burger/ink – [las vegas]

In the mid and late 1990s, the esteemed New York label Matador, which had earned acclaim for indie classics by Pavement, Liz Phair and Cat Power, commenced releasing a series of experimental electronic and electronic pop albums by producers and groups including the Modernist, Pizzicato 5, Pole, Solex, Jega, and Khan. Most famously, Matador issued the first Boards of Canada album, Music Has the Right to Children. Amid this bounty, which confused diehards reared on Matador guitar bands including Yo La Tengo, Guided by Voices, and Spoon, Matador issued a pensive Cologne techno album by Jörg Burger and Mike Ink (a.k.a. Wolfgang Voigt). Called [las vegas], it’s a bucolic, expansive instrumental album drawn from three 12-inches and driven by 128-or-so bpm heartbeat bass-kick beats and percussive tones that seem wrapped in plush red velvet. Both Burger and Voigt had already established themselves for their work in ’90s German techno, but as a duo they combined strenths: Burg creates brilliantly pillowy beats; Voigt understands the build-peak-release dance floor plot-line. A record to get lost in, [las vegas] will calm you on your darkest days and tuck you in to bed at night. Bonus: Many of the tracks feature titles ripped from Roxy Music songs. – Randall