The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble

Mr. Machine

Genre: ELECTRONIC

MP3
FLAC

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The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble’s recent single ‘Pretend’ (with Ninja Tune starlet Emika) was a startling example of the trio’s underrated musical landscape as they welded icy-cool jazz experiments with the atmosphere of a doomy cabaret and the pulsing 4/4 kick of Chicago’s finest. ‘Mr. Machine’ is the band’s second full-length and takes the pitch-perfect minimal shuffle of their groundbreaking debut and manages to sharpen it at the edges. The band have famously been described as Steve Reich crossed with Theo Parrish, and who are we to disagree, but the dance tropes have been dialed down here to make way for a gloomier, more engulfing album experience. The distinct hauntology of ‘You Make Me Real’ elicits apt comparison to Badalamenti’s ‘Twin Peaks’ score – and while that’s a comparison that might be overused at this point, give it a listen and you’ll no doubt know what we mean. It is to the band’s credit that they manage to inject their style with so much vigour – jazz and house music have been co-habiting for many years now with varying degrees of success, and rarely has it been done with such taste and restraint as on ‘Mr Machine’.

MP3 Release (8)