2008 has been good to Francesco Tristano; in the Spring, he released an acclaimed EP of remixes featuring Carl Craig, and he’s capping the year off with a collaboration featuring the Godfather of Dub Techno, Moritz Von Oswald. Entitled Auricle Bio On, the album features two immense compositions, both of which manage to seamlessly blend Tristano’s Avant-Jazz piano wanderings with Von Oswald’s throbbing rhythmic structures, relegating genre conventions to the wastebasket in the process. “Auricle Bio On 1” takes its sweet time to kick in, lingering in a haze of atmospheric piano tinklings and delay feedback before settling into one of Oswald’s signature Maurizio-style grooves, but the real prize here is “Auricle Bio On 2.” Charging out of the gate in a percussive fervor, the track boasts the sort of slow-burning Techno that would make Villalobos green with envy, and it doesn’t let up over the course of its 23-minute duration. Put simply: Auricle Bio On is one of those rare releases that illustrate the musical vibrancy to be found in electronic music.
Carl Ritger
File under: Ricardo Villalobos, Basic Channel, Deepchord