Ulrich Schnauss - Strangely Isolated Place

If they haven't yet done so, fans of melodic electronica should run, not walk, to their favorite outlets to get their copies of Ulrich Schnauss's latest a Strangely Isolated Place. In truth, this second effort is not appreciably different from 2001's Far Away Trains Passing By, but, given the exceptional quality of the debut, that's hardly cause for complaint. Once again, Schnauss creates irresistibly buoyant & celebratory tracks that put lackluster efforts by other "warm electronica" artists to shame.

Reviews:

Ulrich Schnauss is no tweaker, neither does he glitch. The 26-year-old Berlin-based auteur eschews laptop theatrics altogether on A Strangely Isolated Place, originally released under the City Centre Offices aegis in 2003. Schnauss seemingly creates music the old-fashioned way, pressing real buttons on real boxes and playing real synthesizers with his fingers-all of them-possibly in real time. He even writes songs: mostly instrumental, lighter than air (and Air) confections that direct the shoebound gaze of '90s oneiropomps Slowdive and Ride resolutely skyward. Sometimes, as on opening track "Gone Forever," his cotton candy for the ears is so heavy-handed that hallucinations of Snoopy and Alan Alda breaking out of fluffy cumuli together in a gaily-painted hot-air balloon aren't completely out of the question. Still, the song's panoramic synth display-including one of the most captivating "whooshes" in the history of vibrating gases-hangs together nicely as colors in a Polaroid of Cape Cod at sunrise. Place works best when Schnauss stops trying to rewrite Pachelbel's Canon and scoops a little chocolate into his retrofuturist cone. "On My Own" rolls like a marriage of early Stereolab and Warm Jets-era Eno, complete with undulating bass throb and backwards synth. Oh, and don't forget the throaty Plutonian guitar-that most ancient electronic instrument, often so heavily processed that it's easy to mistake for more keyboards at first, is his ace in the hole, lending mystery and flesh to the album's postcard-perfect vistas. "Ulrich Schnauss is no tweaker, neither does he glitch. The 26-year-old Berlin-based auteur eschews laptop theatrics altogether on A Strangely Isolated Place, originally released under the City Centre Offices aegis in 2003. Schnauss seemingly creates music the old-fashioned way, pressing real buttons on real boxes and playing real synthesizers with his fingers-all of them-possibly in real time. He even writes songs: mostly instrumental, lighter than air (and Air) confections that direct the shoebound gaze of '90s oneiropomps Slowdive and Ride resolutely skyward. Sometimes, as on opening track ""Gone Forever,"" his cotton candy for the ears is so heavy-handed that hallucinations of Snoopy and Alan Alda breaking out of fluffy cumuli together in a gaily-painted hot-air balloon aren't completely out of the question. Still, the song's panoramic synth display-including one of the most captivating ""whooshes"" in the history of vibrating gases-hangs together nicely as colors in a Polaroid of Cape Cod at sunrise. Place works best when Schnauss stops trying to rewrite Pachelbel's Canon and scoops a little chocolate into his retrofuturist cone. ""On My Own"" rolls like a marriage of early Stereolab and Warm Jets-era Eno, complete with undulating bass throb and backwards synth. Oh, and don't forget the throaty Plutonian guitar-that most ancient electronic instrument, often so heavily processed that it's easy to mistake for more keyboards at first, is his ace in the hole, lending mystery and flesh to the album's postcard-perfect vistas. "