Late 90s future gazing from Cologne’s experimental underground brought back to life by promising new German label Echo Libero.
Reflecting back close to 30 years since the original inception of this one, it’s not hard to understand how this would have been missed at the time. In the run-up to millennium bug hysteria, the close to ungoogleable project name E.A.T doesn’t help, nor does the major label CD release (EMI). However, the project was a fresh idea made up of members of the seminal Dunkelziffer group formed to ‘explore electronic sounds for the next millennium’. It feels as if the trio (Helmut Zerlett, Reiner Linke and Boris Polonski) are trying to shepherd the sounds of the past into the future, fusing a prescient blend of progressive percussion with new digital sampling techniques, synthetic melodies alongside variations in tempo and time signatures. The slowly percolating acid lines and Middle Eastern calls ‘Aravinda Rose’ couldn’t be more suited today’s open-minded dance-floors in the early morning hours, whilst ‘3EAT’ could easily be mistaken for a lost gem on West Coast psychedelic dance label Zoëmagik. Almost foreseeing the cosmic pitch-down / wrong-speed revolution ‘Parimala Works’ is a procession-like chugger, whereas ‘Noon’ yokes together similar elements (to these ears at least) of Terre Theamlitz’s ‘2AM On A Silo’ and Ecstasy Orchestra’s Paradise into a probing acid techno epic that unspools over 9+ minutes. It’s an amazing discovery and huge respect for the Echo Libero label for their archaeological work, digging deep locally and coming up with a total eye-opener that genuinely makes more sense today. Hopefully the first of many.. (Mint / New - shops pls ask for wholesale).
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Echo Libero is presenting a remastered version of the self-titled debut album by E.A.T., which was originally released in 1998.
This forgotten experimental electronic music was ahead of its time when it was first released on CD in the late 90s. It was overlooked at the time, but it sounds more relevant than ever now.
E.A.T. consists of members of the band Dunkelziffer, including the high-profile keyboardist Helmut Zerlett and progressive drummer Reiner Linke. The group also features Boris Polonski, a former cellist who sold his instrument to buy his first sampler and later became an acid techno virtuoso.
