The Aachen-based duo Alphawezen are hard at work on their fourth album. In the meantime, though, to sweeten up the wait, they’ve come out with a painstakingly compiled double CD featuring a few rare renditions, remixes of songs by such illustrious producers as Nightmares On Wax and Dadamnphreaknoizphunk, and some previously unreleased mixes of their own.
Those who don’t know Alphawezen yet should check out this latest release by the duo from Aachen and Düsseldorf. The Snow Glow double disc showcases the multilayered soundscapes traversed by producer Ernst Wawra and his congenial singer Asu Yalcindag. Featured collaborators range from the brutally minimalist Holz through the revolutionary Mediengruppe Telekommander to established house producer The Timewriter and downtempo legend Nightmares On Wax. Ernst Wawra, a German-artistic Melville Hall in his own right (involved in projects like Mittekill and Elektro Willi und Sohn), is a chameleon in the best sense of the word, metamorphosing and mixing up the tracks himself, contrasting experimental (“Frost”) with pop (“White Noise”). Some of the tracks belong in a synthesizer museum (the first tracks were written for a modern dance performance at the Expo 98 in Lisbon), others could easily serve as soundtracks for commercials. As a matter of fact, Alphawezen songs are often used in movies and TV productions. Not only have Alphawezen outlived the lounge hype, they will deftly and always a bit melancholically weave their way through the nonstop beer buzz of New Rave blissfulness. |
