Etienne Jaumet: Night Music (Domino)
After stints in Zombie Zombie, Married Monk, and Flop, French electronic producer Etienne Jaumet went solo two years ago; after some well-received 12"/EP releases, this is his first full-length album. He stands outside current trends, instead looking back on old styles and giving them his own spin. The opening track, the 20-minute excursion "For Falling Asleep," suggests at first with its heavily pulsating beat a more emotive Kraftwerk circa Autobahn but then surprises with saxophones halfway through, pointing to earlier Krautrock influences, and at 14 minutes a brave abandonment of the previously insistent beat. The saxes intertwine for awhile, but the volume diminishes and harp takes over with synth occasionally swelling to interrupt. The only thing about this epic track that isn't a masterpiece is its inapt title -- this isn't music for sleep. Such a strong and extended start inherently risks subsequent letdown, but Jaumet sidesteps this through sheer variety as he gives us his eccentric takes on Detroit techno (which of course was influenced by Krautrock/Kraftwerk), "Mental Vortex"and "Entropy," the uncategorizable "Through the Strata" (with hurdy-gurdy, woozily swooping synth, and a beat way too slow for dancing, closing with what sounds like echoing water drops), and back to Krautrock as the album winds down on the droning "At the Crack of Dawn." Only about half of this album will work in clubs, but all of it sounds great.