AXOLOTL EYES (WITH KUMO)

Irmin continues his collaboration with Kumo alias Jono Podmore here. As opposed to the earlier release Masters of Confusion, this one is not 100% instrumental but comes with guest vocals by Paul J. Fredericks on three tracks. Fredericks adds a nice leftfield element with his uncoventional singing, sometimes strongly electronically manipulated. This is most prominent on Kick on the Floods, which in my view would've worked as a single even though it wasn't released as one. On the title track vocals are credited but you have to look hard for them. Raketenstadt once more delivers some catchiness, with the vocals interacting nicely with the rhythmic electronics.

This album has just such an elegant cool electronic sound, using the rich possibilities for sampling and manipulation that were available in the 2000s. Irmin and Kumo just went more "all in" here with the electronic experimentation than on Masters of Confusion, and also the electronic rhythms swing and vibrate some more. At the same time there is still the piano and the occasional trumpet, making for a fascinating contrast. On top of this, there is great variety in the tracks, from the straight but mysterious Kick on the Floods over the sharp bodily Raketenstadt, the aptly named relaxed Drifting Days Crime Pays, the experimental out there sound collage Umbilicus Clear harking back to Irmin's education as avantgarde composer. The title track comes closest to the strongly accented rhythms of Masters of Confusion, Meteor Infected is a creative space electronic track, and the Etrurian Waltz enriches Irmin's love for the piano waltz with some surprising sounds, and provides the crescendo toward the end that this album deserves.

Creatively this is probably the peak of Irmin's work. It may not appeal to some because of the techno impact, but for me it's strong and impressive. 4.7 stars. Some versions come with a DVD of a sound and film installation that was on display in London's Barbican. This is pretty long and experimental and meant for ambience (I think it was on a Barbican wall while everyone would go along with their business, it wasn't an autonomous performance), meaning that you may not find it worthwhile to go through the whole length of this with full concentration, but it is great at what it is, a nice and fascinating bonus.