Phillip Sollmann has never been to CHICAGO … After the huge success of his selftitled debut in 2007 CHICAGO is the second album of the Berlin-based Producer and DJ who releases his music under his moniker EFDEMIN with DIAL Records. While setting up his new studio – autumn turned into winter and berlin would soon be covered in snow. The outside world faded away, noises were muffled and Sollmann felt more and more like being in musical psychoanalysis with himself. A perfect starting point for the production of a new album. Revealing his wide range of expressions EFDEMIN starts with a kind of jazz jam-session between himself and his studio environment. Playing the rummachines, a farfisa organ and the drumkit makes “cowbell” an artificial weird tune, yet it remains human. Following are the two deep dance tracks “shoeshine” and “nightrain” which reflect his love for house and deeper techno.
They aren’t looking for cheap peaktimes or breakdowns but focus on subtle seduction through sound. ”Oh my god” brings back the obscure jazz of “cowbell” with a piano-loop in the main role, contrasting against noisy bubbles, vocal-flakes and a melody you won’t forget. Next is the soulful “there will be singing” – a tune in the vein of detroit house with a long introduction followed by an impressive groove with a dark bass-line. “Le grand voyage” is a short but seductive study in dub-techno based on organchords and bass. From now on the heart lies more in the sound than in the melodies and the further the album develops, the more abstract and eccentric it becomes. In “round here” sound totally takes over and the beat takes a back seat. “Wonderland” is a long trip through sound and abstract layers of percussiongrooves – a somewhat psychotic piece of music which goes way beyond being music for clubs. CHICAGO comes to end with the reprise of the hearttouching melodie of “oh my god”, this time without the beat. CHICAGO, EFDEMIN’s second contribution to urban blues, contains ten tracks as a result of Phillip Sollmann’s immersion into his own archives and experiences – may it be as a singer in a band years ago, composing theatre-music or playing as a DJ in clubs all over the globe. They deal with various influences, although always expressing his unique sense for deepness and his love for dance music. There is Jazz, there is house, there is techno and there are his instruments you can hear: Cello, Zither, Drums, Percussion, Organ, Synths, Drummachines and several small things like flutes and pipes appear here and there without ever walking into the trap of virtuosity. Besides Techno itself, there are many important influences in EFDEMIN’s music from different sources and other times - a cosmos of music that has followed him for a long time and influenced his drifting and melancholic approach to producing electronic dance music. Be it the otherworldly music of chicago-based Sun Ra, minimalistic jazz /world-music-studies of don cherry, the enterprising tape music of basil kirchin or the microtonal instruments of Harry Partch to name a few of the influences that layed the groundwork leading up to the production of this album.
Is this a “chicago-house” record? No! But the windy city was the starting point to blow the cosmos with such abstract lovely music developed in a thousand directions. Arts, literature, architecture, jazz, american folkmusic, hip hop - CHICAGO seems to be the source of reference for so many important
movements crossing EFDEMIN’s work. Finally CHICAGO is the title for an album rich in flavors and full of directions into contemporary dance music and the end of the world as we know it.
To quote his favourite pop-band Prefab Sprout: “there is no chicago urban blues” (Cruel, Swoon, 1984)
Feedback:
Anthea - Wow... Brilliant! (what else to say?) 5stars!!!
Retrac - superb album..cheers!
Makam - Secrets Of Shoeshine GREAT!
Maik Loewen - I'm always a fan of Efdemin and his deep and jazzy productions. Grat Album here! Thanks!!!
Oleg Poliakov - B R I L L I A N T !!!!!!!!!!!! congratz dude i m in love with it !
Paul Woolford - Always engaging and contemplative music from Dial. My personal highlight here is the superb 'Secrets Of Shoeshine'. Really lifts off when those cymbals start to throb.I also like the closing 'Oh My God' track. Many thanks.
Jimpster - This sounds like serious heavyness from start to finish! Cant wait to grab the whole thing and get stuck into it. Secrets Of Shoeshine sounds like the instant pick for club plays. nice one.
Agnes - Lovely LP, great work, love that last abstract reprise very much!!!
Paulo Olarte - yes, greta job!!!
Markus Schatz - cool productions, like it!!!
