Lufth - Distanz & Nahe (2014)

Lufth´s „Distanz und Nähe“ on Oktaf Records accompanies the return of German experimental-dubtech and electronica producer Joerg Schuster. With his unique trademark sound and former releases on Source Records, Thinner and Archipel as Digitalverein and Sensual Physics – Schuster already established a loyal and enthusiastic fan crowd all around the world. His debut album as Lufth now introduces us to his most personal and experimental release so far. A 55 minute long collection of nine tracks that have been created over the past decade. As already done in other releases Schuster takes a strong reference to the German Ruhr area, the former industrial area where he lives, whereas other tracks take reference to inner states and personal developments. The opening-tune „Democracy is dead like printed matter“ combines crispy beat-fragments with cineastic Pink Floyd like Synthesizer-Pads. „Methan on Mars“ incorporates downtempo beats with experimental noises and „Duisburg links“ slows down even more for some subtile and tricky dub-melodies. The title track „Distanz und Nähe“ reveals the most beats within this album – a nice electronica track with floating hooklines. Extremely slowed down and filtered dubs can be heard again in „Rotes Dortmund“ which is one of the most touching tracks of this album. „Motion-Emotion“ displays a futuristic version of abstracted Tango. „Nicht ohne Dich (Not without you)“ and „Ebbe und Flut (Ebb and Flow)“ conquer the listener with tricky beats and supernice melodies. The album is closed by the beautiful 10 minute epos „Zwischen uns der Mund (Between us the mouth)“. All in all Schuster is once again convincing with his abstract trademark sounds and a super-futuristic interpretation of todays dub-electronica.