"For over 20 years, the South African artist has been one of the genre's true workhorses, building up an intimidating discography under names like Echologist and Beat Pharmacy and applying the style's pearlescent, pulsating aesthetic to a range of frameworks. (Case in point: One of his most powerful albums actually has no kick drums at all.) In recent years, Moeller's music has sped up considerably, ratcheting up from 120 BPM house and techno rhythms to the 170 BPM thrust of drum'n'bass."
"Shadow Language doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's Moeller's second album for Samurai Music, a Berlin-based label that pioneered a fusion of drum'n'bass and techno in the 2010s. The music's greatest feat was to sound like both tempos at once, playing tricks on the senses and blowing up the stiff structures of drum'n'bass into more open-ended and immersive music. Today, plenty of techno artists and DJs ratchet the pace up to 170,"
"Moeller takes a different approach. His first experiments at 170 BPM took the form of ambient music, a new way to frame his signature melodies and pads removed from the 4/4 thump of techno and house. Moeller works with the 170 BPM framework to not only add elements to his music, but also to take them away. It's the old Miles Davis quote about the notes that you don't play, but this time, it's drums."
Brendon Moeller has spent over 20 years rooted in dub techno under aliases like Echologist and Beat Pharmacy. His recent work accelerates from 120 BPM house/techno to 170 BPM drum'n'bass, giving him a renewed musical identity. Samurai Music supports a fusion of drum'n'bass and techno that often blends both tempos simultaneously. Moeller’s approach treats 170 BPM as a space for addition and subtraction, experimenting with ambient framings of melodies and pads removed from steady 4/4 thumps. The album privileges atmosphere and open-ended structures, using broken, intermittent beats to frame billowing textures.
Read at Pitchfork
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