Jan Schulte’s discography is hard to get through but easy to get into. Rule of thumb number one: just start with Bufiman and then slowly work your way through it. »Switch Beats« is his first solo release under this name since 2020 (did something happen?) and borrows its title from the video game console of a Japanese manufacturer, which could be used to work with a music software from another Japanese company and which Schulte rediscovered for himself during a brief professional reorientation about three years ago (no idea why that would have happened!) while commuting by bus to his new job. It’s not entirely clear whether he wrote the five tracks with it, and what a banger like »Hard Timez (Lexus Or Justice)« as a minimal consensus between Egyptian Lover-like braggadocio vibes, Salon des Amateurs swag and Ilian Tape cunningness is supposed to have to do with riding the bus. It’s not important either, as long as Schulte is doing (it) well. That is obviously, as the wonderful psych-synth-pop gem »Neue Wellen,« the sexy (!?) IDM tune »Ntndo Pitch,« »Hard Timez (Just Ice)« as a constructive commentary on the rampant trance farce and finally »Wärmewellen« as a wonderfully tender electro-smasher prove amply enough. Which brings us to rule of thumb number two: If Schulte is doing well, all is well. This is one of the best Bufiman releases ever.
Switch Beats EP
