Walls

German producer Apparat (Sasha Ring) has, since the late '90s, been one of the leading lights of the IDM movement. Releasing his initial productions on his own Shitkatapult imprint, Ring has since collaborated with numerous likeminded musicians, including most notably, techno-songstress Ellen Allien. WALLS, his third full-length as Apparat, occupies a middle point between DSP-driven textures and lush chamber pop. Dispensing with the typical post-human themes of fellow electronic artists, the album is literally awash with emotional fervency. The halting dubstep thump of "Arcadia" shows Ring's flair for combining heartstring-tugging dream-pop against rugged dance floor rhythms. Raz Ohara's various vocal contributions add a further humanizing factor, his pleasing falsetto lending the songs a stately charm, as in the shoegazesque "Head Up." With WALLS, Apparat proves that electronic music still has much left to offer in revamping the tried and tested pop song-form.