Curve

Esteemed German producer Frank Bretschneider returns with a much more casual second album for Mille Plateaux. His debut, Rand, found him supposedly employing "spatial metamorphic rhythm patterns" that resulted from a "computer-based, modulated synthesizer system." Despite all the highbrow, academic jargon, the album was pretty boring. Fortunately, this time around you don't need to read a user's manual or study the philosophy of contemporary music to enjoy Curve. It's a fairly straightforward album that slowly evolves from clicky austere ambience into ambient dub by the halfway point. The fact that this album actually has beats and noticeable rhythms makes it instantly more listenable than his debut, and, furthermore, the fact that he seems to have a firm grasp on how to sequence them in such a mesmerizing manner makes this, in fact, engaging and worth returning to. The album just kind of meanders around in ambience until "Sat," where the sparse dub bassline comes in. From here, the album flows rather well until its conclusion. If you have the patience to wade through the near-nothingness that precedes this latter half, it only makes your listening experience all the more enjoyable, as you're practically starved for some rhythm or even just a beat by the time you reach "Sat." The nonstop mix from one track to the next adds to the album's atmospheric quality, making it a truly suturing listen much in the spirit of the better Mille Plateaux albums. ~ Jason Birchmeier