Telegramm

Olaf Bender, one of the founding fathers of the German culture-hub known as Raster-Noton, is simultaneously the genius behind Byetone, his solo music project that started back in 1999.  Over the past decade-plus, Bender has fashioned sporadic, yet meaningful contributions to techno with albums being released in 2003, 2008, and now, the reason for our discussion, his latest LP entitled, Symeta. An Album that is relatively scant on both track quantity and running time, it more than makes up for with a level of production quality seldom seen in conventional electronic music.

Without getting too cynical, I will venture to say that it’s works like this one, alongside maybe Zomby’s Dedication, Instra:Mental’s Resolution 653, Xhin’s Sword and a couple others, that easily reaffirm why I’ve been able to remain passionate about electronic music during this phase of incredible flux. Artists who are willing to formulate intricate and innovative balances between distortion and minimalism, offering stripped-down textures that aren’t even an embryonic thought in traditional club music. It’s music like this, sown from the rich soil of the Berghain tradition that allows me to keep my bearings, reminding me what is what.

Byetone – T-E-L-E-G-R-A-M-M

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.