Tarwater
The Needle Was Travelling
Morr Music

Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram have been going for while as Tarwater. Their fifth album is minimalistic, elegiac electronica. Lippok's distanced vocal sets them apart from other bands in the same field. "Seven of Nine" (named after a borg-turned human in Star Trek Voyager) is New Order-ish in its rhythmic fashion. "Tv Blood" is a staccato excerise in deadpan, Lippok singing of living in films as the music pours forth beautifully.

"Jackie" sees the duos pop sensibility pushed to the fore. It's a sad but also oddly uplifting little tune. The deft "Unseen in the Disco" is rhythmic but low-key with it.

This is a superb album.

Copyright © 2005 Anna Maria Stjärnell