Erik Luebs - Glimpse of Reality

25 Feb

Erik's minimalistic techno breathes new life into one of the quintessential American techno sub-genres. His immersive dance floor-focused minimal productions concentrate on the bleep side of early techno, categorised by unrelenting rhythms, sparse hypnotics, and futuristic sound design despite its initially rudimentary presentation. 2025 sees Glimpse of Reality by Erik Luebs hit Nous'klaer Audio. Erik's tunes have taken on striking organic flavours like those of his Japanese contemporaries, such as DJ Nobu and Wata Igarashi.

The track, 'Beat Lifeless Heart', sticks to those early American guns with a machine-funk flurry of boops and beeps that wouldn't sound out of place in an 80s sci-fi. Eccentric percussive choices complement the psychedelic atmospherics on this loop-tastic trip. The blend of straight, uncompromising rhythmic bleeps and minimalist melody is a treat for the mind, body, and soul. Erik sticks to the brief perfectly here, restricting his elements to the bare minimum and forcing him to get creative.

Eriks's work takes on a neon electronic stylisation that inhabits the off-kilter deep nautical world. The radar-like bleeps into the abyss of 'Pretending' dissipate into sludgy darkness, slowly engulfing the track's bioluminescent synths. Erik delves into the intangibility of the deep sea as uncanny synths resemble alien chemical creatures moving through the black ooze in a David Attenborough documentary. Unlike others in this scene, Erik's arpeggios don't have a bright and ethereal edge. Instead, there's mechanical precision, and a perfect example comes on, 'Bliss Means Leaving', which enthrals me. It is similar in presentation to 'Pretending' but with less emphasis on these extreme creatures under the sea and more focus on a zoomed-out look at the lights dancing in the murky depths.

The outlier on the record is the track 'An Embrace', which expands into the EDM stylisation, taking cues from acts like Tales of Us and Kölsch. Although that might not sound appealing at first glance, Erik differs from them in his ability to keep a strong sense of unease wrapped in these euphoric riffs. The rubbery synths and driving sub-notes keep the sound fresh, making every twist and turn feel warranted. Luebs' Glimpse of Reality finds a renewed voice for the bleep-heavy genre that sounds crisp and fluid, a feat not often achieved.

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