Disquiet

Another day, another international netlabel with deep archives. The Germany-based Stadtgruenlabel has been doing free monthly releases of minimal techno all this year. And though much of it is more techno than minimal, more chunka chunka than sublime churn, an initial tour of its catalog reveals various items to recommend. There’s “Desko,” off Dataman‘s six-track Abstrahism, the label’s fourth release, which shifts its various paces against each other in ways that confuse the mind’s ear about foreground and background. Yatsuo Motoki‘s “Offshore,” from the five-track Circular Motion set, eventually achieves loungey sameness, but how it gets there is worth experiencing, a slow build from silence to metronomic sheen. And of course, if chunka chunka is your flavor, then download the label’s eighth and most recent album, Frank Biedermann‘s eager-to-please Wookie Woods. Check them all out at stadtgruenlabel.net.

By Marc Weidenbaum