Silver Surfer

What separates Glowing Glisses from the multitude of German microhouse producers is the voice of Florian Schirmacher. Take his deep and somewhat strange voice off Silver Surfer, the duo's first album for Steve Bug's Poker Flat, and you'd have an unremarkable, if decent, set of minimal and clean productions from Guido Schneider. Like Matthew Herbert and a few others, Glowing Glisses have a toe or two in deep house while avoiding the style's bombastic tendencies; their tracks have more warmth and melodic elements than that of the average microhouse producer. Rather than rely on dark rhythms and spare, noir-ish atmospheric flashes (see Shitkatakpult, Force Tracks, Musik Krause) or goofy noises (see Perlon) Schneider is more apt to use elements for the sake of melody and relatively busier arrangements. And like most of the best players in this field, Glowing Glisses' material is just as suited for home listening as the dancefloor. Still, none of this adds up to a truly singular body. There are no weak tracks on Silver Surfer, but a few tracks in, everything melts together. By the end of the album — a lengthy one at over 72 minutes — none of the grooves are left in the memory. All that's recalled is a series of mildly enjoyable tracks and Schirmacher's voice. That might be more than enough for some. Otherwise, add it to the bank of accomplished but unexceptional microhouse full-lengths released in 2003.