- It's not surprising that Altstadt Echo's music found its way into Regis's DJ sets, including his Blackest Ever Black mixtape The Boys Are Here. Altstadt Echo's riffs on the sparse, stepping style explored by the Downwards boss a few years back, before Sandwell District disintegrated and post-punk took over. The drums are crisp and meticulously arranged in loping broken-beat rhythms, the sound design cavernous and the mood elegantly gothic. (Modern Cathedrals, the name of Altstadt Echo's label and party in his Detroit hometown, describes it nicely.) The goth streak extends to the titles—just recently he was experiencing "Gentle Indifference." This EP for Eye Teeth, a sub-label of Interdimensional Transmissions, finds him Reposed In Nihilism.
This disaffected pose doesn't always lead to compelling music. The title track is neatly put together, but its careful accretions of field recordings, scuzzy drones and flecks of downpitched voice lack a certain spark. Altstadt Echo finds more striking contrasts elsewhere. Bouncing percussion gives "Ersatz" more urgency, while bright synth stabs work as a counterbalance to the abyssal dub chords weighing down the end of each bar. On "The Necessary Facade," uncanny pristine rave chords ping-pong around the sombre space, like flashes of light in the churchly gloom.
TracklistA1 Reposed In Nihilism
B1 Ersatz
B2 The Necessary Facade