Kanzleramt head Heiko Laux provides a headphone-friendly album focused on nuance with subdued and deep rich tones on his latest release “Careful, Not Trending.”
Heiko Laux is a producer’s producer, adored by many in the techno world for decades. He will also be the first one to poke fun at the ideas of fame and the hustle of the current techno world. Should he have to compete, or just put out good music? Do you bust out a copy of rave generator and make some hyped-up OTT squashed Alpha Juno hoovers, or do you make an album that has hints of love and appreciation for the simplest aspects of other vintage Roland kits like the Juno 60 and Jupiter?
It feels like Laux is taking a good listen to his gear and investigating the timbres of the instruments and how they sound within a space.
Timbres and their sound design are often overlooked on their way to provide typical musical structures, but Heiko Laux would like to remind us that it’s the sound itself that is just as important. This comes as an idea from Kraftwerk, where they would spend ages making and mixing the sounds but would take a few minutes to write songs. From a techno perspective, this lineage is very important, and something that the artist wants to restate is that this is one of the things that sets techno apart from other forms of music. Since the album is fairly minimal, and barely treated with reverb at most, sound design is the main statement. The cleanliness of the environment within which the sounds are placed makes you really want to listen as closely as possible. As such, we’re listening to this album with high-end studio headphones, but you’re welcome to find the best listening experience that is right for you.
Possibly the tracks that describe the beauty and simplicity of the album the most would be the track “Reaching” and it is most beautifully stated in the track “Fragility” as well. Each sound is essentially raw, and the ‘room’ is set with a very subtle reverb on the main sounds and a long evolving delay line moves the song along. The idea of this being categorized as a song is a fragile notion, since without a few certain elements, it might be considered merely an abstraction of sound that could fall apart. And that’s a great way to look at the elements in your mind’s eye. We’re creating this space and walking around these elements or listening to them turn as 3D objects in front of us. “Fragility” provides a place for our minds to wander and contemplate the sounds peacefully.
For the simplicity and beauty of the elements, its tracks like “Beacon Intro”, “Reaching” and “Fragility”. We have a contrast within more straightforward techno in the songs, “Langer Lulatsch”, “Kaventsmann”, “Beacon” and “Strahlemann.”
“Strahlemann” is a great example of Laux’s precision and appreciation for the beauty within the sounds themselves, all the while making a lush and expertly crafted techno track. Something that seems to come so easily to Heiko Laux, that the other aspects of synthesis are where his heart is at, and his knowledge of putting together a solid techno track is merely a familiar framework in which to hang ideas. Where other people may have some difficulty crafting spaces for their music in a stereo sound field, it’s a walk in the park for Laux. It would be as if you’re a techno musician figuratively struggling to build a shed, meanwhile, Heiko Laux has built a small art gallery and is quite content dusting off the sound sculptures within it.
That’s the summation of the album in a nutshell, as well. If we’re left with the music, and even if we have to repeat some songs to get it, we’re left with the appreciation of this curve within that synth, the flowing atmospheric lines, the forlorn beauty, and the richness within the details.
While this album may not blast through the charts on Beatport, it will stick with you. You’ll find a place for it in your morning walk, a playlist for work, when you want to cool down, or when you need a warm welcome home.
-Sean Ocean
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