Tour de Traum

Never one to play it straight, Thomas Brinkmann adjusts and re-shapes pieces from the Traum label's past and then forms them all into a flowing set that deserves as much notoriety as Richie Hawtin's DE9: Closer to the Edit or any of the Kompakt mixes. Let's get one thing straight, though: Tour de Traum's success isn't wholly reliant upon Brinkmann's mastery, and it's not that his tweakings have anything to do with righting wrongs. There's no doubting that the man has one of the most wide-ranging, consistent, and least-appreciated catalogs of the last several years to work with. Listeners familiar with the tracks as they were originally released should recognize what they hear; just the same, Brinkmann leaves his own traceable prints here and there, whether they're in the form of little baubles, or the odd treated bassline that resembles something off one of his Soul Center releases. (Some remixes are credited to his Soul Center alias, while others are credited to the pseudonym C.U.T., a move that's both a little confusing and somewhat explanatory.) Minus the brief introduction, the disc is as groove-oriented as any other minimal house/microhouse mix, made of tracks that are alluring in their stark simplicity and rich in effect. This is one of Brinkmann's most sensational accomplishments, and it's also a necessary acquirement for anyone remotely interested in Traum.