Manuel Tur - 0201 (Freerange Records) I'm not sure this was intentional, but the fact that 22 year old producer Manuel Tur chose to name his debut album after the postcode of his home town of Essen in Germany is a slightly cryptic indication of the music contained within - it being more of a home listening experience than a dancefloor killer. A montage of samples he's been collecting for a over a decade, you can tell his influences include Ian Pooley and Pepe Braddock. The highlight is 'Rubicond', which has a slow house backdrop, with sweeping, undulating synths thrown in, plus a real Balearic sensibility - it's truly excellent. Elsewhere tracks like 'Stay', which features Melissa Kap on vocals, is very in keeping with the downtempo Freerange ethic. Sometimes he takes it a little too far down, though. Blakkat's slow, precisely delivered, moody vocals on 'Golden Complexion' end up just being a little dull, and 'Will Be Mine' is a little too introverted to really hit home. Unfortunately, these two tracks have been selected as singles and apparently showcase the direction Tur wants to take with his solo work. Things work better on 'Pastelise', which passes the baton housewards, but not full in your face, and has a nice, slightly chilled breakdown, and 'A40', which meanders along pastures chill, although the sampled chant overlay does grate a bit. As an electronic artist debut album, '0201' is good, and there are no major troughs, but it's perhaps overly cerebral; for me, some more of the crème de la crème dancefloor tracks that he excels in wouldn't have gone amiss. Paul V. Review originally published by CMU Music Network www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk Next