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The smooth tones of Test open Appetite For Disctruction, moving into an easy electro melody. Vibrations edge round those sounds, creaking a warmth and attractive tonal quality. This melds and the elements form strong layers. Beats come in, tapping a rhythm over a substantial tone that brings change. The title track Appetite For Disctruction comes from the mild collapse of Test. A blunt rhythm comes across in an uninvasive manner - the foreground to the sliding melody. The title is spoken and manipulated, becoming another element in the cut up. This plays out as a subtle piece, pacing and construction suggesting ease. Though past 4 minutes there is a greater suggestion of focus, perhaps intensity - a more engaging shift.

Beats are cut up in hesitant, crackling motions of Try Dried Frog. Bleeps of a minute bringing in that bass vibe, adding to the foam dispersion. Sounds pause, a little forward and aback - elements giving a sense of independence, splashes forming individual bubbles. Clean piano notes and the vibe gains a coherence, flowing as one piece and we fall in. The curiously titled Sounds Like A Break Record shifts us into a different territory, a menacing hip-hop piece featuring Triple H on vocals. Metallic beats chime roundly against shark bass, little cut blurts and invasive vocal stylings. But this fits with the bigger picture of Funkstorung as evidenced by the likes of the Wu Tang Clan mix on Additional Productions. Sounds Like is consistent and steady.

Also featuring Triple H is the current single Grammy Winners, but musically it has more of that rolling glitch sound. The vocals in a more rapid form matching the spiking cuts and flow of this piece. Easier than the previous two tracks A3 KM34 loops cut up vocals with a beat and pinging melody cycle. Deterioration of the loop creeps in, springing a smooth vibe contradiction. Which provides the traction the loop lacked, with that melody sets in. Think! opens with the clean lifting female vocal by Greenwood. Clunking electro rhythm pulses give broken accompaniment while a high-pitched electronic vocal repeats the key lyrics. Slinky glitch ballad, slowly seductive and cut up - works well.

I/O whirrs in mechanical motions, the break beat sound of machines, multiple processors layering while the vocal by Carin sighs. Upbeat in its steady shifts, providing sensations of complexity and simplicity. The vocal element is kept to a minimum, blending with the sound unlike the contrasting vocals of most of this release. Carin's vocal is more pronounced in Red Shirt, White Shoes and while the sounds are again mechanical they are more subdued. Again we have the mellower hints of ballad construction though more glitch than cut.

While we had rolling beats before A Bottle, A Box And A Mic. seems to suggest a more collapsing structure. Beat and melody building blocks put in a tub at the top of stairs and allowed to tumble. Through which a voice whispers "funkstorung" in breaths of manipulation. A more balanced form is established, a collected structure in which more random elements are allowed their occasion. A loop forms and we are taken through its slipping concluding cycle. With the final track Mind The Gap we seem to return to the vibes of Appetite For Disctruction's beginnings, fitting more with Test than the territory we travelled in between. Sensuously peaceful electronic attraction, that increments into self improvement - damn this seduction.

Appetite For Disctruction is the second CD release by the German duo Funkstorung following Additional Productions, an eclectic mix of various artists all mixed by Funkstorung. A release which was bound to see their sound compared to Autechre saw them move beyond that as they mixed the likes of Bjork, Wu Tang Clan and Fini Tribe. Experiences which have clearly rubbed off with AFD, mixing the analytical electronica styles with hip-hop structures and vocals one minute and quirky girl vocals the next. Ultimately leading us on a journey which is less than predictable, going through comfort and uncertainty. With the tracks that particularly work for me being Test, Try Dried Frogs, A3 KM34, I/O, A Bottle..., and Mind The Gap.

RVWR: PTR
July 2000

More Information

Funkstorung

Band site.

additional sites:

www.studio-k7.com

www.studio-k7.de

www.pho-ku.com