Meeting Of The Minds Noun (Daniel Avery & Roman Flügel)

The first collaborative release between Roman Flügel and Daniel Avery arrives on Live at Robert Johnson, under the guise of ‘Noun’.

Initially recorded some years ago across just two days at Flügel’s former Frankfurt studio, both tracks represent a meeting point between the sensibilities of two of the best-loved producers in contemporary electronic music. Patient, even minimal psychedelia shares space with the driving club music that defines both Avery and Flügel’s individual DJ sets, as well as a number of occasional back-to-back performances, where the music of Noun has since been reliably reached-for and re-contextualised ever since.

Indeed, it speaks for the confidence and craft in this debut collaboration that Noun begins with ‘Meeting of the minds’, a textural delight that finds the Anglo-Germanic pair at their unremittingly trippiest. An analogue, unwavering transmission, as if pirated from Avery’s celebrated frequencies, is wrapped around minimal drum percussion, guaranteed to equally appeal to fans of the more experimental, reduced moments in Flügel’s back catalogue. Tense as the mood may seem, in these offbeat sonic corners, lay pockets of intrigue and moments of bliss.

On ‘Team Silent’, the impact is more immediate. As the seams between individual influences melt away, Flügel and Avery roll out something tougher and more direct; a blossoming, somewhat dystopian drive-by-night of softly soaring synths, ecstatic feedback and tough drums. Somehow both understated and anthemic, this is a true late night jam courtesy of two masters of club culture. Years later, and what a difference two days makes.

John Thorp