Having grown increasingly frustrated with a cold and stagnant techno scene, Cristian Vogel – whom you may remember as the man who provided the best Radiohead remix of all time in the form of “Remyxomatosis,” from the Com Lag EP – has joined forces with Kompakt’s ambient beauty Burbuja, ‘80s Berlin hardcore survivor Litte Mike “Fuzz” Herman, and a Chilean jazz student drummer who, by fate of sheer karma, just so happened to be studying his craft in their home base of Barcelona, all to kick out the mutha fuckin’ jams. Damned if Cristian doesn’t sound born to front a band.
Naturally, this band, the jewel of his creation, is an absolutely perfect fit for him. Vogel’s pointed, mood-setting vocals work the aural crevices of the atmospheric, angular post-rock pieces behind him, betwixt and between dirty Slacker field recordings, as though the man has been practicing his whole life for this one golden moment. To hear “Winter Wine” huddling around a warm center of a liquid funk bassline and static-effected drums, melding in and out with the forward and reversed sounds of broken glass, while chord patterns on a calmly recorded guitar back up the “taste of time” vocals note for note and mood for mood, is to know the very definition of art and, moreover, authentic creativity on a genius level.
The group’s collected experience at manipulating sounds and perfecting song construction makes this debut not only vastly interesting, but also unerringly polished without sacrificing the grunge-soul aesthetic they were going for and spectacularly achieved. Yes, it’s quite possible that one of the most passionate, invigorating, and artistically satisfying rock album of the year was produced by a bunch of techno freaks in Spain.