Animals, Suns & Atoms

Q (6/00, p.116) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Simultaneously sad, deadpan and uplifting....minimalist beats, insectoid percussion, BBC Radio Workshop-stlye whooshes and elliptical imagery....Utterly mesmeric." Magnet (8-9/00, pp.92-3) - "...Brilliant....filled with otherworldly electronic sounds." The Wire (6/00, p.58) - "...Evading the twin logics of darkness and heaviness...[the album] secretes disquiet within melody until you're humming along to the sound of crack-up, playing back the harmonies of despair." CMJ (5/22/00, p.28) - "...Dubby hip-hop grooves, live instrumentation, and conventional song structures remain the key human ingredients of the pair's audio collage....accessible, yet no less unusual." Melody Maker (5/9/00, p.52) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[They] have allowed the grooves to bubble up softly....[They] have lightened up and found a whole new spray of emotions to explore. Love them - they deserve it." Mojo (Publisher) (6/00, p.97) - "...A classic pop record - albeit a strange kind....showing more sophistication and pop warmth than ever." NME (Magazine) (4/29/00, p.34) - 8 out of 10 - "...They grab your attention [and] abduct it, brainwashing you in their unique sonic chamber of dub, benignly insidious loops, rhythm box patter and repetitions....engaging and alien, accessible and opaque..."

Tarwater's Animals, Suns & Atoms is yet another frequently fascinating LP from the Berlin duo, a combination of odd sounds and rhythms overlaid with a quintessentially European sense of decadent pop classicism. As on Silur, the sound is closer to Krautrock or dub than straight-ahead electronics; most tracks have heavily echoed down-tempo drum programs with guitar pickings, spare piano lines, and various unrecognizable samples creating a dense backing. There's also a preponderance of vocal tracks; though occasionally endearing (check "All of the Ants Left Paris"), Lippok's vocals are hit-or-miss, and a few excellent productions are weighed down by his monotone Lou Reed fixation. Still, the Ween-on-Ecstasy style of "Early Risers" makes it a highlight, and though Animals, Suns & Atoms isn't an immediately rewarding album, the duo's skewed, ambitious production aesthetic makes more sense after several listens. ~ John Bush