DJ Cle' and Mike Vamp, better known as the Martini Bros, once again bring an array of new sounds to the table on Poker Flat Recordings; their latest release entitled Love The Machines gives us a further glimpse into the minds and talent of these two young German electro artists. Sometimes retro in sound, sometimes futuristically hopeful, Love The Machines is definitely full of the sharp production and high quality one could expect from these staple electroclash marauders.
Most of the tracks found here are fairly minimal, but the sounds are as mature and lush as electro can be. These DJ/Producers don't just stop with the normal synth and loop artistry; they work their German-to-English poetry in with an array of vocal effects and reverb to give the music even more life - And often enough, live elements of instrumentation can be found by the Brothers' special guests.
The shining track on the album has to be track #13: House in Malabar. With guest artist Eric D. Clarke sitting in, this Zeppelinesque song features beautiful melodies of live acoustic and electric guitar instrumentation, pipe organ, and a nice minimal synth-string arrangement. Some of these elements can be found elsewhere on the disc, and I am going to say that this appears to be a productive direction for these evolving producers.
The album as a whole may not fit everyone's musical palette of taste or desire for electro or dance music, but for the artists and the fans - this is a wonderful example of solid songwriting and production from the Martini Bros. I look forward to hearing where these two will take their music in the near future.