Seth Troxler - im so happy to hear dial put out another great lp of timeless deep songs. bravo to efdimin
Patrick Chardronnet - amazing sound
Pascal Feos - sax, smooth and groove.!. good combination! My favourites so far : Secrets of Shoeshine, Night Train, There Will Be Singing and La Grand Voyage. greetz Pascal
Brett Johnson - This is some seriously good music. Lots of stuff for everyone and each track (as one would hope) displays real character and depth. Will support! Thanks
Electric Indigo - sophisticated, minimalist and very playful. like this album a lot, love the refined jazzy touch it has. will play and chart. also love the revenge of the giant cowbell. a pity that i cannot choose more than one favorite here... nothing is everything is amazing as well, for example!
2000 And One - aaah very nice sounds in here, love it!
Jürgen Kirsch -really wonderful album! will sure use some tracks of it! gracias
Butane - sounds really lovely. gonna stick it on the iPod and check it closely on the airplane this weekend. Thanks!
Mikael Stavöstrand - absolutely love this album!! . great great work .. :)
Dop - beautifull album.Great sound and great groves..musical respect !
Ruede Hagelstein - smart album, i choose "secret of shoeshinea" for djing... thanks!
Someone Else - great album.
Konrad Black - Love this album!!! Superb production...more amazing Dial music...
Carsten Klemann - well done, Phillip!ganz grosses kino...
Tadeo - Great album, Efdemin is always a box full of surprises. High level music, full support.
Sebo K - excellent album!
Alland Byallo - I love Night Train, There Will Be Singing, Nothing Is Everything and Wonderland, but the whole album is brilliant. All sides of Efdemin really shine here!
Anthony Collins - whooa what an album , love it
Brothers Vibe - Many great trax - Quality all around!!
Osunlade - one of my fav artists and labels..back with solid productions!!
Chris Duckenfield - Really superb selection here, accomplished and fresh throughout
Norman Nodge - Proper stuff as well to listen to it from the beginning to the end as to pick out some tracks for the floor. will play "there will be singing for sure".
Red Rack'em - Sounding like a well put together album. Will definitely be playing some of these on the Smugglers Inn radio show and at gigs. Wonderland sounds pretty spacey!
JC Freaks - Wicked album. All styles I like combined. Secrets of Shoeshine is the one for me, now. But surly need a closer listen. Well done! Support
Daniel Mehlhart -gonna buy the vinyl. great as always, i love the diversity in sound ! thanks for the digital though !
Deetron - Really beautiful album, my favourites are Night Train, There will be Singing and Wonderland.
Audision - Tobias Schmid it is getting better with every play!! - great work!!! i like - i love more and more!
Dan Drastic - great album, thanks
KiNK - good work by mr. Sollmann on Dial. The Revenge Of The Giant Cowbell is absolutely amazing!
They aren’t looking for cheap peaktimes or breakdowns but focus on subtle seduction through sound. ”Oh my god” brings back the obscure jazz of “cowbell” with a piano-loop in the main role, contrasting against noisy bubbles, vocal-flakes and a melody you won’t forget. Next is the soulful “there will be singing” – a tune in the vein of detroit house with a long introduction followed by an impressive groove with a dark bass-line. “Le grand voyage” is a short but seductive study in dub-techno based on organchords and bass. From now on the heart lies more in the sound than in the melodies and the further the album develops, the more abstract and eccentric it becomes. In “round here” sound totally takes over and the beat takes a back seat. “Wonderland” is a long trip through sound and abstract layers of percussiongrooves – a somewhat psychotic piece of music which goes way beyond being music for clubs. CHICAGO comes to end with the reprise of the hearttouching melodie of “oh my god”, this time without the beat. CHICAGO, EFDEMIN’s second contribution to urban blues, contains ten tracks as a result of Phillip Sollmann’s immersion into his own archives and experiences – may it be as a singer in a band years ago, composing theatre-music or playing as a DJ in clubs all over the globe. They deal with various influences, although always expressing his unique sense for deepness and his love for dance music. There is Jazz, there is house, there is techno and there are his instruments you can hear: Cello, Zither, Drums, Percussion, Organ, Synths, Drummachines and several small things like flutes and pipes appear here and there without ever walking into the trap of virtuosity. Besides Techno itself, there are many important influences in EFDEMIN’s music from different sources and other times - a cosmos of music that has followed him for a long time and influenced his drifting and melancholic approach to producing electronic dance music. Be it the otherworldly music of chicago-based Sun Ra, minimalistic jazz /world-music-studies of don cherry, the enterprising tape music of basil kirchin or the microtonal instruments of Harry Partch to name a few of the influences that layed the groundwork leading up to the production of this album.
