Iffy

Recondite (aka Lorenz Brunner) is a German composer/producer and his new album‘Iffy’ stands out from the ranks of modern minimalist techno by virtue of its maker’srich and fertile imagination. This ten track set makes for interesting and satisfyinglistening given the relatively small number of machines employed in bringing it to life.Simple works well in the right hands and Herr Brunner’s economically structuredand uncluttered inventions don’t have to work too hard to put us in the mood to dance.Some of the numbers have a curiously old-fashioned charm in a Sputnik-meets-Telstarkind-of way; music for a long space station sojourn; the Earth below, a giant blue marble.(Alternatively it would work just as well in some of Berlin’s seedier subterranean nightspots).Standout tracks include opener ‘Baro’ which, after a brooding introduction, finds a nicelittle groove (loving the deep, deep bassline!) shot through with furtive melodic synthdecorations. There’s a lot to love about ‘Levo’ too whose main melodic motif broughtBasement Jaxx’ ‘Where’s Your Head At’ to mind but stripped down to the bare bones.‘Duolo’ is a somewhat more Mephistophelian affair with its brooding rumbles and burpssuggesting a giant unnameable creature in considerable discomfort having eaten all theinhabitants of a small town in Gloucestershire at one sitting. A bad case of electro-indigestion.‘Steady’, on the other hand’ is almost pretty in comparison; Beauty replacing The Beast.There’s nothing remotely Iffy about ‘Iffy’ at all. It certainly gets a big thumbs-up from me!Recommended.