PATASHNIK

Biosphere's sophomore effort shows a glimpse of the profoundly beautiful soundscapes that he would later construct, but is riddled with amateurish moments and cheap sounding electronics that bring it down quite a bit.

Pataschnik is very spacey, and even the album's title is Russian cosmonaut slang for a cosmonaut who's security cable had been disconnected from the ship leaving him to be lost, forever drifting aimlessly through space. The music on this album is reasonably dark in regard to its implicit subject matter, and the techno influence from Microgravity has been toned down a bit which gives way for more atmospheric touches. Despite the improved atmosphere of the music, the synthesizer sounds and techno influences sound relatively cheap and primitive compared to Biosphere's later work, resulting in an album that sounds unfortunately similar to a N64 sci-fi action game soundtrack with influence from Aphex Twin's infamous Selected Ambient Works 85-92, though both artists where creating the same type of music at nearly the exact same time so to say that one really did influence the other is unfair. Even so, Aphex Twin's style in ambient techno is much more monolithic and atmospheric, and undoubtedly a more successful representation of this style.

There is usage of vocal samples on this album that are not very invasive, but do become somewhat repetitive when used, especially on the opening track. The title track uses a short vocal sample but instead of being repetitive it makes the track sound like a clone of '90s Kraftwerk after they discovered more modern electronic music technology, which is to say it's kind of cheesy and weak sounding. The majority of the album is comparatively well done in construction, though. Each track, even the strong techno ones, are sufficiently atmospheric for ambient techno and are not mechanically invasive to listeners who simply want to chill out. The spacey atmosphere with tinges of melancholy and regret are very well done on the interludes that preface some of the songs.

Pataschnik, while not Biosphere's best work, is an acceptable ambient techno album that fans of early Aphex Twin, AFX, and Monolake could enjoy, but for people looking for a contemplative and atmospheric album that rivals Biosphere's more successful work might want to look elsewhere. All in all, this is an enjoyable album, though many people might consider it to be too weak and juvenile.