Reviews - ALbums
Christian Fischer
bryzant games
released: november / december 2008\
label: BRYZANT/DEFINITION
what do we think: buy it or die crying over the fact that you didn’t
by Liz Cirelli
Techno legend and boss of Definition Records, Christian Fischer, presents us with Bryzant Games – a really rather good album that provides us with a selection of entirely his own works in a seamless DJ mix.
One of the earliest DJs to pioneer Final Scratch, for ten years Fischer has been constantly pushing himself forward, defining his own unique musical sound and firmly establishing himself as one of the biggest names in techno. 2008 has been a tremendous year for him, with his Clubtech Panorama mix compilation and his Deckmonsters album both receiving critical acclaim.
Bryzant Games is a superb mix that effortlessly demonstrates the diversity of Fischer’s sound. Stylistic conventions and stereotypical genre pigeon-holing are substituted for complete musicality, resulting in an extraordinary journey into Fischer’s finest works.
The powerful minimal techno stomper Chiffre blends seamlessly into Witch – a brilliant, jazz infused tech house bottom-wiggler that has heaps of lovely triangle action, not to mention a double bass b-line that jumps about like a rabbit on speed – awesome! From here, we are steered into Othilie – a track that prefers to sit on the slightly more traditional side of the techno fence, with its warm, skippy bass line and playful square wave synths.
Next on the menu is the energetic Tribez – driving and powerful. From here we are lead to Orange Sky – an uplifting, progressive nu disco track with vocodered vocals that you can’t help but sing along to. Oh wow…this track gives me goose bumps.
Fischer even manages to sprinkle a little electro into this mix of delights, with the light-hearted yet thoroughly boombastic I Think I Like It, containing vocals from German hip-hop songstress Sabrina Setlur. Following this – and keeping with the electro vibe, is Fischer’s remarkable remix of Slam’s We’re Not Here.
Then, like a rally driver hell-bent on throwing his co-driver out of the passenger window, Fischer does a complete 180 and flings us headlong into Din A4 – a dreamy tech-house number that contains chord changes that hurl you unashamedly onto cloud 9. Oh – and did I mention that the breakdown contains someone whistling? Genius. We then head on to I Know – a beautiful collaboration with breaks masters, Hybrid.
This wonderful showcase ends on Kolibri – which is probably my own personal favourite if I really had to pick one. Playful xylophone-ish synths happily skip around while melodic harps and strings provide us with wonderful leads. And yes, I am now fully dancing around to this hugely uplifting tech house track, waving my hands in the air like a demented witch. This draws us to a phenomenal conclusion – and gives me the opportunity to stress to you just how much you need this album!
