There is something wonderfully familiar in the pulsing bass, the clinical drum sound and the minimal synth patterns that skitter around between voice and backbeat. Comfort zones are nice places to exist in and Vladrumetz builds ones that take me back to small London clubs in the early 80’s when that collision of punk attitude, fashion and changes in technology created a strange electronic hybrid. Art school dropouts embraced this critical point that eventually heralded the rise of commercial synth-pop and New Romanticism but for now it was a mercurial and intoxicating underground sensation found in small corners of scenes that have been long forgotten by history.
And Vladrumetz could very well have been part of that small but important gathering. It’s quite telling that he is based in Germany, the home of Can, Faust, Neu! and Kraftwerk, the early pioneers of electronica. But this is slicker; this belongs to the smoother, less exploratory movement that followed on its heels, the music which thankfully replaced disco as the discerning dance floor party music.
It may be simple, but more importantly the music is subtle, not to mention supple, and whilst it leads its hypnotic dance it beats like the heart of the computers that birthed it, at a place where humanity and machine co-exist. Knowing where you are going is important but so is knowing where you come from and if this is an indication of what the album Dead End Street has to offer, then it will provide an important link between what has already happened and where electronic music goes next. The past taken root in the present to create the future.
More about Vladrumetz can be found www.vladrumetz.tk
