Efdemin - Chicago
Pickup available at Holdrons Arcade
Usually ready in 24 hours
Efdemin - Chicago
Holdrons Arcade
135A Rye Lane
Unit 11 Holdrons Arcade
London SE15 4ST
United Kingdom
Label: Dial – dial CD 21
Format: CD, Album
Country: Germany
Released: May 24, 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: Deep House, Techno
Chicago is Efdemin's second album on Dial and the centrepiece of the label's tenth anniversary releases — a record that Phillip Sollmann himself describes as a contribution to urban blues, and one that functions as a turning point in the anti-trend movement already being proclaimed by Villalobos, DJ Koze and Luciano in the early 2010s. Where the self-titled debut announced a singular voice, Chicago reveals the full depth of the cosmos that voice inhabits.
Ten tracks drawn from Sollmann's immersion in his own archives and experiences — as a singer in a band, a composer of theatre music, a DJ in clubs across the globe — and shaped by a constellation of influences that traces from Sun Ra's otherworldly Chicago transmissions through Don Cherry's minimalist jazz, Basil Kirchin's tape music and Harry Partch's microtonal instruments. Cello, zither, drums, percussion, organ, synths, drum machines and small instruments like flutes and pipes appear throughout without ever walking into the trap of virtuosity. Oh My God featuring Nina Kraviz and the sprawling ten-minute Wonderland (The Race For Space) are among its most remarkable moments — but the whole record rewards complete immersion. Is this a Chicago house record? No. But the windy city was the starting point to blow the cosmos in a thousand directions. To quote Sollmann's favourite pop band, Prefab Sprout: there is no Chicago urban blues.
