Info Label: Alpha House Rel. date: Mar 08 Cat No: Alpha 10 Reviewer: Adam Slowinski Reviewed: 01st Mar 08 Format: CD Rating: Tracklisting Collapse A Rave Mistake (Remix) Hallucinate From The Beginning Wanderer I Didn'T Know Reflection Player

Despite a discography that is stellar to say the very least, Andrew Rasse is one a few not fully appreciated representatives of the new wave of American techno artists. The St. Louis born producer’s output was never in the limelight as much as some his fellow countrymen (like Troy Pierce and Marc Houle, for example), which really is a shame because most of the time he had just as much – if not more – to offer listeners musically.

Bored to death by everything that is labelled minimal nowadays, I had my reservations about this album, as if forgetting that there still are minimal producers out there that don’t stop at recycling the same old ideas again and again. Fortunately, Butane is one of those artists and with ‘Becoming’ he proves that minimal can be something more than samey sounding, watered down clickity clackity dancefloor mush. Every track on the album is well thought out construction-wise. Although some of the sounds and patterns may grow tiresome after some closer listening, the way in which he built all seven tracks deserves nothing but praise. ‘I Didn’t Know’ and album opener ‘Collapse’ are probably the best examples. Raw, stripped back, but at the same time not lacking small surprises, expected and unexpected twists and turns they slowly and gradually uncover their charm.

All in all, ‘Becoming’ is yet another example that good music will always speak for itself, regardless of the amount of hype or bad press surrounding it.

Comments[0]
Post a comment

Alpha House (USA)