By far
Grischa Lichtenberger's most ambitious release,
Spielraum/Allgegenwart/Strahlung is essentially three EPs bundled into one 86-minute album. It's also his most accomplished work to date, honing his frenetic glitch experiments and polyrhythmic exercises into tracks with more pronounced rhythms than his previous releases. The
Autechre influence is unmistakable, but
Lichtenberger still has a highly original style, and he covers a lot of ground here.
Spielraum contains the most danceable tracks here, arranging glitch shards into sporadic, bumping rhythms. There's an unexpected playfulness to tracks like "002_0415_09_re1214_06_re_1114_27_re_1014_21_re_0614_20_lv_2g_2_b," which balances flippant, tossed-aside noises with thumping beats and eerie melodies. "003_fat crusher system" is similar but far more unsettling, setting a sample from a weight loss infomercial over ominous droning. Some tracks seem to utilize actual drumming rather than programmed beats, but it's hard to tell if the complex, multi-layered rhythms on the slowly building "001_002_no in rev + 1115_10 d_2" are provided by man or machine. "004_241 b" starts out with sparse synth notes before gaining jazzy drumming similar to post-rock outfits like
Tortoise and
Radian. It's one of the standout tracks on
Strahlung, which is easily the most introspective, melancholy disc of the three. The set ends with the head-spinning "004_1115_26_lv_1_brecs," which begins with a flowery melody before bringing in very obtuse stuttering beats. Truly a step forward for
Lichtenberger, and easily his best work yet. ~ Paul Simpson