Schneider
TM’s beautiful Zoomer is a rather enchanting
anachronism. Electronic is said to be soulless and cold, while
pop is mindless and decadent. Zoomer is electronic,
pop, and yet, captivating, charming, and intelligent. So, where
did it all go right for Dirk Dresselhaus? A former rhythm-section
member in a variety of German rock bands, Dresselhaus finally
went alone at the end of the nineties, releasing a series of
12’ and a first album, Moist released on City
Slang, adopting a similar quirky approach to electronic music
as compatriot Mouse On Mars or To Rococo Rot. Followed a series
of collaborations, and three years down the line, this second
album.
Zoomer is in essence an electronic album, complete
with glitches, clicks and blips. But underneath lie a collection
of catchy melodies and hooks evoking in turns the Beach Boys,
Beck or early seventies avant-pop. Defying the aridity or his
electronic constructions by injecting acoustic guitars, Dresselhaus
develops his songs in a rather eccentric way, taking an oblique
view on classic song writing. This results in a series of chirpy
songs, from the exquisite guitar-led Reality Check,
reminiscent of the Air of Moon Safari, with the added
bonus of tongue-in-cheek lyrics, to Cuba TM, which
closes the album, where Dressalhaus dresses up his syncopated
beats and electronic oddities with strings. In between, he alternates
between proper songs and instrumentals, remaining faithful to
this mix of traditional and post-modern forms. Frogtoise
is like the Beach Boys exchanging tips with New Order and Autechre,
while DJ Guy could be the thumping soundtrack of a rave club
on Mogadon and heard through drain pipes. Further down, Turn
On features the rapping excellence of Max Turner, and Hunger
drapes analogue bubble wrap around a dry electro-funk beat.
Not so much a pastiche of early eighties synthe-pop as a disrespectful
two-fingers up at vacuous pop and over-zealous abstraction,
Zoomer is a welcome addition to the growing trend that
has seen Tarwater or more recently, Cursor
Miner, shaking up the establishment to impose a new order
in modern music.
4.5/5 |
