简介
“Seeds” is the second Nullgrad album, and quite a step onward for them. Possibly the label’s boldest foray into techno territory yet, it charts new territories of deep, heartfelt electronic music, always on the verge of club-compatibility and superb home listening. Whereas the Nullgrad debut “The Shepherd’s Satellite” featured upfront rhythms and strong Industrial flavours, the follow-up is quite another cup of tea with the only obvious link being the trademark space atmospheres featured throughout the album. The leitmotifs of “Seeds” are Buddhist monks’ chants and the sounds of weather – not samples, but actual field recordings taken by Matthias on his extensive travels of Southeast Asia, giving the album an attractive uniqueness. The backbone of “Seeds” though is the rhythm, bouncy Techno beats in the 120 bpm range - and the groove of all grooves. Understated and distinguished, Nullgrad explores various styles of related origin: Consider the elastic Dub Techno of “Ascent” or “Departure”, reverb and kick in the right and tight combination, or the Minimal Techno of “Reveal” with its slightly grinding basslines and the sublime bleeps. “Realize” marks a recurrence of classic Electro influence, including the robotic vocoder voice. The moody “Once” and the more uptempo “Insight” draw from the mid-90s transitory genre of Intelligent Techno, a time and age when compository sophistication and physical effect were no contradiction in Techno music. “Detach” stands out as the fastest track of the album in which tribal beats meet urging chants, picked up and reworked in the following track “Reborn”. The title track perfectly sums the album up by exhibiting the previous elements again. “Seeds” works perfectly as a listening entity, nevertheless each track stands strong on its own as well; moreover, each track leaves you the choice – home listening or DJ use? – and isn’t that just the very best you can say about a techno album?
