Solyst - Solyst

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

5...according to our Brian on Thu 11 Aug, 2011.

Now this bugger has been an office favourite for weeks now. Thomas Klein has drummed with neo-Krautrockers/post-rockers Kriedler for around a decade and a half. Now he's obviously tired of the restrictive parameters of a band unit and let rip on this thoroughly wonderful solo exploration. What does it sound like? Well you got clips there silly. I'm just here to insist that you buy this. I'm confident he's been inspired by the recent gathering of interest in African polyrhythms and the congotronics sound but he's not gone and jumped on that bandwagon particularly. I feel like he's somehow forged an album of cosmic tribal genius that sounds totally unique. The dystopian synth on 'Melville' that swells and fades over a startling plethora of chinking, clanking, hollow-sounding percussion is one of the best things I've heard in 2011. It's an incredibly vibrant and intoxicating piece of music that sounds both spiritual, organic yet somehow austere too! The ghostly remnants of early Kraftwerk - the pulses and the micro-grooves - are also subtly acknowledged. I totally feel these rattling, aquatic cerebral rhythms - they're more than complemented by the restrained use of fuzzy electronics. This is quite honestly, in my opinion, one of the finest releases of the year so far. Klein has seemingly noticed the all-consuming global interest in all things kosmische but has, with a pedigree such as his, merely taken a minuscule amount of spirit from the loose "genre" his forefathers trailblazed and run with it to create something beguiling, exotic and wide-eyed. This is almost certainly in my top ten of the year, it'd take some very powerful and surprising releases to even start budging it from my mind. Amazing stuff.

To play these clips you need to either update your browser (Norman Records recommends Google Chrome) or update your Flash plugin.

After over 15 years as Kreidler drummer and a number of other guest appearances, Thomas Klein now presents his first solo album under the name SØLYST. The basic ingredients of his music do not differ greatly from Kreidler’s. SØLYST also unites analogue drums and electronically generated patterns. But Klein now heads into more tribalistic territory. The beat, the groove, the monotones—Klein is a musical hypnotist, taking aim at rhythmic ecstasy with minimal, yet highly effective means. Both restrained and insistent, SØLYST’s darkly pulsating aural cosmos envelops the listener and holds him fast as a fantastic voyage commences. Intricate, repetitive sequences, overflowing delays—and the drums, always the drums, sometimes in the mix, sometimes alone in acoustic space, as they unleash mesmerising physical and atmospheric energy, the heart of the instrumental pieces. Afrobeat, minimal music, Krautrock, dub, cosmic—all apposite and well-intended references, but not enough by way of explanation. A genre to encompass this has yet to be invented, so Tribal Dub Krautrock is perhaps the most fitting description. Kreidler connaisseurs will be familiar with Klein’s style of drumming. His trademark simultaneity of functionality and expressiveness cannot be mistaken. Thomas Klein has thus earned his rightful place alongside illustrious Krautrock drummers like Jaki Liebezeit (Can), Klaus Dinger (NEU!) and Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru), every one of them a master of his craft, each bringing his own unique personality and technique to the music. Klein is possibly closest to Liebezeit in terms of lineage: complex rhythms in endless loops with small, yet subtle scatterings.

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!