"bionaut" is one of the projects of juergen burger, from cologne. other
projects of his include "burger industries" and "harlot". the last track of
the cd (sascha the flower thief) also surfaces on a twelve inch the title
of which i can't remember right now (ask again for more) by burger
industries, on the "structure" label which is also cologne-based and run
(if i'm correct, but there's such a lot of joint-venturing going on that i
can't really be wrong) by him and mike ink, mike ink being responsible for
tracks 3, 6 and 7 (moral sculpture, coral caves, monologue 1). it seems
your cd has a cover different from mine, if it doesn't credit mike ink. to
me, the ethik cd comes as a somewhat obscure release (btw someone one this
list (i believe) has also done a ftp-able review (pete? jon?)); here
(germany) those two are more famous for their acid/hardcore/breakbeat
stuff, basically on structure/mono tone/force inc., which is not to say
that they haven't been doing more housy tracks like these before; rather,
in what scene those would be located/surfacing in.
that's what i know right now.
though i find the cd a little boring (myself being on the harder and
*faster* side of techno) - they're mostly centered around just one hook per
track - i do like the cd, it's cool and pleasant, only track 3 is a bit
irritating. and i think track one and six (the tulip theme, trump tower)
are standing out (hoping that you don't think these are "the one or so duff
ones"). for those of you who read books, one track goes by the name "p.
bateman"; if there is a way to write music to this title that's not just
too embarrasing then it's in the detached manner that is employed here.
i understand german techno beyond vath (read "fate") (... with "a umlaut";
germans insert an "e" when dots on vowels aren't available) ...beyond vaeth
is hardly existent in the states, so i'm glad bionaut has made the voyage.
in fact, vaeth is somewhat suspect for many people here because he's known
rather well outside germany (not to mention inside), and dismissed for
being on the more commercial side, serving the market by sounding just like
what people who think germany is basically kraftwerk and tangerine dream
would expect. it's just not really cool to play vaeth, though of course one
does (...that dolphin video is great). but i, for one, would rather see
exported releases from force inc. (than from harthouse/eye q); theirs would
be several degrees harder though, impossible for the westcoast, but their
kind is innovative and "concious", and thus would go well under
"intelligent", imho. some of the idm subscribers in britain might know some
of it, as there is a british sublabel that releases some of their material.
thanks for your time on this.
p.