- There aren't a lot of dance music labels that do tender, understated emotion as well as Giegling, and there are even fewer who find so many interesting ways to express it. At the centre of one of last year's biggest tracks, Traumprinz's "All The Things," was a vocal that sounded heartbroken and defeated. A few months later, Matthias Reiling turned in Gefällt Mir Nicht Mehr, a panoply of introverted house and hip-hop, some of which seemed so still that it took on a confessional tone.
Golden Age, map.ache's Giegling debut, is less enamoured with the willowy sounds of its predecessors. Instead, it's sewn together with glowing chords and bold drums, taking on a hardier sound. But Jan Barich assembles his tracks sensitively, and the Jenga tower construction of "The Golden Age," featuring Mr Hirsch, is a great example. Almost nothing is set straight: the drums gallop hesitantly, the tambourines hit on the offbeats and the chords mumble forward. But the track stiffens up once it changes key, and soon sways toward its euphoric collapse.
The beat on "Message From Myself" is as agile as a ping-pong rally, and yet there's some serious weight behind the rhythm as well. The chords are tough and rubbery, and the organs sound as if they're emitting a dense gas. That and the thick digital strings of "Preyork" act as a bridge between "The Golden Age" and the rest of the EP, which Barich bathes in a pleasant ooze of reverb. Distant at first, the noirish piano of "Give Peace A Chance" encroaches on heavy-legged toms and detuned handclaps. The EP's epilogue, "You Are The Bonus," is even more striking, and revisits the Giegling habit of solemn, tear-jerking moments.
TracklistA1 The Golden Age feat. Mr Hirsch
A2 Give Peace A Change
B1 Message from Myself
B2 Preyork
B3 You Are The Bonus