Apparat – Walls

Are those violins I hear at the start of Apparat's _Walls_? Indeed, the album as a whole is a step forward from _Duplex_, more complex and more emotionally charged. The violins that introduced "Not a Number" recur on "Useless Information," accompanied with some new friends. The dark and funky "Hailin from the Edge" and the icy grooves of "Holdon" both benefit from Raz Ohara's terse vocals. But the beautifully glittering "Fractales, Pt. I" and the haunting "Arcadia" stand out the most, particularly with Ohara's dreamy vocals in service of the moody melodies. An excellent release.

Apparat is a German electronic music producer that i first noticed about 3 years ago following a recommendation by a friend that knows her shit.
It was Apparat's Duplex album that hit me hard with it's hectic yet organised soundscapes that amazed me with the attention to small sounds that Sasha is so well known for. Since that Duplex album Sasha released a collaboration album with Ellen Alien which didn't really catch my ears because it was too much dancefloor oriented in my eyes than his previous more experimental material. So although i approached this release with a grain of skepticism as soon as i found about this album i quickly purchased this album on Beatport.
So what do we have here? Pretty surprising outcome by all means. This album is much more stripped down version of the Apparat that i fell in love with but i guess that the insane sound editing and small glitches were replaced by lots of melodies and walls of strings which gives this album a very cinematic feeling at parts. The album features many vocal tunes that actually fit very well (after the initial shock that is). Raz Ohara contributes with his very unique and warm voice that hints remotely Thom Yorke's melancholy. Those tunes have a Hip Hop rhythm but don't let this shock you cause it really sounds cool, as hard to believe as it is.
Personally it took me almost one month to grasp this one, overcoming the undeniable Soul and Hip Hop influences that some tracks here display. I mean, IDM with Hip Hop, wasn't it the worse idea ever? Not here it isn't.

Bottom line:
Weird album, masterful production with really touching melodies in a few tunes and some really cool songs that you'd prefer on Radio over the shit they feed you.

After hearing Apparat's "Arcadia" on the recent Fabric 34 by his friend and collaborator Ellen Allien, I had been sweating on a new full release from him, and it has finally arrived in the shape of this full-length CD titled "Walls".

I cannot believe how good this album is. "Arcadia" is one of my fave tracks of the last 5 years, and there are so many other things to recommend from this album.

* A nice mix of instrumental and vocal tracks to avoid any potential monotony

* Very deep and ambient, minimal and yet really very soulful and tangible, not so much based on the technology alone which can make a lot of this genre seem a bit remote

* Second to none production, with his usual quality of layering and many varied sounds

Highlights for me are mainly the vocal tracks - obviously "Arcadia" as mentioned above, "Holdon" which a lot of you would own or have heard, "Fractacles Parts 1 & 2", which sound like the love child of a Thom Yorke / New Order / Nathan Fake and Seb Tellier cybersex session, and "Birds" and "Over & Over" which are both sleepers at first, but I can see them growing on me with every listen.

Also worth a mention are "Hailin' From The Edge" and "Headup".

The comment above is not disparaging against the instrumental tracks, quite the contrary, they are beautiful, again lush, structured, layered and wonderfully produced. It's just I've always been a sucker for some form of vocal overlay, as long as it keeps within the framework of the song.

A great release, thoroughly recommended.