Stewart Walker
Sandstorm Ep
01 - Terraforming the Sahara
=2 - History of Zero
03 - Days Before Rebirth
This EP's titles obliquely reflect the thinking Walker was doing as he made them without getting too specific: 'Terraforming the Sahara' suggests both the eponymous desert, and the environmentalist impulse to try and recover what truly is the largest man-made feature on the planet. 'History of Zero' reminds you that Arab mathemeticians in fact invented the concept of zero, making the modern world possible. 'Days Before Rebirth' namechecks reincarnation, particularly the idea of souls floating in limbo.
In more concrete terms, 'Terraforming' is the most kick heavy, and starts out solidly in the mainstream of Berlin minimal. But it builds up to a multilayered counterpoint of zaps that recall the sound of sand blown by wind, piano stabs. 'History' combines a heavily swung beat with propulsive chord stabs, and builds up to an instantly memorable, indelible lead line. 'Days Before Rebirth' slows down a bit and features sparse guitar and bass. Guitar traditionally has represented everything Techno isn't, but Walker, perhaps inspired by Steve Hillage's work with System 7, has re-imagined the instrument in a Techno context.
'Sandstorms' at it's root is about balance -- between repetition and unique sound events, between the reflective chill-out of 'Days before Rebirth' and the dancefloor imperative of 'Terraforming.' As one of the very few truly engaging live performers in Techno, Walker knows how to make the immediate emotional connection with the dance floor. At the same time, he has the ability to push the boundries of what constitutes Techno, with careful layering of melodic and rhythmic material. Each track on 'Sandstorms' has enough disparate musical ideas to construct a dozen conventional techno tracks. Stewart Walker pulls them together into music that's both viscerally exciting and aesthetically satisfying.
