Antenne - #2 (2002)

artist: Antenne
album: #2
label: korm plastics
release date: 2002
tags: electronic, experimental, idm, trip-hop, ambient
dream debris

1. Black Eyed Dog / 2. Not Sad / 3. Annex Aug / 4. Across the Way / 5. Dead Dreams / 6. Clearly Wrong / 7. Sunwalk

Purists could argue that, especially on this album, Antenne has retracted anything that could possibly recall trip-hop (probably with the exception of time signatures). And my argument is: why should we care as long as what we get is great? Plain '90s Bristolian beats wouldn't have managed to pull off the job of the day, as what we have here is a personal and strongly oneiric universe. Rhythms are more fragile than ever and the songs seem painfully abstract. But it is actually like an excellent abstract expressionist work of art that seems to make sense in spite of what it actually is. "Sunwalk" is a crowning achievement of this kind of approach - however, no need to worry as "Not Sad" and "Dead Dreams" come with the exact kind of expressive minimalism that is by now a staple of Antenne's style. Well done follow-up to the incredibly good "#1".