Berlin's electronic music scene is full of guys who spend so much time producing, DJing and remixing that they never get around to releasing any original music of their own. Local star
Daniel Meteo (well-regarded remixer, owner of the Meteosound label and, with
Tom Thiel, half of the duo
Bus) has finally released an album under his own name, and it's a thing of subtle and sometimes elegant beauty.
Peruments was the name he gave to a folder on his computer's hard drive, one in which he tucked away musical ideas that didn't seem to fit well with his other projects. Pulled out of hiding, refined and reshaped, these ideas emerge as surprisingly delicate slices of glitchy, dubby, largely house-derived dancefloor thinking that draw your attention as well as nudging your hips into motion. At certain moments he does the seemingly impossible, as when he takes blippy, bloopy synthesizer doodles and makes them sound warm and human on "(Peru Arrives) Just in Time"; at others he juxtaposes unlikely elements and puts them to unexpected use, as when he tucks
Fred Frith-style guitar clangor up next to a vaguely creepy spoken word snippet and harnesses both to a bouncy dance beat. And every once in a while it sounds as if he should have spent a bit more time refining his raw material: "Peters Bounce (Eps)" and "It's Maybe Late for You" rely a bit too much on what sounds like haphazardly layered cheapo synth percussion. Overall, though, this is very promising stuff from someone who will hopefully take time out from his busy schedule to give us more in the near future. ~ Rick Anderson