Rebellion Der Traumer

With the soft, metallic melody and static bursts of "Affekt" beginning Rebellion Der Traumer, Kollektiv Turmstrasse begin with a certain kind of classic electronic approach of matching extremes, something the fuller-bodied beat and swirled vocal samples extend as the album continues. At points, there is almost a feeling of how Seefeel's transformation into a more explicitly electronic act has had an eventual impact throughout time; the crisp clatter of beats and moody tones (along with sudden cymbal splashes) on "Sphare" builds on that group's explorations in sonics. At the same time, there's also a more formal air of classically inspired romanticism, thanks to string and piano parts on songs like "Was Bleibt" that call to mind the work of arrangers like Craig Armstrong, passionate and with half an eye on a film screen; other moments are more gentle and approachable ways around poppy electronic moodiness, but always with an ear for swooning elegance, as "Schwindelig" illustrates best of all. The occasional vocal parts that emerge throughout the album feel less like guest appearances than they do unexpected musical touches, extra elements added to careful arrangements, as on "Deine Distanz," with its arrangement-stopping break from a female voice insisting to an unknown person that he or she "will never forget me." Throughout the album, the longer, more formal compositions are interspersed with shorter ones identified as "Dazwischen" with a number; as interstitials they're often very lovely, like the watery bubble of "Dazwischen 3" smoothly leading into "Uneins" and its echoed, plaintive singing, in turn shifting into half-spoken half-slurred mysteriousness behind a dubstep-touched break. ~ Ned Raggett