November 8, 2000

Kreidler

Two albums in and Kreidler seem to find the electronic post-rock sound taking itself a little too seriously.

Two albums
in and Kreidler seem to find the electronic post-rock sound taking itself a little too seriously. With
this eponymous release (the third from Reihse, Weinrich and Klein) they are bringing a slight jokiness and lightness of touch to their synthetic warblings.

However, this is European post-rock and the gags are thin on the ground. This record sounds not unlike the background music to a Christmas party in a physics lab. Argentina's Leo Garcia adds his voice to 'Estatico' with a bit of warmth but still sounds like he's a long way from home. The omnipresent figure of Momus adds his vibes to 'Mnemorex'. The rest of the record bleeps and swoops in very inoffensive ways. Kreidler want to bring a pop sensibility to their genre in the same way international merchant banks encourage employees to wear jeans to work. 'Sans Soleil' makes us feel comfortable and casual while remaining a very serious business.

Kreidler are trying to lighten up the sound that emanates from their Dusseldorf studio but by warming up their electronic noise, the clinical edginess has gone and
we are left with music only suited to soundtracking underwater TV documentaries about particularly boring fish.
Neil Thomson

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