This is the follow up to German producer Sepalot's 2008 debut, Red Handed. Sepalot is the producer and DJ for the Munich rap group Blumentopf and in his native country he's kind of a big deal.

The inlay to this release has Sepalot photoshopped within a recording studio, surrounded by a bank of antique synths and record decks. Can Sepalot be the spiritual heir to the great '70s era of Krautrock, a continuation of the progressive albums by Can, Neu!, Faust, Harmonia and even early Kraftwerk (before they became more machine than man)? He certainly has the right tools and if the press release is to be believed, the attitude.

I excitedly put the CD on. The first track is mash up of cheesy samples where some halfwit implores “let's go on a musical trip”. Hmmm, surely misdirection to catch the unwary listener off guard before dropping the greatest of musical curveballs. The second track however is mediocre hip-hop with the first of many guest vocalists, and so it continues, every track differing from the one preceding.

Ok, this album isn't going to be heralding in the next wave of Krautrock or Kosmische Musik but taken on it's own terms it does have a few good tracks. The problem is there's no cohesion holding it together as an album and Sepalot is unable to distinguish between great and truly awful. There's 18 tracks here and they're all short meaning the bad never stays around too long but conversely the good are over way too soon and the ideas remain undeveloped.

When he's good as on 'Warum Kann Ich Nicht Mehr?' he's really not too bad. The track is highly reminiscent of Tricky's debut and its greatest asset - the vocals are not in English, so we are spared Sepalot's naff lyrics. The sound is slowcore trip hop, phat beats and sudden stabs of John Barryesque strings.

At the other extreme we have 'Rollercoaster' the nearest comparison of which would be Rebecca Black's 'Friday'. Lyrically it's more trite and sung with less sincerity and emotion than Roland Keating's song of the same name - a feat I had previously thought impossible.

It's Sepalot's songwriting, particularly lyrically that lets him down and his choice of guest vocalists are of sub Rebecca Black standard. When he concentrates on instrumental and more experimental tracks the results are far better and I'd like to hear a purely instrumental album free of any guest vocalists or cheesy samples.

5

Richard A Bennett