Trentemoller
The Last Resort

It was 2006 and once minimalism had been done, minimalists had to do it.
Or the opposite, once done, the minimalists did minimalism.
Maybe you're made, and this album seems minimal to you.
Who knows.

Anyway, let's just say a couple of things before I go open the can of Manzotin I have in the pantry: Trentemoller is a good guy, travels from pole to pole with such agility that often makes you wonder why many know him only for the club remixes that make you party on Saturday night. Indeed, his miscellaneous skill is incredible.

Trentemoller (some reference to the inherent weakness of the last Reznor?) actually dominates various genres: ambient music first and foremost (the album is full of it), psychedelic pop-rock (synthetic) sometimes with a Pink Floyd vibe, sometimes very "post-rock", the early 90s techno with its spatial sounds, the most unabashed Hawtin-style minimal (Chameleon is pure Hawtin at a hundred percent, but after all, all minimal can be synthesized in Hawtin) the martial trip-hop of a Dj Shadow mixed with techno dynamics (in into the trees), the "intelligent techno" of the warp aliens.

A genius, one might think... but not at all. The desire to explore so many territories means that the music remains mainly icy, frozen, cold and frigorific. It never fully opens to a more human vision, it remains detached. Listen to the last track and you'll understand immediately. Not only is it a piano session that could have been borrowed from a sentimental Aphex Twin, but it also provokes a sensation of déjà vu that undermines the spontaneity of the entire work. In short, well done Trente, you did more than everything, you mixed a thousand genres in the name of minimalism. But next time you make an album, don't have the image of the cover in front of you...go to Mexico, my goodness!!! We're all waiting for a masterpiece...