Apparat: Walls

Label: Shitkatapult

Berlin-based producer and DJ Sascha Ring, co-founder of the Shitkatapult label with Marco Haas, is better known under the pseudonym Apparat. Walls, his fifth full-length release, is his most accessible album to date and incorporates more traditional songwriting into his electronic laptop compositions. The organic programming and gliding electronic pulses also lend the track listing a soaring, continuous feel. The introductory “Not a Number,” with its plaintive, melancholic strings arrangements by Complexácord and repetitive vibraphone rhythm pattern, brings to mind the minimalism of Steve Reich. “Hailin’ from the Edge,” moves into hip-hop territory with an old-school drum-machine beat and Raz Ohara’s soulful vocals, while Ring’s vocals on the track “Arcadia” sound unnervingly like Thom Yorke. Apparat is at his best when mixing contradicting genres and on Walls he goes beyond the limitations of downbeat electronica with his fusion of electrifying techno and atmospheric post-pop. (Morgane)