www.manikin.de This 2002 CD offers a superb dose of powerful electronic music cut with lavish loyalty in the Berlin School style. Stately synthesizers generate elegant passages of dreamy substance. The electronics shimmer with chill-out predilection, slowbuilding structures of sound that spiral into dizzying heights as they cast off ingenious riffs and cosmic textures. Each passage leads to a higher level, further ecstatic sonic plateaus that reveal even loftier altitudes ahead. Hints of synthesized cello and violin often overtake the liquid keyboard pastiche, attributing somber flavors to the heavenly ascent. A solid presence of lively E-perc accompanies these mesmerizing electronic melodies, injecting pep and propulsion to the flowing pulsations. Intricate and complimentary, these rhythms ingratiate themselves with the harmonic physiology. There are occasions where the percussion adopts a commanding control of the composition, plunging everything into a desperate realm of extreme gravity comparable to immense mountains in penultimate collision. This CD's 71 minutes are divided into three tracks (a pair of 28-minute pieces, and a single one measuring just over 13 minutes), allowing the music to unfold gradually, accreting demonstrative layers that combine with remarkable force to achieve head-spinning crescendos with numerous transcendent peaks along the way. (www.soniccuriosity.com)