Petar Dundov – Escapements

This is quite probably one of the best electronic music albums in years. I know it's not really the most intelligent thing to say at times where anything not deemed as dubstep just cannot be great, and where stuff without the tarnished and (at the present day very often) obsolete and misplaced "idm" tag isn't fit to enter allegedly serious discussions about the scene, but Petar Dundov not only reinvents himself, but does the least of all things imaginable - avoids the cromo effect, and actually tries something original, ultimately giving the listener something they need to hear, rather than something they'd want to.
After many years spent at the forefront of the european techno scene, and after a relatively long hiatus, Petar brings gorgeously warm and accessible sounds on his newest, "Escapements" album. Ditching the fashionable "click-clack" dance floor formula right from the kick off, with the beatless Kanon, he lets us know this will be a different experience.
From there on, the surprises just don't stop and the music gets better as it moves on. Desert Island and Sparkling Stars are two extremely well orchestrated, slowly building pieces, floating in relatively low bpm ranges, with morphing effects and slowly growing melodic passages leading to subtle yet perceptible and evident climaxes. Just check the five minute plus build-up on Sparkling Stars. No cheap trick, no percussion exaltation, just pure groove, rhythm and harmony. What a tune!
She In Purple and Waterfall are really old school sounding, and I mean like they were recorded at a time when genres didn't matter all that much. The first is a ticking, almost houseish tune, with a dubby bass line and some vintage Detroit like melodic bleeps and gentle outbursts of chord action. The latter, quite probably my favorite, is a god sent example of what all those wannabe so intelligent and challenging producers should be making. Listen to this: slightly broken percussion, with a lush, panoptic melody compartment in the background, a repetitve, almost flute like sequence above it, and then at 02:50 he drops the most touching strings I've heard since the "The Album Formerly Known As..." by Carl Craig! If those strings don't jade your physical appearance, then few things will, unless you get run over by one of those Monster Trucks.
Oasis, the album's lead single and biggest hit, played by everyone from basement DJs to stadium rocking big names, is a ten minute crescendo of swelling melodies, plummeting synths, mutating progressions of dreamy chains of harmony and tranced out melodic musical passages. There are few tunes like this one - there isn't a single milisecond to pause here - with unceasing advancement, and negligible changes. It seems like you're listening to the same two segments for ten minutes, but if you, for example, make a sudden skip from the third to the sixth minute, the difference will be clearly audiable. I remember losing it to this one a few motnhs ago at this venue called Vatrogasni Dom in Zagreb. It was a party with no more than 20 people, including the bartender and around 3 security guys, and when Petar dropped it around 04:15 in the morning, the 'lot' of us, being as drunk as we were, were all around the stage, screaming God almighty only remembers what. I've heard it many times before and after, but never was it as effective as that time, with enough space to do what I felt like, it seemed like I really teleported myself to that oasis after all...
Rain and Anja's Theme are two great beatless (in Rain the percussion is very vague and is introduced only some three minutes deep) efforts, well placed, one at the album's middle and the other at the end, complementing this unique journey all the way.
Well, my opinion is that Petar Dundov has really recorded an album for the ages this time around. While not allowing himself to stay encompassed within any particular style, and having a loan of plenty corners of electronic music, he comes up with his most versatile and original album yet. Where "Reaction" was a remarkable and fierce testament to his pure techno, dance floor incinerating aesthetic, and "Sculptures" was a peek in his more experimental and abstract vision of the daring corners of electronic music's reign, "Escapements" moves a step above both and reaffirms Petar Dundov as a force to be reckoned with. As for the vinyl vs compact disc discussion, this time around I really recommend going for the CD. The album has a really journeyesque feel to it, and for me at least, works best when listening to in one sit, while comfortably kicking it back on my sofa. The vinyl treatment is great as well, the sound is overwhelming, but the fact each side has one track makes it quite annoying to get up every nine minutes or so to flip sides. It's a pain in the whatever to interrupt a listen as flawless as this one just so I can change the record around. However, if you're still one of those vinyl DJs, be sure to cop this. As much as it stands out amongst this modern minimal garbage, Dundov's tunes can work the crowd and drive them crazy (verified), with its distinct arrangements, inimitable drive and a combination of melody and more club orientated drive.
Trust me on this one: at this day and age, running into an album like "Escapements" is a blessing. Out of the total eight tracks, six are phenomenal pieces, tunes you'd hear during a five hour DJ set and have them swimming in your brain for days to come.