Thomas Brinkmann ‎– Wanda / Xenia

Among the many great works of Thomas Brinkmann this release, in my opinion, is one of the finest in his whole oeuvre. Everyone of the four tracks sounds incredibly fresh and sparkling funky; the immense groove of these pieces points already into the direction of the later Soul Center releases, although here the tracks are rather located in the minimal techno genre than in the funk and soul sphere. Straight, not too fast beats, almost no melody (except for Xenia 2, which is the most chilled out track of the four and, to be honest, the weakest in compare to the others), therefore a tight and extremely well arranged carpet of syncoped percussion elements form their own kind of musicality which is, while full of energy, never strenuous. Production and pressing are excellent, the sound is warm, full of pressure, bright, transparent, clear but not thin - analogue sound at its best. My favorite is Wanda 1, which is the most "Soul Center like" track, featuring even a little vocal sample and some sounds of Brinkmann's scratched records - and a great groove that should do fine on every dancefloor.