LARRY KUCHARZ Techno Unit 30: Audiochrome International Audiochrome (2000) I'll admit that when I heard that Larry Kucharz (one of the top electro-minimalists recording today) had released a techno album, I was somewhat surprised and wondered what it would sound like. Would this be the thinking person's Orbital or just another 160BPM exercise in dance/rave explosive redundancy?
Thankfully, it's much more like the former. I don't know how the hell Larry did it, but somehow he has blended his signature idiosyncratic approach to minimalism (repeating chords/notes and exploring subtle shifts in tones) with a driving, but not overpowering, techno rhythm (and the beats vary quite a bit song to song, as well, which is a big plus). On (literally) the first listening, the CD is a success to my ears. In fact, it's like some kind of ambient-spacemusic-techno hybrid, owing to Larry's deft use of his synth melodies. I played Techno Unit 30 at work and, as I was reading some work material, I became aware how the bubbly rhythms and sweeping/burbbling synths kept pulling at my mind, as if the album was saying, "Come on, forget that reading crap - let's have some fun!" And that's the operative word here - fun! Unlike his more classically beautiful and neo-romantic recordings (like his previous Digichoral Blue Portraits), Techno Unit 30: Audiochrome is...fun! Larry's rhythms are spot-on perfect and had my feet involuntarily moving no matter how much I resisted. While this does not have the mass market "pop" appeal of traditional techno music (obviously), it is not ridiculously avant garde or overly-cerebral either (as I suspected it would be to some degree). Since techno is, by definition, somewhat repetitive, the subtle changes that each of the songs goes through fit perfectly into Larry's trademark approach to music anyway. Maybe this is what dance music would sound like in a rave club for Mensa members. Nah, they don't know how to have this much fun. Now, 'scuse me while I get out of my chair and bop around the office a bit. My feet and my butt are just refusing to stay still. Review by Bill Binkelman - Wind and Wire http://www.windandwire.com ---------------------------------------------------- available from Hypnos http://www.hypnos.com/Merchant/merchant.mv ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------ Visit the International Audiochrome Website at http://www.hypnos.com/kucharz .htm
