Intriguing solo album by Martin Weinreich of Cologne called Points Of Entry (1989-1995) (HAUCH RECORDS HR025)…he intends it as a concept album of some sort, where the 15 tracks are inter-related in various ways, and he’s drawn on three decades of “images, sounds and memories” to get himself to this point. He alludes to a process of disassembly and reassembly of these sources, using “severe” digital processing editing. Further, he regards it as a somewhat personal work, a form of “electroacoustic diary”.
So far you might be expecting something rather wistful and introverted, but far from it – what’s ended up on the disc is an assortment of lean and muscular electronic music, with plenty of hard beats and vicious edits; a very extreme form of what I vaguely call “avant-Techno”, even when I’m not very familiar with the genre. Weinreich is, though, and his titles and notes flag up multiple points of reference that are sure to resonate with listeners better informed than I am – Chicago Trax, Essex Funk, industrial music, and a host of assorted hints at what I can only assume are semi-illegal and deep underground instances of club culture. He bolsters these clues with an extensive booklet prepared by him – each track gets one paragraph and a murky photo, the text replete with multi-lingual clues, hints, and disjointed utterances. Natch, this means that half the references end up obscure as Heck, which is just the way I like it. Points Of Entry might almost be a crossroads moment where Techno meets Hauntology, although I expect there are many other explorers have previously made such a claim (such as Burial).
Very listenable; a strange and noisy ride through a personal history where nothing is really explained, and there are shocks and surprises around every corner. 100 hand-numbered copies were made. (11/05/2022)