Bleep

Berghain resident Answer Code Request drops his second LP for the club’s Ostgut Ton label. Clearly influenced by the resonances of the venue’s huge and hallowed dancefloor, Gens is a densely-textured affair. It’s a more cavernous and brooding record than its predecessor Code, full of booming kicks and sky-scraping atmospherics. Anyone expecting to be plunged headfirst into the pounding techno that characterises the producer’s DJ sets will be wrongfooted by Gens. It is not until fifth track ‘knbn2’ that ACR makes for the dancefloor, and even then the track is an unusual synthesis of glassy synths and muted jungle drums. Until then, the album has skulked through dark IDM (‘Sphera’, ‘Ab Intus’), funereal electronica (‘Gens’) and chugging electro that bears the influence of John Carpenter (‘Sensa’).