As skilled as he is at every facet of electronic music production, Tobias Freund has never needed to rely on flashy, freaky personality gimmicks to make his mark. He’s as capable of knocking out a club-shaking banger as a mind-bending synth experiment, which has kept him in great demand over his 20+ years in the game. His first full-length under the tobias. moniker is characteristically unflashy as well, even as it flits between genres and moods with practiced ease. This week’s download is an alternate take of “Free No.1,” one of the album’s many highlights. “Free No.2” is only slightly different from the released version, five-and-a-half minutes of tense broken-beat techno. Its machine rhythms skitter through drifting, complex chords that are dispersed with sharp synth stabs. It’s a throwback to the melodically and rhythmically diverse techno of the early 90’s but it feels just as home in 2011. Our thanks to Mr. Freund and Ostgut Ton for making this gem available.
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