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artist · lithops
release · wackler
year · 1996
genre · electronic
label · eat raw
catalogue · eat 007
website · none
date · 29-mar-2004
quality · 214kbps/44,1khz
source · vinyl
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a1 wackler 5:44
b1 kahn 9:28
playtime · 00h 15m 12s
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lithops is the solo guise of jan st. werner, known to most as half
of popular k÷ln/dⁿsseldorf-based duo mouse on mars. also a member
of abstract ambient outfit microstoria, st. werner tends toward
middle ground with his lithops material, fusing the smooth digital
weirdness of microstoria with the smudgy, off-kilter beats and
warm, imperfect textures of mouse on mars releases such as
instrumentals and glam. lithops tracks rub the outer edges of
inferential electronics, and often sound as though they began
their lives as happy little studio accidents, all fumbly,
peripatetic rhythms emerging from a haze of muffled bass and
overdriving synth textures. although st. werner's first lithops
tracks trace only to 1995, a flood of material quickly appeared,
beginning with the two-track "wackler/khan" 12-inch, issued by
tiny k÷ln-based imprint eat raw, and shifting into high gear with
a pair of full-lengths released in 1998. st. werner and mom
partner andi toma's vinyl-only sonig label issued the first of
those -- the drab, gauzy uni umit -- in early 1998, while the eat
raw's lp didot followed only months later. although it didn't
receive quite the initial distribution push of sonig's first
release -- mom's excellent instrumentals lp, reissued stateside by
thrill jockey -- uni umit was equally as splendid, wrapping thick,
organic textures around sparse rhythms, bizarre electronics, and
thick, strapping, resonant bass. (the album got a stateside cd
reissue in 1998, via jim o'rourke's moikai label.) didot, for its
part, was slightly better-produced and rhythmically further flung
than its predecessor, but both satisfy to a more or less equal
degree. an additional 1998 release came in the form of the
"turbino" 7-inch, released by the otherwise unrelated static
caravan label. another single "sequenced twinset" appeared in
1999, and four years later, lithops returned with third album
scrypt, released through thrill jockey.
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