T. Raumschmiere

As the electro movement's glitz-addled popularity seems to have waned in the past year, it's only inevitable that a new form of punk rebellion rides the wave of backlash. With a name lifted from the German translation of a Burroughs short story, Berlin-based artist T. Raumschmiere has buried the genre's...

By Kiran Aditham

December 4, 2003

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As the electro movement's glitz-addled popularity seems to have waned in the past year, it's only inevitable that a new form of punk rebellion rides the wave of backlash. With a name lifted from the German translation of a Burroughs short story, Berlin-based artist T. Raumschmiere has buried the genre's trendy nuances, giving a two-finger salute to the hype with his Novamute debut. An all-out barrage of techno, mangled hip-hop, electro, and punk, Radio Blackout weaves all of these styles through the 11 tracks in a solidly coherent way. From the buzzing punk stomp of the opening "I'm Not Deaf, I'm Ignoring You" to the industrial, atmospheric closer "Musick Boy," Raumschmiere's latest is the soundtrack to a discotheque blitzkrieg. Cameos abound with the likes of genre sexpot Miss Kittin trading her usual monotone deliveries for distorted rants on the digitally ferocious "The Game Is Not Over." But before you can say Add N to (X), Raumschmiere veers off the rough terrain for cuts like "Someday" that rival the likes of Prefuse 73 in melodic quirkiness.

Because Blackout is more fun than revolutionary, Raumschmiere places tongue firmly in cheek before unleashing his anti-trend manifestoes. Having already immersed himself in the influential German scene for quite a while, this enfant terrible can masterfully change from station to station without tuning the listener out. Crackling, scathing, and always willing to take the piss out of the politics of electronic music, Raumschmiere's vision is a brilliantly twisted take on modern-day sounds.

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