Kettel
My Dogan

An incurable dreamer, a krautrocker of the 2000s. Folk of the digital era, pop for machines: that’s how we might define the good Reimer Eising, known as Kettel, creator of an electronic music that is probably not very original, perhaps excessively stagnant in this specific style, but certainly extremely expressive.

Teetering between electro and IDM, "My Dogan" is the seventh album by the talented Dutch artist; released in 2006 on the partly his own label Sending Orbs, this step highlights more than ever what made him famous: a great, grand, melodic touch, a source of spontaneous, dreamy, and playful melodies, in the style of Plaid or Aphex 95/96 (less easy listening than the former, less homemade than the latter) and, indeed, heavy reminiscences of the most synthetic krautrock and folk (especially in the approach to melody, popular but then not too much).

A style that made him famous, we were saying, but also a target of easy as well as obvious conclusions - and I include myself here - in fact, although we point out sporadic and otherworldly ambient twists that occasionally surface on Eising's too-human creature, it goes without saying that, for the genre he proposes - which supposedly aims at pure creativity - it's not very interesting to do the exact same style for twelve years now, with the exact same synths, the exact same rhythmic elements (a factor that becomes more nerve-wracking considering that practically almost all the tracks from all the albums have these same elements varying only in melody and minor details); an approach that made him particularly suitable for the ruthless and now famous dissing by Venetian Snares towards this precise and recurring style - especially among the new generations - based on sweet melodies reminiscent of albertobalsamiana memory and built around a series of overused and predictable techniques, a real paradox, but it must be said that when the result is still an album like this, with these wonderful progressive melodies and such atmospheres... well, we easily forgive him.

There is, however, more, clearly (otherwise we would be talking about U2), including acid lines of 303 used as yet another melodic piece rather than the usual means of bass bloodshed, soft background textures, beats that are sometimes simple but incisive in their electro flow, sometimes slightly more complex and detailed in their geek-technological masturbation, dozens of accompaniments one after the other forming interesting symphonies starting from the simplest riff (certainly not a genre characteristic, which usually prioritizes sounds, glitches, and noises) that are the perfect adornment to the warm and honeyed (in a good way) melodies of the Dutch dreamer, which in more than one occasion also flow into the hyper-rare ambient that later became the editorial line of Sending Orbs (the majestic "Halt Him", "Cho Choo India", "He’s His Own Man") as well as in the childish vignettes/interludes of the Boards of Canada school ("Billiton Beruh With Cleo&Wouter", "Peeksje 1994", "Meeuwuh"). Among the 100% Kettel style tracks, the melodic and jovial acid of "Mauerbrecher" or "Sylvya", the brainy "Sekt I Sing", and the breaks/idm hybrid of "Follow Me" stand out, in my opinion the absolute peak of the album, with a harmless yet memorable piano loop that you can’t get out of your head.

An artist excessively a child of the playful approach of mid-nineties Aphex Twin, but who at the same time manages dramatically to change skin, scenarios, and sensations when grappling with his spectral and otherworldly ambient. It is still a great album and an engaging listen; recommended especially for those: ok with idm, ok with click n cuts, glitch, abstract industrial and various stuff but... what about melody?