Best of 2020
First-time vinyl pressing of Stephan Mathieu's debut long-player, originally released in 2000 via Mille Plateaux offshoot, Ritornell. I'm not entirely sure why Mille Plateaux required a side label to release this, since Mathieu experiments with the various grains and textures of minimal electronics and ambient aesthetics in similar ways to MP staples Thomas Koner, Gas, Oval, Microstoria, Vladislav Delay et al. Perhaps one of the consequences of that is Mathieu not having quite the same (almost) 'household name' status as that rarefied crew, somewhat criminal given not only the quality of this record but a dense, two decade-long back catalogue that followed its release. Good on Weeding, then, for digging this one up and re-presenting it with extremely era-specific artwork no less, since Wurmloch Variationen is certainly worthy of both a place alongside its more celebrated peers and a bit of contemporary appreciation. We've said before that glitch is experiencing a minor revival of sorts, not to mention the on-going rediscovery of Chain Reaction (not a day seems to go by without mention of that label), and listeners drawn towards the more studied and abstracted manifestations of that sound will feast well on this. If there's a point of difference, it's in how Mathieu seems to display less of a techno -orientated background and has a more obvious affinity with the avant garde and the world of sound art and design, an observation that gathers a little more weight given his associations with Staalplaat and work with Janek Schaefer. Which is a roundabout way of saying that this is a very precise, carefully crafted example of minimalism that in its own small way, moved the genre forward a step. More than anything, it's a good reason to jump into Mathieu's catalogue, as there's a whole world of treats contained within it.
