Rhythm_Maker: Every Now and Then, Anger
Background Records

Rhythm_Maker (Stefan Schwander aka Repeat Orchestra and Antonelli Electr.) weighs in with the most club-oriented release from Background Records in quite a while. A cool and clean Motor City-meets-Düsseldorf vibe permeates the four tech-house tracks on Every Now and Then, Anger with Schwander's crisp hi-hats and pumping bass drums pushing the material onto the late-night dance floor. Each track sounds different from the rest. The swinging uptempo opener “It's Like Percussion, Pt. 2” churns especially beautifully, with the faintest hint of a keyboard melody peering over the horizon of the song's percolating clicks and hi-hats. The labyrinthine organ loop in “Maintain,” on the other hand, clearly revisits the style Schwander perfected on his superb Repeat Orchestra full-length The Original Dimensions though he deepens the arrangement here with intricate synth and percussive detailing. Latin rhythms snake through the lush washes and cycling keyboard melodies of “I Can't Help Myself” while the darker title track closes the set with brooding themes accompanied by a jacking groove accented by cymbal splashes. As he did on The Original Dimensions, Schwander fuses analog and digital elements on Every Now and Then, Anger in deft manner.

September 2005