Vital Weekly (NL)

Probably I shared this before, but I never know what the musical difference is between Komet and Frank Bretschneider. For Frank is Komet. Usually his music is strong and up-beat but on this new CD he fits the 12k catalogue quite well. 12k offers music that is on the fringe of minimalism, ambient and rhythm, and Bretschneider masters them all here. Despite the title indicating that these are various tracks, it hears like two pieces in various parts, there is a distinct break in the middle. The material is only partially rhythmical in the sense that rhythmboxes are used, but the ‘looping’ mentioned in the title, means that there is a lot of small sounds that are repeated all the time. These layers of loops criss-cross each other and form an ingenious web of sounds. Most of the time, Bretschneider uses longer loops of drones in the background, thus taking care of the ambient side of things. Each of the twelve tracks displays his love of minimalism but with enough interest to keep things interesting. Bretschneider expands his sound world, from the more rhythmical material to the more deeper, almost ambient material. From all of the clicks and cuts artists of yesteryear, he’s one of the few to maintain a high quality level. (FdW)