Audiopile Review: Wolfgang Voigt is obviously best known for the arboreal dub-techno of Gas. This is understandable, as Gas is one of those rare musical projects that manage to be hugely influential while remaining utterly unique. Voigt’s work outside the Gas giant is less well-known. This is a shame, because it is frequently excellent, and sometimes not that different from Gas. Originally released in 1995, ‘Mit Maschinen Sprechen’ does not sound too much like that project, but it has a similarly extreme dedication to conceptual coherence. It’s essentially a collection of minimalist synthesizer arpeggios, but do not expect Tangerine Dream-style spacescapes. The sounds are often filtered down into glitchy percussive loops that could be from an early release on Alva Noto’s Raster-Noton label. Elsewhere, they sound like transmissions from some post-war electronic music studio in continental Europe. This could even be a late-period Coil project inspired by both the above. In any case, ‘Mit Maschinen Sprechen’ is an ear-boggling and compulsively listenable album, which deserves a much wider audience than it has received previously.

***

33 abstract, electronic arpeggiator sound frescoes from 1995. For the first and last time on vinyl. Because de-interpretation times timelessness equals re-enchantment.