Wesen – Zwiebel (Rednetic)

Karlsruhe, Germany-based techno producer Manuel Odendahl is the co-founder of Ruin & Wesen, a German independent company specialising in crafting handmade digital and analogue instruments, and in recent years his reputation online has grown considerably, thanks to live appearances throughout Europe and his presence on numerous forums. This debut three track EP ‘Zweibel’ represents the fifth volume in Rednetic’s ongoing techno-oriented ultra-limited 3″ CDR series and highlights Odendahl’s preference for using vintage drum machines alongside FM synthesis, whilst also offering what’s easily the most straightforward dancefloor-accessible release I’ve heard from Rednetic to date. For my money, it’s opening track ‘Whatever My Dear’ that offers up the real gold here, cooly balancing a dark, ominous analogue synth bassline and zapping, minimalist snares with a tumbling, almost dubby backdrop of refracted melodic tones that calls to mind the Kompakt label’s aesthetic. By contrast, ‘Paul Und Carla’ starts off fairly stripped back amidst solid 4/4 kicks and squeaking metallic samples, before a thick electro bassline arrives to take things off into house-centric territory reminiscent of Juan Atkins amidst jazzy, elastic-sounding analogue synth arpeggios, before ‘Mercurian Asses’ gets all glitchy and twisted, sending contorted buzzes of fractured noise sweeping beneath a more minimalist backdrop of hissing hi-hats and sparse, off-centre bursts of almost jazzy melodic tones. As Wesen’s debut recorded offering, ‘Zwiebel’ certainly represents an extremely impressive opening gambit. With just 100 copies of this 3″ CDR available though, you’ll want to move fast.