Nein Rodere - Catch Up With What Party +

DING DING - Horn of Plenty Round 2. And here with with this debut vinyl outing from Berlin's (David) Nein Rodere, we once again find the label digging around for influence in the oily waters of the 90s lo-fi underground. There's 23 songs in total, some of which is new material, some of which is culled from his series of self-released cassettes, and the high volume of tracks allows Rodere to take a slow and winding wander around the back alleys of his inspirations. There's lo-fi art-missives something like early Smog (i'm specifically thinking of both Cow and Sewn to the Sky), doleful Sentridoh-style ballads, tape experiments, field recordings and almost post-rock like instrumental passages. And most thrillingly for me personally, What Party? (a title track of sorts, i'd assume?) recalls Stephin Merritt at his introverted and hushed best, while The Smell of Cold People has a Country Teasers/Male Nurse feeling of compelling misanthropy. Uniting these sometimes disparate approaches is a beautiful textural warmth, flitting between static and hiss, and softer in-the-room ambiance, which - and i'm sorry to keep namechecking - recalls Cindy Lee as a series of minatures. The effect is somewhat diaristic, as if you're plugging directly into the artist's muse, amplifying every thought where luckily every thought is worth amplifying even if they're only half-realised. As such, Catch Up With What Party is a collaged dream state of back roads, dead ends and moments of spontaneous beauty, and one i expect to be coming back to all year.