Apparat

Walls

(Shitkatapult)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Fresh off collaborating on one of 2006’s best albums (Orchestra of Bubbles, along with Ellen Allien), Apparat returns to his solo career on Walls, which again finds the techno producer blurring genre boundaries and entering into a space that is poppy and accessible while staying rooted in a techno tradition that may be foreign to many Stateside pop fans.

The moody “Limelight” and the glittering, propulsive “Fractales Pt. 1” come closest to capturing the creative spirit of Orchestra of Bubbles (specifically reminiscent at times of “Do Not Break”). Colliding the organic with the mechanical - and combining gloom with effervescence - Apparat again makes his mark as a leading light in his field. He makes music that you can crank while driving a convertible down the highway or that you can use to crawl into your headphones and zone out on. Rather than dictating mood, he allows ambivalence and wiggle room so you can choose your own adventure.

One excursion that doesn’t pay such high dividends - and thus makes Walls somewhat less consistent than Bubbles - is his four-song collaboration with vocalist Raz Ohara. Ohara makes like Prince during “Over and Over,” but the track winds up sounded somewhat dated, like it could have been on the Sliver soundtrack. The strutting “Hailin From The Edge” doesn’t fare much better, as its arrangement feels somewhat canned and the whispers of the title, again, feel pulled from the previous decade. The fusion between music and vocals plays out best on “Headup,” which follows a surprising build, arriving at an ethereal-sounding chorus and a comparatively understated vocal.

Other highlights include the stirring “Useless Information,” which features a string part heavy on gravitas, almost as though Apparat borrowed Warren Ellis from The Bad Seeds. Which, since we’ve been on the topic of collaborations, wouldn’t be a bad idea for the future! On Walls, though, Apparat again proves that he’s quite capable of going it alone.