Not Reggae
Ziggy Kinder - Paarartistik
Germany again: this time pointing the critical robot-gaze at the Ware label and their Ziggy Kinder. Kinder showed up on Ware in 2004, and has released a handful of successful 12"s since then, but now he's got a full-length, his first, on the way.
The new album, titled Akrobatik, comes out next month, and it has the best song titles, ALL in German - for example "Bienchen, Gib Mir Honig!" which I think means "(female) Bee, give me honey!" Or how about "Salti Tutti?" Or "Viel Bass & Wenig Hund" meaning "a lot of Bass and a little Dog," from his most recent EP. I mean, since I don't actually speak German, but I do know how to pronounce it (I happened to grow up in a house with a fair amount of German spoken in it) these great, long song titles like "Augenblicksposer" or "Glücksbotenstoff" crack me up and are lots of fun to say.
Did I mention the music? Deep, fairly minimal techno, and all so well assembled. The grooves and melodies Kinder comes up with are all over the place, and every time I've put this album on, I find my ear catching something new in each song. There are tons of subtle things going on in each of the thirteen slinky tracks on Akrobatik but I thought "Paaratistik" was one of the most interesting, as well as one of the most bumping - note ridiculously deep bass, the growling synths, the breakdown, around 3:15 or so, where everything but the fuzz-ing of one the synths just falls out, it turns a little more square-wave-y, then it all comes creeping back in one element at a time. Basically this guy is a techno craft-master. Also definitely check out "Der Trick Mit Der Kick" for synthy madness.
So you heads out there, go and buy Akrobatik when it comes out next month! See our friends at Forced Exposure (US) or your favorite indie dance music retailer for physical copies, or download the album from Beatport, or from the Kompakt MP3 site since Ware falls under the Kompakt distribution umbrella. Also see the Ware 'gigs' page for Kinder's dates around Europe, ie: this Saturday, he's playing a live set at this Ware-showcase night in Basel (Switzerland) at Presswerk that looks fun.
PS: Don't forget to enter the Streets-themed contest for Intonation Festival passes!