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Artist - Roland Appel Roland Appel makes proper electronic music. The LP is a
hypnotic and trancey blend of house and techno, with wiffs of Kraftwerk popping
up throughout the LP. Stand out tracks for me are are the pulsing house of
New Love, the deep techno of Lost Valley, the monstrous Dark
Soldier (souring strings, warm bass and all), the absolutely awesome acid
house of Unforgiven (check the breakdowns and turn it up) and the
deliriously funky Child Song. A great LP that gets better with every
play. Press Release... Last year, Roland Appel’s “Dark Soldier” made a huge splash on
club land – what started out as a secret hit at the 2007 Miami Winter Music
Conference, found its way into the record bags of the likes of DJ Hell,
Laurent Garnier, Pete Tong, Tiefschwarz and Gilles
Peterson amongst others. Many UK publications even crowned it Track of the
Month last summer - but this was to be just the beginning for Roland Appel. Rating - 10/10
Title - Talk To Your Angel LP
Label - Sonar Kollektiv
Released - 16.06.08
Posted 01.04.08
Roland Appel is no newcomer to the world of music production. He started
spinning records and producing music in the early 90s as a member of Fauna
Flash with long-time partner and friend Christian Prommer. They made their
name with 3 full-length albums, numerous 12“s, remixes and appearances on
renowned labels such as Compost Records, G-Stone Recordings and
!K7. Then they both teamed up with Peter Kruder to produce the
sublime electronica of Voom:Voom. Roland‘s career reached a peak when he
formed the band Trüby Trio with Rainer Trüby and Christian Prommer
- their album “Elevator Music” was a huge success that successfully
crossed the German broken beat and dance music scene. While Roland gained
learned a lot from these team-projects, he felt a strong need to work on his
own.
Talk To Your Angel is Roland Appel’s most intimate moment to date. “It’s
all very pure and from the heart, which can feel strange when you are so used to
working in teams” he reflects. The title also has a very personal meaning for
him: “For me it’s an album of self-reflection: when you are working alone you
sometimes want to talk to someone - but on the other hand you don’t want to talk
to them, because you really enjoy being alone. It’s then that it becomes clear
to you that you can talk to your angel”. For his debut he strove to find a new
way of combining the rules of the dance floor with the feelings of a song. He
delved deep into a wealth of diverse influences - Detroit techno, folk, soul,
disco and house - to bring a sense of song structures to his music. For him
there are no DJ tools and floor fillers on the album; each track is a proper
song carrying a strong personal meaning, but with a very subtle house groove
that will move your heart as well as your body.
The result is a consistently beautiful album featuring soothing atmospherics,
dreamy pads, strings and voices, and irresistible house grooves. Talk To Your
Angel will satisfy the most demanding deep-house lovers; moreover it will please
all the music lovers interested in soulful music that tells a story and carries
strong emotions. Talk To Your Angel includes the masterpiece “Dark Soldier”, as
well as other great tracks such as “Changes”, “Unforgiven”, “Inner Soul” and
“New Love” (chosen by Dennis Ferrer for his Mixmag mix).
Talk To Your Angel is an incredible debut solo album from one of the industry’s
best kept secrets – listen to it and put your faith in Roland Appel.
Reviewer - PT
