Den

If Krautrock-meets-electronica outfit Kreidler's 2011 album, Tank, was a modernization of the visceral, propulsive rhythms fellow Germans Neu! created on their classic `70s records, then their 2012 follow-up, Den, is more like a contemporary take on early solo projects by the members of Cluster. To put it in less Krautrock-centric terms, the focus of Den seems to more on minimal-but-melodic motifs that reflect off each other like a series of stones dropped in a moonlit pond. As usual with Kreidler, synthesizers lead the way here, but it's not an exclusively electronic landscape. As mentioned above, the drums don't take as much of an upfront role as they did on Tank, but their supple skeletal system supports the forward motion of pretty much every track on Den, and the guitar makes its presence known at some key moments over the course of the album as well. No Kreidler recording has ever been much of a guitarfest, but nevertheless, when the six-string emerges for some African highlife-crossed-with-Javanese gamelan lines on "Deadwringer," or for the thick, Robert Fripp-like sustained tones on "Winter," the timbral contrasts conspire to create some special moments. Whether you want to label it post-rock, post-Krautrock, electro-rock, or some appellation of your own devising, Den does the Kreidler discography proud. ~ J. Allen