- The 4/4 kick drum may be central to Wolfgang Voigt's work, but he is one of techno's least regimented producers. His work seems to inhabit a hall of mirrors, playing with everything from techno to polka to big-band swing. Many of his tracks are twisted and endlessly refracted until they sound like laptop-based, avant-garde jazz, a link Protest: Versammlung 1 makes explicit with "Kafkatrax 2.3 (Jazz Mix)."
Ostensibly, the Profan sub-label Protest is a platform for Voigt's frothier dance floor material. But even at his most direct ("Robert Schumann," "Rosenkranz," "Empathie"), Voigt's psychedelic impulse is strong. These tracks are propelled by crisp, punchy drums and smooth basslines in the style of Kompakt house, but they invariably come loose from their moorings. Voigt layers them with bizarre samples (classical, schlager, synth-pop, field recordings), or arranges their loops in such a way that—in a trick of delicious sonic disorientation—they eventually sound fractionally out of time, or like multiple tracks playing over one another. On "Umbau 2.3" or "Endlich" (a gorgeous confection of piano/ hang chimes), this technique creates real dramatic tension. You panic that everything is falling apart, sliding into chaos, but Voigt makes sure it never does.
During minimal's heyday such sonic waywardness was commonplace, and these tracks, particularly the sublime, super-repetitive "Unendlich," recall Villalobos in his prime. Nowadays, though, a DJ would need some nerve to drop such trippy, challenging music. If Versammlumg 1 is a protest against anything then, perhaps it's orthodoxy and group-think. In life, but particularly in techno, Voigt wants you to think for yourself.
Tracklist01. Robert Schumann / Clara Wieck
02. Martin Luther
03. Endlich
04. Empathie
05. Erst Schiessen (Dann Fragen)
06. Dä Hellije Zinter Mätes
07. Kafkatrax 2.3 (Jazz Mix)
08. Umbau 2.3
09. Rosenkranz (Studio 1 Mix)
10. Tubass 1.2
11. Freiland - Grün (Tubass Mix)
12. Unendlich