Stefan Goldmann is more than capable of producing straightforward techno if he wants to. Most of the time, however, he doesn’t and that’s when it gets really interesting. On first listen, »Vector Rituals« sounds as if someone had dipped SND into a gong bath or inspired Autechre to give gamelan a try. With every further spin however, even more nuances become audible. Goldmann works with polymetric patterns and sounds that sometimes seem to have an inherent acoustic sound quality but are completely synthetic. As a whole, the record sometimes calls to mind the rhythmic experiments of Black Merlin, but Goldmann does not rely on an aesthetic that seems somehow organic or even exotic, but rather emphasises its own artificiality, as in the foreboding piece »Lorino«. Although the majority of the pieces are tense and restrained at the same time, a few of the tracks undoubtedly could be played in warm-up sets. The insistent groove of »Tiksi«, for example, could lead any club set at the beginning of the evening into (more) adventurous realms. After all, that’s where the journey was supposed to go one day, before the four-four time became a rigid convention and techno got lost in a music-historical impasse. »Vector Rituals« maps out the escape route resolutely but modestly. The only way out is through!
Vector Rituals
