This was labeled by the record store guy "Thomas Brinkmann" but on the
whole this CD is pretty mysterious.
"Soul Center*" is a division of W.v.B.
Is all the labeling on the CD. No actual production credits given...
This CD is a collection of brinkmann/brinkmann-esque perpetual motion
tracks. Everything is anchored by a 120bpm 4 to floor kick, but the
method here is to build a deconstructed version of funk music from
short samples of 70's funk records.
I'm a sucker for this sort of thing -- I love a lot of Thomas Brinkmann
because he seems to have taken a very dry, intellectual analysis of techno
and minimalism and stretched it to it's absurd logical conclusion. Like
someone's comment that Kraftwerk are "so stiff they're funky," the tracks
here use a combination of endless repetition alongside slow buildups
and breakdowns to build sneaky subliminal grooves.
The use of samples from old records changes the character of this music
from the normal Brinkmann stuff, which is based on a hermetically sealed
set of abstract machine sounds. Repeated endlessly, the gospel hum of
"Honey" (Sweet Honey in the Rock, maybe?) detaches from it's original
context and becomes an abstract chunk of sound. The vinyl surface noise
through repetition becomes a gentle sandpapery internal rhythm.
All in all a very listenable collection of cool tracks, highly recommended.
kent williams -- kent@avalon.net