Reviewed by Eric Saeger
German DJ Apparat is ambient fetishist Sascha Ring, co-owner of IDM/techno specialty label Shitkatapult. Knowing this now, you may be shocked to learn that his contribution to the DJ-Kicks series is comprised mostly of ambient techno with broad hints of IDM. A study in hypnosis through repetition, this album finds Apparat submerged thousands of leagues under the hearing-test-pattern sea, putting forth such big names as Burial (with Four Tet, on Moth, comprised of a progressive house pattern massaged by a warm-toned half-written alien-visitation melody) and Thom Yorke (sounding more Bono than usual on Harrowdown Hill), with appearances by Vincent Markowski (whose cavitating, more deep-house-ish The Madness of Moths has only its title simpatico with its lead-in from the aforementioned Burial joint) and Telefon Tel Aviv (Lengthening Shadows, a look at what MGMT might sound like captured on Martian radar). Apparat has been accused of being scattershot in his approach, but many artists can relate to the sometimes bipolar nature of what turns them on – frankly I don’t see anything all that non-linear about this collection, and can certainly recommend it as a state-of-the-art mix.
Grade: A
