Berlin based DJ/Producer Anja Schneider, who wowed us here earlier this year with two excellent EP’s Changes and the amazingly powerful Twisty, recently made a life changing decision music wise to step away from the Mobilee label she founded in 2005 to begin not only a brand new label in the form of Sous Music but also to deliver us her first full length album in nine years, SoMe. For the album she began a forensic examination of the full length and breadth of her considerable knowledge of and experience in electronic music scouring through her old vinyl collection in late 2016, immersing herself for months in a plethora of different genres. She then set to work with co-producer and partner Jan Eric-Scholz but pretty soon all best laid plans had quickly gone astray in the best of ways as she lost herself for whole weekends merging past with future, finding ways to work in to her growing creations her fascination with traditional roots based music and a penchant for creating affective vocal arrangements. As a result the personally named SoMe is nothing short of kaleidoscopic as it is timeless.
Spritely opener ‘The Sun’ radiates classic house with hypnotic cues from Chicago and Detroit written all over it as does the infectious ‘Secret Escapades’ with its inventive percussion and well rounded beats. The space laden tech-house combo of ‘All I See’ crosses over into ragga territory and was inspired by her recent South African experience. The aforementioned work done on the vocal samples and arrangements were put to amazing use both on the pumping ‘Look Of Love’ and the otherworldly ‘Sanctuary’ which saw her enlist Rob Birch of Stereo MCs fame. ‘Got Me With A Bang’ sets down her undoubted techno roots and is characterised by her use of space as well as the building of tension and expert use of acid inspired beats to great effect. ‘Night Out’ is reminiscent of the glint laden electronics and layered percussion and insistent beats that were found on her debut album ‘Beyond The Valley’.
SoMe consists of vinyl and digital versions and two more tracks are featured on the latter. They are the D&B inspired ‘WMF’, named after the legendary Berlin club where she has spent many a night working her magic and the downtempo, almost motorik inspired ‘Shadows’ which sports the whispered vocals of Eric-Scholz himself, can be found on the latter.
It’s testament to Schneider’s undoubted ability both as a purveyor and creator of dance music that an album so ambitious in scope comes off with such ease. As she has over her considerable musical career, she again demonstrates her mastery over plethora of eras, genres and approaches. That’s she been able to effortlessly pull their disparate elements together and create an album of such cohesion renders her one of dance music’s most consistent and very finest. Listen to ‘Got Me With A Bang’ and ‘Sanctuary’ below and buy a copy of the album through Sous Music on all formats including the wax variety here. Highly recommended.
Tracklist – Vinyl Edition
A1 The Sun
A2 Secret Escapes
B1 All I See
B2 Look Of Love
C1 Sanctuary
D1 Got Me With A Bang
D2 Night Out
Tracklist – Digital Edition
1. The Sun
2. Secret Escapades
3. All I See
4. WMF
5. Sanctuary
6. Got Me With A Bang
7. Night Out
8. Look Of Love
9. Shadows
Got Me With A Bang
Anja Schneider (GER)
From the album, ‘SoMe’, Sous Music.
Anja Schneider Official
Audio Stream
Sanctuary (feat. Stereo MCs)
Anja Schneider (GER)
From the album, ‘SoMe’, Sous Music.
Anja Schneider Facebook
Audio Stream