Review of Basal [12k1014]

Alternative Press (US)

There are generally two possible avenues of listener engagement offered by most minimal “glitch” electronic music. You can strain your ears (and brain) trying to pick up the tiny, timid sounds, or you can let the disc soothe you to sleep with its delicate hisses and pops. Basal offers more than that. Like a few other releases on the often excellent 12k label, it actually seems composed, rather than discovered. Jürgen Heckel’s melodies (or the traces of them) spiral out from a still center, sparking and pealing into the air like the cries of digital baby mice. Sure, the trakcs blend together, but no more than expected in such an unobtrusive, self-effacing genre. V – phil freeman

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