- Is there any shame in a failed experiment? Stefan Goldmann's latest 12-inch for his own Macro imprint could have been a fierce audio comment on house music's frustrating insistence on fluidity. But instead is, well, a bit annoying. The press accompanying The Maze puts the producer's views on the subject in plain view: "All over the world you'll hear the same lush, looped streamlined house grooves night in, night out down the polished alley of politeness." The issue being that Goldmann's one-take analogue crusade ends up in exactly the garish place that drove producers "back to the groove" in the first place.
The composition splits itself into two parts totalling 20 minutes. As you might expect from a one- man-jam, any superfluous sound generation is eschewed, leaving Goldmann to fuck with the few bits of gear within his grasp (which apparently included a Theremin-controlled Fuzz box). Once his drum machine is set in motion, progression rides angular waves of ear splitting distortion. Oni Ayhun's feedback-fuelled "OAR004-A" is an obvious reference point here insofar as they both test the listener's tolerance for noise within the setting of a dance track. But where Ayhun controlled and curtailed the chaos, Goldmann willingly unbolts the cage, allowing the thing to jump up on the couch and shriek ceaselessly.
The sentiment behind The Maze may be more powerful than its form, but try naming other producers launching sonic assaults upon the house music canon from within, and you still end up wanting to pat Goldmann on the back.
Tracklist A The Maze part 1
B The Maze part 2