably purring bass drum. Bus deal in subtleties: you won1t find direct stylistic references or even discernible samples on either "Westen" or "Spanish Techno". Preferring the file to the crowbar dub marks the boundaries of soundscapes where slickly grooving, atypical noises adopt the rhythmic patterns of a hiphop beat and undoubtedly reggae-based guitar picks merge into subliminal streams. This is music which, as Meteo suggests, would feel at home on a club1s second dance floor - a place less concerned with forced exhilaration or the need to dance, but with fresh and open listening approaches.

AG Penthouse's (aka Jörg Burger & Antonelli Electric aka Popup) HdR-remix, too, is reminiscent of a chemical treatment: the recovery and isolation of elements. While Bus prefer to hide pop references, AG Penthouse do no shy away from experimenting with its heart-wrenching qualities, creating space pop more than a Cologne-Düsseldorf divide away from similar approaches favoured by the likes of Air. AG Penthouse uncover beauty and surround it with bizarre psychedelica - somewhere between track and song they have created room for an ecstatically idiosyncratic piece of music.

Daniel Meteo studied music, played with dub reggae band Submission and has his hand in more than a few Berlin club activities. As Meteo he spins Jamaican Vinyl to enthusiastic dancehall crowds and runs his rather more traditional dub label under the same moniker.

Tom Thiel, too, has a history: Together with Max Loderbauer he founded downtempo electronica project Sun Electric, later spawning S.E. Berlin. In this city he is a member of the Ocean Club, a loose association of artists and musicians around Gudrun Gut and Thomas Fehlmann.