Masselaufwerk - Masselaufwerk [Umspannwerk Haberlandstrasse]

Released early this year throughout the first days of January, 2k22 is "Masselaufwerk", the self-titled cassette tape album by the project of the same name which basically is a brainchild of Andreas Davids, the man behind the long-standing and widely acclaimed Industrial / EBM outfit that is Xotox. With this ten track longplayer, put on the circuit on a recycled cassette tape formerly used by the 'Institut Für Film Und Bild In Wissenschaft Und Unterricht', the German underground producer explores a realm of scenic, emotional and somewhat Electro x Downbeat structures of a truly lo-fi nature which might be due to the initial use of already decaying, fluttering tape loops in production or - more likely - the slightly muffled characteristics of the probably decades-old tape material that has probably withered over all these years the original cassettes sat unused in storage. This being said cuts like "Vinyl" offer a quite charming, tongue-in-cheek take on ElectroPhonk x IDM whereas "Highfidele Eleganz" combines a highly detailed and extended hi-fi stereo system sales pitch with minimal, icy Electronica x TripHop structures, "Lagerfeuer-LoFi" harks back to the era of Glitchtronica which used to be highly popular amongst fans of electronic music in the early 00s whilst the "Loudness War" weigh in some uplifting, even dancefloor friendly Indietronics for small, intimate nightclub settings and the concluding "Endlosrille" brings forward an intriguing amalgamation of Electronica-leaning Phonk and complex, somewhat even Detroit-infused melodic elements which comes to an end way too soon just to name a few. One for the dedicated collectors of electronic low fidelity listening music, this.

Cassette artwork on Instagram!