The premise is simple, this is electronic dub but as we have come to expect from Bureau B this album is far more interesting than that.
The whole thing has been fed through 1950's analog technology courtesy of Candy Bomber Studios, recorded in three days and the first take was the final take. This begs the very simple question. Why does anyone bother to write songs?
You would think the music might come across as exploratory but in fact the opposite is true. This album is honed. 'Mono' is a monster with a simple m-o-n-o refrain at its heart and a side dollop of tinnitus for good measure. It puts the listener in no doubt that this train is coming down the tracks and its heavy and has no brakes.
'RE201' sees the train throwing sparks off the line and culminates with what sounds like guitar, riffing, whirling and feedbacking in the mix. 'Achtung' carries itself along on a grunty live bass line and heavy drums with the buzzing metallics still to the fore. A strange lo-fi cut up vocal sample only adds to the vibe.
In terms of electronic dub 'Plusminus' reminds me a lot of the quality releases coming out on London-based NZ label Dubmission, home to Tom Bailey's International Observer project to name but one. 'H910' is named after a harmonizer that defined David Bowie's 'Low' album. Georg Zeitblom of Automat had been searching for this unit for ten years and finally tracked it down.
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It is stories and sounds like this that add an eerie depth to this music. It's contemporary but with an angle all of its own. The title track of the album again uses a simple recited and repeated vocal to powerful effect. 'DMX15-80S' (love the catchy titles) is a scratchy, dusty affair and is almost poppy whilst still retaining its edge. 'SST282' is pretty chilled out and 'EMT140' is a two metre long reverb plate, the reverberations of which will hopefully be heard for a long time to come. The blurb describes this album as their interim masterpiece and I for one cannot fail to disagree with that statement.
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