Liebknecht
Fabrikat
Ant-Zen
Much like Daniel Myer’s other most (currently) active project, Rendered, his Liebknecht collaboration with Rinaldo Bite moves at the speed of
techno, with no regard for traditional LP release schedules. That makes a compilation like Fabrikat a solid option for those who haven’t been glued to Myer’s Bandcamp or the minutiae of modern dark techno, and might not have checked in with the project since 2019’s Produkt. It also brings into focus just how indebted to the earliest of 80s electro the project has become.
Fabrikat is predominantly made up of the 2021 527.039 and Colossus EPs (the latter of which never received a physical pressing) in resequenced order, plus a new version of “Klinik Michels”, which originally appeared last year on a Flagelante comp, alongside the likes of Filmmaker and Baroque. A trio of remixes for Black Asteroid, Inhalt, and Thomas Heckmann round things out and help to triangulate Liebknecht’s stripped down approach to dark techno production by applying it to outside tracks.
While it has plenty of massive club bids (I’d personally be flagging the dank and mean “Colossus”, with its stabbing and clanging rhythms, and the metallic phase and bubble of the Black Asteroid mix), Fabrikat knows when to dial things back and allow for the masterful sound design we’ve come to expect from all of Myer’s work. Perhaps even moreso than the Produkt-era releases, these tracks go out of their way to strip themselves down to the barest elements of dark techno and early electro. The simple, echoing bass strikes which punctuate every few measures of kicks on “Barcelona” connect the austere majesty of Architect’s heights with classic NY electro, while the wormy minimalism of “Rhodos”‘ basswork puts the sort of scraping breaks upon which Ant-Zen’s rep was built in the spotlight.
I’ve always presumed that the city-specific titling of the majority of Liebknecht’s tracks refers to the locations where they were written, or at least demoed, rather than to the specific mood or spirit those cities might connote. Either way, the jet-setting whirlwind suggested by seeing so many different cities listed together speaks to just how fast moving Liebknecht is. After catching up via Fabrikat, listeners likely won’t have to wait too long for yet another travelogue.
