Isolée – Rest

A singular electronic record from the turn of the century, Isolée’s debut full-length album straddles genres, mixes tempos, generates wildly infectious tones and sound waves, all the while commanding the dance floor. Though it’s probably best described as a techno album, unlike a lot of the cleaner, more minimal and streamlined German techno of the time, Rest contains a lot of staticky grit – like a Porsche with a sandpaper veneer. As if to warm up the crowd, Isolée’s stellar track “Beau Mot Plage,” a classic of the era, came out a few months prior to Rest. Throughout both, Rajko Müller, who is Isolée, seems uninterested in sticking to the techno template. Echoes of the 1980s abound. At various moments you can hear shades of Chris & Cosey, Cabaret Voltaire, and Kraftwerk, the common denominator being Rest‘s adoration of warm analog synth tones. Müller loves oddball eighth- and sixteenth-note accents and weird sounds, and his tracks often feature breaks that carry them in surprising new directions. – Randall

Recommended – Full Listen