Is this a “chicago-house” record? No! But the windy city was the starting point to blow the cosmos with such abstract lovely music developed in a thousand directions. Arts, literature, architecture, jazz, american folkmusic, hip hop - CHICAGO seems to be the source of reference for so many important
movements crossing EFDEMIN’s work. Finally CHICAGO is the title for an album rich in flavors and full of directions into contemporary dance music and the end of the world as we know it.
To quote his favourite pop-band Prefab Sprout: “there is no chicago urban blues” (Cruel, Swoon, 1984)
Feedback:
Anthea - Wow... Brilliant! (what else to say?) 5stars!!!
Retrac - superb album..cheers!
Makam - Secrets Of Shoeshine GREAT!
Maik Loewen - I'm always a fan of Efdemin and his deep and jazzy productions. Grat Album here! Thanks!!!
Oleg Poliakov - B R I L L I A N T !!!!!!!!!!!! congratz dude i m in love with it !
Paul Woolford - Always engaging and contemplative music from Dial. My personal highlight here is the superb 'Secrets Of Shoeshine'. Really lifts off when those cymbals start to throb.I also like the closing 'Oh My God' track. Many thanks.
Jimpster - This sounds like serious heavyness from start to finish! Cant wait to grab the whole thing and get stuck into it. Secrets Of Shoeshine sounds like the instant pick for club plays. nice one.
Agnes - Lovely LP, great work, love that last abstract reprise very much!!!
Paulo Olarte - yes, greta job!!!
Markus Schatz - cool productions, like it!!!
Seth Troxler - im so happy to hear dial put out another great lp of timeless deep songs. bravo to efdimin
Patrick Chardronnet - amazing sound
Pascal Feos - sax, smooth and groove.!. good combination! My favourites so far : Secrets of Shoeshine, Night Train, There Will Be Singing and La Grand Voyage. greetz Pascal
Brett Johnson - This is some seriously good music. Lots of stuff for everyone and each track (as one would hope) displays real character and depth. Will support! Thanks
Electric Indigo - sophisticated, minimalist and very playful. like this album a lot, love the refined jazzy touch it has. will play and chart. also love the revenge of the giant cowbell. a pity that i cannot choose more than one favorite here... nothing is everything is amazing as well, for example!
2000 And One - aaah very nice sounds in here, love it!
Jürgen Kirsch -really wonderful album! will sure use some tracks of it! gracias
Butane - sounds really lovely. gonna stick it on the iPod and check it closely on the airplane this weekend. Thanks!
Mikael Stavöstrand - absolutely love this album!! . great great work .. :)
Dop - beautifull album.Great sound and great groves..musical respect !
Ruede Hagelstein - smart album, i choose "secret of shoeshinea" for djing... thanks!
Someone Else - great album.
Konrad Black - Love this album!!! Superb production...more amazing Dial music...
Carsten Klemann - well done, Phillip!ganz grosses kino...
Tadeo - Great album, Efdemin is always a box full of surprises. High level music, full support.
Sebo K - excellent album!
Alland Byallo - I love Night Train, There Will Be Singing, Nothing Is Everything and Wonderland, but the whole album is brilliant. All sides of Efdemin really shine here!
Anthony Collins - whooa what an album , love it
Brothers Vibe - Many great trax - Quality all around!!
Osunlade - one of my fav artists and labels..back with solid productions!!
Chris Duckenfield - Really superb selection here, accomplished and fresh throughout
Norman Nodge - Proper stuff as well to listen to it from the beginning to the end as to pick out some tracks for the floor. will play "there will be singing for sure".
Red Rack'em - Sounding like a well put together album. Will definitely be playing some of these on the Smugglers Inn radio show and at gigs. Wonderland sounds pretty spacey!
JC Freaks - Wicked album. All styles I like combined. Secrets of Shoeshine is the one for me, now. But surly need a closer listen. Well done! Support
Daniel Mehlhart -gonna buy the vinyl. great as always, i love the diversity in sound ! thanks for the digital though !
Deetron - Really beautiful album, my favourites are Night Train, There will be Singing and Wonderland.
Audision - Tobias Schmid it is getting better with every play!! - great work!!! i like - i love more and more!
Dan Drastic - great album, thanks
KiNK - good work by mr. Sollmann on Dial. The Revenge Of The Giant Cowbell is absolutely amazing!
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