On this debut album, a studious looking German producer named Gera has assembled 13 tracks and one hour's worth of downtempo electronica which, as the title suggests, are songs in the key of a city.
This might easily be a cue to explore the dark underbelly of urban life but Audiokonstrukte has a more optimistic agenda. Here the tempo may be down but the spirit is directed upwards courtesy of a chilled, carefree groove not dissimilar to that of Norwegian duo Roykstopp.
The tunes have smooth melodic edges, with a dreamy dub-meets-cool-jazzy flavour. Titles like In Sleepy Town, Slow The Moment and Quiet Mood should give you an idea of the atmosphere. Even a track called Microtraffic has synthesised bird song.
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As far as this summer in the city vision goes, the priority is of chilling in the great outdoors rather than getting stressed in cars.
I guess this ambient techno puts it squarely in the 'intelligent dance' category, and chill-out wouldn't be wide of the mark either. One drawback to this is that the laid-back rhythms easily stray into soporific synth-pop territory.
Nothing here will exactly set the pulse racing but as a soundtrack to a perfect day drinking sangrias in the park, it fits the bill nicely.
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