Staff Reviews

To Rococo Rot - Speculation

Review by Thom Gibbs

Speculation is a masterful lesson in elegance and how to blend minimalism with majesty. »

User reviews

• 6/10 by chrispower

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'speculation' is the new, perfectly titled, to rococo rot album, recorded in part at faust's studio at scheer. to rococo rot, the trio of stefan schneider and brothers robert and ronald lippok, arrived just over a decade ago at the point where digital precision and instrumental abstraction were harnessed into new directions in contemporary music, detached and accessible. their early albums, 'veiculo' and 'the amateur view', spoke in the future imperfect tense, highly complex but concentrated sound happenings. on 'speculation' the language, unembellished in character, has changed. this is a record that celebrates uncertainty. driven by the sound of fingers on instruments, pushing and weaving between the electric pulse, 'speculation' bathes in a midpoint between propulsion and letting go. rather than a precisely integrated mix of instruments and samples, of analogue and digital, the sounds on 'speculation' delight in an elegant abrasion, in an ability to jar. the effect is disconnected-ness, which, one look at the world around you will tell you, feels very real. there are indicators and echoes that this is a place very different to where to rococo rot came in, but somewhere we have visited before. throughout 'speculation', stefan schneider's bass occupies the distinct space between melody and rhythm that was defined by early new order and acr records. played with a strident vulnerability it's an almost re-assuring presence, the sound of blood-heat. no single idea on 'speculation' is overplayed. apart from fridays, none of the tracks hit the 4 minute mark.
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