LINEAR CITY

The origins of this album were somewhat unorthodox. To quote from Czukay's website 'this cd contains 4 master tracks of holger's first 3 internet collaborations 2000/2001. 23 contributers from all over the world were enthusiastically participating in this experiment. it started that bbc international radio was sending a recording from sudan to get remixed. instead of doing so it became the ignition of a new kind of production only achievable through the internet.'

Although the working methods that produced this CD were certainly innovative, the music itself is a bit of a disappointment. Holger Czukay was something of a pioneer when it came to both using world music influences and to the possibilities of remixing, and his collaboration with Dr Walker on 'Clash' saw him exploring similar territory with very interesting results, but Linear City is more successful in terms of concept and atmosphere than it is in terms of content. Possibly this is due to the number of people involved; although Czukay edits the various elements together and manages to impose some kind of structure on everything, it often feels as though there are too many ideas vying for attention at once. The best moments are those where the original Sudanese recordings can be heard more or less intact, but most of the time those moments are all too infrequent.

2.5 stars for this one. It has a dark ambience which is sustained throughout the album and which works quite well as background music, and the premise behind the recording is genuinely interesting and original. Experiments fail from time to time, and even Czukay's failures are worth checking out, but newcomers would be better advised to try Canaxis or (for a more contemporary take) Clash.