Ornaments have managed in only a few releases to fuse an excellent design aesthetic of clear or coloured vinyl and limited labelling and stamped text with some interesting music, without adherence to any fixed genre. But while "interesting" has often meant "inconsistent," this single sees things cohere for two highly bankable sides of forceful minimal.
The guilty parties are Mod.Civil, the Leipzig-based duo of Gerrit Behrens and Rene Wettig, who have only appeared elsewhere thus far on Czech-based net-label Wazzotic Records. Their track here, "Einfachheit Gewinnt," shows plenty of maturity though. The opening stretch is sublime minimal tech house, with a classical crisp bass kick drum and glassy percussion spread outward by a guttural, chugging phase thrown over it like a torero's cape to keep it charging out from underneath. Brittle snares introduce the slow build up of the melodic line that is half-emotive lament and half-warning siren that only exaggerates the unknown context of the embedded vocals, one of Klaus Kinski's ecstatic and poetic incursions as Jesus from the '70s.
Furstenberg's remix doesn't stray too far from the original in terms of palette, but with some ingenious tweaks to drop the bass, splinter the snares and smooth out the phased layers, he somehow ends up with a track that is more aerial and driving. The remix perhaps eclipses the original in terms of intensity, but both tracks nonetheless have their own distinct edge of drama, ambition and motion that will add plenty of energy to a set.
Buy Mod.Civil - Einfachheit Gewinnt at
Tracklist: Mod.Civil - Einfachheit Gewinnt
 A Einfachheit Gewinnt
B Einfachheit Gewinnt (Marko Furstenberg Remix)
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