Akustikkoppler – Alles Muβ Raus (Album – Block 4)
Genre/Influences: Experimental, Minimal-Electro.
Format: Digital, Vinyl.
Background/Info: This is the fourth full length album released by the duo Matthias Schuster (Das Institut, Bal Paré ao) – Malte Steiner (Notstandskomitee, Das Kombinat, Block 4 owner ao). The songs were originally recorded between 2008 and 2012 and last year mastered to finally be released this year.
Content: If you’re a bit familiar with the works of both musicians you’ll know what to expect. Akustikkoppler brings us back to vintage electronic treatments. The tracks are instrumentals featuring numerous effects, rough sound treatments, melodic passages and a few spoken samplings.
+ + + : This album is for Electro fine-tasters. It’s not really about sophisticated music, but styled minimalism. There’s a true power emerging from the retro sound treatments. The rhythmic and melodic parts makes the sound accessible and even a bit danceable. One of the best cuts “Heimweg” reminds me a bit of a softer version of Suicide. But the best cut is for sure “Glaslappen” which is driven by rough sound treatments.
– – – : Both artists and their respective projects have never been stuff for the masses. The music isn’t always accessible, but you will like it if you’re into Electro-Minimal works.
Conclusion: There are not enough projects like Akustikkoppler and that’s a pity. This is an original and intelligent production.
Best songs: “Glaslappen”, “Heimweg”, “Entrümpelung”, “Mittenmang”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064120891094
Label: www.block4.com / www.facebook.com/Block-4-853014674847744 Read the news on ‘Alles Muβ Raus’.
About Akustikkoppler
Akustikkoppler is the collaboration between German musicians Matthias Schuster and Malte Steiner, formed around 2004. Both had long careers behind them before it started.
Schuster began in the 1970s with Geisterfahrer, a band that combined a punk rock setup with electronic instruments. He recorded and mixed much of the roster of the Hamburg label ZickZack in the early 1980s, produced the electro act Fortification 55 in the 1990s, and worked in Bal Paré and later Das Institut. Steiner started making electronic music in 1983 alongside his visual arts studies, at first for his exhibition openings, and from 1987 distributed his work through his own label Block 4, which released his industrial projects Das Kombinat, with Andrea Pritschow, and Notstandskomitee on cassette and later on CD and vinyl.
All tracks on “Alles Muß Raus” were produced between 2008 and 2012 and remastered in 2021. The record came out digitally and as a limited edition of 300 translucent 12″ LPs with gatefold cover. Side-Line’s news item of January 26, 2023 counted it as the duo’s third album, while this review counts it as the fourth full length; the two counts have not been reconciled. The duo discussed their working method in the Click Interview with Akustikkoppler.
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