- Spellbinding rhythm tracks from a mysterious new project.
- Steffi Grafs Innere Ruhe appears to be a new project. It also launches a new label called The News Cycle, giving this untitled release a catalogue number of TNC1. TNC6, the evasive persona behind last year's Sekundenschlaf LP on Blackest Ever Black, was the only source besides London record store Low Company to announce the new record. But if the social media posts are to be believed, TNC6 is not Steffi Grafs Innere Ruhe. We might have our suspicions about its provenance, but Untitled's unique sound is clear.
Imagine Σ (Summe), RP Boo, early Spiral Tribe and SW. stuck in an elevator, and you're some way toward unravelling the sound of Steffi Grafs Innere Ruhe. Each version of "Freizeit" has an early '90s sci-fi veneer, conjuring the wonder and fear of interstellar travel without descending into cliche. But the celestial tilt is offset by an earthen swampiness, a certain thickness in the air calling to mind the humid haze of Acido and SUED records.
Then there are the tempos, which vary from fast to very fast. This creates a frenzy of thrashing rhythms that acquire a sense of lightness as we acclimatise, as if the drums slowly begin levitating. The drums are Roland-heavy and indicate proto-gabba, but the kicks and toms are often sequenced in a manner recalling a messy vein of footwork. Atop the rhythmic and textural contradictions, the melodic leads and pads are suggestive, feeling familiar yet isolated and inscrutable. The end result is out of this world.
TracklistA1 Gute Freizeit
A2 Prima Freizeit
A3 Freizeit Spezial