It slots quite comfortably between albums from Dial labelmates Lawrence and Pantha Du Prince, but Efdemin's red-eyed, late-night take on deeper techno and house (and occasionally, trance) is less about emotion and more about groove. A sophisticated and fluid debut, the Berliner is a self-assured producer who knows what he wants to do. His structures and builds are quite linear, but never too much: the attention to detail and subtle use of contrasts – key changes, unexpected drops, ambient fades – put flesh on the bones. Some opposites are key: the fluid, half-tempo, neo-Detroit stabs versus perky beats on 'Further Back'; the flowing euphoric strings versus chopped, ringing synth on both wonderful former single 'Bergwein' and 'Salix Alba', the latter of which begins as Prescription-sounding padded deep house and ends up twisting into tangled trance. Opposite is the uniform 'Back To School': amid the hypnotic stabs, the slow-rising deep chords match the submerged old-school bassline and delayed drums. It's one of the trackier outings, but stick around for the ambient coda. 'Stately Yes' turns that template inside out: a stripped groove, comprised of dry, spitting drums, odd, prodded bass, a daft vocal sample and one solitary tapped triangle note. The hypno-house of former single 'Lohn Und Brot' still shines, while 'Acid Bells' is the album's dark middle: the ringing bell refrain building into something marvelously menacing. If this sounds a bit too much, you can find solace in the deep strings and bright drums of 'La Ratafia' or the hallucinatory warmth of 'April Fools'. Efdemin's debut and Pantha Du Prince's 'This Bliss' have two things in common: both are tailor-made for that lovely place between dancing and dreaming, and both are two of 2007's best.
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Tracklist: Efdemin - Efdemin
1 Knocking at the Grand
2 Lohn & Brot
3 Le Ratafia
4 Acid Bells (Album Version)
5 Back to School
6 Stately, Yes.
7 Further Back
8 Salix Alba
9 April Fools
10 Bergwein
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