Huerco S. - For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) - 2x LP Vinyl

2018 reissue - Ironically, as Huerco S.'s profile has risen, especially in Europe, and he has logged plenty of late nights in the kind of clubs Kansas City could barely dream of, he has progressively removed the elements that define house and techno—the steady kick drum, the rat-a-tat hi-hats, the body-moving bassline. On his debut album, 2013’s Colonial Patterns, the most exciting tracks were the ones that seemed the most unkempt and overgrown: Instead of techno's reliable, rectilinear grid, his structures followed mossier geometries, like paving stones forced aside by weeds, or a trellis sagging under the weight of rampant morning glory. Now, on his second album, the weeds have won. For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) is ambient music through and through—though it’s informed by a memory of club music, which hangs over it like a ringing in the ears. There are no drums or percussion on any of the album’s nine tracks, just soft tendrils of synthesizer, submerged pulses, and tape hiss smeared on in thick, buttery swirls. The album opens with a soft, rose-tinted chord and it never gets much more abrasive than that. Many of the tracks on his last album felt like sketches—the kernel of an idea, abandoned quickly. The same sensibility holds here, but even the simplest idea is stretched across a much bigger frame, to six or seven or even eight minutes. That’s important; you need the time to sink into these things. After a spell, you can’t say whether you've been listening to a given piece for two or 20 minutes.

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