12/01/08
Text: Nik Mercer
"Expect the unexpected" should be Kompakt Records' unofficial slogan. While the Berlin label specializes in techno-leaning varieties of electronic music, it never produces the generic, bland rave soundtracks one might offhandedly associated with the genre―and Tadeo's latest release, Contacto, is testament to this characteristic. (The full-length is actually being put out by Net 28, but Kompakt is distributing it so we don't feel too bad about discussing the latter.)
Tadeo―whose real name is Miguel Sar―has been regularly putting out singles, EPs, and LPs for the past four or five years, but with Contacto, he finally unearths his sound and style, setting himself apart from the ever-growing minimal techno army.
Sar's technique and musical sensibilities are reminiscent of early techno innovators'―Christian Vogel, Neil Landstrum, Plastikman, Jeff Mills―but he adds in a special high-tech elasticity and incorporates some of the most bizarre syncopated rhythms we've ever heard at the Anthem HQ. The tracks comprise of heavy bass lines, loads of echo, plenty of ethereal background synth washes that edge weirdly close to kraut, and seemingly random melodic blips and bleeps. If so-called "good techno" is defined by being all at once subtly dancey and slyly creative (you can't be too wacky or else you lose the ravers!), then Tadeo's in the upper echelons of the genre's "smart" sector.
Tadeo - Eclipse (MP3)
