Judging by the well articulated liner notes, Frankfurt, Germany's
Ekkehard Ehlers instills a load of theoretical thought on the concept of minimal music into his
Betrieb album. The Autopoieses member writes of how "in historical works of music one can recognize a desire for boundlessness" and how his album "deals with movements within closed systems." This idea gets fleshed out rather well on
Betrieb, as the German artist often samples fragments from turn of the century compositions by artists such as Arnold Schönberg. Each song will use a particular fragment as its "closed system" and then manipulate the fragment in every conceivable manner for the duration of the song; actions such as looping, stretching, phasing, and distorting are just some of the ways that
Ehlers manipulates these sounds. While the result may not be very soothing to the ear or something listeners will find themselves listening to over and over, curious listeners will be a bit fascinated by what
Ehlers does with snippets of classical compositions, transforming sedate string sections into cacophonous maelstroms of swirling sound with no clear beginning, zenith, lull, or conclusion. In the end though, intellectual stimulation is the primary attribute offered by
Ehlers on
Betrieb, limiting its overall appeal. ~ Jason Birchmeier