apparat: multifunktionsebene, tttrial & error, duplex

The Shitkatapult label reissues Apparat's first three albums, originally released in 2001, '02, and '03. Hardly any other musician at the interface between electronic and pop is as greatly cherished and passionately admired as the Berlin-based Apparat. He merges the inexhaustible sound-worlds of electronic music with the emotional depth of indie. He makes music to rock out to and to drift away to, to sing along to and to dive into. With Moderat, his collaboration with Modeselektor, he has commanded numerous festival stages. In 2015, he created the score for the 2015 film Equals, and is working on the third Moderat album at the time of this release, as well as his second collaboration with theatrical luminary Sebastian Hartmann. Most people got to know Apparat through his albums Walls  and The Devil's Walk (2011), and don't know much about his early, quintessentially electronic music dating back to just after the turn of the millennium. In his early 20s at the time, Apparat created an autonomous, radical sound-universe on those albums -- long out of print -- that is just as fascinating today as it was then. For this combined reissue, Mike Grinser painstakingly remastered each album and Carsten Aermes, a comrade-in-arms from Apparat's early days in Quedlinburg, East Germany, designed the cover based on Apparat's own original graphic design. Apparat's debut album, Multifunktionsebene, was released in 2001. With its intricate grooves and floating soundscapes, it defines a differentiated, tuned-down emotional spectrum. It is a recorded moment from another era entirely, which is exactly what makes it so powerful and captivating. Tttrial and Eror, from 2002, is his electronic magnum opus. Apparat mangles the grooves and develops rhythms with a complexity that makes Aphex Twin seem dull by comparison. And yet from within these tremendous, brutish tracks emerge minute, cautious sounds. On his third album, Duplex (2003), his world of sound explodes as he adds acoustic instruments to the electronics. Throbbing basses create an absurd contrast with saxophones and clarinets. He continues to define his acoustic space, which is reminiscent of classical chamber music; intimate and tactile. This is where he lays the foundation for Apparat as we know it. One can only marvel at the consummate and broad understanding of music that Apparat had already achieved in his youth.