The 21st Door

Having already produced an extensive back catalog of art-damaged electro for art-house electro labels Cheap and Chicks on Speed, as well as Ed DMX's more reverent Breakin' Imprint, Austrian producer Gerhard Potuznik offers his first album for like-minded Ann Arbor label Interdimensional Transmissions. And it is a striking success, worthy of sitting alongside IT's tremendous history of groundbreaking electro tracks from trailblazers I-F and label owner Ectomorph. Unfortunately, a rather severe lag time between recording and release means that The 21st Door will have to fight its way through a deluge of '80s-inspired electro albums currently on the market. But if it reaches the surface, those who believe that electro is still a growing art (rather than a retro activity) will find an album that is dark, daring, and propulsive. Like the finest moments of New Order and Depeche Mode, Potuznik wrenches an amazing amount of emotion from the electronically coded vocals and stark machine beats of "Minds" and "New Definition." He also finds feeling in the strictly instrumental ambience of "(Angels)" and the fractured IDM of "(Busy)." Potuznik enters the nu-electro race far ahead of most contenders. And he stays in the lead with this release.