[Workshop]
“Workshop 07” marks Even Tuell’s first solo EP for Workshop (profiled last year on this site) and known for its left-of-center output. From what we’ve heard in his mix for LWE and his own Airbag Craftworks compilations, Paul-David Rollmann seems to have just as much of a penchant for balm as he does for the sparse beats released on Musik Krause and Broque. In comparison to standout tracks like “Pretty Bonita” and his contribution to “Workshop 04”, “Workshop07” comes as a disappointment. On the A-side, a Detroit shout out is looped ad-infinitum and becomes more distracting with each passing minute. The mid-range is saturated to the detriment of any clarity in the lows, which end up buried in the mix. While the track has a nice melody, the lack of dynamics and the clichéd sample leave the strongest impression.
B1 is a take on spooky electro like the kind Alexander Robotnick explored in the early 80s when he stretched the synth out to the dark side. The saving grace of this release, B2, may find itself in everyone’s Halloween crate this year. It sounds like Goblin ditched their guitars for drum machines, recorded another Dario Argento horror soundtrack, and got it cut at Dubplates & Mastering. If Scientist failed to rid Channel One of the evil curse of the vampires and Rod Modell remained Rod Modell, we’d have a rough approximation of the nekrotechno going on here. Hopefully we can continue to depend on Workshop to release more of these flat-out weird tunes.
B1 is a take on stl, surely.
Airbag Craftworks has a lot of great record bags and clothing (including the original “good music I dance, no good music, i not dance”). Definitely worth checking out.
andrew, i definitely hear cybotron as well in b1.
have you heard krypta 1982 by robotnick? it’s got stuff that sounds like cybotron, either contemporaneous with “cosmic cars” or came out just after “alleys of your mind” (clone website says album was produced 81-82, though the record sleeve says 82-83) but then it also has tracks that have a stripped down, minimal (dare i say) sound. when listening to the even tuell b1 it made me think of the latter. super impressive!
Meh, not really impressed by it. B2 is nicely experimental, but it makes me feel depressed listening to it. Unless that was the intention?
almost didn’t buy this because of the detroit thing, but couldn’t get b2 out of my mind. doesn’t go anywhere and it doesn’t need to. darkness!!!
harpo, if it’s any clarification, i meant the robotnick record was impressive, not the b1, which doesn’t do anything for me.
for that matter, i’d prefer a vogel or g-man track over b2, but that’s just a taste thing (plus they’re consistently incredible producers, something even tuell hasn’t yet proven). b2 may come good, we’ll see. it taps into a dub production aesthetic, which i have a soft spot for.
ballyhoo, it was the whole record itself I was unimpressed with. I see where you are getting at, though.
nice Scientist reference Momo.