Behind BUENOVENTURA is no one other than BERNHARD HAMMER, one-third of the Austrian success trio ELEKTRO GUZZI. The EP “Crude Vacation” (Hezekina Pollutina Records) is the Viennese electro-musician’s debut solo release. And, as might be expected, techno also plays a role in his solo project. Just a very different one.
Bernhard Hammer, who occupies the role of experimental guitarist in his main band, appears on “Crude Vacation” as a sound wizard who wants to stake out his own musical field. As with Elektro Guzzi, Buenoventura works with the techno form of electronic dance music. And that is where the similarities end, because Bernhard Hammer’s approach as a solo artist is clearly a more playful and stylistically open one than we would usually expect from him. While techno still forms the foundation of Buenoventura’s musical creations – the total of three tracks plus a remix are all defined by a straight, driving and bass heavy beat – it’s the many small details embellishing the soundscape that sets the actual tone.
A BEAT THAT’S INFECTIOUS
Lightly sprinkled with pop elements, the veil of sound that Bernahrd Hammer unconventionally drapes over his works shimmers warmly in a minimalist sound palette. Hammer never lets the sound get beyond itself. The musical line on “Crude Vacation” defines itself over long and amtospherically charged passages in a steady and persistant way, creating – and this is the most beautiful thing about the whole thing – an almost hypnotic effect. Over time the tracks act like an invisible undertow, which one can hardly resist. The deeper one wanders into the dense, atmospheric musical creations, the more one is infected by the rhythm and tempted to dance.
On “Crude Vacation” Bernhard Hammer manages, in a completely relaxed manner, to breathe life into the monotony of techno and to give it a great musical diversity. A really exciting and much too short EP that only makes you hungry for more. “Crude Vacations” was released on 23 May.
Links:
Buenoventura (Facebook) / Hezekina Pollutina Records
Michael Ternai, translated by David Dempsey