techniquebeats, Feb 20, 2008
Following the appearance of Brooklyn ’s Afternoon Coffee Boys (Tony Rohr and Tim Xavier) at Len Faki ’s Berghain based Podium night, here comes Podium 3: another stab at Techno ’s electronic side, as sparse as it is smashing. The three adventurers ride on a space ship, drop some acid and save a brave sheep. Word! From dubbed out techno to noise funk,Tony Rohr has it all. His buddy Tim Xavier also represents the easy Brooklyn style. After bending towards a minimal approach two years ago, he became notorious for his slow but massive basslines, dark but groovy beats and twisted backing arrangements. His work is best featured on his labels LTD400 and Klickhaus,and the Dark Blend EP on Clink. On „Marriot Acid “, the banging punctuated bass meets tonal elements with a mysteriously hypnotic melody. All leads into a noise-inflicted break where groovy hi-hats take it to the starkly contrasted funky second part. Tony doesn ’t talk 303 but shows here how to exploit the feeling. ”Astral Plane “is a consistent voluminous effort from the very start… Sci-fi for the 21st century…