For over twenty years, Elektro Guzzi have been Vienna’s resident techno power trio, and it’s been fifteen since their first album. Their concept — performing in the classic guitar, bass and drums line-up while sounding as if everything were programmed on machines — has loosened and expanded over time. The stoic groove remains, a hand-played rhythm gradually built into a track through layered repetition. Yet deviations from the rigid four-to-the-floor pulse are now permitted. The core idea, however, still stands.
The ten tracks on Liquid Center present themselves as club music modelled primarily on techno. This time, though, the band avoid dense, monolithic vortices of sound, opting instead for an approach that feels both open and precise. Elements of dub appear naturally, though never to excess. A fine example is »Outer Core«, where the bass is clearly and fluidly plucked, and the guitar makes no attempt to disguise itself as a synthesiser. Throughout the album drifts a trace of post-rock — perhaps even a hint of longing. After all, machine-men are still only human.
Liquid Center
