(08.17.07) Detroit is coming back to Rephlex. Following two releases by the Motor city
electro outfit, Urban Tribe, another Michigan favourite is putting out a
full length release on the Twin’s imprint: Dopplereffekt. Dopplereffekt are
one of the most mysterious creations in the world of electro, releasing
under a number of monikers and rarely appearing live has shrouded the group
in secrecy. A showcase of their early material came out on Clone Classic
Cuts recently, Gesamtkunstwerk. Now they are back with fresh material in
the form of Calabi Yau Space, an abstract work of ambient space electro.
Unsettling electronic sounds launch the album, the plinks and plonks of
“Calabi Yau Manifold” resemble some of the electro experimentation
Dopplereffekt achieved under their Der Zyklus pseudonym. “Hyperelliptic
Surfaces” is a true space odyssey, reaching some twelve minutes in length.
Machine coarsened ambience floods the track as otherworldly orbits of sound
float past. The abstraction gives way to measured electro keys, yet the
simplicity does not mask the estranging aspects of this minimal soundscape.
Weightless alienation elbows in with the spectral “Holomorpic N-0 Form,” a
piece full of computer rejections and frequency splinters.
“Compactification” is the shortest piece of the album, echoing the electro
chords and planetary landing paranoia of “Hyperelliptic Surfaces.”
The electro warping is continued on into the ambient world of “Mirror
Symmetry.” The track is more accessible than some of its predecessors, but
the psychological elements are turned up to cognitive meltdown as the
particle accelerator hits overdirve. Dopplereffekt’s sound has a certainty
to it, the track ingredients have been chosen under great scrutiny and
critique. This is typified in the measured and spooked “Non Vanishing
Harmonic Spinor.” The minimal electro keys are there, but this time
enveloped by distant vocals and a crisp beat. “Hypersurface” works with
beats, something that have taken a backseat on Calabi Yau Space. The
minimal beats are soon hijacked by dissociating experimentation, as
particles of terror are propelled across the track. Horror and unnerve
finish the album, with “Dimension 11” employing lost keys and detached sound
to bring Dopplereffekt’s latest to a close.
Science and technology are the influences for this release. The album’s
artwork is licensed from CERN, the world’s largest particle physics lab. The
album’s title and track names are all taken from the world of physics and
mathematics, an unseen world of theories and certainties that cannot be set
in any stone. It is this alien world, this world of quantum ideas and
categorization that Dopplereffekt have delved into with Calabi Yau Space.
Minimal sounds blended with ambient tones and techno experimentation are
what make this LP. Dopplereffekt have used sonic expression and algebra to
produce a work that is clinical in its futuristic tendencies and eye opening
in its execution.
Calabi Yau Space is out now on Rephlex. [Purchase
