Atol Scrap (2021 Remaster)

Atol Scrap features a full hour of some of the most intriguing electronic listening music recorded during the late '90s. Uwe Zahn's productions balance two competing sides of electronics with apparent ease. On one side, the warm and inviting; on the other, the relentlessly technical and complex. There've been plenty of producers who've excelled at either heavily processed rhythms or haunted melodies (think Autechre and Boards of Canada, respectively), but Atol Scrap documents the emergence of that rare artist who displays astonishing skills at both. Zahn flashes his Berlin credentials with the calm, faraway ambience of "Scapen Te," similar to Chain Reaction producers like Monolake, Pole, and Porter Ricks. On several tracks ("Norvum," "Revart Amx"), though, he experiments with complex rhythms, revealing ties to the growing crowd of DSP (digital signal processing) artists led by Autechre and Oval. In a way listeners could hardly have imagined, Arovane has it both ways and doesn't cave to either side. ~ John Bush