View Larger
Rate it!
Avg: 4.0 (394 ratings)
- Date Released: May 15, 2007
- Genre: Electronic
- Style: Electronic Experimental
- Label: Shitkatapult / Finetunes
A former IDM also-ran steps into the spotlight with an honest-to-goodness pop masterpiece.
-
We Say...
In 2006, Berlin-based producer Sascha Ring's Apparat project received a bump in recognition for Orchestra of Bubbles, his brilliant collaboration with Ellen Allien. Orchestra was an album of lush electronic pop that kept a steady beat with one foot in Allien's home turf, the club world. On his own as Apparat, Ring's approach is more open-ended, moving from the texture-obsessed processing of '90s IDM to glossy ambient washes to pieces that brush against the steely repetition of classical minimalism.
Ring also has a fondness for dense, glitch-laden arrangements that touch on certain strands of experimental rock from the last decade. Specifically, on the two tracks here that Ring sings himself, "Birds" and "Arcadia," he ably conjures the warped and affecting atmosphere of Kid A-era Radiohead (when singing in his upper register, Ring resembles Thom Yorke), albeit with more focus on rhythm. Compared to their counterparts on two previous Apparat full-lengths, the vocal tracks — four others are voiced by frequent collaborator Raz Ohara — are more developed and far catchier. Both "Hailin from the Edge" and "Holdon" owe something to the slinky R&B side of Prince's oeuvre, but Ring's terrific ear for mixing and sound design — check the way he layers cello and electronics on "Hailin" — brings the aesthetic into a more immersive realm.
Further evidence of his production prowess comes on the two-part mini suite "Fractales," as he integrates guitar, piano, strings, drum machines, percolating sequenced synths and loads of carefully placed distortion into a positively epic neo-shoegaze confection. With its strong sense of dynamics and wide array of arrangements, Walls works terrifically well as a complete album. -
They Say...
Having made a considerable splash with the Ellen Allien collaboration Orchestra of Bubbles, Apparat returned to his own path with Walls, a remarkable album that ranks as his best yet. Beginning with the gentle string and vibes beats of "Not a Number" -- which in its own melancholy way, combined with the title, suddenly sounds like one of the most humanistic songs yet recorded, passionate in its elegant sorrow -- Walls takes a simultaneously familiar and unsettled path. While the continuing impact of disparate strands of music -- the fallout of My Bloody Valentine and its many imitators, the electronic obsessions of Warp, the stadium-ready melancholy of early Radiohead and its own horde of followers -- has resulted in a 21st century computer music of crushed sorrow; on Walls, Apparat transcends the downbeat limitations of the incipient form with astonishing grace. Hearing how what could be a standard filter-house volume build in "Limelight" becomes a fierce trap for a voice barely understandable, or how the post-Jeff Buckley/Thom Yorke woundedly sweet vocal on "Arcadia" actually means something working alongside the busily frenetic beats make the listener regard familiar approaches in a sudden new light. Meantime, "You Don't Know Me," which appears towards the album's conclusion, might actually be the best song on it. While there are a lot of songs that could be described as soundtracking a nonexistent film, this actually feels like it, strings and a handclap beat creating a pitch-perfect atmosphere to the end of a romantic movie. Raz Ohara's various vocal appearances throughout are nice additions but the highlight is "Hold On," where his perfectly in-the-moment R&B style contrasts the squelching bass and nervous but righteous groove to a T.
“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”
Rolling Stone
eMusic Tip
Paid downloads are counted towards an album discount but free downloads are not.
COMPLETE FOR FREE!
You can download the rest of the tracks from this album for free! Just click the Complete Album button.
We’re sorry this album can only be downloaded using paid subscription download credits.
We recommend you Save it for Later by clicking the Save for Later button shown just above this message. For a list of related albums you can download right now, check out these recommendations.
| 01. |  |
Not A Number |
3:59 |
|
| 02. | |
Hailin From The Edge |
3:39 |
|
| 03. | |
Useless Information |
4:04 |
|
| 04. | |
Limelight |
4:12 |
|
| 05. | |
Holdon |
4:10 |
|
| 06. | |
Fractales (Pt. I) |
3:34 |
|
| 07. | |
Fractales (Pt. II) |
2:06 |
|
| 08. | |
Birds |
5:03 |
|
| 09. | |
Arcadia |
5:10 |
|
| 10. | |
You Don't Know Me |
4:24 |
|
| 11. | |
Headup |
5:06 |
|
| 12. | |
Over And Over |
5:07 |
|
| 13. | |
Like Porcelain |
9:19 |
|
13 Total Tracks, 59:53 Total Length
Loading...
Playlists If you like Apparat, check out these member playlists
Explore music recommended by Apparat fans
Credits
- Roger Seibel - Mastering // Raz Ohara - Vocals // Joshua Eustis - Mixing // Sascha Ring - Producer
Choose from over 6 million
music downloadseMusic features legendary and emerging artists in every genre: classic rock to classical,indie to international, soundtracks to spiritual, jazz to country and many more.
MP3 downloads work on any digital media player
With eMusic, you OWN your music without any restrictions. Burn music to a CD, play it on your computer, mobile phone or any digital media player - including iPod®, Zune® and Walkman®.
Songs available for 50¢ or less
eMusic subscriptions start at just $11.99 a month for 24 downloads - that's just 50¢ per song! And it gets better from there - our plans go as low as 42¢ per song!
Music Discovery
eMusic is about discovery. We make finding new music fun again with music recommendations from our award-winning team of music experts, member playlists and new music features.
Cancel anytime
With all the great music and site features we're pretty sure you will love eMusic. If not, no problem. You can cancel at any time and keep the music you have downloaded.
© 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC