EKKEHARD EHLERS/SEBASTIAN MEISSNER/THOM WILLEMS-MUSIC FOR WILLIAM FORSYTHE, CD, 2002, GERMANY/NETHERLANDS

Comprised of pieces recorded for Ballett Frankfurt, this CD culls together some truly masterful work. Ehlers has been responsible for some of this more dazzlingly sumptuous and subtle abstract electronica extant and his contributions here are typically elegant and enigmatic. The first of the four cuts here finds Ehlers in collaboration with Random Inc./Klimek mastermind Meissner for 11+ minutes of hazily skipping orchestral loops that somehow manage to remain weirdly gripping via judiciously applied spare edits and treatments. Very David Lynch in vibe, this. The two solo Ehlers cuts that follow find him teasing out suspended string billows and drones in gorgeously preternatural style for some 20 odd minute on the first of the two, followed by one of my favorite cuts of his, the sublimely glazed and haunting Scattered Crowd that sounds like William Basinski washing out Bowie/Eno instrumentals. Mystery man Thom Willems closes things out with a potent bit of electroacoustic sound shaping with much emphasis on nervously rustling and snapping electric currents, but it's the sticky spell of Ehler's work here that'll keep luring you back for more.

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